The Promotion (Contemporary Reverse Harem 3)

“Awesome, I’m glad you’re not a goddamn attorney.” Oops. It was my turn to look around the room as if the firing squad were warming up. “I mean, not that there’s anything wrong with it.”

She snickered conspiratorially and clinked her glass against mine.

“I thought you were going to be some uptight attorney like all Eva’s other friends. I mean, look around this room. Must have the biggest proportion of dick heads of any party going on in Manhattan at this very moment.”

She pressed her lips together, but a laugh escaped anyway. She threw her head back, cracking up. The whole room turned to look at her. I supposed that was a too-loud laugh for the sensibilities of the others. But I freaking loved it.

Eva called everyone to the table, and of course, she was the type of hostess who told everyone where to sit. Regardless, some other sap was trying to grab the seat right next to Maizy, but I cock-blocked him big time.

“Ugh, sorry, dude. This is my seat,” I told him as I set my ass in it. Maizy didn’t notice a thing as she gently put a white linen napkin on her lap. The other dude might have scowled for all I knew, but with my back to him, I had no idea. And couldn’t have cared less.

“Have you been here before, Maizy? To Eva and Todd’s?” I asked.

“Nooo,” she replied, shaking her head. She leaned a bit closer, which I liked. “I was shocked I was invited. I’m pretty sure Eva doesn’t like me. In fact, I’m absolutely sure she doesn’t like me.” She shrugged. Apparently, she didn’t lose much sleep over Eva. Neither did I, but then, she wasn’t my boss.

“You know, Maizy, you need to be sure to give me your number before the evening is over.”

“I might be able to do that,” she said with that goddamn killer smile.

Shit.

Chapter 3

Maizy

How freaking weird was it to be invited to my boss’s house for dinner? The woman usually acted like I had the plague, as if spending too much time with a commoner like me would tarnish her Harvard pedigree.

Her friends weren’t much better. So when her brother-in-law arrived, I nearly cried with joy. Someone who wanted to talk to me.

I’d taken Eva’s suggestions to heart and dressed as unsexily as I could. I even wore my glasses instead of my contacts, but the women in the room still eyed me warily as the only single.

I wouldn’t have minded giving those bitches something to really talk about.

But Anson. Wow. He was nothing like his short, bald brother Todd, beleaguered spouse of Eva the evil. No, the family must have spent all their good looks karma on the younger brother Anson, because there was pretty much nothing about him that was less than perfect with his unkempt red hair and facial scruff. He reminded me of that prince of England, whose name I could never remember, but whom I’d had a crush on since I was a kid.

Eva’s server—yes, she had a fucking server for her dinner party—brought us our soup. Mine was a strange watery concoction with a carrot floating in it, but it was surprisingly tasty.

Anson leaned closer to me.

“She always makes shit like this. And brings in maids. So idiotic,” he whispered.

It was then that my shoulders began to shake. Then my hands, so I set down my soup spoon. I pressed my hand over my mouth to control my laughter, but the harder I tried not to laugh, the worse it was.

Didn’t they call that the church giggles?

Anson was watching me struggling to keep my shit together, when he, too, was struck with laughter. His face turned beet red, and his blue eyes filled with tears.

“Hey, guys,” Eva called out. “Why don’t you share the joke with us?”

She had no idea how that would fuck up her evening. So we didn’t.

I cleared my throat and pushed my chair from the table. “Excuse me. I’ll be right back.” I scurried to the restroom. I felt bad about abandoning Anson, but at this point, it was every woman for herself. He was related to those people. He would do whatever the hell he wanted. I, on the other hand, could not. I had to deal with Eva at work on Monday. The harder I laughed, the worse it would be. That’s how she was.

I ran into the restroom and took a few deep breaths to shake off my nerves.

There was a knock at the bathroom door.

Shit, didn’t this place have more than one bathroom?