Page 55 of About Last Night

“Jesus,” Toni says. “Even I’m not that competitive.”

“You were bluffing about recording Shae, weren’t you?” Willa asks.

“Yeah.”

“Too bad. She deserves to have that blasted out on TikTok,” Willa says.

“That’s the least of what she deserves,” Toni says.

“Hey.” Willa puts her hands on my shoulders and makes me look her in the eye. “Forget about that lost promotion. It wasn’t because of you or anything you did. You’re fine. What’s important is you are rid of Shae once and for all. How do you feel about that?”

I inhale, paying attention to how I feel physically. Elated, like a weight has been lifted from my shoulders. Light. I smile at my sister. “Relieved and happy.”

“Good girl,” Willa says. “Now, let’s wrap up this party so we can have some wine.”

I walk into the warehouse in a daze. Could it really be over? Hopefully the prospect of public shame will do the trick on Shae. The revelation of her sabotage of my promotion, seeing the shocked expression on my face, will make her feel like she won the war. How could she have done that to me? To anyone? How could my CEO have taken her word and not talked to me about it before making a decision? Maybe it had been less about me blowing the whistle on an inappropriate affair, and more about the fact that I didn’t like corporate politics. I wasn’t a kiss-ass, preferring to let my work speak for itself. Because I didn’t play the game, any hint that I might not be committed to the company for the long haul would have been enough to let them choose one of the “boys.” Did I really care? No. Like Willa said, I’m fine. Better than fine. I love this project and the people at Fourteener Sports.

Then, there’s Toni.

Sweet, funny, respectful, incredibly sexy Toni. I asked her to back off and she did. She believed in me enough to let me fight my own battle. I can’t really blame her for losing her patience at the end. Shae can be infuriating. And, as shallow as this is, she looks absolutely adorable in the oversized Santa costume. Watching her be so kind and energetic for hours with all the kids and families, when I know she had to be exhausted, was just…it shows the kind of person she is deep down. The kind of woman I want to spend more time with.

Toni and I head to the break room to change. When the door closes behind us, Toni says, “I’m sorry I jumped in there at the end. You were handling everything perfectly, it’s just…” She runs her hands through her hair.

“Don’t apologize,” I say. “You were amazing. Perfect.”

“Me? I didn’t do anything. You were the badass.”

“You did. When I told you I could handle it, you listened to me, and respected me. You backed off when I know you wanted to tear Shae limb from limb.”

“Oh my God, so much. You could tell?”

I hold up my thumb and forefinger so they’re almost touching. “A little.” I laugh. God, I’m so happy right now. I’m free of Shae, I love my job, Willa is happy, I’ve got an amazing friend in Greta, and an incredibly kind, sexy woman standing in front of me who looks at me like a Christmas puppy and makes me laugh. “Have I told you lately how much I love how you make me laugh?”

“A couple of times.”

“I do. It’s very sexy.” I look at Toni’s lips and think, Oh, damn it to hell. I grab the back of her head and crush our mouths together.

I’ve caught her off guard, but she recovers quickly, and we are devouring each other as if it’s been years since we’ve touched and not three weeks. My arousal pulses deep in my core, and I’m having a hard time remembering why I’ve been denying myself this. Why I’ve been denying both of us. We’re adults. There’s no reason we can’t have a little fun, like Toni suggested the night we slept together. We will have to be careful, keep it secret, but the way Toni looks at me, the way she’s kissing me, tells me that she will do whatever it takes to have this, to feel this. So will I.

Toni breaks the kiss, pushes me back to arm’s length. “Wait. We can’t.”

“What? Why not?”

“I understand now, Audrey. Why you need time. It was…awful to see you go through that. Has Shae been emotionally abusive the entire time you were together?”

My head jerks back. “What?”

“That was emotional abuse, Audrey.”

“Shae just doesn’t like to lose.”

“I wrote the book on being competitive and not wanting to lose. That is not what that was.”

I move out of her embrace and cross my arms over my chest and instinctively defend Shae and the dynamic of our relationship. “I don’t think you should judge Shae or our relationship based on five minutes of seeing us together. That was Shae at her absolute worst. She isn’t always like that.” As the words spill out of my mouth seemingly of their own accord, the other side of my brain screams, Audrey, what the hell? She was exactly like that, why are you defending her? She sabotaged your career!

I stop. Toni’s expression is a mixture of stunned and confused. She tries to put her hands in her pockets and realizes she’s dressed like Santa. I look down and realize I’m still wearing this stupid Buddy the Elf costume.

“OK, Audrey,” she says, holding her hands out in a placating gesture. “I know this is…well, like the high you feel after a battle. I know you just want to have a little fun, and I did offer that the night we were together. I’m just not sure I can do that now.”

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