Page 41 of My Ex's Best Friend

"Actually, mind if I tag along? I'd like to see the new office and get a feel for the space before the meeting tomorrow. Plus, I could help out."

Spending the entire day in such close proximity with Kiera?

"You sure about that? I mean, you've got the meeting to prep for."

She grins, determination in her eyes. "I can multitask. Besides, it'll be fun."

"Fun," I repeat, the word lingering on my tongue.

“We can work efficiently together," she insists.

I nod, trying to push aside the slight unease settling in.

It's not just about efficiency; it's about navigating the delicate balance between personal and professional realms with her. Old feelings are resurfacing, and I'm starting to realize that maintaining that separation is more challenging than I initially thought.

11

KIERA

"Alright then.” Jake sounds almost reluctant when he says this. I wonder what happened.

Did I offend him somehow? Is he still stuck on the fact that I ran into him half-naked?

Just the thought of him wrapped in a towel with water dripping down his chest is enough to make me squirm in my seat.

When I look up, Jake is staring at me. “You good?”

“Yeah,” I clear my throat. I can’t be out here openly lusting after my boss.

"Get ready. We'll head out in a bit."

“I’m ready,” I point at myself. “I always dress like I’m going to a meeting.”

He looks me up and down, and I swear it lingers. “That you do.”

I excuse myself to go upstairs and put some finishing touches to my makeup. When I come downstairs, Jake is already waiting for me.

He’s dressed casually, scrolling on his phone.

Is he single? He can’t be. He looks so fine. He said he didn’t have someone here in France but that doesn’t mean that there isn’t someone back home waiting for him, right?

Jake finally looks up.

There’s a kind smile on his face that reminds me so much of our teenage years. He would always be parked right outside my door, and we would drive down to school together. I never had to text him for confirmation. He would always be there for me. I never missed a day of school. And only when he went away to college, and I no longer had his smiling face waiting for me outside, did I realize how much I had lost.

How could a sweet boy like him betray me like that? Because until this day, that was the betrayal that hurt the most.

“Worried about something?” Jake asks.

I was never that good at hiding my true feelings from Jake. But I guess I have to be now.

“No, no, I’m good. Let’s go.”

I watch him walk ahead of me. He may look like my best friend, but he’s no longer the boy I once knew. This Jake is a total stranger to me. Maybe the one I knew faded away when he left for college, when he decided that Chris’s feelings mattered more than mine.

Why did he sleep with me? Did he merely take pity on me? Was I just a drunken mistake to him?

It’s true that I practically threw myself on him. But things were so passionate between us. I’ve never found that with anybody else. Before or since.

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