Page 66 of A Conflict of Interest

Anna answered without looking up from her phone. “Absolutely not. The world needs that guy taken down a peg.”

Lucy smiled flawlessly at her. “Think we should bring in your mother?”

“I’m not keen on getting fired when he takes it out on me,” Anna laughed, but she turned back to me. “You did good work, Kelcey.”

“Tell me about it.” I flicked my hair back. “Now, what are we up to next? What’s my first order of business?”

“Client reports. They’ve been stacking up and we could use your help parsing them.”

I slumped. “Ugh, I hate client reports. Fine…”

But I did them—grabbed a cup of coffee from the breakroom and settled back in at my desk, adjusted my jacket, adjusted my hair, touched up my hairclip, checked myself in my phone camera and made sure my makeup still looked nice, used a breath mint spray, checked my manicure to make sure the polish was still staying nicely, and I took a sip of my coffee, spitting it back into the cup. Coffee after a breath mint spray was always gross. I never learned. But I did focus, and I spent the day making steady progress, working through the forms and parsing the information, compiling it into a big report, filling details into spreadsheets, and I got to send flirty little texts to Veronica on my lunch break. I was slow to get back to my desk after, kind of wishing I could just sit there texting her all day, but I got back to work, bumping into Miranda on the way back and making the mistake of saying hi.

“Oh, Kelcey…” She gave me a helpless look that, if I didn’t know her well, I would think was a sign something was desperately wrong and the company wouldn’t last past the weekend. As it was, she’d probably just had to stop for gas onher way into work this morning. “Did they call you back in for something today?”

I stood up taller. “Uh, yeah, actually. To do my job. I’m back in the office normally now.”

Miranda pulled a face. “Why?”

“What?” I scowled. “Oh my god, I’m not that bad.”

“I thought they said you were gone until the new year.”

“Yeah, well.” I gestured back to my desk. “I got a whole project done! I did great! So they brought me back in!”

She pursed her lips. “Why did youwantto come back earlier?”

Oh, she wasn’t complaining about me, she was complaining about the job. It was hard to tell sometimes. “Well, duh. It’s because of all my friends here.”

She sighed heavily, turning back in the direction of her desk. “Whatever you say. Just rethink going to Christmas parties. Or buying the supplies for them.”

Oh, okay, she was complaining about me too. That checked out.

I got back to my desk, pounded out the rest of the work for today, and I slipped into the executive office at the end of the workday with my laptop close to my chest, knocking and pushing into where Anna was sitting behind Lucy’s desk, close enough to Lucy that I was pretty sure she’d been closer before I knocked.

“Hi, you two,” I said. “I can totally, like, uh, give you some more space.”

Anna cleared her throat. “We’re just working a little late tonight, Kelcey. Anything we can do for you?”

That little smile on Lucy’s face and the slightly embarrassed expression on Anna’s told me plenty about what kind ofworkthey were doing. I had no idea how I had such a knack for catching them being cute together, but I wasn’tcomplaining. “Just wanted to let you know I finished with the reports. Should I drop the completed file in your inbox, or is there something more I should do with it before I, uh, give you your privacy?”

Anna closed her eyes with a sigh. Lucy smiled wider. “CC it to Janet in HR and to Daniel, and make sure to make the subject headerclient reportswith the date and nothi Boss Wives.”

I puffed out my cheek. “I stand by that subject header. But will do! See you tomorrow, Boss Wives.”

I spun on my heel, and they said, in unison, “Kelcey—your laptop—”

Ugh, that thing again! When did I even put it down? I swear it was like a greased pig. I spun on my heel again, picked it up, and spun back around, pirouetting like I was back in ballet, and I headed on out, chatting my way across the office on my way out and getting back to my car, where I was bouncing with excitement the whole time I drove back to my apartment, and I felt like I’d burst by the time I got back to where I could smell food cooking even before I got through the door. Veronica spoiled me.

“Veronica?” I called inside as I pushed in through the door into the sweet smell of caramelized onions. “Oh my god, were you cooking for me?”

“Maybe trying to prove something to Miss Charlotte,” I heard her call from the kitchen, and she stepped through the doorway into the hall, dressed in a cute little pussybow blouse and high-waisted trousers, hair up and makeup done, and she caught me at the door with a quick kiss on the cheek. “How was—”

A kiss on the cheek was too chaste. I turned and caught her on the lips, backing her up against the wall and slipping my hands up to the sides of her head, pouring all the day’s excited energy into a passionate kiss, and I was rewarded withher looking a little dazed when I pulled away. “Work was good, thank you,” I said. She blinked.

“Were we talking about work?”

“I think so… I don’t really remember a lot from before five seconds ago.”

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