Page 67 of The Weight Of It All
My eyes bugged out. “What?”
She laughed at my reaction, but there was a depth to her gaze. “I know, ridiculous right?”
“Why on earth would he think that?”
“Because you’re corporate. You have a nice car, own your own house, and you’re pretty good at your job in finance, or that’s what he told me.” Emily leaned against the wall and crossed her arms. “And he thought what he does for a living might not be good enough. You know, that you might not like telling people what he does for a job.”
“That’s absurd.” I shook my head. “He loves his job. Do you know what half the people I know would give to be able to say that? And between you and me, I don’t care what other people think. He could clean septic tanks and I wouldn’t care.” I made a face. “Okay, if he did that for a living, I’d probably insist he showered after work, but I wouldn’t care what other people thought about it.”
She finally gave me a smile. “Good.”
“I thought this wasn’t going to be a ‘break his heart and I’ll break your face’ talk.”
Emily shrugged. “Well, maybe just a little bit.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. “It’s fine, really. I don’t mind. I’m pretty sure Anika will give Reed the same spiel. She is to me what you are to him, and you two would get on like a house on fire. But I think we’re getting ahead of ourselves. Reed and I still really haven’t talked about, well, anything yet.”
“Yeah, I know. Sorry. Just getting in early. You’re going to his place after here?”
I nodded. “He said he has something to show me.”
Emily gave me a genuine smile. “Good.”
“You know what it is?”
“I’m not saying anything. Just be gentle with him. And honest. That’s all I ask.”
Okaaaaay. My interest was piqued. “I should go. He’s probably wondering what the hell we’re talking about in here.”
Emily opened the door and Reed, who was helping Nadia with weights, shot a look in our direction. He was definitely wondering what we were talking about. He glared at Emily in a ‘what did you say to him?’ kind of way, then looked at me with sorry in his eyes. I gave him a smile to let him know we were all good, and Emily simply raised her chin unapologetically.
Yep. She and Anika would get on well.
Speaking of Anika, I knew I owed her a phone call. I gave Reed an awkward wave as I left, and I got into my car and called Anika on the drive home.
She answered her phone with, “The reason I’m only hearing from you now better have involved the best sex you’ve ever had.”
I snorted, thankful no one else was in the car with me. “Not exactly.”
I relayed the events of the last day, including Reed winning the superhuman challenge with his colleagues, then my freakout and subsequent cocooning in my misery and blankets, and what happened this morning.
“He kissed you?”
“Oh boy, did he ever. I haveneverbeen kissed like that.”
She laughed. “What do you think he’s showing you?”
“I have no idea.”
“Do you think it could be a rubber doll collection?”
I burst out laughing. “Well, I’m pretty sure it’s not.”
“What if it’s some weird fetish, like he has a thing for shoving live fish up his arse?”
“Jesus Anika, have you been watchingBizarre Fetishesagain?”
“Maybe.”
