“I don’t want to suck on the lollipop,” I frown at the receptionist. She’s holding it out by the stick, offering it to me.
“It’s delicious,” Heather says. “You should try it. Just try a taste.”
“Absolutely not. It’s not professional to suck on lollipops at work.”
“You can suck on other things at work,” Heather says.
“You can suck on anything,” Diane, one of the engineers, adds with a chuckle.
“You two are insatiable,” I say, throwing my hands up.
“Insatiable or incredible?” Heather licks the lollipop slowly.
“I say incredible,” Diane swipes a couple of lollipops from the jar on the desk and disappears down the hall to her office. As one of the few female engineers in the office, she’s learned to hold her own pretty damn well. She also doesn’t give a fuck what anyone thinks of her, which is one of my favorite things about her.
“Lollipop?” Heather offers once more, and I finally take one, tear the wrapping off, and shove it into my mouth. “It’s good, right?”
“Yeah,” I manage to mumble despite the candy lodged in my mouth. “It’s pretty good.” Too good, and sucking on it makes me think of sucking on other things, and that’s not something I need to be thinking about right now.
I do not need to be thinking about sucking on anything right now. The only thing I need to do is figure out how the hell I’m going to follow through on this fucking dare from Stephanie.
Seduce Parker.
That’s it.
Seduce him. Kiss him. Sleep with him. That’s not so bad, right? It’s not such a bad thing. He’s attractive and he’s nice. He’s funny and smart and attentive. He’s a good friend. He might be the best male friend I’ve ever had, but then again, that’s the problem, isn’t it?
People always say you shouldn’t date your friends because it’ll ruin your friendship. They always say you shouldn’t date people you actually like, people you enjoy being around. Stephanie tells me this is a load of bullshit.
“Best friends make the best lovers,” she always says. “Because when you’re comfortable with someone, when you deeply care about them, the relationship actually has room to grow.”
Maybe she’s right.
Maybe she’s right and I’m wrong.
Maybe I should have asked Parker out a long time ago.
Maybe I should have been braver.
Something tells me she knows all of this and that’s why she’s pushing me, pressuring me to make a move now. She knows we’re friends and she knows I’m scared of ruining the relationship. She also knows I have a tendency to engage in destructive relationships.
Maybe she knows I’m ready to grow the fuck up.
I mumble something to Heather and head over to the elevators. AeroKing’s corporate office is housed in a 10-story building located in downtown Weston. I work on the top floor in an office next to Parker’s. As his assistant, I have a great office with a lovely view.
I’m not just talking about Parker.
The building overlooks a small pond and several gardens. There’s a park nearby, too. Then there are the city sights themselves. From the top floor of AeroKing, we can see hotels and restaurants and the core of what makes Weston so unique and beautiful.
I get into the elevator and press the button for my floor. When the doors close, I let out a breath I didn’t realize I was holding.
Everything is going to be okay.
Everything is going to be fine.
So I made a promise to Stephanie I might not be able to keep. So what? It’s just one dare. If I mess it up, it’s not a big deal. I’ve followed through on every other dare, and even if I can’t actually seduce Parker, it’s not like I didn’t follow through.
It just means I failed.
It just means I didn’t get it right this time.
Even as I tell myself this, though, even as I make excuses, I realize that I’m trying to pussy out. I’m trying to find reasons I can’t possibly do this. I’m trying to find any reason that I can’t seduce the man I’m in love with because, well, I’m in love with him.
I’m just a coward.
Parker and I have worked together day in and day out for years. He’s had a few girlfriends and I’ve had a few boyfriends, but neither one of us has been in a serious relationship since he ended his relationship with Janine.
Her cheating broke him and scared me and neither one of us has been the same since then.
I still remember the night he found out, still remember the look on his face at the gala. He caught them together, not even in bed, but it didn’t have to be. They were kissing in a corner and thought they were being discreet, but he saw their shared moment.
He saw them together and something inside of Parker changed that night.
He told me what he saw and then Parker and I went home. I drove him back to my place because I didn’t know what else to do. He slept in my bed and I crashed on the couch and when I woke up, he was gone.
We never talked about that night.
We never talked about her after that.
We didn’t have to.
The elevator dings as it reaches the 10th floor and I step out. My heels click against the polished flooring as I make my way past the receptionist on this floor.
“Good morning, Rose,” she says with a tight smile. Christina’s dark brown hair is twisted up in a tight bun and despite her cheery tone, I can tell something is wrong.
“Christina,” I say, stopping at her desk. I’m still holding the lollipop in my hand. I realize this suddenly and drop it in the trash bin beside her desk. “What happened?”
She sighs and jerks her head toward her left, my right. There are two hallways: one on either side of Christina’s desk. One hallway houses several offices and a conference room. The other hallway hosts only two offices: mine and Parker’s.
She’s nodding toward that hall.
“He’s in a mood,” she says. “He told me to cancel all of his morning meetings,” Christina looks worried. “I have no idea why or what happened, but I didn’t do it, Rose. We have the meeting with Thomas and Johnson today and we can’t miss that.”
Thomas and Johnson are launching a new airline company and we want to supply their parts. We need to supply their parts. It’s a huge contract and a huge deal. Why would Parker cancel their meeting?
“I’ll talk to him,” I promise Christina.
“The meeting is in half an hour,” she says. She frowns. “You need to get him to go, Rose, and you need to do it fast.”
I nod and open the door to the hallway.
So much for trying to seduce my boss. This morning, I’ve got bigger fish to fry.