What he said:A mutually beneficial agreement. You’ll lose your business if you don’t.
Where he proposed:Nowhere. He just harangued.
What he did:Got me so amped in the back of his car, I had to know what he was like between the sheets. And now that I do, I’m well and truly screwed.
Well. And. Truly.
Just like last night. And the embarrassing “moment”? I’ve wiped from my mind, though I’m almost certain Beckett has done the opposite and pinned it to the front of his. I’m pretty sure he was thinking of it this morning while I dressed.Like an erotic reverse striptease, he’d murmured.
And again when I brushed my hair.
And later when—
‘He’s such a hottie.’ Heather’s words snag my attention. ‘And that whole captain of industry vibe he’s got going on.’ As I turn my head, she’s fanning her face.
‘Do you have any plans to work today? Heather looks like I’ve slapped her.Acting failure number one, I guess: the euphoric bride let down.‘Ignore me,’ I say with a tired sigh. ‘I’ve spent all weekend moving into Beckett’s house.’ Hisbig enough to be a small hotelhouse.
Not that I’ve really moved much at all.A few clothes. Some small kitchen appliances. A box of Yorkshire tea.
‘It’s your house now, too.’ Mir sends me a quizzical glance. Or it might be a concerned one. Maybe hanging out with Beckett seems to have made me an expert on all his scowls to the detriment of everything else.
‘Yes, I know. I’m just exhausted because I insisted on doing it myself.’
‘Why?’
Why, indeed? To stay out of his way, maybe? Because of last night and the day before and the day before that. Honestly, I feel like I’m suffering from whiplash. Just when I thought we were beginning to get along, he pulls out Dr Hyde again. And sure, we talked about it, but that doesn’t mean I understand him. Does he really think he’s unworthy of being my friend, or was that some kind of warning?
‘What were we saying?’
‘I asked why you moved out of your flat into the house by yourself.’
I wave away her concerned glance. ‘I only packed a couple of suitcases. For now, I mean.’
And ran over the place with a vacuum. And a mop. And a bucket of bleach. What can I say? Cleaning soothes me.
‘Was New York amazing?’ Heather asks, all starry-eyed.
‘It’s pretty cool.’
‘What did you do?’
‘She got married and went on honeymoon,’ Mir says with a cackle. ‘What did you think she got up to?’
‘Okay, enough,’ I instruct as Jorge comes back into the office space. ‘Tell me what I missed.’
‘Well.’ Mir sits straight, her body almost vibrating with the need to spill. ‘There has been a twelve-percent rise in our membership numbers over the weekend.’
‘Awesome! Do we have any idea of the reason behind that?’
Her eyes positively sparkle as she says, ‘I’m getting to that. I also heard back from theLust Islandguys, and I have three of them interested in coming along to our retro speed dating night.’
‘What were their fees again??’ Just because I now have money in the bank doesn’t mean I’m going to become profligate.
‘Free.’ One shoulder rises in a shrug. ‘They just want to hang with the cool, new hookup app on the block, apparently.’
‘But that’s not what we are,’ I say carefully. ‘That’s not our ethos.’ Relationships, not casual hookups.
‘Don’t judge. Sometimes casual leads to more.’
