“I don’t see why you wouldn’t,” he answers casually.
“It’s just that there will be a lot of important people there.”
“Which is exactly why the CEO’s personal assistant will be needed.”
I grin from ear to ear. Then I shuffle myself around my desk and over to him, smashing my pregnant body against his beautifully toned one.
“I’m so excited,” I say, and give him a kiss.
“It’s just a business dinner.”
“It could be a dinner before getting a root canal and I’d be excited. You forget I don’t get to go out much.” I wrap up the rest of my salad and grab my things. “Is there a dress code for this? Oh! Speaking of that, I’ll have your black suit pressed.”
“Just wear whatever makes you feel beautiful,” he says, making his way to the door. But then he stops. “Also. Remember that you will be there as my assistant. Not my date.”
I stare at him.
Right. How could I forget?“Of course.”
He nods and walks out.
Date. Of course I’m not his date. That would be ridiculous. How could I possibly be? His wife will most likely be there. He’s a married man.
He’s notmine.
Suddenly I’m feeling a little sick to my stomach, blue cheese or not.
“Wait. So you’re not his date?” Electra asks.
She was able to get that much out of me, though she is still unaware that Ransome is married. And that he married to keep a family truce. And that the cousin of said wife is at large and tried to kill my brother and probably wants Ransome dead too, so we all have to play nice.
“No, I’m not.” I pull a black dress off the rack, tilting my head to the side to imagine it covering my bulging belly.
“Well, then what are you?” she asks, holding a cashmere sweater up to herself in the mirror. Electra has always liked name brands, but it wasn’t until her mystery lover came around that she started shopping for said brands at the name stores that actually make them. She’s usually a find-it-at-a-knockoff-store kind of girl.
“His assistant.”
She rolls her eyes over to me. I don’t look at her though, mostly because I know how ridiculous the words sound.
“Assistant?” she echoes.
I grab a couple more dresses off the rack: a pink one, a purple one, and shiny silver one. “Yes. I work for him. At Apex. I thought you knew this.”
I make my way to the dressing room. Electra follows, slipping inside the curtain with me.
“I’m aware you work for him.” She rolls her eyes. “But I also know you’ve had your eye on him from the day he hired you. You’ve also been sleeping with him,obviously.” She dramatically waves her hand over my belly, which looks even bigger when it’s exposed. “I just don’t see how he can pretend that you’re not together. Or why he’d want to.”
“Professional face.”
I yank a dress off the hanger—harder than I should, considering the price tag. It’s not untrue, what I’ve said to her, but it’s also not the full truth. And maybe it’s the hormones, but I’m growing sick of all the lies that come with the territory of being Ransome’s baby mama. Big ones, small ones, it’s still lying.
“Right.”
“Even if we are involved?—”
“Oh,involved.How classy.”
“—he’s my boss and it isn’t proper to show more than that in public. Does this dress make me look fat?” I ask, turning to her. It’s pink and stretchy, but almost too fitted.
