Page 16 of A Man After Midnight

Chapter Seven

“What the hell!” Aldy exclaimed the moment Caroline entered their hotel room.

Aldy had her arms crossed over her chest and one foot tapping on the carpet, with a look of righteous indignation on her face.

“What the hell what?” Caroline asked, nonplused.

“My boss? You slept with my boss!”

Caroline blinked and let the door close behind her. “Who’s your boss?”

“Wren Calder!”

“Wren is your boss?” She thought he’d been one of those company figureheads who put their names on the letterhead but didn’t really get involved with day-to-day work.

Aldy shook her head. “Are we on a hamster wheel or something? Yes, Wren Calder is my boss. And you slept with him!”

“Amongst other things,” Caroline answered, tossing her purse onto her bed.

“Oh my god, I don’t want to know that!” Aldy put her hands over her ears. “Ew, ew, ew.”

“Why are you grossed out? He’s a great guy and sexy as hell.”

Aldy dropped her hands from her head to her hips. “He’s. My. Boss.” She enunciated each word carefully. “It’s like learning your parents have sex.”

“Your parents do have sex,” Caroline told her. “Remember that time when we walked in on them––”

“Enough!” Aldy threw up her hands, sighing.

“What? You’re the one who told me to indulge in a vacation romance.”

“Yeah, with some random stranger in the bar.”

Caroline cocked her head. “Would you listen to yourself? You’d rather I pick up some Joe off the street and fuck him than have a safe, casual weekend relationship with a man you know is decent and kind?”

“Yes!”

“Aldy!”

Her friend let out a puff of air. “Listen, I know he’s drop dead sexy, like Norman Reedus, or…”

“Tom Hiddleston.”

Aldy snapped her fingers. “Oh, even better! Yes. Like him. Wait, what was I saying? Tom distracted me.”

“I slept with your boss.”

“Right. I just don’t want to see you hurt anymore. Wren Calder has been in the Fortune 500, like, forever! He’s overseeing the office based in Paris.”

“What? You don’t think I’m woman enough to handle a Fortune 500 man?”

“No, I don’t think you’re woman enough to handle him. He’s a worldly type of man, Caro. He’s used to women who are a bit … exotic.”

Caroline raised an eyebrow. “Really? Like how?”

“Ew, do you really want me to go there?”

Caroline nodded.

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