Chapter Five
Madison
“They’re pimping you out!” Harper says around her cocktail straw.
I choke down my Diet Coke.
“It’s a fucking brilliant idea, though.”
“That’s not what they’re doing,” I say, looking around the restaurant to be sure no one can hear us. We’re in a large booth at Donahue’s sharing appetizers for dinner.
“It kind of is.” Teague puts her hand on my arm. “But there’s a better way of saying it.”
Over the past year these two girls have become my closest friends. I met Teague while planning my wedding. She worked—still does work—with Gabrielle Gallagher, the biggest wedding planner in Beverly Hills, and my godmother. Harper and Teague have been best friends since college. After my wedding disaster, they stepped up and helped me keep it together when my other so-called friends didn’t.
“And what would that be, sweet potato fry?” Harper asks, putting a sweet potato fry in her mouth. Harper is brazen, smart, and beautiful inside and out. She recently started her own foundation to raise awareness for swim safety. Teague is sweet, smart, and just as beautiful. She thrives on happily-ever-afters and plans honeymoons for couples.
“I don’t know. Date for hire? Did you know you could hire a maid of honor or bridesmaids if you need them? Isn’t that crazy?”
“Way crazier than what our girl, Madison, is up to,” Harper says.
I could definitely be a hired MOH. If my job with ZipMeds doesn’t work out, maybe I’ll look into it. I’ve planned a wedding, so I know what goes into it. I know what I appreciated and didn’t from my bridesmaids. I also think it’s probably easier than the dating job I’ve gotten myself into, considering I’m fairly certain the three dates I’ve got lined up are with very experienced guys if their flirtatious messages are any indication. Although, I guess that’s the point of dating apps. Flirt online first. Meet in person second.
Ugh. “Maybe I should cancel.” I cut into a crab cake, one of my favorite foods.
“No way. You are not chickening out.” Harper points her fork at me. “I’m sorry for what I said. You’re doing a cool thing for some curious—and caring—moms. If you didn’t know my brothers, I’d hire you to date them. I’d kill to know what they’re like when they take a girl out.”
I cover my face with my hands. “No way is this turning into anything more.”
“Never say never,” Harper says.
“The moms could refer you,” Teague adds.
“No. No. No,” I say with a shake of my head. “I do not want a reputation for something like this. What if my mother found out?” Beverly Hills can be a small town. Panic rises in my chest. “She’d be mortified.”
Harper pffts. “You’re going on one date with these guys, not fucking them.”
“True.” Teague nods in quick agreement. “And they could be really nice. Have you got the first one lined up?”
“Yes, for next Thursday.” It took me forever to tell these girls what I’d gotten myself into, and there was no way I was moving forward without talking to them first. I’m planning to spread the dates out, one per week. I think it cheapens the date otherwise. Cheapens me. It’s ridiculous, I know, but Henry gutted me with his behavior, and until I start dating one person exclusively, that’s the way it is. I met Henry when I was sixteen and he’s the only boyfriend I’ve ever had, so dating isn’t exactly something I’m good at, or even like, to be honest. I thought I’d be married by now.
“Maddy,” Harper says, her tone softening. “Maybe one of them will sweep you off your feet.”
“Maybe.”
“Or at the very least, be the guy to dust off your vagina,” she adds, a lot more perky.
“Shut up.” My cheeks heat at the thought of getting naked with someone. I’ve been with one person, and hearing Harper and Teague talk, what Henry did with me was very ho-hum. Because he was getting his freak on with other girls. What would it be like to have mind-blowing sex?
“Harper?” Teague puts down her chicken wing, her gaze going over my shoulder. “Did you tell the guys we were here?”
“No.” Harper looks past me, too, her eyes lighting up because she’s no doubt locked in on her guy.
I give a brief turn of my head. “The guys” are Teague’s boyfriend, Mateo, Harper’s boyfriend, Levi, and the guys’ best friend and roommate…Elliot. Otherwise known as my boss. I wiggle in my seat. This is the first time I’ve seen Elliot in a social setting since I started working with him. I’d invited him to dinner the other night with me and Matty out of good manners and been both relieved and disappointed he hadn’t joined us. “I thought they were going to a Lakers game tonight,” I say.
“I guess they changed their minds.” Harper’s eyes find mine. “You said it’s been good working with Elliot, and it’s inevitable that you’ll see him outside the office, but if you don’t feel like—”
“It’s fine.” And what I actually said was it’s been great working with him.
“Hi, beautiful,” Levi says to Harper. “This is a nice surprise.” He gives her a kiss hello.
“Hi, Knox.” Mateo says, using his nickname for Teague before he plants a kiss on her. Then being the good pal he is, he says, “Hey, Mad,” and gives me a kiss on the cheek. He and Levi get comfortable in the booth, and then it’s Elliot’s turn to greet us.
