Page 2 of Secret Desire
That money gave me a nice emergency fund. I made good money and had a healthy savings account, and it was nice to know that I had enough money to deal with anything that came up. The last thing I wanted to do was go to my billionaire sister and beg for money.
Although we’d never been particularly close, I knew she wouldn’t hesitate to help me if I asked. But I’d never ask.
“Besides,” Ariel continued, “Maeve will be your boss, so that will keep people from thinking you’re getting any special favors from me.”
My mind went to a very inappropriate place when I thought of Maeve and ‘special favors’ in the same sentence. I had a crush on Maeve the entire time I was growing up, although it wasn’t until I was in high school that I realized that’s what it was. Right about the time I realized that I was a lesbian.
Unfortunately, Maeve had always treated me like a little sister. And while she’d been nicer to me growing up than my own sister, my teenage fantasies were crushed when I turned eighteen without a declaration of love from Maeve.
I hadn’t seen her since my high school graduation until I attended Ariel and Sophie’s engagement party a couple of months ago. I’d walked into the restaurant where the event was being held, seen Maeve, and promptly crashed into someone,spilling their drink on both of us. I’d spent the rest of the party trying to avoid her, but now that Maeve was going to be my boss, that tactic likely wouldn’t work.
“Hey Ariel. Hi Ashley.”
Speak of the devil. I stood up to greet Maeve as she walked into Ariel’s office. She’d been pretty when we were younger, but now she was stunningly beautiful. She had long and thick golden hair, eyes that were blue or gray depending on the light, thick pink lips, and a little birthmark at the corner of her mouth, kind of like that model Cindy Crawford.
Today she was wearing a tailored dress, black with a light white geometric design, that hugged her curves. My eyes dropped to her breasts before snapping back up to her face. I resisted the urge to fan myself as my pulse picked up.
Damn it, this was inconvenient. I’d almost convinced myself that what happened at the engagement party was just some kind of a stress reaction to what was happening at work. But no, I still had a crush on Maeve. Or something. I didn’t really have the words to describe this intense physical reaction to her.
“Hey Ash, are you ready for your first day at AGM?” my new boss asked in a friendly tone.
My sister had started the development company years ago with her life-long best friends Maeve and Grace, using each of their initials for the company name. Maeve was the Chief ExecutiveOfficer, Ariel was the Chief Operating Officer, and Grace was Vice President.
AGM specialized in commercial development, mostly nightclubs and restaurants, although they occasionally worked on projects with an attached residential component or wellness spaces. And they had a plan to start branching out into hotels.
That’s where I came in. My specialty was designing high end places where people could be pampered.
“I’m ready,” I answered Maeve, getting out of my chair to extend a hand like the professional I was supposed to be. “Thank you for the opportunity.”
Maeve’s eyes dropped to my outstretched hand, and I saw her suppress a smile as she extended hers as well. Great, the woman I had a crush on still thought I was amusing. Although she wouldn’t think anything of it if a stranger offered her a handshake.
I stepped closer, and the toe of my shoe caught on something on the carpet. Suddenly I was pitching forward, my arms windmilling as I tried to prevent a fall. The next thing I knew, I was crashing into Maeve’s soft body. Her arms went around me, preventing me from hitting the floor, and we both grunted as the impact knocked the air out of us.
I looked up into her startled eyes, a dark gray right now, and winced.
“Oops, sorry about that.”
“Way to make an impression on your first day,” Maeve joked.
We stared at each other for a long, charged moment, my heart thudding in my chest. I had the strangest urge to stretch my head forward and kiss her.
Ariel cleared her throat, and I realized we were still holding each other. I cursed my pale skin as I felt a flush of embarrassment rise up my cheeks. Stepping away from Maeve, I turned my attention back to my sister.
“Put in a work order to get that loose carpet fixed before someone else trips on it,” Maeve told Ariel. “Someone’s going to get hurt.”
“Yeah yeah.”
Seeing that my sister would forget about it within the next thirty seconds I made a mental note to tell someone about the loose piece of carpet.
“HR will do an orientation with you and our other new hire,” Ariel told me. “That will take several hours. But first, Theo will get you set up in your new office and help you log onto the network.”
“I’ll take you,” Maeve volunteered before turning to my sister.
“Great thanks.”
“Before you go,” Ariel stopped me. “Sadie and I would like to have you over for dinner tonight. If you’re free that is.”
Well, that was a surprise. I wasn’t estranged from my sister or anything, but we also weren’t particularly close. I saw her on holidays, and we usually texted once or twice a week, but unless there was something we needed to talk about, we didn’t usually hang out. Our seven year age difference had always been a barrier, and it was only recently that Ariel had seemed to acknowledge that I was a grown woman and not just some pesky kid.
