Page 44 of In Good Company

I step forward, trying to grab Lucy’s hand. “Wait,” I call after her, wanting her to stop.

When her eyes find mine, my stomach fills with dread. Regret is written all over her face, and I hate it.

“I have to go talk to her,” Lucy explains, her voice shaky. She anxiously runs her fingers through her hair in an attempt to tame it. “We shouldn’t ha?—”

“Don’t,” I cut her off, the word coming out harsher than I intended. I sigh, trying to soften my voice with my next words. “Don’t say we shouldn’t have done that.”

Her eyes soften slightly. For a moment, I wonder if she’s going to stay and talk to me instead of running after Margo.

She doesn’t. “I’ve got to talk to her,” she explains before running out the door.

I sigh, dread running through me. My intuition is almost always correct, and the look in Lucy’s eyes told me everything I needed to know. She regretted what just happened between us.Hell,Ishould regret it. I just got caught kissing one of my employees.

But I don’t regret it at all.

Instead, I’m hoping it happens again.

TWENTY-THREE

LUCY

My heart races with anxiety as I open the door to the pool house and step outside. Part of me wants to glance over my shoulder and look at Cal, but I can’t. I’m too embarrassed about us being caught to do anything but look for Margo.

Part of me expects everyone to be staring at me as I step back outside, as if Margo told everyone what she caught Cal and me doing in the time it took for me to chase after her.

No one pays me any attention. They’re all too wrapped up in their own conversations to notice me step outside and beeline for where Margo sits alone on a pool lounger.

I close the distance to her, my cheeks heating with every step closer. It feels like I’m doing a walk of shame, but luckily for me, only one person knows about the shame.At least the entire group didn’t catch us, I remind myself as I step up to Margo.

“We really don’t need to talk about it,” Margo gets out before I can say anything. She gives me a reassuring smile. It doesn’t help ease my nerves about being caught at all.

“That wasn’t what it looked like,” I say, wincing as soon as the words come out. I sound incredibly guilty, telling her it’s exactly what it looked like.

Margo laughs. “Listen, Lucy, I promise you there’s no judgment from me. Trust me. We don’t have to talk about it.”

Despite her words, my entire body feels tight with nerves. It’s like I’m hit in the face with the memory of everything that just happened, because mixed with the embarrassment of being caught is the heat of how right it felt to feel Cal’s lips against mine.

Margo narrows her eyes on me before patting the open space on the pool lounger next to her. “Okay, maybe we should talk about it? Is that what you need?”

I groan, running my hand over my face before plopping down next to her. Our backs are to the rest of the party—and the pool house. Maybe just talking to her about what just happened with Cal since she knows about it will help.

“I don’t know what I need,” I answer, rubbing my eyes with the heels of my hand. “What you saw in there…was a mistake.” The comment doesn’t feel right leaving my lips, but I don’t know what else to call it.

I shouldn’t have let Cal kiss me. It’s completely unprofessional.

“It doesn’t have to be a mistake if you don’t want it to be,” Margo offers.

I realize I probably shouldn’t be airing out my drama to a Pembroke member, but it’s too late. She’d already witnessed Cal and me with our tongues down each other’s throats. There’s no coming back from that. Plus, in the time we’ve spent together today, I’ve learned I really like Margo. She’s laid-back and down-to-earth, something that isn’t always common with people in this town. Especially ones with her status.

“Oh, but it is a mistake. I just made out with my boss.”

Margo shrugs, her shoulder bumping against mine. “I married mine.”

I give her a curious glance, not knowing that little tidbit ofinformation. “Well, the boss I was just making out with is also my ex’s brother.”

Margo throws her head back and laughs. “You’re messing with me, aren’t you?”

I narrow my eyes at her for a moment, briefly glancing behind us to make sure no one’s eavesdropping. It doesn’t seem like anyone is, but I don’t look behind me for long, not wanting to meet Cal’s eyes if he’s also left the pool house. “This isn’t a time for me to make jokes,” I whine. “Cal really is my bossandmy ex’s brother.”

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