Page 2 of Wicked Desire

“Ginger and whiskey, easy on the ginger.”

She and Ariel exchanged a look before Maeve hurried off to make my drink. I dropped into a chair, sliding down into a slouch that was more angsty teen than thirty-five year old billionaire business mogul. Maeve returned with a giant glass of alcohol. I slurped down at least a fourth of it before I came up for air, wincing as I felt the burn in my throat.

“You remember Nicole, right?”

“Nicole Lowenthal, your arch nemesis from school? The one who beat you in the mathletes competition senior year? The one you were engaged in an epic prank war with that got us all detention more than once?” Ariel asked sarcastically. “No, we don’t remember her at all. Weren’t you meeting with her to discuss your parents’ insane idea to partner with her on a project bid?”

“Oh, did I tell you about that already?”

My two friends looked at me like I was nuts. I usually remembered everything.

“Grace, are you feeling okay?” Maeve asked in concern.

Ariel, Maeve, and I had been best friends since we were toddlers. Our parents were all friends, and the three of us went through private school together before we all enrolled at Northwestern to get our business degrees.

Once we graduated, we decided to start a business together. AGM, named for the first letter of each of our names, mostly specialized in commercial real estate, but we also had a business arm that owned a variety of enterprises, mostly restaurants and nightclubs.

Even though we’d all come from wealthy families, AGM had made us each billionaires in our own right. Maeve was the CEO of our company and Ariel was the COO. Since I also still worked part-time at my family’s residential real estate company, I’d taken a junior role of Vice President.

The crown jewel of our company was AGM Tower. Built on Chicago’s Gold Coast, it housed a restaurant on the main floor, an exclusive night club on the second and third floors, our corporate offices, and several floors of high end condos. The top four floors were reserved for the three of us, the ‘Sapphic Billionaire Club’ as Ariel’s assistant Theo jokingly called us.

The three of us each had our own floor with our individual residences, and then there was one floor that was a shared space that included a pool, gym, a game room, and other fun things to pass the time.

“Yeah, I’m feeling fine,” I answered Maeve’s question. “I’ve just been distracted ever since that Sanderson Real Estate Services board meeting,” I said.

I’d been distracted because my family had blindsided me by having a joint meeting with the leadership team from Lowenthal Properties, including my old nemesis Nicole.

“I don’t understand why you don’t quit that place and work full time at AGM with us,” Ariel interrupted impatiently.

Ariel and Maeve really wanted me to work at AGM full-time, but my parents wanted me to work for them full-time too, so working at both was a way to avoid disappointing either side, although it left me completely exhausted from balancing both jobs.

“Let her talk,” Maeve chastised Ariel. “Go on, sweetie.”

“Nicole and I exchanged some emails after the meeting to talk about our parents’ idea for us to partner on the Grant Park College project,” I explained. “Neither of us were happy about how our parents handled things, but we decided to meet to discuss if the idea was even viable, given our other responsibilities.”

Grant Park College was an abandoned school campus that the city wanted to turn into a new neighborhood that included everything from affordable housing to condos, along with businesses and community amenities. Every large housing developer in the country was vying for the deal.

“Was the meeting today?” Grace asked, exchanging another look with Ariel. “Is that why you’re discombobulated?”

“Yes.”

I paused to take another huge gulp of my drink, then realized I’d better have some food too. I reached for a piece of sausage andmushroom pizza, taking a quick bite before resuming my story. Maeve watched me patiently, while Ariel drummed her fingers against her thigh, growing more agitated the longer she waited. And that summed up my two best friends in a nutshell.

“So what happened?” Ariel finally exploded.

She’d always been the most hot headed person in our little group. Her hard edges had smoothed down since she fell in love with Sadie, but she still was a bit impatient.

“I kissed her. Or maybe she kissed me. I’m not really sure how it happened.”

“WHAT?!?!?” Maeve and Ariel screeched in unison.

I chewed another bite of pizza before repeating, “We kissed.”

It was more than a kiss. We’d had a full make-out session.

“You kissed your lifelong enemy during a business meeting?” Ariel asked incredulously. “That’s so unprofessional.”

“And lusting after your cleaning lady and then conning her into moving in with you is totally professional,” I shot back.

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