Page 106 of The Secret

I flicked the end of the liner along my lashes. “Murray said it’s a bunch of snooty rich people standing around. But I’m sure we’ll see the exhibit too.”

“That sounds fun! And it’s so cool that you get to see it before everyone else, without having to wait in line. It’s like your dream come true,” she laughed.

I tried not to laugh while I was applying mascara, because with my luck, I’d end up with the wand in my eye. “I know.”

“How’s life in the love bubble?”

I put the wand back in the tube. “It’s good…”

She got up from the couch in the corner and perched on the edge of the dressing table. “Good?” She elongated the vowels almost like a sneer. “Good?”

“Yes. Good.”

“Okay, what’s wrong with him?”

“Nothing. Nothing’s wrong with him. He’s totally perfect, and sweet and kind. And hot.”

God, so hot.

Her finger swirled in front of me. “Then what’s with the face?”

I stopped what I was doing and looked up at her. I placed the mascara down with a heavy sigh. “The chemistry, the sex, it’s off the charts. I can’t get enough of him and him of me. I’m so insanely attracted to him, but what if that’s all this is? It’s happened so quickly that I’m tied up in knots trying to figure it out. But I forget literally everything when he’s around.”

She looked at me like I was a little crazy, which was fair, because I’d been thinking that perhaps I was. “I started crying yesterday when I thought he was going to break up with me. I feel like I’ve lost my mind.”

“What? He broke up with you?” She jumped up, outraged.

“No, he didn’t. I just thought he was.”

The crazy look came back. “What did he do instead?”

“He asked me to move in with him and be his girlfriend.”

“But you already live here.”

I shook my head. “Not as his girlfriend, as his nanny. That’s the other thing; he doesn’t want me to be his nanny, so technically he fired me but he’s still giving me the money, or something, I dunno.” I’d honestly tried not to think about it. The whole situation was giving me heartburn.

She frowned. “And what about Bell?”

“He said he’d get a new nanny, and I could figure out what I wanted to do.”

She picked up my blusher brush and started running it over her face. “Whoa.”

“I know. I’m not going crazy, right? It’s a lot?”

“I mean…”

“Pay,” I interrupted before she could disagree with me. “Even if I wasn’t living here already, we’ve known each other less than three months. That’s quick to move in together, isn’t it? Everything is heightened and intense; it’s been freaking me out.”

“No, really? I couldn’t tell.” She crossed her arms over her chest. “Why do you care if the sex is so good?”

“What if it’s only about sex?” I chewed down on my lip, not wanting to spill what I really thought, but knowing it was going to come out anyway. “Sometimes, I feel like he’s created this ready-made family. I’m working for him because Freddie and Wolf thought I’d make a good girlfriend, and now I am his girlfriend. It’s all been mapped out and I haven’t had a say in anything.”

I thought she’d talk me down off my ledge, but like the best friend she was, she supported my craziness.

“It does sound a little full on. What d’you mean about the crazy girls?”

I groaned. “Basically, they set us up. They hired me because they wanted us to be together.”

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