“Hi,” I say, trying to act like he doesn’t affect me when in reality my heart is running a race.
“Hey,” he says, taking a seat next to me. I’ve been this close to him before, but tonight it’s too close for some reason.
I take a slow, deep breath. This is silly. He’s my boss and my friend and there is no reason for this weird reaction to him.
“Looks like we arrived just in time,” Mateo says. “Did you order every appetizer on the menu?” He picks up a celery stick from the plate of wings.
“We did,” Teague says. “We’re celebrating Madison’s new jobs.”
“Jobs, plural?” Elliot questions.
“Teague,” I warn. The last thing I want is to talk about my dating life with the guys here.
Mateo drills me with a look of concern. He’s taken on a big brother role since my breakup with Henry, and his overprotectiveness is sweet but unnecessary. “What’s going on, Mad?”
“Nothing,” I say, hating the way that one word tastes on my tongue. I’ve never been a liar, but this is private.
Elliot turns his head to look at me. The attention is like a magnet, and I’m helpless to keep my focus straight ahead, damn him. “Are you working another job, too?”
Is lying to my boss outside the office grounds for dismissal? Because the past two weeks have been the best I’ve had in a very long time, and I don’t want to lose my job. I never imagined clicking with Elliot like we have. We’ve totally meshed, falling into a professional groove I haven’t had with anyone else. Like we’ve been working together for months, not weeks. Working with him is interesting, challenging, fun even. And ZipMeds is a worthwhile, fascinating, friendly workplace. I don’t want to give it up.
“It’s temporary,” I say, hoping that satisfies his curiosity.
“So is ours.” His words cut through me even though they’re the truth. Does he think I need the reminder? Does he even give one iota about my future? Obviously these past weeks haven’t meant as much to him as they have to me.
“It’s a dating thing.” The second the words are out of my mouth, I wish I could take them back. I said them to…hurt him? See if that bothered him? Show him I have a life outside of ZipMeds and whatever strange vibe we’ve experienced at work means nothing to me? Temporary is fine by me.
A familiar spark of awareness flashes in his eyes, but it disappears so fast, I might have imagined it. “Do tell.”
I look to Teague and Harper for help. Damn it. I have no idea how to proceed. I care what Elliot thinks of me. I care about what everyone at the table thinks of me.
“May I?” Harper asks.
“I guess so.”
“Madison is working undercover as a dating specialist. She dates guys and then reports back to their moms on their behavior.”
“Three guys. I’m only dating three guys.”
“At the same time?” Mateo asks, shocked.
“No. Of course not,” I say. “Three weeks. Three dates. Then that temporary job ends.” I’ll continue with my other temporary job until Elliot tells me otherwise.
“Unless you make a love connection,” Teague offers optimistically. “You’re amazing, Maddy, and one of these guys could fall for you.”
“Back up,” Mateo says. “You’re going on a date to report back to their moms? Why?”
“Hey, guys,” our waitress, Kym, says, stopping at our booth. “Can I get you something to drink?”
The boys order beers on tap, then Harper launches into the quick and dirty version of my dating disaster from the other night.
“Jesus,” Levi says. “That guy should be banned from coming within a hundred feet of the opposite sex.”
“I want to hunt him down and shove a few capsules down his throat,” Mateo says.
Elliot stays quiet.
“So these moms want to make sure their sons aren’t like that,” I say, speaking up because it’s time I own this conversation. These are my friends. I should be able to tell them stuff, even if it makes me uncomfortable.
“I didn’t know your dates were going so badly,” Mateo says.
“They haven’t all been that terrible.”
Teague and Harper frown at me.
“Okay, so maybe they have, but I hate admitting that because then I feel like there’s something wrong with me.”
“There’s nothing wrong with you,” Elliot says adamantly.
I freeze, both pleased and unsettled by his response. Everyone else at the table looks at him like they’re wondering the same thing as me: was that a rote reply to make me feel okay or something more? Mateo shoots him an especially odd kind of scrutinizing look.
“What? I’ve worked with her for a couple of weeks, I know she’s not the problem.”
Okay then. Good to know I’m not a thorn in his side.
“That’s right,” Levi says. “Madison, you probably deserve a medal for putting up with him.”
“And a raise,” Harper adds. She knows how hard I’m saving so I can move out of my parents’ house.
“It’s been ten work days,” Elliot counters.
“And who was the last assistant to go that long?” Levi asks with a knowing smile. These guys are the closest of friends and have been for a decade, so I imagine Elliot’s complained about work now and then.
“Can I talk to you for a second?” Elliot says to me. “Alone.”
“Uh, sure.”
“You better be nice to her,” Harper says as we scoot out of the booth.
