“Yeah, of course I am. Crêpes and coffee at the outdoo
r café by the park near your place?”
“That sounds perfect. See you there in an hour?”
“An hour sounds good. See you then!”
***
I walked up to the café and saw Meg sitting at one of the outdoor tables. She waved at me and greeted me with a big smile.
“Good morning, sunshine! How are you feeling?”
“Hey, Megs. I'm all right, I guess.”
“Hmm, that doesn't sound so convincing. Come on over and have a seat. We'll have a chat about whatever it is that's got you all twisted up.”
I sat down and ordered something to eat and a coffee, then leaned back in my chair and shot a glance at Meg.
“So . . . it happened,” I said.
“What happened?”
“Take a guess.”
A grin slowly started to spread across her face. “Holy hell . . . you slept with Asher, didn't you?!”
I nodded.
“Oh my God! And, well, how was it?”
I tried not to, but I couldn't help but grin. “Amazing. Like, this-only-happens-in-the-movies amazing.”
“Lilah! Seriously! Is he . . . as well-endowed physically as he is financially?” she gave me a questioning grin.
“He's got enough,” I replied with a laugh and a blush. “But most importantly, he knows how to use it. And I mean, he really knows how to use it.”
“I can't believe you! You strumpet,” she teased.
I suddenly couldn't believe I was being so candid about the whole thing. And speaking about it almost as if it was an achievement, rather than what it was—a mistake.
Or had it been a mistake?
I wasn't so sure whether it had been or not. Which was precisely why I had needed to talk it out with Meg, although she wasn't being overly very helpful at the moment.
“All right, all right, enough discussing endowments. I've got a real problem here, Meg, and I need to talk about it.”
“Okay, Lilipop. Sorry, it's just not that often my best friend sleeps with a friggin' billionaire, you know. Still, let's forget the novelty aspect and talk about how it's affecting you because it's obviously getting to you in a major way. Am I right?”
“That you are. I mean, I explained the situation before. He’s my boss. You know how I feel about this.”
“I know you said you weren't sure about how to proceed. And that you were concerned getting involved with this guy would have implications on your career, and that's why you were having doubts about getting involved with him. So what changed?”
“Nothing. At least, not on the surface. After that time we kissed, I did make an effort to put a bit of space between us. And it seemed to work, initially at least. But after a while, looking back, we just started getting closer and closer without consciously trying to do so. We ended up working a lot of late nights together, and it’s so effortless to be myself around him . . . We couldn't help but talk and joke. And, it's been so, so easy to talk to him. It's like we've been friends for years and we’re on the same wavelength, you know?”
“Yeah, I get it. It's easy enough to fire small talk back and forth with a guy, but to find one that you can really have a proper, in-depth conversation with. Well, that’s hard.”
“Exactly, right? Guys you can talk to easily with aren't exactly a dime a dozen. In fact, these days, they're pretty darn rare.”