Page 443 of The Parkers' Handsome Holiday
What am I up to?
I frowned. “Where are you right now?”
“At home.”
“It’s Tuesday.”
“Babe, did you not read your emails when you woke up? Everyone is snowed in. Half the city is gridlocked. The main office is closed.”
I lowered myself onto the bed and let out a sigh of relief. Crisis averted. “I must have missed that.”
“You missed the email and it’s nine thirty. I think the better question is where are you?”
“Nowhere.”
“You’re at a guy’s house, aren’t you?” she said, excitement in her accusation.
I swallowed. Lying had never really come easy to me, especially to a friend. “Maybe.”
“Oh my God, who is he? Have I met him? Wait, is it the cute guy from Human Resources? He’s had a thing for you for ages and I think you’d make the cutest couple. Tell me, Tinsely! I can’t stand the suspense.”
“Um, it’s not the cutie from HR, but it is someone from work.”
“Oh?”
Aleena listed off half a dozen more names of guys from work she considered date-worthy while I moved to the bedroom window and opened the blackout blinds. The world outside was a winter wonderland. Snow clung heavily to tree branches and pulled them down to the white dunes on the ground. Far across the street, barely visible, a neighbor attempted to shovel his driveway and waded through snow up to his thighs.
Wow.
It had been a long time since I saw snow like this, and it was still coming down. No wonder the city was at a standstill.
“I can’t take it anymore, Tinsely. Just tell me already!”
I lowered my voice to a whisper. “I’m at Chadwick’s. But it’s not what you think.”
“Shut. The. Front. Door. You are not!”
My cheeks burned even though I was alone. “After that stupid photo shoot yesterday we were both exhausted, and I didn’t have it in me to turn him down when he asked if I wanted to grab a bite to eat. We went for dinner, a really nice dinner actually, where he wasn’t completely intolerable, and then when he was driving me home, we witnessed a car accident. You should have seen him, Aleena. Gone was the playboy CEO. In his place was this capable man who knew what to do and kept everyone calm and made sure everyone was safe and taken care of. It was… well, it was kind of impressive.”
“So you let him take you home as a reward?”
“What? Absolutely not. We couldn’t get to my house because of the storm, and his place was cheaper than a hotel. For the record, I slept in his guest room.”
Aleena yawned. The sound of paper came again, and I assumed she was wrapping gifts. “And here I thought you’d gone and done something totally wild. You should’ve let him take you to bed. Then you could have told me what it was like, and I could finally have answers to my fantasies.”
“Sorry to disappoint you.”
Somehow, I managed to keep it under wraps that Chadwick and I had fooled around in the hot tub. She didn’t need to know all the details, especially the really personal ones that I still couldn’t quite wrap my head around. For now, they belonged to me and me alone.
Suddenly, there was a knock on my door.
I froze.
“Did he just knock?” Aleena whispered conspiratorially.
“I think so.”
“Then get off the phone, you crazy girl, and go fulfill my wildest slumber party dreams with the sexiest man in New York.”
