I’m standing in the middle of a group laughing at my friend Anya’s impression of one of our co-workers. Her impressions are always spot on and believe it or not, most of her targets are a great sport about it. Wallace, today’s unlucky pick, just rolls his eyes and finishes his beer before telling us he has to go. I wave at him before taking another swig of my beer.

Well, this is what I’m doing in reality. But in my mind, I’m back in the doorway of a bar bathroom staring at the biggest dick I’ve ever seen.

Unfortunately the biggest dick I’ve ever seen is attached to the biggest dick I’ve ever met.

He’s handsome, I have to admit that. With coal black hair, eyes as blue as the sky and cheekbones that could cut glass, he’s objectively beautiful. It almost makes me grumpy to admit that there’s good reason women throw themselves at him.

Doesn’t make me hate him any less.

“You hoo! Earth to Mya!”

I tune back into the conversation to find Anya and everyone else staring at me. Heat rushes to my cheeks. The last thing I need is for them to figure out why I’m spacing out. Anya would never let me hear the end of it and I definitely don’t want to be the subject of office gossip. I love her but she can’t keep a secret.

To distract them, I raise my beer in the air. “Next round is on me!”

At my announcement, everyone heads back to the bar, no doubt to put more half-priced beer on my tab. Not that I mind that much. It’s a company-sponsored event so Mirage is picking up the tab, not me personally. The whole reason we have these office happy hour events is to encourage camaraderie and make the junior staff members feel like valued members of the team. Now that I’m leading my own team, this is part of the job. I smile at the thought.

I’m leading my own team at only twenty-eight years old. Ever since I moved to Washington D.C. five years ago this has been what I’ve been working toward. One step closer to owning my own advertising agency one day. The only thing that could possibly stand in my way is currently sucking down cheap beer while flirting with the same bartender who just had her hands down his pants.

Milo started at the Mirage Agency a full year after I did. We weren’t always openly antagonistic towards each other. In the beginning, we were almost friends. Before he was hired, I’d spent the last twelve months busting my ass and taking on every client, no matter how big or small, to prove to James that I could handle one of the agencies core accounts on my own. I’ve always specialized in beauty and luxury brands and I was ready to branch out to handling a major client on my own. The Adler account, a premier jeweler, was the perfect opportunity. I wanted that account so badly. Which was something that I made the mistake of confiding to Milo.

And how was I rewarded? By watching him pitch an idea for the account to James. An idea James loved so much that he gave the account to Milo.

Ugh.

Anya steps in my field of vision, cutting off my death glare aimed at Milo’s back. “So are we going to talk about why Milo came out of the bathroom with that chick who got our beers? Right after you came out?” Then her gaze turns speculative. “Ménage?”

My jaw drops so fast it almost hurts. “Um, no thank you. I walked in right as the festivities were getting started. Or ending. I honestly couldn’t tell.”

Her eyes round. “Did you see little Milo?”

I take another sip of my beer to cover the disgruntled snort I can’t hold back. Little Milo. Too bad it wasn’t little because that would give me more ammunition in our war. But unfortunately no, the office playboy has a dick as big as his ego. Not that I’d ever tell him that. The ego in question needs no stroking, believe me.

“I didn’t see anything,” I lie. “Besides it’s not like I’d want to subject myself to seeing that anyway. It’s bad enough having to see his face everyday.”

“Right. Of course not.” Anya gives me a look that says she sees through my bullshit but isn’t going to call me on it. Smart call considering that her crush on our divorced boss is well known around the office. “I guess we’re also not going to talk about the fact that he’s currently talking to Seth Barrington’s fine ass over at the bar. How does he always get the best-looking clients?”

I roll my eyes and take another begrudging sip of my beer. It’s the same one I’ve been nursing all night. Rule number one of office happy hours is not to actually drink a lot. Most of the junior associates haven’t learned that lesson yet but even when you’re off the clock, you’re still being judged. And James does pop in to these things every once in a while. It would be just my luck that he’d choose to show up tonight while Milo is showing off his friendship with Washington D.C.’s own self-made Midas, Seth Barrington.

“He’s just showing off in case James shows up,” I reply when it becomes clear that she’s not going to let this go. As expected, the mention of James shifts her focus completely.

Anya pulls the bottom of her silk blouse down slightly. “Did James mention that he’d be stopping by? He hasn’t come to Happy Hour in ages.”

“No, he didn’t say anything to me. But who knows if he said anything to Golden Boy over there.”

“He’s probably still stressing over that new client.”

My ears perk up. Since Anya works directly for James, she always has the scoop on what’s coming down the pipeline. Technically she’s not supposed to talk about it but for someone who loves gossip as much as she does, that’s more like a recommendation than a rule.

“New client? Anything I’d be interested in?”

She purses her lips. “James will kill me if this gets out. But it’s definitely something you’d be interested in. All I can say is, all that wedding research you did last year might come in handy now.”

At the mention of my ex all the beer in my stomach curdles. Thankfully I’ve always been discreet around the office so tons of my co-workers didn’t even know I was engaged. It made it easier to come back to work the day after my fiancé told me that settling down with me felt too much like “settling”.

Asshole.

“That’s all you can tell me? I’m not sure how my old Pinterest boards are going to come in handy to woo a client.”

Anya wants to tell me, I can see it in her eyes and by the way her mouth is one thin line. Like she’s physically holding her lips closed so she doesn’t spill. But we’re friends and I don’t want her to get into trouble so I shrug.

“Okay, I will just have to trust you. Maybe some good will come from my fiancé dumping me after all.”

She squeezes my arm. “It will. This one is perfect for you, Mya. You’re going to nail this one. Milo won’t know what hit him.”