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“Look at this,” I said vehemently, passing my phone around the table to my girlfriends. Felicia had stayed home, but the rest of us had decided to go out for a drink after the baby shower. We were out at a dive bar because it was quiet and hadn’t been invaded by tourists. “That bastard.”
“Who, Sean?” Leah asked, taking the phone from me. “Isla, you need to chill with him or you’re going to get fired.”
That gave me pause. “Ironically, I’m not actually talking about Sean.” I gestured to my phone. “I’m actually talking about Martin, my former co-worker. One of the servers told me that he was already negotiating for a position at Woodstock, a rival restaurant, before Sean was hired. So when he quit, he already had another job. This is Woodstock’s menu for the Best of Brooklyn cook-off.” I was so furious I reached for my vodka soda and took a huge gulp, nearly choking on it.
“Okay,” Savannah said. “Why is that important?”
“This is my menu,” I said. “I floated these ideas past Chef Sucre before he left. Martin was there and he heard everything and now he’s stolen my menu.”
“That bastard,” Savannah breathed.
“Exactly.” I pointed to her. “That little bastard. Left out of anger and now he’s stolen my menu.”
I was furious and felt betrayed on every level. “I worked with Martin for three years and he just stabbed me in the back. I didn’t even see it coming. That’s what really sucks. I can usually spot an asshole at fifty feet. I thought he was a decent guy.”
“Is there anything you can do?” Leah asked. “Do you have work emails or anything to prove he stole your ideas?”
“I can’t exactly go to Woodstock and storm in and claim he stole my menu. I’d just look nuts.” I ran my finger over the rim of my tumbler. “I can’t believe the turn my career has taken.” It had descended into soap opera territory. Ultimatums, threats, and secret sex. What was next, a parade, followed by a building burning down?
“Can’t you sabotage him?” Dakota asked. “You still have time to plan something.”
I looked at her in disbelief. “You want me to sabotage Martin after suggesting I also sabotage Sean? Do I look like I have a degree in espionage?”
“No, but you’re a pretty tough cookie. You can’t let this guy rip you off and get away with it.”
“You’re sabotaging Sean?” Savannah asked, setting her wineglass down. She was our group fashionista and for the baby shower she was wearing blue statement earrings and an emerald green cocktail dress in a color combination that I could never pull off. It went perfectly with her red hair and her porcelain skin.
“That doesn’t seem very nice,” she added. “What did Sean ever do to you?”
“Yes, what did he do to you?” Leah asked, looking more amused than concerned.
“Uh, he stole the job I wanted,” I said. “Remember?” Not that I’d exactly stuck it to him. My flirting had just resulted in him sticking it to me. Not that I was angry about that. The workout room sex had been extra hot.
“I think he just got the job you wanted, he didn’t steal it,” Leah pointed out.
Everyone had to be so rational. It was really damn annoying. “Thanks for being so supportive.”
“What on earth are you doing to sabotage him?” Savannah asked, sounding like she wanted to scoop Sean Kincaid up in her motherly arms and protect him from me and my machinations.
“She’s being sexy,” Dakota said confidently, sipping her whiskey. “To distract him so he screws up and gets fired. Or he’s so hot for her he can’t stand it and has to quit so that he doesn’t give in to his lust and take her in the freezer.”
That was quite the story. And not that far off the truth. “We never discussed that last part, Dakota. There is no freezer seduction going to happen ever. It’s really cold in there. My nipples would freeze.” Then I realized I might have admitted a non-freezer fuck was possible and we were supposed to be a secret. That was going to last about three more seconds. I sucked ass at lying to my friends. “Not that I would ever let Sean touch me.”
The words barely ground out. I almost choked on the lie.
I could feel the heat bloom in my cheeks as Leah gave a gleeful laugh. “Liar! You have the hots for him, don’t you?”
“You do?” Dakota asked, looking astonished. “What’s up with that?”
That was a good question.
Leah was eyeing me knowingly. “There is a definite sexual tension between the two of you. Did you have sex in the elevator at Felicia’s engagement party?”
“You had sex with Sean in an elevator?” Savannah’s jaw dropped. “Holy shit.”
“No! I did not have sex with Sean in the elevator.” I sighed, because I couldn’t lie to my friends. “We just kissed that night. It was a long kiss though. And technically it was in the hallway after the elevator started working again.”
“You kissed Sean four months ago and never told us?” Savannah pouted. “Isla, you can’t keep something like that from us.”
