Page 41 of Date and Switch

“Aw, Rye you’re blushing.”

“Fuck off loser. I’ll see you in Hawaii in a few days.”

“I’ll see if Till can get the time off. I’m sure we’d both love to meet your girlfriend.”

“Same person you literally just ate lunch with two hours ago.”

“Yes but two hours ago your relationship was purely speculation. Now it’s official.”

“For your ears only, douchebag.”

“Sorry,” he pointed to his wedding ring, “what is mine is Tillie’s. And that includes any and all juicy gossip.”

“For your ears and the ears of your wife only. If this ends up on the air, on the blog, on social media, I pull the whole thing and her little show will never get another update for the rest of the trip.”

He rolled his eyes and flipped me off as he walked out of the conference room.

twenty-six

I’d forgotten what it felt like to have sex on a regular bed. The kind that holds still while you’re having sex and doesn’t slip and separate because it’s really two twin sized beds turned into a king. Of course, the whole normal gravity thing also helped. Given we didn’t rock with a ship. Sex in the shower had proved more difficult because we both still had sea legs. The jelly kind of feeling in your body because it’s become accustomed to compensating for the subtle movements of a ship. We gave it the college try, unfortunately the shower sex was anything but sexy and ended with both of us slipping and sliding eventually collapsing in a fit of giggles on the tile floor.

“While having to make declarations feels kind of juvenile and something a seventh grader would leave inside your locker,” Bryce lay next to me in bed, twisting his fingers in my hair and holding me still so he could possess my mouth.

Despite being blissfully sore after being ridden and having ridden one another all-night-long, that one kiss had me ready for round eleventy eleven.

“My brother may have sussed out that we’re dating.”

“Oh, we’re dating now? Is that the juvenile declaration that you wanted to tell me? I thought we were just enjoying one another’s company in a noncommittal, see where it goes kind of way?”

Bryce exited the bed first in all his naked glory. A nakedness that didn’t hide the fact he too was ready for another round of burying the snake in the garden of Eden. He threw on a pair of boxers, before rummaging around in his briefcase.

“I forgot to give this to you yesterday.”

He pulled out a slim folder from his briefcase, tossing it on the bed on his way to the bathroom. Inside the folder was a full spy-level dossier on Cambra King.

“What the fuck is this?” I asked, thumbing through the pages.

“A background check on Cambra King.” He shrugged his shoulders and explained while he brushed his teeth. “I thought you might want to know that she is living a boring, normal life in Sacramento. After she graduated, she couldn’t get a job in the industry either. She briefly taught voice lessons in San Francisco, then got married and now she’s a mom and teaches at a charter school.”

He joined me back on the bed, wearing just boxer shorts and a toothpaste fresh smile.

“Totally unspectacular. Even if she was the star student with the lead roles and the scholarship money.”

He’d actually utilized his company resources to find her. Someone I randomly brought up weeks ago, just so that I didn’t feel bad about myself for never making it in musical theater. That kind of stuff you didn’t do for just anyone—I assumed. Other than that one comment about declaring me his girlfriend he didn’t say anything more. Not while we collected all of our things to carry back to the ship. Definitely not when security inspected my bags full of condoms and lingerie. I thought I’d cracked the ultimate level of the game of mortification when a near stranger put ointment on my blistered lady parts. But no…having a total stranger pull boxes of condoms from a zipped backpack definitely topped that list.

I’d decided on injectable birth control from Dr. Raj. Not because I wanted to ride the pony bareback any time in the foreseeable future, I just wanted to be prepared. There may be a time, somewhere down the line where we got caught up in a moment and somehow found ourselves rubber-less. She’d shown me how to grab a piece of my own flabby stomach and inject it. But also said if I felt uncomfortable doing so, I could bring it down to the medical bay and their nurses could do it for me.

“Do you golf?” Bryce asked as we followed the throng of people waiting to re-board the ship.

“Does putt-putt count?”

“I asked Esther to coordinate a golf game with Teddy while in Hawaii. Penn will be joining because you know my general disdain for the sport. But if you’d like to come along I don’t want you to think you’re unwelcome. I’m sorry I have to continue with more work stuff. Hopefully this will be the last meeting.”

“Is Raven joining?”

Having spent the day with her, I hoped that the two of us could become friends. Especially if I ended up working for Hursch. The day had been such a whirlwind I’d forgotten I had to decide on that.

“I’m not sure, but we probably need to discuss a few things. First the fact that you and I are becoming quite the sensation. According to Penn an international sensation.”

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