Page 64 of Someone Just Like You

Jude, his jeans down to his ankles, gripped my butt cheeks and drove into me again and again. “Fantasies do come true,” he grunted.

Later, I might ask if he’d really fantasized about this moment. I had not, but only because I’d already despised Jude by the time Ihadsexual fantasies. The pressure building, I grasped his shoulders and wrapped my legs tighter around him as he increased his tempo. “Fuck, Jude. Oh, God!”

A door slammed, followed by theclompclompsound of footsteps growing nearer.

Jude stopped rolling his hips.

“It’s the best news ever.”

My mom.I stared at Jude wide-eyed. We were in the basement’s small office—Alison’s bedroom during her college breaks and when she lived at home temporarily after graduation—and thankfully not in clear sight. If my mom caught me in flagrante, I’d die.Die.

“Can you imagine if they got married?” someone (Laura?) said.

“We wouldn’t have to worry about nightmare in-laws.”

Laughter abounded.

“Maybe Molly will be a good influence on Jude and get him thinking about his future more. I worry he’s never recovered from not being the next Derek Jeter.”

I stifled a moan at Jude’s sudden movement. He was still hard and inside me.

“I didn’t play shortstop,” he whispered.

I frowned. How tired he must be of hearing this. But was there truth to it?

“As long as she’s not too busy trying to reunite me and David. It’s sweet. My Molly always wants people to be happy. Ever since she was little. It’s like her mission or something.”

I lowered my gaze to the empty condom wrapper at our feet.

“I found it.”

“Great. Let’s go.”

Theclomp clomps resumed then ebbed.

“They’re gone,” Jude said. He slipped out of me, no longer hard.

Game over.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

It was the week following Thanksgiving, and I was in the office catching up on emails after back-to-back video calls with candidates. I clicked an unread message from Michael from a few hours earlier.

Great work these past few weeks. This position with Bluetronics has been in the system for a while. The company is very motivated to get it filled. It’s a high-commission position. Read: closing this deal will look good when I talk you up for a promotion later this year.

My body tensed. I didn’t need to click the attachment as I’d seen the listing in our internal database already and had passed it right by.

The global gaming company Bluetronics had a Glassdoor rating of only 1.9 out of 5 in employee satisfaction and was included in countless lists of worst companies to work for due to unhealthy office politics, chaotic management, and little room for internal growth. Prospective employees were lured in by the cool gaming aspect only to quit within six months.

I slumped against my chair. I didn’t want to touch this one with rubber glovesanda grabber tool. I typed a response.

I’ll see what I can do.

I didn’t mean it, but hoped the six-word sentence would get Michael off my back while I came up with an escape plan.

Needing a pleasant distraction, I reached into my royal blue leather tote bag and pulled out the most recent issue ofForbes,which I’d bought at Hudson News in Grand Central before work. According to the latest Ceiling Crashers newsletter, Rosaria’s interview had been published, but I hadn’t had a chance to read it yet. After scanning the table of contents, I flipped straight to Rosaria’s interview. Her passion for helping women in career transition jumped off the two-page spread sending a zing of vicarious pride and joy through my body. By the time I got to the end, my cheeks were sore from smiling. I set a calendar reminder to send Rosaria a congratulatory text later.

My phone pinged.

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