“You muttered ‘fuck’ under your breath in a way that was half-groan and frankly very disturbing for me to listen to,” Iain said, making me break into a shit-eating grin as the car pulled onto the highway. “Also I asked you a question about ten seconds ago and you still haven’t answered it.”
“Sorry. I was thinking about fucking her.”
“I know.”
“In my defense, it’s only because we’re pretending explicitly like I fucked her,” I said as Iain made a vaguely dubious sound. “But anyway, what’s your question?”
“Where is she right now?”
“The hotel. She headed back way before me while I hung back to talk to Craig.”
“Do you know what her plans are for the night?”
“Well, she’s probably getting ready right now.”
“For what?”
“The fundraiser.”
Iain paused. “You mean Engelman’s big ass party that your whole company gets hammered at every year?”
I laughed, feeling like this was a trap. “Yeah. Why?”
“Nothing,” Iain said wryly. “Just sounds like a perfectly safe environment for you and AJ, given everything you just told me about last night.”
I grimaced as I reclined in the backseat of the car. “Yeah, speaking of all that shit, don’t tell Holland, alright?”
“Asshole—how about you don’t do this to me since you know I can’t keep things from her.”
“To be fair, this isn’t necessarily a ‘thing.’ It’s a fluke that I’ll get over, so there’s no sense in worrying Holland when I can assure you I’m not going to do anything to jeopardize my work relationship with AJ.”
“Yeah,” Iain said flatly, with that tinge of disinterest he employed whenever he wanted to convey that he did not in fact believe me. I snorted.
“Look, no need to guilt me like I’m one of your clients. I’m not going to do anything to screw things up. I’m well aware of what AJ’s done for my life,” I said, though I knew I sounded somewhat like a surly kid, because I kind of hated this topic.
Not because I wasn’t grateful for AJ, but because I hated thinking about how non-existent my relationship with Holland was before AJ came along.
“Alright, I’m going to choose to believe you then,” Iain relented. “But for your sake, I hope she wears something as ill-fitting and unattractive as possible tonight.”
I laughed at the remark, but by the time I got back to the hotel, I was thinking about it again—mostly because I was realizing that AJ hadn’t originally planned to attend Engelman’s fundraiser tonight. She had expected to be with Caspar, so in all likelihood, she hadn’t packed anything to wear to this party.
I wasn’t exactly sure what this realization meant, but it definitely had me walking a little faster down the hall as I approached the door of my room.
When I got in, my eyes went straight toward the closed door of the bathroom. I closed the door slowly as I called, “Hey.”
I heard the distinct rustle of makeup brushes before she called back.
“Hey! Do you need the bathroom? I’m done in here.”
I eyed her open suitcase as I set my things down. “Take your time,” I said, drifting over to the bar to grab some water. “All I really need to do is—”
My sentence cut off as the bathroom door swung open, and wherever the rest of my words fucked off to I couldn’t say.
Because all I could do was stare.
Fuck. Me.
Whatever she was wearing, it was black, sleeveless, and wrapped so tight around her body I couldn’t blink if I tried. Her long, dark hair was down and gathered over her shoulder to show off the curve of her neck as she fastened her bracelet, and when she looked up at me, my pulse picked up at the sight of her smoky eye makeup. Her c