Page 19 of Resisting the Temptation
Jaime mumbles something in Spanish under his breath, shaking his head.
Kiera groans. “Emma I swear I had no idea when I set you up with him. It didn’t even occur to me that he might be related to Rossi Construction. It clicked when I saw him at the club, but it was too late to tell you, and by the time I got home, I forgot. I’m so sorry! I’m such a bad friend. If I had just thought about it for one second—”
I reach across the booth to squeeze her hand. “I don’t blame you at all, K.”
“But your job—”
“Is safe. He doesn’t want me there, but his dad does, and his dad makes the rules. As long as things stay professional and I do my job well, everything will be fine.”
Kiera bites her lip but nods.
“One good thing to come from today is I found out my salary is double what I was making at Kirkham. Sooooo, I washopingyou might be able to pull some strings and get me a membership to the lounge? I can finally afford the fee.”
Kiera narrows her hazel eyes at me. “Is joining the club a good idea? What if you run into him?”
I shrug. “I obviously won’t be fucking him, so I might as well fuck someone else. I really liked the Dom/sub dynamic and would feel safer exploring it at the club where everyone is vetted. I’m sure there are other people I would be compatible with.”
Kiera nods. “Alright, girl. I’ll see what I can do. Congrats on getting such a pay raise, too! That’s amazing.”
“So, I take it dinner is on you tonight,Ricitos?” Jaime teases.
“Please, you know Mom and Dad would never let us pay,” Jordan chides.
“Ah, I love your parents. I wish mine were as cool as yours.” Jaime sighs, and everyone but Jordan holds up their cup and mumbles, “Same.”
That’s one thing about our friend group I both love and hate. Other than Jordan, we all have shitty or non-existent relationships with our families, so we’ve formed our own little family. We’ve been lucky enough to have Jordan’s mom and dad take us all under their wing and become the parents we needed.
We spend the rest of dinner chatting about random things, gossiping about the drama at our respective workplaces, and by the time Jordan and I walk through the door of our townhome, the mask I put on to be little miss sunshine is slipping. I’m ready to crawl into bed and cry for a while over today’s events.
As much as I let everyone think the interaction with Ben doesn’t bother me, it does. Ihatethat my heart was already starting to get attached to the idea of him after one night, but I was really looking forward to seeing him again. Now, Iwillsee him again. Five days a week.
I’ll have to pretend I’m not still wildly attracted to him. I’ll have to pretend our night meant absolutely nothing when that’s not even remotely true.
This is why I always stick to one-night stands with strangers. The less time spent with someone, the less chance my heart gets attached. I’ve done really well at not getting attached to people I have sex with, mostly because I never see them again.
I just hope my heart can stay unattached and resist the grumpy asshole because this job is my dream job, and I refuse to throw it away over fuckingfeelings.
Chapter 10
Ben
As it turns out, Emmacankeep things professional.
She’s been here almost a month, and other than one conversation on her second day where she brought upthat night, she’s remained professional and cordial.
I remember feeling smug about the fact she brought up our one night, but the conversation didn’t go the way I anticipated. This woman keeps surprising me, and I hate it.
We’re sitting in Emma’s office, logging her into all the software, when she turns to me and says, “I know I said I’d forget it happened, but I have a question.”
Here we fucking go,I groan internally but motion for her to continue.
“Your last name is Italian, right? And your dad speaks Italian?”
I nod, wondering where she’s going with this.
“At the club, the nickname, was it also Italian?”
“No. It was Spanish.”
