I sat at my desk, sipping on the iced Starbucks vanilla sweet cream coffee that I had ordered this Wednesday morning. The night had been worth it, but I was as tired as a dog now, and I had to at least feign working, especially the way Steve had been on me lately. I was contemplating working on some ad copy he’d wanted me to brainstorm, but instead I pulled up Jake’s Instagram page.

It felt a little surreal pulling up a gorgeous man’s page with whom I’d lost my virginity to the night before. In the classical sense, as Jake had so diplomatically put it. I had no idea how he’d gotten me to say some of those things, but it hadn’t felt strange saying them. On the other hand, it felt like a whole new world had been opened up to me where I could be another form of myself; a liberated version of myself.

But only with him.

The picture of Jake and Tate was such a contrast to all of the other thumbnails. It was literally the only one where he was smiling and not trying to look like a cocky asshole.

I clicked on the thumbnail to see if the picture had gotten any action since I’d posted it the night before.

What I saw made me nearly spill the second half of my iced coffee all over my tank top and shriek with surprise.

Of course, Steve walked by right then.

“Everything okay?” he asked.

“Uh, yes. I mean, more than okay!” I said, unable to contain my smile.

He frowned just as Amy walked over to my cube.

“Andrea, you okay? Oh my God, you spilled coffee all over you!” Her eyes went from my wet tank top to the screen. “Dear God! This picture of Jake Napleton has over three million likes?”

I beamed with pride. “Yes. It does. Jake’s finally taking some of my advice. I’ve gotten to know him a little bit, and he’s not such a frat bro after all, it turns out. He actually does have a soft side.”

Steve laughed. “Ha! Soft side. That’ll be the day. Look, I’m as impressed as anyone that you were able to pull the wool over everyone’s eyes with this picture. I mean, come on! Jake playing with a cute little mop-headed kid who also happens to have the same jersey number as he does? Jesus, Andrea. I said re-brand, not Photoshop cute kids for sympathy pictures.”

“These aren’t Photoshopped,” I said through gritted teeth.

“Yeah, whatever. And I have this head of hair without using Rogaine. Hey, it works either way. That’s all that counts, sweetheart.”

My blood boiled. Steve had just discredited the single most important part of my campaign. But worse, he called me sweetheart.

“Uh, Steve, sorry to interrupt,” Amy said, eying me and then Steve. “But the reason I came over here was that Marge in accounting was asking for you. Something about the Catalina Wine account?”

Steve eyed Amy suspiciously. “Of course. I’ll be right over.” He seemed to say the words begrudgingly. He turned to me one last time. “All I’m saying is that if this re-branding campaign comes crashing down, it’s your ass, not mine.”

I gulped and nodded.

Once Steve had walked away a safe distance, Amy half-sat on my desk. “Even when you do right you do wrong! This picture is incredible.”

“I know,” I said, shaking my head and using a paper napkin in vain on my clothes.

She looked around, as if checking to see if someone would be walking by, leaned closer to me, and spoke in a low voice, “So how did you get that picture anyway? It is a little tough to believe.”

“Well, the night that I stalked Jake I—”

“You stalked Jake?” Amy exclaimed, eyes bugging. “What?”

“Well, only because Steve wanted me to,” I said, a little defensively.

Amy had a confused look on her face. She shook her head. “I don’t follow.”

“It’s not important. Just know that Jake actually is a decent guy at heart. Even if he does feel the need to punch people out once in a while.”

The corners of Amy’s mouth curved upward in a wry smile. “Yeah. He specifically feels the need to punch guys that get close to you.”

I shook my head and rolled my eyes a little.

“Oh come on,” Amy continued, not buying it. “Something is going on.” She made a gesture to my rumpled outfit. “Never mind that you actually got through to him if that pic is any indication, but you seem different, too…”

I didn’t want to kiss and tell. But if I couldn’t tell Amy, who could I tell?

“I’m going to tell you something, but you cannot tell anyone else. I’m swearing you to secrecy.” I arched an eyebrow, inviting her to reply and indicating just how serious I was about keeping this on the down-low.

She raised her right hand and placed her left on my iced coffee cup.

“I, Amy Kershaw, do solemnly swear that I will never tell a soul what you are about to tell me.” She dropped the serious act and leaned toward me with an excited grin. “Oh God, now please tell me. Tell me the dirty details.”

I waved her closer to me and cupped my hand around her ear like we were back in second grade playing telephone. “We did it. Like, all of it.”

Her eyes widened. “Get out!”

I pursed my lips and nodded. Her jaw dropped. “So? How was his…ahem…unit?”

“Can we talk about this later? I’ll fill you in, I swear. It’s just…” I looked over at the screen of my computer, then back at where Steve was standing a few cubicles away, still talking to Marge in accounting.

“I know, I know. You feel like you’re on your last straw here. Well, three million likes, shoot, if that doesn’t get you out of Steve’s doghouse, I don’t know what will. Good job on that one, Andrea. Drinks after work?”

I nodded. This seemed like one of those “you only live once” moments. God, the city was turning me into a happy hour girl.

Besides, who cared if Steve didn’t appreciate my hard work? The fact that Jake had gotten so many likes was clearly evidence that my re-branding plan was working. If Steve couldn’t figure that out, tough beans.

For once in my life, things were starting to look up. I was succeeding at my main project, I was meeting Amy for drinks again like the tough city girl I was becoming, and I had a sort-of boyfriend.

Or, shoot, maybe it was too early to talk about him like that. But with everything that had happened between us, there was no denying something more than just pure physical attraction.