“I signed the email J. Tanner, and they assumed. It wasn’t until I showed up that they realized they were wrong. I guess Andrew didn’t tell Adrian, who is their head of security. I don’t know why he didn’t pull my HR file before I got here, but hey, I’m not the billionaire.”
“Right? Seems like a giant oops to me.”
“Agreed. Maybe I wouldn’t be here if he did.” There’s doubt in my voice. Why? I shouldn’t want to be here.
“You don’t sound so sure about that,” she muses.
Yup, she knows me too well. “Whatever, anyway, they’ve narrowed it down to David, one of my coworkers, but they don’t know if anyone else is involved yet.”
“Okay, but I’m still not getting why this is so bad.”
“Because I haven’t gotten there yet. Damn. I guess when they flew me here, David called in the feds to cover his ass and framed me. Told them I was conspiring with Andrew to secretly allow weapons development with JNG’s apps illegally.”
“What? Are you fucking kidding me? The federal government actually believed that load of shit?”
“Apparently, because they came to the office to look for me and confiscated all my files. The only reason they don’t have my laptop is because it’s here with me.”
“Wow! You weren’t kidding about the epicness of this clusterfuck.”
“I wasn’t, and that’s not even all of it.”
“There’s more? Wait, I need to sit down for this. You’re right, it would be a great book if it wasn’t happening to my ride or die.”
I nod as if she could see me, then stop by the mint to inhale the fresh scent. Even with everything that Andrew just laid on me, I love it here. Not that I want to admit it.
“It’s so messed up. But here goes. As if the whole job situation isn’t bad enough, last night I was kind of with Andrew, and now he wants to marry me to save us both from being able to testify against each other if the Feds come for us.”
“Hold on. You did what with who and marry you? Girl, you obviously left out a whole lot of shit right there. Did you give him your V-card?”
I don’t have to be there to know she’s flopped onto the couch and is twisting her hair around her finger.
“No, I didn’t. But he walked in on my mistressbating and… Shit, I can’t tell you all this stuff without alcohol. But, holy hell, he ate me like he was starving. I’ve never come so hard in my life. I didn’t just see stars, I saw the whole fucking Milky Way.”
“About time. So, you and him?”
“Now you sound like him. He says that, while protecting me and JNG is important, he thinks I’m his. That I’m the one.”
“Whoa. It really is like my books, huh?”
I expected her to be shocked—but excited? Nope, didn’t have that on my bingo card for this week. “Why do you sound happy?”
“Because this is so romantic. C’mon, you have to admit it. Your boss sees you and falls for you, wants to whisk you off into the sunset, or in his case, his mountain.”
“Funny. Except, how the hell can I marry him? It hasn’t even been twenty-four hours. He’s delusional. He’ll probably get tired of me and kick me to the curb. Then I’ll have no job and be homeless.”
“Cut that shit out. You’re overreacting. You’ll never be homeless if I’m breathing, and you know it. So just stop, okay? Tell me what’s really bothering you. Because from here it seems like a plausible solution.”
As I stop in the middle of the garden, surrounded by herbs and vegetables, it’s like I’m in another world. I’m so far out of my comfort zone it’s not remotely funny, and I can feel my chest tighten.
“Jac, did I lose you?”
“No, I’m here. Just thinking.”
“You mean overthinking…”
“Shut up,” I say, continuing down the path as a monarch butterfly lands on a flowering plant. I’ll have to ask Emma or the girls what the name of it is.
“C’mon, Jac. What’s really going on in that head of yours?” she pleads.
