Page 15 of Bride on the Dotted Line

But I do anyway.

There are no new notifications. My fingers are twitchy, though, and before I realize I’m doing it, I’m scrolling through Nick and I’s messages from start to finish. Looking for … what? I don’t know. Just looking.

Nick

See you tomorrow.

Sienna

Goodnight, Nick.

There’s a sudden tap on my driver’s side window. I jump, looking up to see Lena staring at me from outside the car, brows furrowed. Alarm whooshes through me. Did she see the name on my screen?

I play it cool. “Hey.” Stepping out of the car, I push my phone into my pocket and sling my work bag over my shoulder. “Morning.”

“Morning,” Lena says, mimicking me. She’s wearing a turquoise winter coat and a lovely shade of red lipstick that suits her brown eyes and skin perfectly. Twenty years my best friend, co-workers for five, and she’s worn that lipstick almost every day. “What’s wrong with you?”

“What do you mean?” We walk side-by-side around the corner of Blackstone Center. It’s sunny again today; ice is melting off the branches of the trees above us. Lena grabs my sleeve and yanks me to the side to avoid a pile of falling snow.

“Thanks,” I say. “This is my good coat.”

She shoots me a glare. “Don’t change the subject. I saw you smiling at your phone.”

Shit—was I smiling?“I wasn’t smiling.”

“Yes, you were.” Lena pulls open Blackstone Center’s giant glass doors, ushering me into the busy lobby ahead of her. “I can’t believe you’d do this.”

“Do what?”

“Does it have to be right now?Can’t your sad, single loins wait another three months?”

“Lena,” I say, pushing the button for the elevator, “I love you, but what the everliving fuck are you talking about?”

“Your phone. Your …” She passes a hand up and down in the air, indicating my outfit. “We get the biggest deal our firm has ever seen, we’re up to our necks in work, and you get aboyfriend?”

The elevator dings, doors sliding open.

“Sienna has a boyfriend?” a new voice says. It’s Mason, coming up behind us with a stack of files under his arm and a large to-go coffee poised near his mouth. “Why am I only hearing about this now?”

The three of us wait, letting a group of people exit the elevator before we get on. Mason’s wearing a sharp, blue suit, his blond hair slicked back so he bears an unsettling resemblance to a glasses-wearing Draco Malfoy. I hate to admit it, but the look works for him.

Lena presses the button for the third floor.

“It could be a situationship,” she says to Mason, who nods, glugging his coffee. “Or something else, I don’t know. It’s been a while since she broke up with the last one. Either way, I caught her smiling like a lovesick teenager at her phone. We’re boned.”

“We’re not …” I look wildly between them, somehow both offendedandguilty, even though the idea of Nick Harwood in any kind of relationship—let alone with me—is hilarious. “I don’t have a boyfriend. I was just looking at my messages.”

“It’ll be fine,” Mason says to Lena, ignoring me. I fight the urge to flick them both on the foreheads. “Sienna’s been doing the Lord’s work with our new deal. She deserves to blow off a little steam.”

“Sure, but none of us can afford to fall in love right now.”

Mason scoffs. “Who said anything about love?”

The elevator doors slide open, and we walk into Charters PR Management. It’s a small, cozy space. The reception area lines one side, flanking a narrow, windowed hallway to our offices. Charters’ receptionist, Robin, clacks away at his computer. I notice too late that his cheeks are tinted pink.

Lena’s rummaging in her bag for her office keys. “Having a lot of work to do isn’t an excuse to sleep with the whole world, as a rule,” she says to Mason.

Mason gives her an acknowledging look over his coffee. “That’s true.” He turns to me. “Sienna, just because we’re swamped doesn’t mean you’re allowed to sleep with the whole world.”

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