Page 18 of Secret Desire
“It would be inappropriate if I didn’t want this,” I said. “Or if we weren’t single. But this is a really bad idea to do here. If we’re going to keep on doing this, we need to be discreet. Someone could catch us in here.”
As if I’d tempted fate with my words, suddenly the door to the supply room opened. Maeve leapt away from me, and I quickly grabbed something off the closest shelf to make it look like I’d been getting supplies. Which technically I had been, before Maeve distracted me with her mouth.
I couldn’t decide if I was relieved or disappointed that it was Theo standing in the doorway.
“There you are,” he said, his gaze bouncing between us. “Both of you.”
Maeve was busying herself rearranging some boxes of pens on a shelf, as if that was something the CEO of a multi-million dollar company did.
“Oh hey Theo,” she said with forced casualness. “How’s it going with Grace and Nicole?”
“I locked them in the conference room and told them to work their shit out,” he said. “I’ll go back and check on them in a bit. But what’s happening in here?”
“I needed some pens,” Maeve said, holding up a box of Bics.
“I was looking for a notebook,” I said honestly.
Theo looked at the box of staples in my hand, rolled his eyes, and reached across me to grab a notebook, waving it in front of me. “Here you go.”
“Thanks. See you all later.”
I scurried out of there like the coward I was, leaving Maeve to deal with the nosy matchmaker. I only hoped Theo wouldn’t tell everyone that he found us in the supply closet looking guilty about something. I wasn’t prepared to be the subject of office gossip again. Not after what happened at my last job. It was a good reminder why this thing with Maeve was such a bad idea.
But it was too enticing to give up. We’d just need to be more careful.
By unspoken agreement, Maeve and I kept our distance as much as possible over the next two weeks. We’d gone too far in the supply room, let ourselves get carried away by lust. It was dangerous and unprofessional, and things would have ended badly if anyone other than Theo had walked in on us. We both knew it.
Even though we were together every day, either at project meetings or working together on development work, we kept our distance. When we were alone, we made sure the office door was open at all times. But that didn’t keep us from exchanging the occasional heated look or brushing against each other lightly when we were in close proximity, teasing each other. Or torturing each other maybe.
Two weeks after our supply room tryst things came to a head.
AGM was having a big party to celebrate the opening of a new project they’d developed in Chinatown. The neighborhood had been undergoing rapid gentrification over the last few years, including urban renewal in the business district. AGM had built a smallish project at the very edge of the neighborhood which combined office space, a medical clinic, and upper level housing for seniors.
AGM didn’t do residential work as a rule, but with the city’s increasing emphasis on mixed use housing that combined retail or office space with workforce or affordable housing, it wasbecoming a more common part of our projects. It was part of why I’d been brought on – besides me quitting my old job. Right now Grace and I were pretty much the only people at the firm who had substantial residential development experience.
Although we had Nicole on contract now too. She and Grace were officially back together after working out their issues when Theo locked them in the conference room. She was attending the party at the new building as Grace’s date, and Sadie was coming with Ariel. Neither Maeve nor I had a date for the event. In another life, we could be each other’s date, but instead we both arrived separately.
I’d dressed up in a dark blue dress that had sparkly threads through it, which gave it kind of a shimmery look. It was fitted at the waist, with a square neckline and a skirt that flared out above my knees. I’d pulled my hair up into a sophisticated twist and put on what I thought of as my ‘nighttime event makeup’, including a smokey eye and bold red lipstick.
I saw Maeve as soon as I arrived. She was wearing a form-fitting jade green dress that hugged her curves and sky-high heel in the exact same color. Her hair was styled into soft waves, her makeup bold and dramatic. She looked fantastic.
As we mingled with guests and networked, I was aware of where she was in the room at all times.
Everyone here seemed to know her, which made sense. She was the CEO of AGM as well as one of the richest women in the city. Like my sister and Grace, everyone wanted a piece of her.A kind word. An introduction. A chance to talk about their new investments. Unlike Grace and Ariel though, she didn’t have someone on her arm as a buffer.
Across the room Maeve was talking to a very attractive woman in an impossibly tight dress. Her breasts were too large to be real, pushed up like they were on a shelf and practically falling out of her dress. She was standing way too close to my friend-with-benefits, her hand on Maeve’s arm as she laughed and tossed her hair, flirting with her. I ground my teeth in annoyance.
“You’ve got it bad, don’t you?” Theo whispered loudly in my ear.
I looked around before answering him. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
He laughed. “Sure you don’t. I guess I’m just imagining the way you’re looking at that woman touching Maeve like you want to skin her alive.”
“Why don’t you go over there and rescue her?” Theo suggested when I didn’t respond to his teasing.
Then the woman brushed her breast against Maeve’s arm, and I was across the room before I thought twice about it. Who knew I could move this fast in heels?
“Maeve,” I took her arm, pulling her away from Ms. Fake Tits. “Excuse me but I need to ask you about something.”
