The Truth

“Already on it.”

Chapter 19

Daniel

Nothing about today is going to plan. I’m slower than usual, my mind on Tiffany and not work.

I think about the way she smiles, her eyes sparkling with joy I want to feel.

I think about her sharp tongue and the way I’m never quite sure what she’s going to say, an exciting prospect.

I think about her body, each flawless curve . . . and the feeling of her warm, tight pussy enveloping me.

Now that I’ve seen her in a new light, she’s all I can think of, and I balk at the blinders I’ve been wearing that let me never truly see her before now. How could I have missed her?

So much wasted time.

Make the most of it now.

That is exactly what I had intended to do tonight. I had planned to spend the night together, exploring Tiffany’s mind and body, having a candlelight dinner and then hours of intense passion.

Instead, I’m eating takeout Thai with Tiffany, Ricky, and Billy. We’re gathered around my dining table, boxes opened up and chopsticks sticking out of about half of them as I listen to their story.

Billy pushes his food away, looking frustrated, probably because he wasn’t able to hit up the gym the way he prefers to in the evening. He’s been too busy. “After the meeting, we looked into Mark and Brandon,” he reports. “They think they’re smart, but they’re complete dumbasses.”

“Two villages are looking for their idiots.”

“More likely, glad to be rid of—”

“Guys!” Tiffany says, cutting them off before they can ping-pong more ‘dumb’ insults between them. “Focus, please?”

“Tiff’s right,” I remind the guys evenly. “Tell me what you know.”

Ricky clears his throat and sips at some sparkling water. “Oh, yeah. Anyway, we were on it today after the meeting weirdness. I did a few drive-bys through the department, sweet-talked and charmed a few people—”

“Women,” Billy interrupts. “Smooth as oil on a frozen lake.”

“They are all well aware that I’m a taken man,” Ricky says hotly. “Don’t make it sound like I was fucking around on Miranda. That shit’s not funny. If that thought even crossed her mind, she’d have my balls in a vice.”

I know he’s right. When Ricky and Miranda became public, he did everything short of wearing a ‘Miranda’s Man’ T-shirt to make it quite clear that in his case, at least, the line was now redrawn at being ‘nice’ and not ‘flirty’. And while Miranda’s understanding, she’s not going to tolerate foolishness.

“And you found out . . .?” I prompt before things go further. “We know Miranda’s your girl.”

“Thanks, Unc,” Ricky says, taking a deep breath. “Basically, acquisitions is brutal. Harsh to a cutthroat degree.” He mimes breaking his neck, his eyes closed and tongue sticking out. “When we got up there, everyone was all too happy to tell me the dirt on Mark, Brandon, and everyone else.”

Billy takes over the story. “Want to know who’s a sexual deviant? Those folks will tell you. Who’s living on the edge of credit card collapse? Yep. Who is gunning for a promotion, working their ass off, and likely to get it? Oh, yeah. And who’s hanging on coattails.”

Ricky grunts in agreement. “Gossipy fuckers.”

“And our boys Mark and Brandon aren’t exactly peoples’ favorites,” Billy says. “Lots of talk about those two.”

“We figured it was jealousy and we could slow burn things, really get all the deets for certain for you,” Ricky says. “Then Tiff called and freaked me out.”

I look to Tiffany sharply, who gives me a look like what? You’re surprised?

I shouldn’t be. “Why?”

“I didn’t know about all that” —she waves her hand at Ricky and Billy, indicating their investigation— “but I felt some bad juju from them. Mark and Brandon, I mean.”

“Bad juju?” Ricky scoffs. “You were nibbling at those crackers like a raccoon who hit the trash jackpot and didn’t want anyone to steal the prize.”

“I was not!” she argues loudly, and I’m suddenly hit with the image of Tiffany rapidly nibbling her way through a cheese and peanut butter cracker with tiny, machine-gun-like bites. It’s cute, but I keep my face even as she quietly grits out through clenched teeth and unmoving lips to Ricky, “I know stress eating is a bad habit of mine. But I’d prefer that Daniel not have an image of me stuffing my face, dropping crumbs everywhere. We’re still solidly in the honeymoon phase where you pretend you’re super neat, never gassy, and donate to every charity with a commercial featuring a Sarah McLaughlin soundtrack.”

I can’t help but smile now as I give her a wry, wondering look. Fuck Mark and Brandon, this is more important at this very second. “Honeymoon phase?”

Tiffany looks stricken, while in the background, Billy and Ricky both look amused, like they anticipated this. Perhaps they did.

“Oh, I didn’t mean . . .” She looks at Ricky and Billy, seeming to decide whether she’s going to speak freely in front of them, and I find myself on the edge of my seat, eager to hear what she’s going to say. “Look, I get it. I’m basically a one-weekend fling at this point with a whole sloppy mess of tangled strings who showed up uninvited on your doorstep tonight like a stage-five clinger. But this whole Mark and Brandon thing is real, not some ploy to get at you again.” She pauses, tilting her head thoughtfully. “Though that would’ve been a great idea. I should’ve thought about that years ago.”