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“Too intense,” he echoes hollowly.
“Listen, I like my job,” I tell him. “I’d like to keep it. Is, ah, that possible?”
Annoyance flickers over his face. “Of course it’s possible, Windows.” He stares at me for a moment, revealing nothing of his thoughts, then shoves his feet into his shoes, picks up the tuxedo jacket, and walks out.
Ouch. That…sucked.
“I’m sorry.” I speak the flat words to the shut door. He’s already gone.
I thought I would feel relieved, especially because I still have the job–which I really have come to love. Instead, an unfamiliar anxiety brews in the pit of my stomach.
Like I made a mistake. And I rarely make mistakes. I’m allergic to them.
A moment later, Aubrey throws my door open and launches onto my bed in her Women are fragile like a bomb t-shirt and purple lace panties. “Oh my God! What is wrong with you? I didn’t even know Brick Blackthroat was in our apartment. You could’ve texted or something!”
I fall back on the bed and throw an arm across my face. “I’m sorry! I’m an asshole. Did he see you in your underwear?”
“Well, yeah! Not that I care. It just was a shock. I mean, I thought you were going to walk out of your room and instead it’s this broad-shouldered billionaire asshole in a tux looking like he just ate a lemon.”
“He’s not an asshole.” I’m surprised at the rush of defensiveness that wells up in me at her dig. “And the lemon-face was because I just told him I didn’t want to have sex anymore.”
“That seems like odd timing. Did you say it right after doing it?”
I guess she heard.
Aubrey sits on the bed.
“Yes. He found the timing unusual as well.”
“So what happened?”
“Nothing. I mean, it was just getting to be too much, you know? Him coming over here and asking me to invite him up. He’s not what I thought–he’s really not a dick. I mean, he certainly can be, but not to the people he cares about. Like his sister and niece and nephew and…”
Aubrey’s dark head pops up from the pillow. “And?”
I try to fight back the irrational sensation of panic rising in my chest. “I don’t know!” I throw my hands in the air. “Maybe me!”
Aubrey gives me an exaggerated jaw drop with an extended gasp.
“Stop it.”
“You just broke it off because you’re afraid he cares about you?”
“Well, no. I mean, yes.” I try to organize my thoughts. “No! I broke it off because I care whether he cares, and that’s a real problem.”
“You know…there are no guarantees in love.” Aubrey props her cheek on her hand.
“Please don’t.”
She laughs. “I’m just saying. You’re trying so hard to protect yourself, but is it worth it?”
“There was no love! This was my winter fling, remember? And now it’s over.”
“Okay, that’s legit. So did you quit the job, too?”
“No, he said I can keep the job.”
“Well, of course. He’d better say that, or he’d have a lawsuit on his hands. You can’t require a woman to have sex to keep a job. Which I know you know.”
