“No. I just don’t want to end up in the middle of some shit between my best friend and my boss,” I pretend. I can tell she isn’t convinced by my half-lie, so I switch topics. “Now, if we’re done with the men ruining our lives, how about we talk about the sale of my app?”
We’re almost ready for the negotiations to start, but I need a moment alone with Andrea before that. That’s why I leave Kevin with the lawyers and head to my office, hoping she’ll be there. I meant to talk to her before, but her early departure for lunch and late return got in the way.
I swiftly enter what used to be my oasis of tranquility, and my eyes immediately land on the object of my search. The relief of finding her is instantly dismissed as I realize she’s in the midst of changing out of her ugly T-shirt, which had a collage of some pale, sickly man apparently named Edward on it.
Instead of it, she’s halfway slipping on an off-white blouse, her white bralette exposed underneath. Just as shocked as I am by this unexpected encounter, she stays immobile for about a second before she tugs at her shirt to shield herself from my gaze. She’s quick but not quick enough, and I turn around—also too late. I had enough time to notice the brownish circles of her areolas, visible through the thin cloth of her bra.
I internally curse. Fucking hell, the image is now seared into my brain. I didn’t need that. Not when I’m already obsessing over what her body would look like under mine, how her small breasts would bounce with every intense thrust into her tight little—
“Maybe you could knock?!” she scolds with a shaky voice. I can hear the ruffling of silk, her fingers probably fastening the buttons of her blouse.
“To entermyoffice?” I muse, sardonic.
“We share it.”
“It’s an office, Andrea. Not a locker room.”
The moment stretches, and the absurdity of it has me sighing. I’m getting a semi, which is ridiculous because I barely gazed at her breasts, and she was almost entirely dressed.
“Are you done?” I ask, irritated. “I have better things to do than this.”
“Only two buttons left. No, three. Fuck, I put them wrong. Stay like that.”
I huff disapprovingly. “What made you think this was a good idea?”
“I meant to change in the restroom, but you weren’t here when I came back, so I thought you were busy somewhere else.”
“I was.”
“Clearly not busy enough,” she mumbles.
The next thing I hear is the zipper of her jeans being pulled down, and I almost want to curse. This woman will drive me mad. In a vain effort to generate blood flow that isn’t in my crotch, I clench my fists and flex my arms all the way. It doesn’t have time to work before she pulls the zipper up again and says, “All good.”
Very slowly, I spin around, my expression closed off so she can’t guess the turmoil she just unleashed on me. My gaze drops for the briefest instant to her now-covered chest and then back to her face.
“We need to talk,” I say after an awkwardly tense moment.
Dread fills her eyes, and she hurries to say, “I’m sorry. I promise it won’t happen again.”
“No, not that. I mean—Yes, don’t undress in here again. But I wanted to talk with you about the sale.”
“Oh? Is everything okay?”
I come closer to speak with a lowered voice.
“As I told you before, I’m the one who determined the worth of your work. I estimated five hundred thousand dollars, which is still too little, in my opinion. They will start the offer much lower, probably under one hundred thousand. No matter the first offer, do not go for any less than four hundred. It’s their job to make us save money, but they have been instructed to accept four hundred. Alright?”
She nods, vaguely confused. “Can’t you just decide the price and be done with it?”
“Kevin is in charge of finances and investments. I can advise him, but he’s the one who makes the final decisions. And he wouldn’t understand.”
“Understand what?”
Understand why I’m helping you out so much. Why I need to do this for you. Why you’re so special.
“Kev isn’t into computers,” I say instead. “Coding might as well be Chinese to him. He wouldn’t understand the extent of your work and what it’s worth.”
She takes a few steps back, setting some distance between us. “This isn’t some weirdly elaborate way to scam me, right?”
