looked the place up, and it looks amazing! Getting taken over can really suck, and everyone was worried about their jobs since everyone hates change and whatnot, but this is awesome! It’s going to rock. Seriously. We aren’t getting restricted into something crappy where other people come and do what we’re already doing, only half as well. This isn’t a soulless takeover deal. The guy who owns us now, he seriously cares about his employees. I can’t believe we’re going to Colorado!”
“It’s cold in Colorado, and there are weird bugs,” I state flatly.
“Weird bugs!” Bonnie pulls a face. “You’re a weird bug. This is amazing! It’s such a great opportunity!”
“Yeah. Right. Not for the people who don’t get to go.”
“Everyone who isn’t going on this retreat is going on a week-long one back at the same resort in a month from now after our group’s restructuring and training take place.”
“I see.”
“Aren’t you excited at all? What’s wrong with you? This is free! I’m a single mom, you know. I can’t just afford vacations.”
“Uh, yeah. Who is going to look after all the kids while we’re gone?”
“That’s the best part! Anyone who can’t find childcare gets to take their children with them!”
“Are you serious?”
“Dead serious. They’re having a children’s day camp at the resort while the parents are in training. The place is huge, and there aren’t that many of us, so families get their own cabins.”
“Great. That probably means the rest of us will have to bunk in together.”
“You’re such a pooper. I’m excited. This is exciting. Not only do we get to go, all expenses paid, but we are also getting our regular salary paid as well. I know we weren’t excited for this to happen, and people wanted to bail because they thought they’d get fired anyway, but it’s the exact opposite. I don’t know why people call the guy ruthless. He’s clearly awesome. He put this all together.”
“No, his HR department probably did. He’s too rich. He doesn’t spend his free time planning corporate retreats. It probably wasn’t even his idea. He probably moaned and groaned about having to foot the bill for it until someone pointed out it’s a tax write off anyway.”
Bonnie rolls her eyes at me and shakes her head. I purposely keep a neutral face because I can’t very well tell her that I know what Raiden does in his free time. That would mean I would then have to elaborate about drinking a few drinks and getting buzzed and having strange, wild desires I obviously couldn’t control and literally leaping into the guy’s lap. We might have had all our clothes on, but I know what his cock feels like. I also can’t erase the sensations that are now branded into my skin, of Raiden’s fingers brushing along my soaking wet panties. Of the pad of his thumb hitting my clit.
Actually, it never happened. That’s what I’ve decided. I’ve washed the whole incident from my mind. Blocked and locked away, erased completely. I never went to Raiden’s house, I never let my guard down, and I never let him under my skin. I most certainly never did anything after that.
It’s better to pretend it never happened because I still can’t figure out why it happened. Sure, the guy is attractive. I’ll admit it because it’s a fact, and facts should just be put out there, but I’ve noticed that a lot of people are good looking before, and I’ve never been tempted to jump them. I’ve never felt anything half as close to what I felt when I was sitting next to Raiden.
I can’t blame it on the whisky because I wasn’t technically that buzzed. If I believed in the supernatural, I’d say something possessed my body for a brief time and made me get kinky with my ex-stepbrother. Good. Freaking. Potatoes. Maybe it was a crazy surge of hormones. Pheromones. A crazy push from my biological clock or my female plumbing taking over my brain and shorting out all the important parts. Whatever it was, it was like a blackout. Thank goodness Raiden brought me to my senses with the incident. The incident I will never think or speak about. Because it definitely did not happen.
I was so shocked by the thing that did not happen that I wasn’t even able to tell him off properly.
What. A. Freaking. Mess. My. Life. Has. Turned. Into.
And it’s all Rancid Rotten Ruthless Raiden’s fault.
“Hello? Anyone home? Any more protests about going to a wonderful,