Propositioning Love

“What’s the point at this point? We’re both probably going to be fired today.”

Clara takes a sip of her coffee. “You don’t know that. Besides, it’s the principle.”

I roll my eyes at Clara. She’s always the optimist. People are literally packing up their things around us, and yet she still has hope we won’t be fired.

“Okay, no more talking now until I finish this coffee,” I tell her.

She smirks. “A little hungover, huh?”

Yes, I’m definitely hungover, but it’s not from all those shots. No, I have a sex hangover from all the things Bry did to me last night.

My head feels all messed up and body aches in the strangest places.

“You have no idea.”

“Yeah, I don’t,” her smirk sharpens. “Because I’ve never downed a gazillion shots one after the other.”

“Ew, it wasn’t a gazillion. It was only like four…”

“Hey,” Jake, one of the younger guys who works in marketing with me, says as he pops his head over the wall of my cubicle, surprising the crap out of me.

What is it with people today? I just barely manage to keep from spilling coffee all over myself.

“They want everyone to gather in the conference room.”

“Thanks, Jake.” Clara beams at him while I scowl as that black cloud that’s been hovering over my head swells ominously.

Jake bobs his head then disappears.

“Shit,” I mutter and tip my coffee back, wishing it was tequila.

“Oh come on, it won’t be that bad. Suck it up and put your big girl panties on,” Clara says, rolling her eyes as she slides off my desk.

Speaking of panties, I totally didn’t realize I forgot mine at Bry’s until I got back to my apartment. Of all the things to leave behind…

Clara grabs me by the arm and tugs me down the hall, pulling me out of my thoughts. Which is probably a good thing, because my brain is eager to relive last night all over again. It was just so freakin’ amazing, I can’t seem to get Bry out of my head.

And it’s not even the sex that’s got me all messed up. No, it was him. The way he forced me to be in the moment. The way he breached the distance I created. The way we connected like two missing pieces.

If only things were different… If only my life wasn’t a fucking wreck. Maybe, just maybe, we could have more than a one-night stand…

Fuck.

If I wasn’t getting fired today, I’d totally call in sick.

Everyone files into the conference room like we’re heading to the gallows. Everyone, that is, except for Clara.

If only I had a tenth of her optimism, I’d probably wouldn’t worry as much. I’d probably drink a lot less too.

We manage to find a couple of chairs next to each other near the head of the table. Seems like everyone is purposely avoiding this area. They probably don’t want to be one of the first to go.

I’m the kind of girl who likes to rip the Band-Aid right off. I’d rather just get it over with.

“Okay, so you left after… you know… but where were you the last night? I texted you like twenty times,” Clara whispers to me.

Damn. I was hoping spilling the beans about Chad would keep her from pressing me, but it looks like that’s not the case.

“I… kind of met a guy…” I whisper back and watch her eyes go wide.

Shit.

I probably shouldn’t have admitted that. Now she won’t rest until she has all the dirty little details, but how can I lie to Clara? She’d know if I did.

“You met a guy at the club?” she repeats back excitedly, her voice way above a whisper.

“Shush, keep it down,” I hush her, look around, and then shake my head.

It’s so damn quiet in this room, everyone can probably hear everything we’re saying.

“Wait. You mean you met a guy outside the club? Oh my god, where did you meet him? Who is he? Do I know him?”

Again, her voice is much louder than I would like.

Chad walks in and takes a seat at the head of the table. He shoots me an angry look.

My stomach clenches.

I look back to Clara. “We are so not talking about this right now.”

Clara looks at me for a few seconds. Determining I’m serious, she nods her head and then whips out her phone. “Fine. We can talk about it later, but I’m so telling Mason… he’s going to be over the moon!”

“No,” I say with all the alarm I instantly feel. Oh hell no. I snatch her phone out of her hand. “You can’t tell Mason.”

“What? Why?” Clara blinks at me in surprise and then the realization dawns on her. “Oh shit. Did you—”

At this point, I don’t care what it looks like. I slap my hand over her mouth to stop her from blurting it out.