Cali looked exasperated. “What did he do? Tell me, or I’ll find out.”
“Donotgo asking questions.”
She crossed her arms. “I might if I think some guy hurt my baby cousin.”
Ireland pinched the bridge of her nose. “I’m twenty-six—one year younger than you—and I’ll deal with this.”
“But why do you have to deal with it at all? What the hell happened? And when did it happen? I’m always with you, and I haven’t seen you two argue.”
“It wasn’t the arguing that was the problem. Well, it was, but… Shit, he kissed me, all right?”
Chapter 7
Silence filled the room, sending Ireland’s heart into overdrive. Maybe she shouldn’t have said anything. And then a smile slowly spread across Cali’s face.
“Excuse me?” Cali said. “Hekissedyou? When did this lip-lock take place?”
Ireland looked heavenward. “You’re ridiculous.” But she filled Cali in on what transpired on the booze cruise.
“You go, girl!” Cali said. “I had no idea you were sneaking around hooking up behind my back. I fully approve.”
“How can you approve?Idon’t even approve.”
“That’s because you’re rusty. The bickering is what we more experienced daters call ‘foreplay.’”
Ireland shoved Cali in the shoulder. “You don’t date anymore, you’re engaged! And I know what foreplay is. That wasn’t it. That was…I’m going to kill you, but first I’ll kiss you.”
Cali looked at her as though she were slow. “Yeah, also known as foreplay. Whatever.” She quirked her eyebrows and leaned on the counter. “So you enjoyed it, huh?”
Ireland squirmed. “Maybe. And I’m really angry about it. Have I ever dated a nice guy?”
“Not really, no.”
“Exactly. And I refuse to continue this unhealthy pattern. Bran is not nice. Well, maybe he’s nice to others, but he’s not nice to me. Regular men demean me. I refuse—refuse—to take that shit ever again from someone who’s supposed to care about me.”
Cali’s eyes narrowed. “What are you talking about? Who are all these asshats demeaning you?”
Ireland waved her hand. “You know why I left my old job.”
“Because it was boring as hell and you worked with dipshits?”
“And because of the harassment.”
Cali grabbed Ireland’s arm and pulled her toward the dining table, pushing her into a chair. “What harassment? You said the men you worked with were jerks. You didn’t say anything about your boss sexually harassing you.”
Ireland swallowed. “That’s because he wasn’t the one who harassed me.”
Cali shook her head. “I’m not following.”
“My boss didn’t sexually harass me… It was the other men I worked with who did. My subordinates,” she mumbled.
Bad enough to be harassed by a boss, the person in power. It was a twisted form of humiliation to be sexually harassed by subordinates who were supposed to look up to her. Ireland had never felt more powerless in her life.
“Say again? It sounded like you said your lackeys harassed you.”
“They weren’t lackeys, they were professionals. But yeah, not quite as professional as I would have liked.” Ireland wrung her hands. “The men I was in charge of made subtle passes at me. They’d touch me inappropriately while feigning to reach for something. They were jerks and they made my working life a living hell.”
“What the fuck!”
