Page 32 of The Executive Assistant

“I wish I could,” I said, “but I have to get up early tomorrow. I’m having brunch with some friends.” And I knew that if I stayed the night, then I’d be…distracted tomorrow morning. As much as I wanted to indulge in morning sex with Cameron, I knew I should restrain myself.

“Alright,” Cameron said. “I’ll call you an Uber.”

I watched him use his phone, something warm and light stirring in my chest. I couldn’t believe this had happened. I couldn’t believe I was in this man’s bed right now.

“Five minutes away. I’ll walk you down,” Cameron told me as he shut off his phone. He got off his bed and held his hand out to me, helping me off the bed so that we could get dressed.

After I put my clothes on, a heavy sensation started to grow in my chest. I didn’t want to leave him, but a lot happened tonight. It wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world to have a moment alone to think.

Cameron walked up to me from behind, zipping up my dress before placing his hands on my hips. He kissed the back of my head, his chest pressing against my back. “You’re welcome to come by anytime.”

I turned around and pecked him on the lips, before taking his hand and letting him lead me out of his apartment.

We stood outside on the sidewalk together, streetlights combatting the darkness of night. He put his arm around me as we waited for my Uber to show up, holding me like he didn’t want to let me go.

“I’ll see you on Monday,” Cameron said.

Right. We had to go back to work soon, which meant we had to act like all of this had never happened. It would be difficult to pretend like nothing had changed over the weekend, but I was already used to hiding my feelings.

“Come over to my place after work,” I said, the idea suddenly sparking in my mind.

He nodded and smiled. “Alright,” he said.

I smiled too, but it faded when a white sedan rolled to a stop in front of us. We parted ways, shooting each other a bittersweet look. I wanted to kiss him goodbye, but what if someone saw? What if the Uber driver somehow knew us?

Stop it, Alison. You’re being paranoid.

As I stepped into the Uber and put on my seatbelt, I told myself that I’d have to learn to manage my stress about our arrangement. It would either make or break us in the end. We would either fight hard to have something that worked, or it could end in disaster, burning us both.

CHAPTER TWELVE

I had to drag myself to brunch the next morning. I was excited to see my friends and catch up, but I hadn’t gotten much sleep. I thought I’d fall asleep as soon as I crawled into bed, exhausted and sated by everything that had happened, but instead my mind stayed awake, racing with hopes and worries.

“Whoa, you okay?” Emilia asked as I dropped down into my chair at the round, wrought iron table outside of Sunny Side Eatery.

I pulled off my sunglasses, grimacing as the late morning sunlight burned my sensitive eyes. “Yeah, sorry. I didn’t get much sleep last night.”

“Work?” Brooke asked, shooting me a sympathetic look.

I shook my head. “No, not work for once.”

Emilia raised an eyebrow at me. “What is it then?”

Before I could answer, the waitress came over to take ourorders. I ordered a mimosa and a spinach and mushroom omelet for myself, then Emilia and Brooke ordered.

After the waitress left, they gave me confused looks.

“If I tell you,” I began, “you have to promise to keep it a secret.”

“Of course,” Brooke said. “When have we ever spilled?”

That was true. We’d been friends for years, sharing all kinds of secrets, and none of us had ever betrayed each other by sharing secrets. I took a deep breath, knowing I could trust them.

“I slept with Cameron last night.”

Whatever they were expecting, it wasn’t that, because their jaws dropped.

“What?” Emilia gasped.

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