Page 40 of Executive Benefits

If I had shoes on, I'd have picked them up and tossed them at him. But it was a good representation of who he was as a person, leaving me to clean up his mess. I went to close the door, but a truck’s headlights caught my attention. It looked like Nick’s truck.

My initial thought that it was him at the back door still lingered, but the truck pulled away and drove off. I didn't know what he saw, but if he saw everything, I had a pretty good indicator of what it was.

The fact that both Nick and Jared showed up at my house when I explicitly told them not to pushed my annoyance to the next level. I knew I wasn’t going to have anything to do with Jared again.

But now I needed to know what I was going to do about Nick.

I closed the door and started back up the stairs trying to ignore the ache in my chest from when I thought about not being with Nick. And I just wasn’t sure what it all meant.

When I got up the stairs, Mia was nowhere to be found. I headed over to the bathroom and knocked on the door. “You in there?” I asked.

“No, you ass, I’m in Antarctica.”

“Just make sure to light a match, lady.”

“Ew. Where do you get your weird-ass thoughts?”

“I learned it by watching you.” I chuckled and went back into the living room. I plopped down on the couch and grabbed my phone only to see a few messages from Nick telling me he wanted to spend the night with me, and would I be okay with him coming over?

Confusion riddled my mind because it would have been nice to spend time with him tonight, but he did still come over even though I expressly told him I had other plans tonight.

But then, a small part of me wished I had invited him up. He wouldn’t have put a damper on the fun Mia and I were having, and while she would have pouted about it for a minute, it would have been a good chance for them to get to know each other.

I shook the thought out of my brain. They didn't need to get to know each other. They had a working relationship, but it didn't need to turn into friendship.

“Why so serious?” Mia plopped down on the couch next to me.

“Just working through some things,” I muttered and set the phone down.

Mia perked a brow. “Sex things?”

“No. Feeling things.” I sat up and combed a hand through my hair. “Things we aren’t going to talk about because you’vealready expressed your opinion to me, and I don’t want to hear a broken record.” I stuck my tongue out at her, and she faked being surprised, placing her hand over her heart and releasing an overexaggerated expression of shock on her face.

I took the closest throw pillow to me and hit her on the shoulder. “Knock it off.”

“Okay, so we’re going into a new year. Let’s just talk about the possibility of your catching feelings for a man.”

“Mia…” I warned. “No, this isn’t up for discussion right now.”

“Everything is up for discussion always. It’s why I’m your best friend.”

“Why are you pushing this?” I crossed my arms over my chest.

“You look like someone ran over your cat,” she said, sitting up straighter and giving me a serious face.

“I don’t have a cat,” I said.

“Yes, but saying someone ran over your fern has a lot less of an impressive image. Right?”

“My God, your brain is fucking strange.” I picked the beer bottle up and took a drink out of it. “What is the point of this?”

“To determine whether yourgreat sexis just that or not.”

“Again, I say, why the change?”

“Because if you are going to jump into something, then it’s better to know it’s really worth it.” She turned to face forward and grabbed a piece of cheese and pepperoni. Seeing the cheese board she brought made me think of being with Nick the other night.

I loved how he took control. I liked how he told me what to do and the way he let himself be around me while still making sure I was enjoying it too. I took a strand of my hair and twisted it around my finger.

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