“Cleveland was fine,” I said. There weren’t many things I disliked about working at BuzzCorp, but Jared was certainly at the top of that very short list. If Hudson had a talent for making me want to at least peek past my strong in-office barriers, Jared reminded me why I kept them steel-nailed shut. “Now, if you’ll all look at the fuck report from Mary Brighton—”
“Did you and Hudson get along all right?”
I made a mental note to cancel Addie’s application for sainthood. She blinked at me with her wide eyes, completely oblivious that she’d just asked theworst possiblequestion.
“Mm-hmm,” I hummed. “Fine.”
“You don’t look like it went fine. Those bags under your eyes tell me it wasexhausting. I guess you didn’t getanysleep with Hudson Bailey around, did you?”
Terrence narrowed his gaze at Jared. “Man, why are you gonna say that to your boss?”
“I’m worried about her,” Jared said, adopting an oh-so-innocent act. “Scout was out in a big bad city all by herself with some strange weirdo Clara scraped off the street somewhere.”
Addie rolled her eyes. “Oh please. You’re just fishing for more information.”
“I think he’s shady. Nobody can be that nice.”
“Yes, they can,” I said, the words out before I could stop them. If there had been a scientific experiment in man’s capacity for kindness, Hudson would have thrown off the whole data spread.
Jared leaned in. “And she speaks! Finally! Details, please.”
“There’s nothing to tell. We went to the conference. I showed him the ropes—”
He cut me off. “Ibetyou did.”
My blood ran hot. Jared always had a bro-y tenor to him, like he’d applied for a job at a sex toy company as a way to pick up chicks, and while I probably should have reported him to HR like Terrence suggested, I knew doing so would just rock the boat. And rocking the boat was the last thing I wanted to do. Not when the stakes were so high with The Fantasy and it required all of my focus—and my entire team.
“And we didn’t land an order from Mr. Ose,” I continued. “So, if we’re all done picking apart my personal affairs, could weplease get back to work and try to salvage this project before we’re all filing for unemployment?”
Addie and Terrence both recoiled. Jared just blinked. I didn’t blame them for their surprise. Snapping and harsh talk was not my managerial style. I preferred the aloof approach. Less complicated and messy. Less chance to get close to people and take my eyes off my goals.
Today’s goals?
Recover after the psychic damage of that Mr. Ose meeting.
Retract my agreement to teach off-books sex toy lessons.
Stop thinking about fucking Hudson Bailey.
And stop thinking aboutfuckingHudson Bailey.
“Great,” I said, once I believed their silence. “Now, no more distractions.”
Famous last words. Because from behind me, the elevator dinged, and a familiar—too familiar—voice rang out over my shoulder.
“Morning, all! Scout, have you seen my sweatshirt?”
5
Seven Minutes in Kevin
I understood the scientific law around time. Time travel was never proven possible even in theory because of the reality that time cannot stop, go backward, or be tailored to our will.
The theoretical physicists could be wrong, though. Maybe it only worked if time bentagainstour will. Because as soon as Hudson’s voice reached my ears, the world moved through a pane of molasses, allowing me to see Terrence’s horror, Addie’s confusion, and Jared’s smug, shit-eating grin.
God, they all thought we slept together this weekend.
It was happening. My worst nightmare come true. Not only had everything gone wrong outside the office, but nowin the office, I was going to be the center of gossip, my reputation was going to be damaged, our productivity was going to go down the drain, and I didn’t even have a night of passionate, mind-blowing, world-changing sex to show for it. It was like GalacticSolutions all over again.
