Page 24 of A Conflict of Interest

“No!”

“What’s my name?”

Kelcey? Not Kelcey.Not Kelceyprobably wasn’t the answer. “Uh.” I stared for about three solid seconds before I managed, “Noah.”

“Mm-hm.”

“That won’t matter if your dick’s down my throat. Won’t be saying anyone’s names.”

“All right, fine,” he said. “It’s just for one night. It’s not like I’m asking for emotional commitment.”

I stared at him with a sinking feeling in my gut for the longest time before I slumped over the table. “Dammit, I don’t want to have sex.”

“Yeah, that’s kinda what I thought…”

I groaned. “Was it that obvious?”

“A… a little bit, yeah.”

“I just want to watch cheesy TV with her and have snacks and go out to buy cute Christmas things we don’t need at Target.I tried to break things off by making her want to leave because I couldn’t bring myself to leave her, and I just made her miserable and hate herself, and now I justmissher so much in every little thing, and I can’t even look at a stupid nutcracker without thinking about which one she’d like the most. Ugh, kill me, Nelson.”

“It’s Noah.”

“How am I supposed to fix it?”

He shrugged. “Tell her you’re sorry and that you’d like a chance to make it better? I dunno. I assume you’ve done that.”

“Uh. Not really, I guess.”

“Then that’s probably what I’d recommend.”

“What am I gonna do about the fact that I’ve been texting her anonymously because our jobs have connected us for her project and she doesn’t realize it’s me on the other side?”

He raised his eyebrows. “Damn. Is this going to keep getting more complicated the more questions I answer?”

“I’malwaysdown to get fucked. There’s probably something deeply, biologically wrong with me that makes me into some insatiable nymphomaniac slut who wants to get passed around at an orgy. What the hell happened to make me want to cuddle Kelcey and spend happy carefree moments with her so badly that I’m going to turn down sex?”

“Feelings?”

“Ew.” Anna had said the same thing. I guess maybe this was a thing at this point. If I thought so, and Anna thought so, and Nate here thought so, then three times was enemy action, andfeelingswere definitely enemy action. I sighed. “Sorry to lead you on and waste your evening.”

He shrugged. “It’s cool. Feelings are complicated. And now I’ll always have something interesting to think of when I see a nutcracker.”

“I’m bisexual,” I blurted, and he blinked fast.

“I was kind of piecing that together.”

“I think I’d like it if Kelcey were my girlfriend.”

He nodded, sitting up stiffly. “I think I actually managed to piece that together too.”

“My girlfriend, Kelcey.Veronica and Kelcey. That’s pretty cute, right? A couple of girlfriends.”

“With a happy house full of nutcrackers.”

“I’m not a lesbian.”

He smiled wider. “I’d kind of believe it if you were. Seemed a little bit like you were trying to convince yourself of something.”

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