Page 36 of Accidental Fiancé

“Should I come in too?”

“Certainly not. Mr. Black has approved my facilities and my methods. I do not require the presence of his…friend.” She might as well have said floozy for all the distaste she threw on that word.

“Great. Bye, Piper,” I said before jogging to my rental car. There was no one to judge me in there.

With five hours Piper-free, I had time to run errands. I stopped by my place and packed more boxes to drop off at my storage rental. A couple more days like this, and I’d be all moved out before the end of the week, which was good since my landlord had prorated my rent weekly at a much steeper cost.

I had until Friday to get my things out or he’d charge me for another week, and I couldn’t afford that. But I also didn’t have enough time to box everything up before Piper was out of school, so I had to spread out the work for the next few days. Thankfully, it was going to be much easier with the rented SUV than my old coupe.

The majority of my entire apartment sat in my storage space, looking at me as I shut the door. Things didn’t have souls, obviously, but leaving my stuff behind felt oddly like I was abandoning it. I couldn’t tell Julian I was nearly living out of my storage unit—I saw the pity in his eyes when I mentioned I’d be living with my parents. If I told him the full scope of the situation, he would insist I stay with him until I got back on my feet.

And then where would we be?

After last night, I wasn’t sure. In fact, every time I thought about last night, my brain shorted out. It was hot and crazy to do that in the living room, but I couldn’t think straight when he touched me like that. Or whenever he was near me. Or whenever I thought about him.

A car blared its horn behind me.

Shit. Green light.I waved and said, “Sorry,” as if they could hear me before I hit the gas again. I had to do something about this situation with Julian, and since I was terrible with men, I decided to call in the big guns.

I went back to Julian’s, frosted the cupcakes, then drove downtown. It was a busy Monday, full of bustling streets and cool breezes, the most winter we’d likely get. The cacophony of downtown always made me feel claustrophobic as if those voices were pressing in on me. But when I pulled up to Nora’s law firm, that sensation disappeared.

Skinner and Associates was known for their brutal tactics, and the building was as harsh as their reputation. Angular and vaguely threatening, the concrete architecture of the Brutalism movement was why Nora wanted this building in particular. No one else liked it, so she bought the ugly thing as a statement. She knew the potential of making the opposition meet her in an ominous space would work to her advantage, and she was right.

That was Nora’s gift. She was always right.

The interior was modern, every area boasting personal touches because employees were encouraged to make each of their spaces their own. Nora might be a ballbuster, but she adored her employees and took great care of them.

When I walked in, the receptionist, Brandy, beamed at me. “Hi, Maggie. Do you have an appointment?”

“No, I was just?—"

“No problem. I’ll buzz you in.”

“Thanks.” It wasn’t two minutes before Nora emerged. “Hey, Nora.”

“Maggie!” She pulled me in for a tight hug. I never told her that her hugs hurt because she was a thin and bony beauty. Jerking her chin to my bag, she asked, “You brought cupcakes, didn’t you?”

“I did.”

“Perfect.” She opened the bag and took two, then left the rest on Brandy’s desk. “Pass these out for everyone. Maggie, my office.” With that, she turned on her heel and plunged deep into the building.

I had to make an effort to keep up. Nora never slowed down for anything. Her blue pantsuit was an electric color that would have suited no one but her, given her fiery red pixie cut and pale white skin. Once we reached her office and she closed the door behind us, I said, “I might have made a mistake.”

“Sit. We will cupcake and chat while I wait for my next meeting to arrive. Coffee?”

“Yes, please,” I said enthusiastically as I plopped onto her office couch. It always surprised me that she hadn’t knocked down the wall between her office and the next one to give herself more space. But as she put it, she didn’t need a giant office to tell people she was in charge. They already knew.

The office was painted in varying shades of gray, white décor accents throughout. She kept the thermostat low but physically comfortable. After she delivered coffee and sat on the other end of the couch, she smirked at me as if she already knew about last night. “And what might that mistake be? Sleeping with your high school crush?”

I laughed, shaking my head. “Okay, first of all, Julian is not my high school crush.”

“Oh, bullshit, doll. You had it bad for him back then.”

“I did not!”

“Really? What was all that hanging out, just you and him about?”

“I hung out with you all the time, too. Does that mean that you were also my high school crush?”

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