“How’s the job search going?” Payton asked over the rim of her lookalike G&T, which I knew for a fact was just T.

I shifted on my bar stool, crossing one leg over the other. “Great. No—better than great. I interviewed this morning.”

OK, the truth was I’d forgotten about the interview until the voicemail reminder the night before that I had an interview for an admin position at a dentist’s office.

“What does the job involve?”

“Scheduling appointments. Handling billing. We get maybe twenty patients through a day. It’s a small clinic.”

“Sure.”

“You have much experience with children?”

I blinked at one of the two women in scrubs interviewing me.

“Not really. But it’s a dentist’s admin position, right? I mean. I’m not babysitting.”

My interviewers exchanged an amused look. “No, it’s not babysitting. But sometimes a parent will get distracted. Take a call. Go out for a smoke. It’s helpful if you can make sure no one swallows a Lego brick.”

“Right. And how do you do that? Tackle them?”

“No, no. You can’t touch the children.”

“OK…”

“Reason with them. Distract them. Entertain them.”

I laughed, the sound dying off as they stared back at me. “Oh. You’re serious.”

Payton leaned forward. “And how did it go?”

“Oh. You know. Fine.” I reached for the drink the bartender passed me. It was the same as Payton’s, with the addition of a heavy shot of G.

“You sound pretty casual for a woman who’s going to be out of a job in two weeks.”

“If the gala goes anything like I think it will, Avery’s going to land that job blindfolded.”

“I thought you couldn’t wait to be out of here.”

I sipped the drink and scanned the room. The crowd for Throwdown Thursday was thick as always. “It’s not all bad. I get free cookies. Air conditioning, most of the time.”

“Your change of position on Alliance has nothing to do with the man who showed up to his own associates meeting this afternoon with his shirt buttoned wrong.”

I frowned. “Seriously?”

A grin broke over her face. “No, but he might as well have. It took him five minutes to answer a simple question. And I caught him staring off into space more than once.” She leaned forward. “So tell me. Did you?”

“What. Hold hands behind the bleachers?”

“No. Did you fuck hi—”

“Ladies.”

I choked on my drink at the sound of Avery’s voice. I turned to see him standing just behind me.

His tie was gone. The top two buttons of his shirt were undone—a new record.

Excluding this afternoon, when I’d gotten a lot more done than two.

“Charlie told me you were going to be discreet.” Payton glanced at her stomach. “Thanks for that.”

“It’s not a big deal.”

“It kind of is. Remember when Brenda used to work in our group?” My boss frowned. “Exactly. She was supposed to be on the fast track to management. She had a kid, and Hollister decided she wasn’t coming back.”

“They can’t legally do that.” Avery shifted, seeming uncomfortable with the words.

“No. But there are lots of ways it happens. Downsizing. Getting passed over for promotions. There’s more than enough discretion in the system.” Payton sipped her drink.

“Well, it would be a shame if that happened to you.”

“Here here,” I offered, hiding my smile behind my drink.

My friend shot me a curious look while Avery ordered something from the bartender.

“I heard you’re doing an on-air news interview next week,” she said when he returned. “A millennial perspective on modern finance.”

“It was Charlotte’s idea, actually.” Avery glanced at me before his attention migrated smoothly to Payton. “She arranged it with Mallory. We all know it’s toeing the company line. But we’ll take the good press. Once the Sox are in first, Hollister won’t be news anymore.”

I set my drink down. “Payton would be great in front of an audience. She’s charming. And funny. And good-looking.”

Avery raised a brow in my direction. “Good thing I hired you to look after my files and not my ego.”

“No way.” Payton glanced between us, and I tore my gaze away from my boss. “I figured you guys were… But I didn’t think…”

Avery frowned. “What.”

She smiled secretively. “Nothing. I see Emma, and I need to ask her something. Be right back.”

“What was that about?” Avery mused, lifting his drink to his lips.

Tilt was bustling around us. Someone brushed behind me for the bar, bumping me closer to him.

“No idea.”

There’s something different about having a conversation with someone who’s seen you naked. Even in a crowded bar, there’s an intimacy about it.

