Page 33 of Boss with Benefits

“I should never have told you. He’s not my client, but still. That was so private.”

“He doesn’t know you told me.”

Lexi closed her laptop. “It’s okay if he does. I should’ve kept my mouth shut. That’s on me. What did you say to him?”

I pushed my toes against the floor and swung backward. “I was mad. I wanted to hurt him. And...” I chewed my lip, unsure how much I should tell Lexi.

“Look.” Lexi glanced toward the open door. “You have no reason to trust me since I blabbed his secret. That was really stupid on my part. But I swear I’ll keep anything in the vault that we talk about.”

“He was being a jerk, so I threw all this awful stuff in his face, including him not being able to get it up.”

“You said that?” Lexi’s eyebrows shot up.

“He was really mad.”

“No shit.”

I slammed my feet on the floor, stopping the swing. “But he can get it up. We were fighting and he was hard. I could see it through his pants.”

“It’s called agrexophilia,” Lexi said, not missing a beat.

“Agrexo what?”

“When someone is aroused by fighting or aggression. That could also be part of what’s causing his ED. His problem isn’t physical. It’s mental. But it may be more complicated than Derrick initially told me. He’d be ashamed to admit even to himself that aggression turns him on.” Lexi shook her head. “This isn’t an official diagnosis. But it would explain a lot.”

It was an interesting theory.

“What are you thinking?” Lexi asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Nothing,” I said, because I wasn’t thinking anything concrete. “It’s just fascinating.”

“Don’t go poking the bear,” Lexi said.

“What if the bear wants to poke me?” I joked.

“Does he?”

“Obviously his cock does.” I shrugged. “But he acts like I’m an annoying kid most of the time.”

My phone pinged.

It was my mom asking about my Fourth of July plans next week. The city became a zombie apocalypse during the holiday, with everyone scattering to the beaches and the people who stayed walking aimlessly around enjoying the quiet.

“What are you doing for the Fourth?” I asked as I shot a text back to my mom telling her I had to work. It was a little white lie, but the whole long-lost granddad thing was messing with my head, and I wasn’t ready to talk to her about it. If I visited, I’d end up blurting it out.

“Hamptons. I’ve never been, and it’s a rite of passage if you live in New York, right? You?”

“Just hanging in the city.”

Derrick walked into the lounge, and Lexi and I clamped our mouths shut even though we had moved on from discussions of him a few minutes ago.

A short brunette was chattering next to him.

“Mom is gonna freak if you don’t go,” the woman said. She wore Equinox gear from head to toe. “She’s already complaining that you skipped Memorial Day.”

“I have work to catch up on.” He smiled apologetically to her. “But I’ll try.”

The swing I was on squeaked, and Derrick turned, spotting me, and the smile on his face dropped. He hadn’t been exactly friendly since I returned, even though it was his idea.

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