Page 21 of Tickled Pink

“You’re a boss ass bitch, Phoebe Pink,” she scolds. “Boss ass bitches don’t need their mommies and daddies. They put on their big girl panties and they do what they want. You want Max, right?”

“Right.”

“You want Thad, right?”

“Definitely.”

“Do you want Max and Thad more than your parents’ approval?”

I think of this morning and I tilt my head. “Yep,” I say.

“Well, there you go,” she says. “Honey, everyone goes through this. It’s just that we all did it in our twenties.”

“I always have been a late-bloomer,” I mutter with a sigh. “You’re right, Jackie. I’m gonna pull up my panties and go home.”

“Wait, no,” she says. “Don’t do that.”

I pause with my bottom halfway out of the chair. “Don’t?”

“Yeah, stay. Stay and talk. Forever.”

“I feel officially better now, Jackie,” I say as I stand. “Enjoy the rest of your holiday.”

“Damn me and my powers of motivation,” she says. “Wait, just—”

Stinky’s head rises from her resting spot on the couch and she points her snout toward the door to my office.

“Jackie, I gotta—”

The elevator doors open and Stinky lets out a timid growl.

I pause. “Stinky…”

She bolts off the couch and races into the dark office.

“Shit…” I murmur, locked between fear and curiosity. “There’s someone here,” I say at the phone.

“A janitor, maybe?” Jackie suggests. “Or an axe murderer.”

“It’s not an axe murderer,” I say, mostly to make myself feel better. Stinky would surely be barking if it were an axe murderer.

She barks once in the hallway.

Fuck.

“Phoebe?” she asks.

I snatch my stapler off the desk and hold it over my head, ready to wail on my attacker. “Who’s there?” I ask, steadying my voice. “I have a weapon…”

Footsteps echo through the wall, steadily making their way to my office door. I grip the stapler even harder as my pulse slams like a drum. Oh, god. Why did I announce myself? Why didn’t I just leap into my closet and hide?

Stinky races back into the room, her tail wagging with excitement. She barks at me twice and turns back to the door as a man enters the frame and smiles.

I sigh with relief at his raised hands. A black suit, a blue tie, and those unforgettable green eyes.

“Max,” I squeak. “You scared me.”

He chuckles. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to.”

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