“So tell me,” Avery started. “What trouble have you gotten into since I saw you last?”

Last being three hours ago, when you came all over my stomach.

“They were supposed to deliver the materials today. They delivered signage for the LGBTQ Alliance.”

“We’re more progressive than I thought.”

I grinned, and his face relaxed a few degrees.

“How about you?” I asked.

“I have a call in to Redpath’s assistant to understand corporate’s exact concerns about the program.”

“Wait, if you don’t get it running, that’s a problem. Because it’s the core of your ‘promote me’ campaign.”

“Exactly. But I’m getting stonewalled by the assistant.” He tapped his glass on the wooden bar in frustration. “See, this is why I need to be director. I can move this stuff along.”

I cocked my head. “Being the boss isn’t the only way to get what you want, you know. Maybe if you showed her you appreciate her.”

“For doing her job?”

“Yes. It’s people like me who let people like you be successful. We can do our jobs fast or slow. If you show people you care, maybe they’ll do it faster.”

“That actually works.”

“Worth a try.”

“Huh.” He nodded at my empty glass, wordlessly asking if I wanted another. I shook my head.

“Monday you’ll have your space to yourself again.” The memo this afternoon had said the floors would be done over the weekend.

I could’ve sworn disappointment flickered through his gaze. “What. Don’t tell me you’re going to miss me?”

Avery rubbed a hand over his jaw, rueful. “I’ll get a hell of a lot more work done.”

I wondered if he was remembering the way I’d pulled his tie down. Then unbuttoned his shirt. Then jerked him off.

He glanced toward my stomach like he was wondering if I’d washed it off.

How many times do you have to hook up before you’re officially messing around?

It sure as hell felt like this was a thing.

On the list of NSFW activities not to be undertaken at the office…this was at the top.

But it was so good.

“What are you wearing,” Avery murmured.

“Excuse me?”

“To the gala in a week.”

“Oh. Right.” The way he demanded made me wonder what he was going to do with that information. If he was just curious, or if he was going to use it for a mental visual tonight in the shower.

I really wanted it to be the second.

“A dress. It’s black. Tight. Ends about here.” I drew a line midway down my thighs, and his gaze followed.

“Where does it start?”

I drew my finger over my clavicle. “Got to leave something to the imagination.”

“Mmm. I have an excellent imagination.”

I went from having my shit together to wet panties in about two seconds.

Avery must’ve read it on my face because his hand found my waist under the edge of the bar, where no one would see. Stroking my side with his thumb.

I didn’t want to be standing here in this bar. I wanted Tilt to fall away, and every last person with it, until it was just me and him. I wanted him to strip off every piece of clothing and put that dirty mouth on me.

“Hey! I’m back.” Payton pulled up beside us, along with Rose.

I blinked out of my fantasy.

“Any plans tonight?” I asked Rose, noticing she was wearing some new heels and had her hair looked more styled than usual.

Rose made a face. “I had a dinner date, but I’m going to have to cancel. I have to run a favor for Armand.”

Avery raised a brow. “Now?”

“Yeah. I’m on probation since I’m a temp.” She flushed. “I shouldn’t even be talking about it. It’s fine.”

We realized at the same time the awkwardness of her venting to the nephew of the man she worked for. The power dynamic was suddenly painfully obvious.

“I want to send all the assistants to lunch,” Avery announced. “Bartley’s. Pick any day next week. I’ll give Charlotte my credit card, you can do your worst.”

“Me too?” Payton asked innocently.

“Nice try. Just the admin staff. Unless you’re offering to help with my expense claims.”

Payton held up her hands. “Not even for lobster rolls.”

“Fine, then.” With a satisfied look, Avery turned and started toward the door.

Rose blinked at both of us. “What’s Bartley’s?”

“Expensive seafood and Italian place,” I offered. “High-end clients only. Or this week, apparently, us.”

The smile stretched across her face.

“It’s Emma’s favorite,” Payton jumped in. “She’s going to freak when she finds out.” She turned to me. “You know anything about that?”

