“This is fabulous.” Codie let out a moan that made me a little uncomfortable. “Can I marry you?”

I laughed as I leaned back in my seat. I patted my stomach, feeling delightfully full. “I think Dorly might have something to say about that.”

“I don’t know,” Dorly countered. She scooped up the last of the peach cobbler I’d made. “For access to food like this, I’d be willing to share.”

“Where did you learn to cook like this?” Codie asked. Her tongue stud clinked against her spoon as she licked the utensil clean. “Your mom?”

“No, Mom was always too busy to do more than heat up frozen dinners or bring something home.” I scraped my spoon along the bottom of my bowl. “She worked full-time, and there were a lot of us kids. We all pitched in, but none of the rest of them could cook. When I was eleven or twelve, I decided to try my hand at cooking. I talked to this old woman who lived across the hall. Mrs. Dressen. She offered to teach me if I’d walk her dog, Puddles.”

“I’d like to send Mrs. Dressen a thank you card,” Codie said.

“Does your secret beau know you can cook like this?” Dorly asked with a sly grin. “And don’t pretend you don’t know what I’m talking about, because you two were top of the gossip chain at the club.”

“Dammit.”

“What’s going on with you?” Codie asked. “I mean, you went from single virgin to dirty dancing with a tall hottie and then heading to a room with him.”

I gulped down the rest of my water. I told them some of what happened in Pecan Grove, but I’d stuck with the work part of things. How I’d gotten exposed. Pansy getting fired. But I hadn’t told them about what I discovered about Cai, or the arrangement we’d come to. Neither one of them knew that Cai was a gorgeous thirty-one-year-old, so when I’d mentioned that my supervisor had stayed with me. For all they knew, he was a balding, middle-aged man.

“The guy at the club was the same guy I slept with there that first time.” I started with the easy part.

“Seriously?” Codie’s eyes went wide. “How did you two meet up again? I mean, the likelihood of you two both showing up at the club at the same time, recognizing each other–”

I held up a hand. “That’s not how it worked.”

Dorly gave me a searching look. “I have a feeling this is a story.”

I nodded. “It is.”

“You need a beer to tell it?” she asked.

“That would be nice,” I said. Alcohol wasn’t called liquid courage for nothing.

She came back with three bottles and settled back onto the couch. She put an arm around Codie and then faced me expectantly.

“When I was in quarantine in Texas, I was talking to Dr. Hunter. He made a comment about the head of the hospital – a woman – flirting with me. I made a joke about my gaydar improving since I started spending time with you. I mentioned you both by name, and that’s when Cai realized that he knew the two of you.”

Both Codie and Dorly were staring at me.

“I figured it out first,” I continued, “but as soon as I said the safe word he’d given me, he knew who I was.”

“Wait a minute.” Dorly leaned forward, eyes flashing. “Your boss fucked you?”

“Dorly!” Codie smacked her girlfriend’s arm.

“Neither one of us knew who the other was,” I admitted. “He told me to call him ‘Sir,’ and I gave him my middle name, ‘May.’ And, if you remember, you guys put bronze glitter in my hair so he wouldn’t have even had that clue, and we both wore masks.”

“Still.” Dorly scowled. “It’s not okay.”

Heat flooded my face, and my usually dormant temper flared. “Then I guess you’re really going to be pissed at me when I tell you that we’ve been fucking since Pecan Grove.”

“Addison,” Codie leaned forward and put her hand on my arm, “we’re just worried about you. Your boss…that’s not okay.”

“He didn’t force me or coerce me!” I snapped. “Cai’s not like that.”

“He’s still your supervisor,” Dorly said, her voice harsh. “You’re an intern. Plus, you’ve been going on about how amazing Dr. Hunter is since you got here. Of course, you wouldn’t see it if he was applying pressure.”

“We discussed it like adults,” I said, pushing myself up from my seat. I had to make them see that this wasn’t a case of someone in power pressuring me to have sex with them. “Everything that happened between us was one hundred percent consensual. Cai respects me and my opinions. We’re friends and co-workers first. Sex is separate.”

“And what happens when one of you wants more?” Dorly asked. “Do you honestly think you’ll be able to go back to working together if…when things end badly?”

“We agreed that when the time came, we would talk about it, and then we would end the sexual part of our relationship.”

Dorly rolled her eyes. “I thought you were smarter than that. No couple breaks up and then works together like nothing ever happened.”

“We aren’t a couple,” I said.

She raised an eyebrow. “So, you’re both fucking other people?”

“No,” I said, facing her, my arms crossed over my chest. “We’re being monogamous by choice. If we ever want to get involved with other people, then we talk about it. We’re both logical, intelligent people. Emotions beyond friendship and respect don’t play a role in what we’re doing.”

Dorly shook her head. “You’re making a huge mistake.”

Codie came over to me and put her hand on my shoulder. “Addison, don’t you think it’s possible that he could be manipulating you? Taking advantage of your hero worship?”

“He’s not like that. Come on, Codie, you’re the one who thought he’d be perfect for my first time because he was a good guy.”

“For an anonymous encounter, yes, but if I would’ve known he was your boss, I never would’ve suggested it.”

I shook my head. “Cai is an honorable, respectful man who would never take advantage of anyone for anything. The fact that he’s my supervisor doesn’t change his character.”

“Shit,” Codie breathed, her eyes wide.

“What now?”

“You’re in love with him.”

“What?” I shook my head. “You’re crazy. We’re friends who work together and have sex. That’s all there is between us.”

“Addison, you need to take a good, hard look at yourself, because if you don’t acknowledge how you really feel, you’re going to get in way too deep, and you’ll be devastated when things end.” Codie wore a sympathetic expression that was somehow worse than her anger. “I know how much you value your work, and I’d hate to see you do something that would hurt everything you’ve worked toward.”

“I’m not in love with him,” I said firmly. “Hell, I don’t even know if I believe in love.”

“It doesn’t matter if you believe in it or not,” she said. “It’s true, and the sooner you accept it, the better.”

She was wrong. She had to be. I wouldn’t have fallen in love with Cai when I knew it would only end with heartbreak. Neither one of us wanted a romantic entanglement. We’d agreed.

Work. Friends. Sex.

Nothing romantic. Nothing emotionally intimate. Freedom to leave at any time without any hurt feelings.

My text tone went off, and I turned away from Codie and Dorly to pick up my phone. It was a text from Cai.

I’d like you to go to dinner with me tonight. There are a few things I’d like for us to talk about.

He wanted to talk.

Was he ending things already, thinking that taking me out to dinner would soften the blow? Or maybe he thought that if we were in public, I’d be less likely to make a scene. How had he met someone else? Maybe he hadn’t met someone. Maybe he’d just gotten tired of me. Or maybe he’d realized that sex with me wasn’t worth the risk for us at work.

And that was when it hit me.

I cared.

I didn’t want him to break things off with me for any reason. I didn’t care about work or what anyone else thought, for that matter.

Shit.

Codie was right.

I was in love with Cai.