Kaelee winced at the edge in Greta’s voice. “Sorry.”
“This is my career. You can go to another editor, but if people thought I fucked you to get your book… If they thought this was some #MeToo thing…” Greta paused and took a deep breath. “I worked my ass off for this career. I can’t screw it up. I sacrificedeverythingfor this.”
Kaelee felt guilty. “We were both blindsided.”
“Yes,” Greta grumbled. “And I have to figure out how to be sure you’re taken care of—which switching to Ian would do—and that my reputation is safe.”
“I have no intention of telling anyone.” Kaelee caught her hand. “I can keep secrets.”
“I hate this.” Greta pulled her hand free. She weaved and shoved her way through a small crowd.
Kaelee stayed close enough to be in the wake of her charge. When they managed to get farther away from the small swarm of people, Kaelee pulled Greta into the grass and away from the path. A few people were enjoying the unseasonably warm fall air on a blanket with what appeared to be an actual picnic basket at their side.
“I’m not going to ruin your career,” Kaelee promised in a low voice even though no one was near enough to hear them. “I give you my word. You didnothingwrong. Lots of people use apps to hook up, and you had no idea—”
“I have an email exchange asking you for an author photo.” Greta rubbed her eyes again. “This would be so awf—”
“Youdohave that exchange, and I didn’t send one yet. You didn’t know what I looked like. You had no idea I was your author when we connected.” Kaelee reached out as if to take Greta’s hands, but she stopped so her hands were outstretched but not touching Greta. “I give you my word, as your new friend, that I will not let the two nights we spent become public or damage your reputation. You can trust me; I swear it.”
Greta nodded. “In case it’s not blazingly obvious, I have a few trust issues.”
Kaelee smiled. “Same.”
“My fiancée, Tasha, hated my job,” Greta continued. “She hated that it had occasional evening or weekend requirements. She hated how often I checked my messages or when I stayed up reading so I could find the hot new book. It wasn’t like she couldn’t watch a game or movienextto me while I read, but she felt rejected.”
“And?” Kaelee wanted to know. Honestly, she wanted to know everything about Greta.
Greta sighed. “And Tash started fucking around with both men and women. She was never really sure what she wanted, and that’s okay. Not knowing is fine, but sheclaimedshe knew. She claimed I was what she wanted, that we were forever, that we ought to have already been married, that I was the problem. She wanted me to find a new career. I said no.” Greta let out a pained laugh. “Then shestarted fucking people, all while she accused me of cheating. My late nights at the office or lunches with agents made her angry. Normal editor things were an issue for her. She started suggesting I was sleeping around. I wasn’t; I swear it. Even after I realized she was out with other people, I was still faithful. I was a fool. So I joined the Sappho’s Kiss Society, and I decided that wasenough.”
“Was it?”
“Until I met you.” Greta stared at her. “You make me want to try dating again, Kaelee. I want days like yesterday. Lunch half naked, talking about shows or books, afternoon sex. I want to laugh and feel like we are working together. Ilikebeing able to get you comfortable enough to give me a little of your tightly held control.”
“I like all of that, too.” Kaelee felt like she might start crying. “We can have all of it but the sex, though. Friends do a lot of that. Maybe it’s even better that—”
“Liar. The sex is still part of what I want, and you can’t tell me you don’t feel the same.”
“I liked the ‘friends with benefits’ idea,” Kaelee said levelly.
“You’re the whole damn package.” Greta sniffled.
“I would like to hug you,” Kaelee whispered. “Friends hug, right?” She opened her arms in invitation. “That’s not a big deal.”
Greta shook her head. “I don’t hug. I barely even talk to anyone socially. I feel like I fucked everything up. My trust issues led to the app, led to fucking my author. How?”
“The app is designed for people with trust issues.”
“Fair.” Greta looked more and more like she was about to cry, and Kaelee couldn’t deal with that kind of vulnerability.
This feels too real already.
Kaelee’s panic twisted up inside her until she blurted out, “My father announced my engagement in the society page, although I hadn’t been dating my supposed fiancé. I thought—Ithinkhe’s a raging hemorrhoid.” Kaelee caught Greta’s gaze, grateful that no one seemed to be paying any attention to them as they stood having afar too emotional conversation. “I never agreed to marry him or… do anything with him.”
Kaelee didn’t typically say the words to define what had happened. They were too heavy. Too dark. Too likely to result in her being called a victim. Today, she made an exception.
“My father handed me over to him like it was the Middle fucking Ages, and his rising star in the company had paid a sheep and a few chickens for the right to my body.” Kaelee heard the rage she rarely admitted to still having. “We all have skeletons, Greta. We don’t need to dance with them.”
Greta stared at her, swiped at her now-wet cheeks, and said, “Fucking writers knowing the right words. How am I not to like you?”
