Page 166 of My Only

I traced my fingers along her thigh—a compromise, since touching more than this was officially off-limits.

“That I needed to be careful with her.” I exhaled, shifting on my side. “I knew she was attracted to me?—”

“Who isn’t?” Ayla smiled, shrugging playfully.

I twisted my lips in an exaggerated expression, making her giggle.

“Oh, please.” She reached out, tracing her fingers along my jaw, then tapped my nose. “You know you’re 90s fine.”

I scoffed, but before I could reply, I sighed. “She took it too far, though.”

Ayla’s smile faltered slightly. “That’s… not surprising.” She hesitated, then added, “I, um, I went through your phone and saw some of her messages to you.”

I raised my brows.

“That night you took me to Vernon’s?” she continued. “After missing my work mixer? When you left the table to wash your hands?”

I nodded slowly, already knowing where this was going.

“She texted while you were gone.” Ayla exhaled. “I unlocked your phone and read it. And once I saw that, I saw all the other ones.” Her voice softened. “I knew she was inappropriate. But I also knew I had no right to snoop.” She bit her lip. “I’m sorry.”

I closed my eyes briefly, then opened them. “Nah. I’m sorry. I hate that you felt you had to do that.”

She smiled, a little sad. “Not more than me.”

“But…” I sighed. “You weren’t wrong either.” I took a deep breath. “I haven’t brought it up in counseling yet because I wanted to tell you first.”

Ayla’s smile disappeared completely.

“She propositioned me.”

Her whole body stiffened. “Propositioned?”

I licked my lips. “Promise you won’t get mad.”

She stared at me for a long second. “No.”

I snorted. “No?”

“Uh-uh.” She shook her head. “Hell no. What did she do? It must’ve been bad if you didn’t bring it up in counseling. Did she try something with you?”

“She wanted to have an affair.”

Ayla scoffed sharply, pressing her tongue into her cheek. “That fucking bitch.”

“And while that was crazy,” I added, “the other shit she did? Was worse.”

Ayla lifted her head slightly. “Other shit? Like what?”

“She made up problems to keep me late at the office.”

Ayla blinked hard. I could see her mind working, piecing it together.

“She delayed telling me about real issues until they became urgent. And then she straight-up invented problems that weren’t problems at all.”

Ayla sat up slightly, her fingers—which had been idly tracing my forearm—going completely still.

“She wasted my time. She wasted my team’s time. She kept me from being home. With you.”

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