“Why not?”
"Sasha, he just lost his mom, and he'd decorated that apartment for her to live in… He just looked so sad. And it would feel like living in a shrine to someone else."
"So, what's your plan?"
"Well, I told him I needed time. Now that I've had a few days, I think I have a solution. There's a huge bedroom connected to the nursery, separated by a bathroom. It's on the other side of the house."
"So, your plan is to become roommates with this man you are ridiculously attracted to, have had amazing sex with, but can't date because you are both hot messes, and now you're his employee." She raised a perfectly arched, skeptical eyebrow.
"Hear me out." I had a sudden flash of memory of Cole saying these words to me while he had me pinned under his massive frame on the couch right before he carried me upstairs to his bedroom. I pushed the thought away. "I have almost no furniture. It could all fit in that room. Cole is gone at least twelve hours a day. I hardly ever see him, and I'd have more access to the baby. It actually makes perfect sense." I picked up my water glass and brought it to my lips.
“If you say so.” She dipped a piece of steak in the yolk from her egg, making me wrinkle my nose. “Tell me about his dick.”
I snorted and almost choked on my water. “I am a debutante and a Southern lady. I would never discuss such things.”
Sasha held up a breadstick and raised her eyebrows. I took the breadstick from her hands and broke it in half. She scrunched up her face. Then I took another breadstick and lined it up with the broken one. Her face lit up.
“Nice.” She nodded. “And you let him put that in your ass?”
“Jesus Christ, Sasha!” I looked around the restaurant. No one seemed to notice. “Yes,” I whispered. “I let him put his giant breadstick in my ass.”
“I’m just learning so much about you.” She laughed.
"My ex liked it, but it wasn't my favorite thing. Just like oral. It was just expected of me every year, but I never enjoyed it."
“And with Cole?”
“It’s amazing.” A wide grin spread across my face, but I quickly recovered. “I mean, itwasamazing. He was so…attentive. It's like he wanted me to enjoy it just as much as he did. It's like he got pleasure from making me feel pleasure. And he was so appreciative. There were no expectations just…two people enjoying each other. I've never experienced anything like it."
“Yes. It’s almost like you’re a person deserving of happiness and orgasms and not a collection of warm holes.” She gave me a sarcastic smile. “It also sounds like he uses his hands a lot. That’s very important.”
“He does use his hands a lot.” I used my fork to spear a cherry tomato from her uneaten salad and popped it into my mouth.
“And you’re giving that up?” She raised her eyebrows.
"Yes. It's for the best. We had one perfect night, and we're quitting while we're ahead."
“Fine.” She almost sounded bored.
“How’s work?”
“Work is work. Theresa didn’t get the part but is getting the extra shifts she wanted because there was a new job opening.” She gave me a pointed look before moving on. “However, I don’t think she’ll be working at Mama’s much longer.”
“Why not?”
"Somehow"—she shrugged and sipped her mimosa—"everyone found out what she did, and let's just say, she's not very popular."
My eyebrows shot up my forehead. “Really?”
"Think about it. At least half of the servers are parents imagining what would happen if the person that they were paying to watch their kids pulled some shit like that. The other half of them are pissed that you lost your job because they like you more than they like her… I'm in the second half. There's also a fair amount of overlap."
“Was Mike really pissed?” I asked. I hoped Mike didn’t take his anger at me out on any of the other employees.
“Mike has actually been pretty mellow since you left.” She leaned back in her chair with a sly grin before taking another sip of her mimosa.
“What did you do?” I leaned forward.
"Nothing. I just told my boss the truth." She shrugged again. I rolled my eyes and glared at her. "I told him that you called to take the day off from work because you had a family emergency when you heard his outburst. Then you were so distraught that you quit and that you were now working with a lawyer." She polished off her mimosa and smiled.
