I had known Wyatt since college. We met one drunken night in the dorms our freshman year. He had gotten locked out of his room, and I found him singing our college fight song as he sat slumped against his door. Drunk myself, I joined him, pissing off everyone else on the floor who was knee-deep in studying for midterms.
We were idiots. Thankfully, we eventually got our shit together and focused on our studies. Me in business. Him in tech. We went on to graduate and venture out into the world. He owned asuccessful software company, but no one would ever know based on his laid-back attitude. You’d think he was a surfer dude from California. I liked that about him. He kept me grounded when I got too wound up in business and money.
“What’s up, man?” he asked as he got to his feet and gave me a slap on the back.
“Just working as usual,” I said, my tone less than enthusiastic.
“Uh-oh.” He eyed me. “I thought this CEO job was finally going to make you happy.”
“I am, I am.” I waved him off, and picked up a basketball from a nearby rack.
“Mhmm…just like you. Never satisfied,” he said knowingly.
The ball bounced against the glossy hardwood floor, echoing through the large gymnasium. I pressed my fingertips against the raised bumps and dribbled around the court, Wyatt watching me with a sly expression, waiting for my next move. I charged toward him, turning just as I was about to slam into him, and continued toward the net for a layup.
He whistled. “Someone’s on their game tonight.”
I grunted, swiftly passing him the ball and crouching into a defensive position. He dribbled the ball slowly, assessing what move to make. He veered to the right, then to the left, but I wastoo quick for him. I stole the ball and went in for another layup. He gave me a vulgar gesture before clapping his hands for the ball.
The game went on like that for the next twenty minutes, until we were both panting and needing a break. We strode toward our gym bags against the back wall and slumped to the ground, reaching for our water bottles. I chugged for a good few seconds, wiping the sweat that was slick against my brow.
“You’re on one today,” he muttered, running a hand through his damp, sandy blond hair. “What’s going on?”
“Can’t I just be good at kicking your ass?” I shrugged.
“You’re hardly kicking my ass.”
“Have you checked the score?”
“I didn’t realize you were keeping count.”
“Always.”
He rolled his eyes before looking at me seriously. “Nah. What’sreallygoing on?”
I tilted my head back, knowing there was no getting out of this with the guy who had known me well for nearly twenty years. I looked up at the rafters before blowing out a long breath through my closed lips.
“Just work shit. Mr. Harold, the old CEO, seems to think hisnewCEO needs a babysitter, and she happens to be his daughter.”
“No shit?” Wyatt’s eyes grew wide.
“Yeah, and she’s a real piece of work. So entitled and bossy. I’m not sure how we are ever going to get along when she has a stick so far up her ass.”
I went on to tell him everything that had been going on, but I conveniently left out the part that we had sex. That was something I wanted to keep to myself for now.
Wyatt smirked at me, as if seeing right through me. He didn’t have to know about the sex to know what was really going on here.
“She’s hot, isn’t she?”
“No,” I said, failing completely at lying.
“Dude. You’re so full of shit.” He punched my shoulder.
I rolled my eyes and took another swig of water.
“You don’t understand. She’sinsufferable.”
“Uh-huh,” he said unconvinced.
