Millie
Walking into the office felt like the walk of shame. Even though I had on clean clothes and had showered, I felt as if everyone could see that last night I’d had a one-night stand with a hunky asshole.
“Millie, there you are!” Olivia jumped up from her desk as soon as I walked through the door. “How was yesterday?”
“Don’t even ask,” I grumbled, following her through to the break room.
“That good or that bad?” She grinned as she took in my appearance. “I want to hear everything.”
Birdy jumped out of her chair and called out to everyone in the office. “Millie’s here, guys!”
I stifled a groan as Jane and Magnolia got up as well and headed over to us.
“So, what happened last night?” Magnolia’s eyes searched mine.
I bit down on my lower lip. I glanced at Jane, who wasn’t meeting my eyes, and I sighed. I wanted to tell everyone what had happened, but I was embarrassed. Plus, I didn’t want Jane to hear what an asshole I thought her brother was.
“Millie.” Jane seemed to be reading my thoughts as she touched my arm and offered me a sweet smile. “You’re my friend and Marco is my brother, and I’m sure what you have to say might be awkward, but it’s okay. I can handle it.” She made a face. “I’ve known him a long time. I can handle it all.”
“I feel stupid.” I moaned as we walked into the kitchen and took seats. Magnolia hurried over to the side and started to brew some coffee.
“I take it you slept with him, then?” Olivia prodded and I nodded.
“Yes—and yes, it was amazing.” I couldn’t help smiling as I thought about the previous night. “I won’t go into too much detail because I doubt Jane wants to know how well her brother uses his tongue and other parts.”
“Ewwww!” Jane made a puking noise. “I’m going to throw up.”
“I won’t go into too much detail, but it was fun. Like, really fun.”
I paused as I thought back to the previous night. Marco had been an amazing lover, and I couldn’t have asked for more in that department, but how he’d acted around Talia had been a total turnoff.
“But what?” Birdy asked expectantly. “I can totally tell that there’s a but coming.”
“I’m not sure you guys are even going to believe me.”
“Oh shit, this sounds like something we need to hear.” Olivia sat down as well. “What happened, Millie?”
“If I tell you guys, you have to promise not to tell anyone. That means you too, Jane, you can’t tell him that I told you anything. You can’t tell him off or let him know that you know that we slept together.”
“I want to rip his head off already.” Jane made a face. “But I promise not to say anything to him if you don’t want me to.”
“I don’t want him to know that I told anyone what happened.” I rubbed my cheek. “I think he would love me to have told people, so I don’t want him to have that satisfaction.”
“Okay, okay,” Jane agreed. “Now please, tell us just how much of a jerk my brother is.”
“Well, first, let me read you the text message Marco sent me this morning.” I turned to everyone and pulled out my phone. “Hey, Millie, last night was fun. I’ll see you for lunch around noon. If you can, don’t wear any panties and while you snack on some soup and a sandwich, I can snack on you. Just in case you didn’t save my number, this is Big Boy, also known as Marco. Let me know where to meet you.” I finished reading the text and looked around the little group.
Jane looked dumbfounded. “My brother is a fool.” She shook her head. “I cannot believe that’s the message he sent you.”
“Yeah, I didn’t bother texting him back.”
“You have to text him back!” Olivia grinned. “You need to text him back right now.”
“I’m not meeting him for lunch.”
“Why? What happened?” Birdy looked confused. “It sounded like you had a nice night.”
“It sounded hot as hell.” Olivia looked jealous.
“It reminded me of me and Jagger.” Magnolia grinned. “Hot and heavy.”
“What’s going on with you guys, by the way? Do you have a wedding date yet?”
Magnolia shook her head. “We’re still deciding between a couple of dates. Nothing settled yet. And no changing the subject. I want to know what happened. We all want to know.”
“I don’t want to know.” Jane made a face. “Actually, that’s a lie. I do want to know what my brother did to screw this up.”
“So, you guys know my roommate?”
“Talia the bitch?” Olivia asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Yeah.”
“What about her?”
“She came into the bathroom when Marco and I were in the shower.” I blushed. “And she was naked.”
“Oh, hell no!” Birdy exclaimed.
