Madison reached up into the cupboard and pulled out two coffee mugs. “Listen, there’s worse things in the world.”
“This isn’t funny!” I gulped down a scalding swig of espresso, then hopped up on the counter to wring my wet hair out in the sink. “’Come to London,’ they said. ‘Live on the fucking waterfront,’ they said. ‘It’ll be beautiful!’”
Madison raised her glass pragmatically. “In their defense, I’m sure it was beautiful for the three full days you lived there before the thing came apart at the seams.”
My eyes narrowed as I took another steaming sip. “Madison, I sure do think an awful lot about killing you, even though we just met.”
She nodded, as if such a sentiment was par for the course. “My nanny tried. When I was in the fourth grade, that old witch came at me with a spatula and a pair of oven mitts.”
“Oven mitts?”
“Yeah. She didn’t want to leave any prints.”
I looked at her quizzically, wondering if the tale was true or not. Given the woman’s personality, it wouldn’t surprise me. At the moment, though, I had slightly bigger fish to fry. “It took me four months to find that place,” I said with a groan, sinking into a chair by the table. “Not only that, but it’ll take them forever and a day to wire the deposit money back to me. What the hell am I supposed to do in the meantime, stay in some two-bit motel? An alley?”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Madison said brightly. “I’ve got plenty of room here.”
My eyes snapped up in shock, and I looked at her as if she couldn’t possibly be serious, though I secretly hoped she was. “Huh? Stay here, with you?”
Even as I sat in her kitchen, the thought never crossed my mind. I thought I was just there to dry off and collect my thoughts, and now she was talking about us being roomies.
“Yeah, dummy, with me.” Her face lit up as if fate had dealt her a perfect hand, as if things couldn’t have worked out better if she’d planned them herself. “It’ll be good to have another person rattling around in this big house. For so long, it’s been only Ronald and me.”
My eyes snapped shut, but I wisely chose to say not a word about her personified suit of armor. It was bad enough that I caught the woman actually talking to it one day while she was brushing her teeth.
“That’s an incredibly sweet offer, Madison. Really. I can’t even believe it, but I couldn’t possibly impose. I can’t just—”
“You can and you will, Delilah Alexis Jones, and I will absolutely not take no for an answer.”
I paused for a moment, then uttered, “Not sure where you got your intel, but, uh...my middle name’s not Alexis. I—”
“Well, whatever the hell your name is, you are moving in here, and that’s final.” She folded her arms firmly across her chest, the way she always did to indicate things were going to be her way. “Furthermore, if I catch you looking for another place on the sly, I shall take it as a personal slight and begin plotting my revenge. Do I make myself clear?” she asked, her face stern but her eyes full of smiles.
I couldn’t stop my worried face from turning up in a smile as well, and I threw my arms around her neck. “Thanks, Madison.” I wiped a single tear from my cheek as my body dared to relax for what felt like the first time in hours. “Seriously. Thank you.”
* * *
Just like that, everything changed. In an instant, our unholy partnership sailed to new heights. We swelled our client list, bolstered our sales, and blossomed a great friendship all at the same time.
Weeks went by, and during those weeks, I remained focused on the company rather than thinking about the man in charge of it. I kept my head down in the hallways, sat in the back at meetings, and generally kicked ass with Madison each and every day.
The senior partners were thrilled with our performance, and one of them even began calling us the Dynamic Duo, to which Madison insisted on making some kind of remark about showing up at work in spandex body suits and green tights. They claimed they had never seen such dedication before, that our raw, natural talent was unmatched. The two of us were a match made in corporate heaven, and it wasn’t long before we were taken off the smaller cases and offered larger accounts instead. Because of our efforts, paychecks and bonuses increased all around, so not one person in the entire building, so almost everyone was thrilled.
Almost, because the CEO himself did seem to have a bit of a problem. In the weeks that followed my move to Madison’s place, Robert tried feverishly to do all sorts of things to garner the attention I refused to give him. He wasn’t exactly the begging type, but his humongous pride didn’t stop him from making little advances and making propositions that secretly haunted me day and night, even as I pretended they didn’t. I knew he wasn’t the man for me.
From the flowers on my desk to the candy in the breakroom to the million alleged misplaced documents that forced me to visit his office, he made a concerted effort. As it turned out, those documents were his worst mistake, because every time I walked into that office and set them on the desk, I was reminded of what I’d seen and heard there. The place still reeked of the tasteless blonde who was bent over the front of that desk and the thoughtless way he discussed her afterward, not moments before he shamelessly laid claim on me.
Regardless, I couldn’t seem to get the man out of my head. Our night was far too magical to simply throw it by the wayside. I fell under his spell, and that wouldn’t simply fade from my mind. Part of me was always with him, still up on that fateful roof. No matter how many times I tried to walk away from him, that stubborn piece wouldn’t let me go.
I decided just to keep that night a wonderful memory. The only one night stand I’d ever have. I would never do that again.
Chapter 20
“Robert asked me out on a date,” I said. “I told him no.”
Madison smiled. “Listen, I’ve got an idea. I’m having a dinner party and I was thinking we should invite the handsome CEO.”
“Invite Robert? Why? You said he’s an ass.”