"I slept with my boss."
Silence.
Then: "WHAT?"
"Not tonight!" I clarify quickly. "Four weeks ago. In Miami. Don—the guy from Miami—is Donovan Titan. My boss. The CEO of TitanIndustries."
More silence.
Then Sasha starts laughing.
Not a polite chuckle—a full, gasping, tears-streaming-down-her-face laugh.
"It's not funny," I say.
“We don’t think it’s funny, sweets,” Riley says, though she's trying to hide her smile. "Okay, maybe a teensy bit funny. You, Emma ‘I Ironed My Underwear for the Interview’ Sinclair, accidentally had a one-night stand with your future boss."
"I didn't know he was going to be my boss!"
"Obviously." Sasha wipes her eyes. "Oh my God. What did you do when you saw him?"
"I almost fainted. Then I almost threw up. Then I shook his hand like a normal person and pretended we'd never met."
"Did he recognize you?"
"Immediately. We made eye contact and I'm pretty sure we both died a little." I take another drink. "Thenwe had to stand there making small talk with other executives while pretending we haven't seen each other naked."
"This is amazing," Sasha says.
"This is a nightmare. This is my life imploding in real-time."
Riley's already typing on her phone. "Okay, I'm googling him. We need intel. Maybe he's a secret psycho and you can quit without feeling bad."
“Oh no. Do not—“
"Oh my God." Riley's eyes widen. "Emma. He's hot."
"I'm aware."
"No, like, really hot. Like 'put him on a billboard' hot. I mean, we could barely see him at the bar. He could have been the Elephant Man for all we knew.”
“Thanks for that.”
“Aw, honey, we were just proud to see you put yourself out there again.” She turns her tablet around to show me a professional headshot of Donovanlooking devastatingly handsome in a suit. "How is this your life?"
"Keep scrolling," Sasha demands, crowding into Riley's frame. "What else? Is he married? Secret kids? Gambling addiction?"
"He's forty-two," Riley reads. "Never been married. No kids. Built Titan Industries from the ground up—started in his Queens apartment fifteen years ago and turned it into a multi-billion dollar company." She pauses. "Oh. He was engaged once. To a woman named Vanessa Carter. Venture capitalist. They broke up eight years ago."
My stomach bottoms out. "Keep going."
"There's not much else. He's notoriously private. Doesn't date publicly. Lives in—wait for it—a penthouse on the Upper West Side."
"Of course he does," I mutter.
"Emma." Sasha's leaning so close to Riley's phone her face fills the screen. "This man is a literal billionaire who built his company from nothing. He's single.He's hot. And he's clearly into you because he could have anyone and he chose to sleep with you."
"That's not helpful."
