“Or the best thing that’s ever happened to you.”
I give her a look. She grins wider.
“Come on, Bay. Hot billionaire boss you’ve already seen naked? That’s every fantasy—”
“It gets worse.”
Her grin falters. “How does it get worse?”
I take another drink to fortify myself. “He’s Trevor’s best friend.”
The silence that follows is deafening.
Gretchen’s coffee cup freezes halfway to her mouth. She sets it down carefully, never breaking eye contact.
“Run that by me again.”
“Daniel Williams. My boss. The guy from the bar. He’s Trevor’s best friend from college. The one Trevor is always talking about. The one who saved his life or whatever.”
“The mysterious bestie?”
“That’s the one.”
“Oh my God.” Gretchen’s voice climbs an octave. “Bailey. Oh my God.”
“I know.”
“You slept with your brother’s best friend.”
“I know.”
“Your brother’s best friend, who is also your boss.”
“I’m painfully aware.”
And then she starts laughing, not a polite chuckle but a full-body laugh that has other customers turning to look.
“This isn’t funny,” I hiss.
“It’s hilarious. It’s a disaster, but it’s hilarious.” She wipes her eyes. “How did you find out?”
“Trevor’s family reunion yesterday. Daniel showed up. We saw each other across the lawn and both nearly died.” The memory makes my stomach clench. “Trevor introduced us. I thought Daniel was going to pass out.”
“What did you do?”
“We shook hands and made small talk. I pretended I didn’t know what he looks like without his clothes on.” I run my hands through my hair. “It was awful, Gretch.”
“Did Trevor notice anything weird?”
“I don’t think so. We were both really good at pretending.”
Gretchen shakes her head slowly. “This is next level. Like, I can’t even process this level of complicated.”
“Tell me about it.”
“So what are you going to do?”
“Nothing. I'll keep my head down, do my job, and pretend Friday night never happened.”