“What happened next?” Olivia asked.
“Marco stepped out of the shower, and Talia hugged him and then propositioned him—”
“Wait, and they were both naked?” Magnolia’s eyes widened and her jaw dropped.
“Yup.” I pursed my lips as I remembered how I’d felt when I’d seen their bodies pressed together. “He didn’t even push her away or step back. He actually hugged her back.”
“Damn it, Marco!” Jane looked as pissed as I felt.
“So, as you can most probably guess, he’s dead to me,” I finished.
“He didn’t even acknowledge what happened in his text, did he?” Olivia looked stunned.
“Nope.”
“I wish I could say I was surprised,” Jane said and squeezed my hand. “Are you okay?”
“I’m okay.” I nodded. “I have to admit I was shocked, and I’ve already started looking on Craigslist for a new apartment. Marco was an ass, but I’m done with that bitch. She has eaten my food, gone through my closets, stolen my loose money, and now she’s making a move on my guy? I’m done with her.”
“I’m sorry.” Olivia stood up and gave me a quick hug. “Let me know if you need help.”
“Thanks.” I smiled at her gratefully. “Hopefully, I can find a place that I can afford without any weirdo roommates.”
“Well, I have some good news,” Jane said quietly and looked around the kitchen. “You cannot let Tate know that I told you because it’s not one hundred percent confirmed yet, but I’m pretty sure we’re all going to get a raise,” she said excitedly. “So maybe you can look for your own place.”
“Wow, are you for real?” My eyes widened. “Are you sure? And what sort of raise? A hundred dollars? A thousand dollars?”
Jane bit down on her lower lip and then shrugged. “More around the fifty thousand dollar mark, per person, per year.”
“No way!” Olivia looked positively giddy and then frowned. “And how is that possible? I’m the accountant, and I know we don’t have that kind of money.”
“Jagger and Tate are going to put more money into the company.” Jane wrinkled her nose. “I shouldn’t be saying anything, but they felt like we all work so hard that we should be compensated more, and I guess they can afford it.”
“Okay, guys, confession time.” Magnolia looked guilty. “I spoke to Jagger about it and he brought it up to Tate. He knows that while we make good money, we don’t make great money, and we live in San Francisco, so it would be nice if we could enjoy what the city has to offer.”
“Wow, that’s so nice of you.” I grinned at Magnolia. “You rock.”
“Well, there’s a perk to being engaged to a rich man.”
“I feel like there are loads of perks,” Birdy said. “Especially one as good looking as Jagger.”
“There are,” Magnolia said. “Trust me, there are.”
“Okay, so that makes things a bit different.” I grinned. “I’ll start looking for studios and one-bedrooms now.”
“Awesome, now what are you going to do about Marco?” Olivia asked. I was about to answer when Tate walked into the kitchen.
“Hey, girls, I pay you to work, not talk about men.” Tate dropped a kiss on Jane’s cheek. “My sisters are coming into town in a few days.”
“Okay, cool.” Jane smiled. “I can’t wait to see them.”
He looked around at all of us. “I’m not sure if Jane told y’all, but my sisters, Rose, Maybelle, and Willow, are moving to San Francisco, and they’re going to be interning here at the office. I’m not sure what help y’all need, but go ahead and start thinking of some projects to give them, okay?”
We all nodded, and Tate looked at his watch. “Okay, everyone, start working in five minutes, and Jane, when you’re done here, go ahead and come to my office, please,” He said and then left the kitchen. We all waited for him to exit before we turned to Jane and winked.
“Morning office sex?” Olivia asked with a laugh and Jane blushed.
“I bet he wants his naughty secretary to bend over the desk and …” Birdy stopped as Jane hit her in the shoulder lightly.
“I’m not his secretary.” Jane scoffed. “And we’re not about to have sex in his office.”
“Are you seriously trying to tell us you’ve never had sex on his desk?” I raised an eyebrow at her.
“I plead the fifth.” She pointed at me. “So, what are you going to do about Marco? Do you want me to talk to him and tell him to leave you alone?”
“No, no.” I shook my head. “I’m going to ignore him for now. I’m not sure if I want to tell him off or not.”