“When am I ever not nice?” To prove his point, he helps me to my feet. It’s not calculated, it’s natural. Then he puts his hand on my lower back to guide me around the busy restaurant. Heat burns through the sweater I wore to work today.
We land at the end of the bar, a dimly lit corner with one available stool. He motions for me to sit. “Can I buy you a drink?” he asks.
Since my nerves are doing jumping jacks in my stomach, yes he can. “Okay.”
He waves the bartender over. The guy behind the counter is attractive and greets Elliot like he knows him. I order a tequila sunrise. Elliot orders a beer. He’d yet to receive his drink at the table.
“This is weird,” he says.
I let out the breath I was saving for later, happy I’m not the only one who is restless. “It is.”
“It shouldn’t be.” He leans his elbows on the bar. Like me, he’s still in his work clothes. His shirtsleeves are rolled up. His collar is loose. He smells really good, a mix of man and some kind of cologne. His hair is finger-combed sexy, and I wonder if it’s as soft as it looks. “I don’t want it to be.”
“Me, either.”
He shifts, rests his side against the counter. Electric-blue eyes fringed with dark lashes hold me in place. “So let’s not let it. We work great together, and I don’t want to do anything to jeopardize that.”
“Agreed. So, maybe when we’re not at work, we just forget we work together?”
“I can do that. What’s harder is forgetting we’re friends, too, while at work.”
I swallow. The way he’s looking at me…I think the attraction I feel isn’t one-sided. My heart starts to pound.
“I like you,” he says.
And my heart pounds double-time. “I like you, too.” But even if he weren’t my boss…he’s a million miles out of my comfort zone. I’d never be enough for someone like him. Someone far more experienced than I am—in love and life. I’ve heard enough stories from Mateo, and I’ve seen him with enough different girls over the years to know Elliot Sax is a playboy and isn’t interested in anything serious.
“Sometime this week, though—I take that back—I know exactly when. On Wednesday morning when you presented me with a month-long agenda divided into three sections that included strategy, growth, and investor management—we became a team.”
A huge smile splits my face in two.
“And correct me if I’m wrong, but I think you’re happy at ZipMeds.”
“I am. Very.”
“So friends it is, with the caveat that I am your boss, and there’s a line there we have to be careful of.”
“Right,” I say, realizing he likes me, but he doesn’t like me. Which is for the best.
“I have no idea what you get paid, but I’ll look into it.”
“That’s not—”
“I also want to make your position permanent.”
“You don’t have—” I stop myself. “What did you say?” Before the grin taking over my face gets too big again, I need to hear that one more time.
“Here you go.” In my periphery, the bartender puts our drinks down. Without taking his eyes off mine, Elliot picks up our glasses. He hands me mine.
“Congratulations, Madison.”
“You want to hire me full-time?”
“If that’s what you want.”
“Yes, it’s what I want.”
“Then we have ourselves a deal.” He clinks his glass to mine, then takes a big gulp of his beer.
I watch his lips move, his throat work. It’s sexy and—I dart my gaze everywhere else but at his face while I take a sip from my tiny straw. One sip turns into two, turns into three. I’m just going to drink the whole yummy thing. When I lift my eyes to his, I find them lasered in on my mouth. My breasts grow suddenly heavy. I ache between my thighs. It’s like he can command my body to respond just to his regard. This is bad.
But feels so good.
“Elliot?”
We both turn. A beautiful woman a little older than us smiles at him. “I thought that was you.”
“Michaela. Hi. How are you?”
“I’m good. You? I miss you at Goldman. My trips out here aren’t the same.”
They smile at each other. It’s small, almost unnoticeable, but that makes it worse because it means they share a secret, and I’m guessing it’s a sex secret. Whatever I was feeling a minute ago comes to a screeching halt. Sitting here is now painful.
“I’m great.” He blinks as if just remembering I’m a mere foot away. “This is Madison. Madison, this is Michaela. She’s in HR for the firm I used to work for. She’s based in New York, but makes her way out here a few times a year.”
“Nice to meet you,” I say.
Michaela looks back and forth between Elliot and me before settling her big brown eyes on Elliot. “You, too.”
“Madison and I work together.”
“Oh?” she says with a raise of her perfectly sculpted eyebrows. She’s dressed like she stepped out of the pages of Beautiful Corporate Woman, not that that’s a real publication. But if it were, she’d be on the cover. “You don’t mind if I steal him away, then, do you?”
I wait for Elliot to tell her “no” since she’s looking directly at him when she asks the question, but he doesn’t say anything.
He doesn’t even spare me a glance. I guess our celebration is over.
It’s stupid to feel disappointed, but I do. Elliot doesn’t owe me a thing, but once again I come in second place. I slide off the stool. “Not at all,” I say. “In fact, you can take my seat.”
“Madison,” Elliot says to my back.
With all the sounds in the restaurant, I pretend I don’t hear him and keep walking.