Chapter Six

Lena

“Earth to Lena!”

“Wait, what?” I shook my head, trying to focus on my best friend, who was sitting in front of me.

“What is the matter with you?”

“Nothing. What were you saying?”

“Only that she thinks nudes are art,” Aubrey exclaimed, and I tried to come up with what the hell she was talking about.

“Oh,” I mumbled as I looked at the people sitting around us, my mind drifting to Knox. Why was he never far from my mind? I felt semi-unhinged. Not even Efren Harris, my first crush back in middle school, had taken so much headspace.

“Earth to Lee!”

“I’m sorry, Bee,” I apologized guiltily.

“Is this about the old guy?” she asked, and I ran my fingers through my hair and fought from rolling my eyes.

“What? Knox is not old.” I shook my head at her.

“Umm, okay…” Aubrey rolled her eyes, brushing her jet-black bangs out of her face. “Just saying he’s closer to retirement than us, though.”

“Anyone older than us is,” I pointed out trying not to laugh. “Okay, so, what were you saying?”

“She thinks nudes are art!” My best friend huffed, and I laughed, taking a sip of my ginger ale. My best friend was my other half. She understood me in a way not even my family could.

“Who does again?”

“My boss’s girlfriend,” she huffed, resting her head on her hand. I could see the longing in her eyes for a man who didn’t notice her unless he needed something.

“So, that makes her what? A Vincent Van Hoe?” I winked, and she cracked an odd smile.

Aubrey Rey was many things, but bubbly, or expressive for that matter, wasn’t one of them. It was probably why we got along so well. We had met freshman year in college and had been inseparable since our Sociology 101 class.

“Right?! See, that’s the answer I was expecting from my smart-assy, sarcastic, funny best friend! Come on, Lee, you’ve been a million miles away since old man Hemingway left.”

Knox had come back five days after our night together and had stayed for three.

They had been bliss.

A vacation from life.

It seemed in the day of light and real life, everything was better just being around him. But real life was a bitch. I had work, and he had work, so we had to keep going on without each other.

That had been a month ago. An entire month. We talked and texted, but the time zones and our schedules hardly aligned.

Bottom line: long distance was for suckers.

I knew I should give it up.

I should call it quits. Every time I talked it up in my head and why it made sense to end the possibility, he called, and just the sound of his voice made me wonder how the hell I had survived thirty entire years before having heard his voice. It was exhilarating and soothing, and I was half in love with him already. Which was ludicrous. Who fell in love with a man in the span of five days of actual facetime?

Me. That’s who.

“Old man Hemingway.” I smiled as I repeated her tease, popping a French fry into my mouth. “That’s a good one. I’m gonna use that one on him tonight.”

“Eww, if that’s some weird role play thing… Please tell me more,” she wickedly joked, and we both laughed. “So, come on, Lee.”

“Come on what?”

“You know what. What about this mysterious Knox Madison?”

“Nothing. He’s in Florida for a week, and then I will have him for four entire days,” I shared with a shrug.

“Wow.” The enthusiasm clearly lacked from her tone. “Four days this time, huh?”

“Aubrey—”

“You know this is a booty call, right?” she bluntly said, but I didn’t flinch. It didn’t really hurt. I was actually surprised she hadn’t said it before.

“It’s not,” I quickly and defensively answered. “It’s—” But I stopped talking because I wasn’t sure what we were.

I knew what I wanted.

I wanted more of him.

Knox was everything I never let myself dream about in a man. I knew what he gave and how amazing he was.

Mr. Madison was sweet and smart and funny and perfect for me. But at the end of the day, he was far, far away.

So, I shrugged. “So what if it is,” I answered, not liking the way it sat in the pit of my stomach.

There was something happening between Know and me. I knew that. Calling it a booty call cheapened it.

“Okay, Lena, remember that time you got bangs?” Aubrey asked, and I sighed.

“Bee.”

“And everyone told you how amazing they looked?” she kept going.

“Yes,” I groaned.

“Who told you the truth?” she asked, her skinny arms crossed in front of her chest.

“Aubrey—” I tried to argue.

“And remember when you were looking for a place to buy, and everyone kept agreeing with you about a townhome? What did I advise?” I had to remind myself I loved my best friend.