“Okay, well just let me know.” She rubbed my arm. “I know this might surprise you to hear, but he’s not a horrible guy. He’s not smart when it comes to women and relationships, and he’s full of himself, but he has a good heart. I have a feeling that he just didn’t even realize how much of a douche he was being in the moment.”
“Yeah, maybe.” I nodded as I stood up. “Oh well, no time to think about him now. It’s time to get back to work.”
I walked my cup over to the sink and ran some water into it and then headed back to my work desk. As I sat down, images of Marco’s infectious grin from the night before flooded my mind. He was such a charmer, and he’d given me the best sex of my life. Even thinking about it now turned me on.
I wanted to slap myself. The faster I forgot about him and moved on with my life, the better it would be for me.
Olivia sidled up to my desk a few minutes later. “So you’re not going to text him back? I wouldn’t judge you if you did.”
“I’m not going to.” I tried to stand my ground. “Okay, if I’m being honest, I’m telling myself not to, even though I really want to.”
“It was that good, huh?” Olivia gave me a wicked smile.
“It was better than that good. It was amazing. It was the best night of my life. Well, until the shower.” I made a face. “He seriously thought I was going to have a threesome with him and …” I couldn’t even say her name as jealousy surged through me. “And he lied.”
“Oh, shit, what did he lie about?”
“Girl, he made me believe he hadn’t had sex in years, and he had sex the day before he came to SF.” Even as I said it I knew I sounded like an idiot. How could I have believed that Marco hadn’t had sex in years? I really was gullible.
“Oh, no way! He has a girlfriend?”
“No, he had some random foursome with three women.” I felt so much disgust at the thought. “He’s nasty.”
“Millie,” she hesitated then went on, “I’m not defending him, but he didn’t even know you then, and he’s single. I mean, you know men—if they can get their leg over, they will. They’re dogs.” She made a face. “And we already knew he was a player.”
“I know, but it still kind of hurts that he didn’t tell the truth.” I covered my face. “Am I pathetic?”
“No way. I understand, girl.”
“There’s just something about him and his personality. He captivates me.”
“Do you want to see him again?”
“Yes, no, yes … Ugh, I don’t know.” I stared up at her caring face and then nodded. “I’d like to see him again.”
“So then, go ahead and text him back.” She shrugged. “What do you really have to lose? You’ve had sex with him already, right?”
“True.” I laughed. “Oh, man, am I a slut? I gave up the goods fast.”
“You’re not a slut. You met a man you found highly desirable and you slept with him. What’s wrong with that?”
“Yeah, but …” I shrugged. “I don’t know. It just seems like I was a bit easy. There I was telling him no way, not going to happen, and then I spend one day with him and he’s in my bed that night. And he didn’t even spend the night. He didn’t even have to cuddle me and keep me warm.” I sighed. “It feels like it was a wham, bam, thank-you-ma’am sort of situation.”
“Yeah, but wasn’t that because you didn’t want Jane to know?” She rubbed my shoulder gently. “It wasn’t because he was dying to get out of there.”
“Yeah, well, fat lot of good that did. She knows now.”
“It’s better for her to know than for you to keep it a secret.”
“I don’t want her to think that I just disrespected her advice and didn’t listen to her. Which I guess doesn’t really matter because she already knows that I did that.”
“You’re human, girl. It’s okay. Have some fun. We only live once. Maybe you’ll learn something from this whole thing.”
“Maybe.” I grinned. “You’re a good friend. Thanks for checking up on me.”
“No worries, but I better get to working before Tate fires me. Go ahead and text that man back, and we’ll chat later, okay?”
“Sounds good.”
As Olivia walked back to her desk, I grabbed my phone. I did want to text him back. I wanted to tell him off and tell him to leave me alone, but a part of me also wanted to flirt back with him. See what he was thinking. See if he would apologize.
I stared at the screen and my fingers hovered over the keypad. I had no idea what to say. I closed my eyes and pictured him in my mind, his gorgeous hazel-green eyes laughing at me. He was sexy and handsome and a whole heap of trouble.
I knew that if I texted him back, I’d have no one to blame but myself if everything went completely south.