His Big Offer

—How to Spice Up Your Sex Life, Heartmakers.com

The next few days pass in a whirlwind of writing and kissing and secret exchanges. I have my first photoshoot, and even though I’ve never loved photos of me, Emily was right. Jeffrey is a genius who makes me look amazing. And Emily was sweet to me the whole time at the photoshoot, without a hint of the weird jealously I thought I had sensed.

In between working on articles, Chance will pop into my office and sweep me off to lunch, or into his office where we’ve nearly been caught doing naughty things twice more. And once to the floor below ours to a dark and empty conference room where he took me on the table until I was screaming. He claims that no one works close enough to that room to have heard me, but I’m not sure that he’s not just saying that to make me feel better.

And on top of that, the first article debuted to rather ridiculous success. With Heart Makers being in the news and advertised everywhere, the post went viral. The comments have been crazy, but mostly positive. It’s strange how everything has fallen into place. Part of me thinks that because everything is so perfect, the other shoe has to drop at some point. But for now it’s great, and even though it’s been barely a week, I feel like I’m living a whole new life.

I do feel a little guilty that I still haven’t told Alice about Chance. I don’t want to see the disappointment on her face that I did the exact thing that I said I wasn’t going to do. And even though Chance says secrets never lead anywhere good, I want this to stay quiet for a little while. I will tell her, but I’ve never had something like this before, and I want to enjoy it for a little bit before I spill all the gory details to her.

On top of that, now that I’m making money, I’m making plans to move out and I don’t know how to tell her that. I’m sure she’ll be happy for me, but as cramped as her apartment is with the two of us, and even with the inconvenience it sometimes causes, we have a really good time living together. I don’t want to spring moving out on her along with the new boyfriend. It might make her feel like I’m just moving on entirely, which couldn’t be further from the truth.

I grab some coffee from the break room, waving to some people hanging around, and head to my office. The fact that I now have a routine is really comforting to me. I’ve always liked structure, but I hadn’t realized how much I needed it until I started coming in here every day. It settles my mind. I sit down at my desk and check the emails that came in overnight. There’s one from the PR department that immediately catches my eye.

It’s letting me know that someone is spreading a story about me, and linking to Rock Bottom Caroline. They want to know if they should delete the comment, even though the poster has spread it to multiple places. We haven’t been secretive about the fact that I’m the same writer. Views for my blog have gone through the fucking roof since the first article, and I’ve gotten a lot of messages from people praising how funny and insightful it is. This person…doesn’t agree.

I click on the link which is the original comment on the one-night-stand piece.

Caroline McLean’s bio says she’s a talented writer with a unique view on dating in New York City. It turns out she’s actually just a FAKE BITCH who mocks anyone who dares to write her on a dating site, or even worse, ask her out. She’s not only a dating failure, but cruel. No one deserves to be mocked like the men on her blog, and she should think hard about her next steps. Because actions have consequences.

He includes a link to Rock Bottom Caroline at the bottom of his comment. And even though there are plenty of replies defending me, I get goosebumps while I read it again. This doesn’t sound like a random commenter who doesn’t like the fact that I’m encouraging women to take power in their one-night stands—and there have been plenty of those. This comment feels oddly personal, though I can’t think of anyone who would write it.

I tell PR to delete the comment, and see that the newest article, the one about spicing up your sex life, has been posted. Chance and I agreed that the ending of the first date article needed a little bit more work before we publish it, so we went with the sexier piece first. If it has even half the response of the first article, I’ll be happy.