The Dealmaker (Sex & Bonds 1)

Noted.

“Then one day we’re flying home from this insane weekend in the Bahamas, and out of nowhere he tells me we can’t see each other anymore.”

I drop my glass on the bar. “Not on the plane.”

“Yup. Right there in the second row, for everyone to hear. Guess he thought I wouldn’t freak out if he broke up with me in public? Anyway, he said it ‘wasn’t in our best interest’ to keep seeing each other.”

I slowly shake my head as the pieces come together. “It would’ve been the perfect opportunity to make things official, to bring it all above board so one of you could be moved to a different desk or whatever.”

“Yup.” She takes a long sip of beer. “It hit me how badly I wanted that. How I’d assumed the whole time we were hooking up that that was where it was going. We’re not kids.”

“I can’t imagine how devastating that must’ve been for you. Especially having to show up at work on Monday pretending like nothing happened.”

She blows out a breath, and I want to blow up Aiden’s house and his career too. “It hasn’t been pleasant.”

It’s an understatement. Typical for Nora, I’m learning. She downplays her feelings, her needs, all in service to douches like our boss. I imagine it’s also the only way to advance her career. Women can’t have feelings and be taken seriously in our world.

Those douches like Aiden who make life so damn difficult for people like Nora belong to the same boys’ club I do. I worked my ass off to become a member, but now I’m really seeing what a shitty club it is.

“What a prick.”

Nora cuts me a wry look. “You’re one to talk.”

“I own it. But Aiden walks around like he’s Winston fucking Churchill, charming everyone with his scarves and his stupid ‘oh, I’m a git’ or ‘oh, let’s have a cuppa’ or whatever the fuck British people say about tea.”

One side of her mouth kicks up. “Was Winston Churchill charming?”

“Good question. Let’s investigate when we get back to the hotel. But you see what I’m getting at. Aiden’s a snake in the grass, isn’t he?”

“Maybe. Or maybe I’m just an idiot who ignored one red flag too many. Maybe . . .” She lifts a shoulder. “I wasn’t right for him.”

“Don’t do that.”

“Don’t do what?”

“Blame yourself. Aiden’s a smart guy. He had to have known that sneaking around wasn’t what you wanted. He took advantage of you, Nora. Which means he wasn’t right for you.”

I don’t miss the way her eyes light up at her name, even as her shoulders slump. “But I never told him what I did want. Not explicitly. I was too afraid of losing him.”

“Did he ever mention what he wanted?”

“Well, no—”

“What about ground rules? Did he establish any? Say he wasn’t looking for anything serious?”

“No. He actually talked a lot about settling down, buying a bigger house with a yard. Speaking of Winston Churchill—Aiden said he wanted to get a bulldog. A puppy.”

“He knew that’s what you wanted to hear.” I drain my glass. “He knew what he needed to say to keep you coming back for more.”

“And back I went, so many times and for way too long.” She crumples her napkin in her hand. “I know people judge me for it. They’ll never say it to my face, but a lot of them think I’m up for a promotion because of my relationship with Aiden. It’s embarrassing.”

“They’re the ones who should be embarrassed. You’re up for a promotion because you fucking rock at your job.”

“Well, yeah.” There’s that half smile again. “That doesn’t change the fact some people will always think less of me. Obviously Aiden’s reputation never took a hit, but mine sure as hell did. Sometimes I wonder if guys at work flirt with me—look at me—because they think I’m easy or, you know, interested in that kind of thing. Of course Aiden still gets all the respect in the world, but I have to work for mine every damn day.”

I pour myself another beer, resisting the urge to grab my phone off the bar so I can call this snake and give him a piece of my mind. How could anyone give the runaround to a woman as excellent as Nora?

Then again, isn’t that what I’m doing right now? We haven’t talked about what went down (literally, in my case) last night. To be fair, I didn’t anticipate that happening. I didn’t anticipate her wanting me as badly as I wanted her, so badly she’d let me all but maul her at our hotel pool. But it did happen. And now that I know what Nora wants, what she’s been through, it’s important that I’m upfront about what I want in a way Aiden wasn’t.

Which begs the question: what do I want?