Page 17 of Scandalous Secrets

“Well, what would the heroine in this scenario do?” she asked.

“She would probably spend the entire book having wild, passionate, secret sex all over the office with the hottest man she’d ever met,” I admitted.

“Exactly,” she said with a curt nod.

“But this isn’t a novel. It’s my life. I can’t do that,” I said. “Plus, I found out Troy has quite the reputation for sleeping with his personal assistants.”

Heart groaned. “Oh, he’s one ofthose.”

“Yup. And I don’t really want to be added to that list. Even though I kind of already was.”

Heart laughed. “That doesn’t count. You didn’t know,” she reassured me.

“Still, I can’t risk my professional reputation to live out some fantasy. I need this job. I need the money. You’d think I was living in Manhattan with how high Queens has gone up. I can barely scrounge up rent right now.”

“I know,” said Heart, putting her arm around me and giving me a squeeze before releasing me. “You know, I’m here to help you out with whatever you need.”

This wasn’t the first time Heart had offered to lend me some money while I caught my bearings. I felt like she thought she owed it to me after her life turned upside down with her unexpected pregnancy, but I just did what a best friend would do and helped her the best I could. I never wanted her to feel like she owed me anything in return.

So I always refused her offer of financial help. I didn’t think it was smart to mix friendship and money, no matter how tempting the offer was sometimes. It also wasn’t smart to sleep with your boss, but here we were.

This was my mess to sort out.

“I’ll figure it out,” I said. “But thank you.”

“Okay, but I’m getting dinner tonight to celebrate your new job.”

“In that case,” I joked. “I’ll have the most expensive thing on the menu.”

She laughed as she waved over the server and we both ordered a bacon cheeseburger with extra fries, the most expensive thing on the menu. That was why I loved this place. It also felt like a safe bet that Troy, Mr. Billionaire, wouldn’t ever step foot in here.

It wasn’t like I could actually avoid him. I would see him in the morning. The thought made my stomach do a flip. I hoped the feeling would eventually subside.

Chapter 8

Troy

After my frigid shower, that was more uncomfortable than relieving, I stepped out of the water and wrapped myself in a towel. Thankfully, it had helped my growing feelings subside after my short time with Monica. I walked to the black marble sink of my bathroom and placed my hands on the counter, studying myself in the mirror.

“How could you be so stupid?” I muttered.

I should have asked Monica more questions last night. She had brought up the new job and I hadn’t even asked what it was or what she would be doing. It would have probably given me some clue that she would be walking into my office this afternoon as my new personal assistant. All I knew was that she had gone on a shitty date and was in the mood to make out at a bar, and there was no way I was passing that up.

Plus, it wasn’t like I really spent time getting to know the women I met. All of it was small talk. No substance. We rushed through our words just trying to get to the end result, which ended up in my bed or theirs. I didn’t want anything else from them. Words complicated things. But apparently lack of words complicated things, too.

I groaned as I ran my hands down my stubbly cheeks.

I needed a shave. There hadn’t been time this morning after waking up late. And alone. For some reason that still seemed like a thread of disappointment that ran through me.

I grabbed my electric razor and began carefully shaving. When I was done, I cleaned up the sink and walked over to my bedroom and into the large master closet. I did a slow turn as I debated whether to put on sweats and stay in, or put on another suit and go out for my usual nightcap. As tired as I had felt all day, the cold water had woken me up some.

This was usually the time I went out for a solo dinner and then headed to the bar for a few drinks to numb my body and brain so I could sleep. It wasn’t the best habit, but one I had grown used to over the past two years since I had opened up my own firm.

It was highly unlikely I would run into Monica again. Fate couldn’t bethattricky. The idea of seeing her slink up to the bar the way she did last night was an attractive possibility, but one I wouldn’t bet on. In the zero to none chance she did. What happened last night couldn’t happen again. No, it was best to just see her in the office.

Not that the office setting had stopped me before with previous personal assistants, but it had gotten me in hot water. If I truly believed my father’s threats, then pursuing Monica would mean kissing my firm goodbye.

My phone buzzed just then from the nightstand in my room. I walked past the bed, still unmade with tangled sheets, and picked up my phone. I sighed as I looked at the caller ID. It was my father. Did I really want to do this right now? I had better just get whatever he wanted over with. I slid the green answer bar.

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