Page 34 of Secret Desire
Ariel scowled at her. “Don’t make me regret being your friend again, Maeve.”
“Too late,” she said, just as I heart a series of chimes from the phone in Ariel’s pants pocket. “I sent it to the group chat.”
“Which group chat?” she asked, her eyes narrowing.
“The one that’s the Sapphic Billionaire club, Theo, Sadie, and Nicole.”
Maeve looked at me. “I’ll add you to the group chat after we get back together. It’s pretty active.”
“Who said we’re getting back together?” I asked.
Ariel pushed to her feet with a groan, pulling off her rubber gloves and tossing them into the bathroom sink. I’d never seen my sister look more disheveled. I was glad Maeve had taken pictures.
“That’s my cue to go,” Ariel said. “But remember, I’m the one who fucked things up with you two, not Maeve.”
She stepped closer and to my shock, pulled me into a hug. She was filthy and she smelled like floor cleaner and sweat, but I hugged her back anyway.
“You hugged me,” I said in shock.
No one in our family was a hugger, although I’d spent enough time with Sophie to know she was trying to change that.
“Don’t tell anyone,” Ariel winked. “I’ll leave you two alone to talk, but Sadie and I would love to have you over for dinner tomorrow night. Nicole and Grace will be there too.”
“We’ll get back to you,” Maeve said, her eyes on me.
We walked a bedraggled Ariel back to the door and she grimaced as she called for her car service.
“I hope they send a driver who knows me,” she said. “I’m a mess. I had no idea Sophie had to work this hard when she was a cleaning lady.”
Her phone beeped and she added, “Okay, you two make up, and I’ll see you girls tomorrow night at six.”
I closed the door after her, then turned to Maeve.
“We didn’t have a fight,” I reminded her. “There’s not really a making up part.”
Maeve nodded. “No but we should talk about what happened.”
I shrugged. “Ariel freaked out and said some nasty shit, and I suggested that we take a break while things cooled down.”
I stalked closer to her. “Things are cooled down. I think we’re good.”
Maeve looked surprised. “So we’re back together? It’s that easy?”
“We never had an issue with each other, did we? Throughout our time together, the only sticking point was my sister. Trying to keep her from finding out, then dealing with her finding out.”
“What if Ariel hadn’t come around?” Maeve asked.
“It was going to kill me,” I admitted. “I hated to lose you. I hated to lose my sister. And I hated to lose a job that I love.”
We stared at each other for a long moment, the air between us growing warm and electric.
“Do you need to talk anymore about what happened?” I asked.
“Just to be clear, now that we’re back together, we’re going to be out in the open, right? No more hiding.”
I walked closer and put my hands on her shoulders. “Outside of work, sure. But let’s keep our personal life personal okay? People will hear that we’re dating and that’s fine, but I don’t want to make anyone at work feel uncomfortable or have it be at all obvious that I’m madly in love with you.”
Her eyes widened. “It’ll be obvious that I’m madly in love with you, but I’ll try to act cool at work.”