“Nothing. Be right back, OK?”

I wove my way through the crowd to the door. I caught up with him outside on the curb, grabbing the arm of his jacket.

“What was that?” I asked, breathless.

His sea blue eyes lightened as he squinted against the sun. “Appreciation.”

“So where are you going in such a hurry?” I asked, my throat dry. It was stupid, but I wasn’t ready to see him leave.

He pulled his sunglasses from his pocket and slid them on. “I forgot to get my sister a birthday present. She’s going to New York this weekend with friends.”

I remembered the sister I’d talked briefly with on the phone. “You guys deal with the tuition thing yet?”

“There’s nothing to deal with. It’s paid, and she can’t do a thing about it.”

It was arrogant and high handed. But my heart melted a little.

Avery glanced toward the street, then back at me. “Want to help me pick something out for her? As my assistant,” he added.

“I think that’s the first time you’ve asked me to do something.”

“I ask you all the time.”

“You tell me to do things.”

Avery shoved his hands in his pockets. “Fine, if you don’t want to—”

“Give me two minutes.”

I dashed back inside to pay my bar bill and say goodbye to my friends before returning, sliding on my own sunglasses. “What do you usually get her?” I asked as we strode down Newbury side by side.

“Gifting isn’t my strength.”

“No judgment.”

“Bed, Bath and Beyond. Home repair. A phone.”

I glanced over at him; his expression was hidden behind the Ray-Bans. “That’s so responsible of you.”

He shot me a look. “I had to be. My mother had…difficulties. One of which was making decisions.”

His voice grated like he was reliving it.

“What about your father?”

“He left when I was fourteen. Kenna was four.”

“I’m sorry.” My throat burned. “What happened?”

“I don’t talk about it.”

“With me or with anyone?”

“Anyone.”

I focused on the sidewalk in front of me, but I could feel him at my side. “Maybe you should try.”

I thought he was going to change the subject, or stop talking entirely. But half a block later he spoke again.

“They had a complicated relationship. She’d hurt him, he’d hurt her back. But my mother blamed Kenna when he finally left.”

“Why?”

“Because she’d had an affair. And Kenna was the product of that affair.”

He said it matter-of-factly, but I saw his hand fist at his side. “One night I got home after hanging out with a friend and Kenna was sitting in the kitchen with a spilled box of Cheerios because my mom wouldn’t feed her dinner. Another time she left Kenna at the mall.

“But I knew things had escalated the day of the accident. She’d been on the phone in the car, talking to one of her friends. Kenna was in the back seat—not in her car seat, though. My mom drove through a red light and totaled the car. Kenna wound up with a broken arm, but it could have been worse.”

“That must have been terrifying.”

“You’d think so. But it barely affected my mother. That’s when I realized: my mother didn’t want Kenna.”

“What about you?”

“She’d look at me like I was my father. Some days that was good, other days it was bad. So I starting taking over the house, making decisions. Getting groceries. Cooking meals. Managing the budget. Signing Kenna’s forms for school. I didn’t trust our mother to look after Kenna.

“One day she called me on it. Told me to leave. Unless I thought I was a better parent, in which case I should take Kenna and go.”

“An ultimatum?”

He nodded. “She was incapable of making the right choices. Everything she wanted was to make her life better, not our lives. So I took Kenna and went.

“My father had left me enough money for school. I’d saved some thanks to scholarships, and Armand helped me get the job at Alliance. I was able to get the down payment for a townhouse. Kenna moved in with me when she was fourteen. It wasn’t legal, but my mom wasn’t about to challenge it.”

The sun beaming down on us was a stark contrast to the heavy conversation. I took in the other pedestrians on the sidewalk, wondering which of them were harboring secrets like the ones Avery carried around with him.

Like we both did.

“It must have been hard, living with a teenage girl.”

“There were days I questioned it,” he said dryly. “But it was the right thing to do.”

“So you finished law school but you didn’t practice.”

“I could’ve been disbarred for having Kenna live with me without my mother’s consent. But it wasn’t right. I couldn’t uphold rules like that.”