“To get a house,” I grumbled.

“And was I right?”

“Aubrey—”

“Was I?”

“Yes. From a financial and investment standpoint, the single-family home was for the best. There, you happy?”

“Umm, yeah. Not even a year later, your sister and her boys moved in,” she reminded me, and she wasn’t wrong.

Having owned my own house with extra room had come in handy when my sister had divorced her dipshit husband. I leaned toward Aubrey and playfully glared into her light blue eyes.

“Okay, Madame Aubrey… What does that magical crystal ball say I should do about Knox?”

“Well, after much thought…” She might not be bubbly, but she had a flair for the dramatic. “I think you and the Sugar-Daddy Warbuck’s should have fun.”

“Fun?” I laughed. I loved how we knew one another inside out, yet we still somehow shocked the hell out of each other.

“Lots and lots of sweet, dirty fun.”

“I really shouldn’t have told you about that ice cream sundae.” I laughed.

“Lots of the dirty. Just make sure he’s wrapping it up. I don’t know if sugar babies are covered in—” she kept talking, but I didn’t hear her as I tried to fake my way through the conversation.

Wrap it up.

Shit.

How had I not let it click in my mind when it had happened? We’d had unprotected sex.

A lot of it.

Especially on the days he’d come back, he had been insatiable. So much I teased him about keeping Viagra in business, and then he went on to prove to me how it was all him and not some little blue pill.

Pill.

I wasn’t on the pill. I hadn’t been having sex before I met Knox. I hadn’t been in a relationship for a very long time. So, I hadn’t seen the need.

“Because, come on. How cheesy would it be if this is the point in your life when you get knocked up by accident?” She was still talking, and I chose that moment to listen. “At thirty? Because, come on, babe, you honestly know better than some co-ed, right?”

I did.

I should have, at least.

“Right.” I sipped my ginger ale.

I was drinking ginger ale. My stomach had been queasy, but I had chalked it up to a stomach bug. I hadn’t had my period, but work had been stressful.

“Oh, my God!” She chuckled, her slender frame moving. “Imagine! You would be Knoxed up!” Her eyes widened. “Do you get it? Knoxed up. Knocked up”

“Yeah, hilarious! Keep your day job. I don’t think Don Drapper will be knocking on your door anytime soon for a premier marketing gig,” I mumbled, hoping she couldn’t see the stark fear in my eyes. Could it be?

Knoxed Up.

Shit.

Had he Knoxed me up?

Knox

I couldn’t brush off the how distracted Lena had sounded when I talked to her. Looking at my calendar, I wasn’t looking at appointments and meeting and to-do lists my assistant loved to torture me with. I was looking at how far it was

“Casey?”

“What?” the crotchety woman of only thirty-two answered. I swear anytime I talked to her, it was like talking to a younger Sofia Petrillo from the Golden Girls.

“I need you to clear my calendar,” I said standing up. Looking out my window toward Miami, I heard her come in.

“Don’t start this again,” she groaned.

“Casey.”

“Knox.”

“You know most assistants call their boss by their last name. This is a business. Formal setting and all.”

“And most assistants give a shit and probably get paid a hell of a lot more than I do. I’m not calling you Mr. Madison. Not when I know your dad.” This was the same argument, and anyone looking in wouldn’t get why I didn’t fire her. If I was honest, when it came to work, I’d be lost without grumpy Casey. She kept me organized and on top of every project my father’s company overlooked.

“Just do it.”

“And what would you like me to tell them?”

“That I’m getting engaged,” I said clearly and confidently, no longer looking at my assistant but the small black box sitting on my desk next to a picture of Lena I had printed.

“What?” My eyes popped up to Casey, and I repeated myself. The surprise melted away and what looked like warmth and happiness flared up in her stare.

“You’re getting married?” she asked in a soft voice, one that almost sounded kind.

“Hopefully. If she says yes.”

“Wow.” She put her hand to her lips and walked toward me. I braced. I never knew what to expect from my surly assistant. “I’m super happy for you, Knox!” She cracked a smile and gave me a hug.

Who knew Casey was a romantic at heart?