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“Well?” she says before I can get a word out. “Today was the day you planned to quit that soul-sucking job. Please tell me you did it.”
“I… Well… I… Yes. I did it.”
“That doesn’t sound very definite.”
I let out a long sigh and explain the strange situation I agreed to.
“Let me get this straight. You’re leaving in two days to spend an entire week’s vacation in Aspen with your hot boss?”
“It’s not a vacation!”
“Whatever. If you really don’t want to do it, I’m sure there are dozens of women who would take your place. Hell, hundreds. Thousands, even.”
She’s right. And again I wonder why he asked me. I mean, when he has his pick of models and socialites, why me?
“So, what kind of vacation—I mean,nonvacation—is this? Will you two be sharing an itty-bitty bed?”
“No! Of course not!” Will we?
“Don’t sound so shocked. If you’re playing the fiancée thing in front of his family and you’re all staying at the same resort…”
Dear Lord, I hadn’t thought of that. What if someone at work finds out? On second thought, I don’t suppose that matters anymore since I won’t be coming back afterward.
“I just have a bit of advice for you right now, and I want you to listen up because I’m your little sister—you’ve done so much for me and I love you.”
I cringe. “Oh boy. Okay, let’s hear your advice.”
“If that man wants to share a room with you, a bed with you, do it! You need some throw-caution-to-the-wind fun in your life, and it’s not as though you’ll have to face him at work afterward, so why not?”
Why not?! Because!
Sure, I’d bet the thirty-seven dollars in my bank account Cameron Steele looks fantastic naked—something I’m ashamed to say I have imagined on more than one occasion—and I’d wager the forty-two dollars and twenty-nine cents credit left on my MasterCard that he can show me a damn good time between the sheets. It’s been forever since I’ve had a good time in bed—literally. I mean, like, it’sneverhappened for me in the bedroom. But there’s no way I’m sleeping with a man who is a drill sergeant at work and has a personality that can best be described as a cross between Ebenezer Scrooge and the Grinch—beforehe grew a heart.
I mean, I’m not saying the man is gonnawantto sleep with me, but if he does, I’m definitely shooting him down.
“Listen, Sis, I have to go. Bradley’s here and we’re headed to lunch.”
Bradley’s her boyfriend and he’s awesome. He graduated from law school last year and was recently hired at a prestigious law firm.
My sister and I usually spend Christmas together, but this year Bradley asked her to go home with him to Indiana and spend the holidays with his family. Ada was reluctant to accept, and I know it was because of me. They even invited me to tag along—an invite that made me feel like the world’s biggest third wheel. This offer from Mr. Steele is a perfect excuse for her to meet her boyfriend’s family without worrying about me.
So, maybe it’s not so crazy for me to have accepted after all.
My office phone rings, and when I pick up, it’s Britney. “Izzy, I have a Tiana Cole from Childsplay Group Home for Mr. Steele again.”
“Again? Put her through.”
“Ms. Cole? This is Izzy Miller, Mr. Steele’s personal assistant.”
“Hello! I’ve been trying to get a hold of Mr. Steele about the children’s Christmas gift delivery.”
I’m about to give her the extension for Carl Anderson, who handles our charitable donations, but before I can, she continues, “The toy delivery arrived as scheduled, and I inventoried it against the children’s wish lists. Everything was accounted for, but the order contained an extra electric bicycle. I assume it was an error, and rather than return it, I’m wondering if Mr. Steele would mind very much if we donated it to one of our foster families.”
There are several seconds of silence in which my brain tries to process her words and make some sense out of them.
Children’s wish list? Electric bicycle? Foster families?
Nope. Drawing a blank here.