I processed what he’d told me. “If you could go back, would you change anything?”

Avery hesitated. “No. I wanted Kenna to have the same opportunities as me, which is why I’m supporting her school. She works as a camp counsellor every July and August. It doesn’t pay much, but she loves it. She’s offered to take on more than that, but I don’t want her to. She’ll get up and have to work every day for the rest of her life, and it’ll come sooner than she thinks. Through everything she’s been through, she’s stayed tough. And positive.”

“That’s kind of amazing.”

“She is.”

“I meant you.”

His head turned toward me, surprise etched on his face. We waited in silence for the light to change so we could cross the street.

“This is the most I’ve talked about myself in…ever.” He cleared his throat. “Don’t make me regret it.”

“Of course not. Besides, I can’t be the only one you’ve ever talked to.” At his blank look, I went on. “I mean, you must have had girlfriends.”

“No. Just a few women I’ve taken to work things.”

“And you’ve never wanted one?” I was interested. Not fishing.

“Relationships breed dependence. Most successful people put one thing first. Thinking about other people makes you weak. Keeps you from having your head on straight. Anyway, enough about me. You have brothers? Sisters?”

“Two brothers, Matt and Jimmy. Both older. They used to get into a lot of trouble.”

“Only them?” Avery’s mouth pulled up at the corner.

“Oh, yeah. I was an angel. But Jimmy’s getting married soon.”

“You’re going.”

“I’m not sure. There’s a lot going on here.”

He leveled me with a look. “Charlotte, I’m not a monster. You can go home for your brother’s wedding.”

“It’s not that. In fact, it’ll be after I finish at Alliance. It’s just…I left my hometown abruptly. A major scandal.”

Avery waited, and I forced a smile. “I had an affair with a married man.”

The startled expression on his face was reasonable. I’d never said the words to anyone except Payton and my grandparents. Plus, given what he’d shared about hit family…I could understand if he’d hate me for it.

“I know. It’s kind of fucked.” I forced my attention to the pavement in front of us, trying not to care about his reaction.

“I’m not judging you.” His voice said that wasn’t quite true, but I believed he was trying. “But I don’t understand why you would. You could have any man you wanted.”

I slanted him a look. “You think so, huh?”

“You’re smart. Resourceful. Funny. Thoughtful.” He paused. “Beautiful.”

The flush that rose up in my cheeks had nothing to do with the heat. “I was also eighteen. And he lied about not having a wife.” I swallowed the familiar pain that rose up, forged ahead. “Anyway, my grandparents helped me out. Took me in. But today’s not about my family, it’s about yours.”

I could tell Avery was going to push, but we were interrupted.

“Excuse me.” I glanced back at the young woman behind us. “This is so weird, but I have to know…are you Blond Bitch? If not, you look just like her. Can I get a picture?”

I smiled. “Sure.”

I held my bag to a confused Avery as I posed for a selfie with the girl. She grinned and headed off down the sidewalk.

“What the hell just happened.”

“I told you about my social account where I post fashion stuff and review shoes.”

“Fifty thousand followers,” he said, nodding. “But I didn’t realize you were a media personality.” I clicked onto my phone, showed it to him. “BBB,” he read off the profile.

“Boston Blond Bitch.”

He scrolled through my feed. “I’m following you as of right now.”

I rolled my eyes and snatched my phone back. “Don’t. That’s the best part. It’s anonymous. Er, mostly. ”

He’d found the profile on his own and was in the process of scrolling through posts. I knew what he’d see—photos and caustic one-liners about shoes and outfits. What I didn’t know was what he’d make of it.

He pulled the sunglasses down his nose to shoot me a look. “You’re kind of hot, you know that?”

“Shut up.”

“I’m not kidding. Look, this guy Tweeted you a proposal. Does this happen often?”

I laughed. “Nope. And it only counts if it’s in person. Like, with a ring.”

“How many of those have you had.”

“Two.”

Avery shook his head slowly. I tucked my arm in his as the walk sign lit up and we started moving again.

“Come on. Let’s get your sister the birthday present of a lifetime.”