“Oh, screw that. He cheated. He’s an asshole. Live it up.”
“I’m just glad it’s all done now.”
“So you ditched him. You took on some new work. I mean, this whole thing with theSOLA Empireis huge. If something even happens, you need to travel and you need to close up and fire me, do it. I will never get mad at you.”
“Wow. That’s a lot to think about. I’m nowhere near ready for that. I’m not even sure this hockey thing is going to work out. It’s not what I thought. I mean, if you want to know the truth, I’m worried about my entire career.”
“Why? Herbert?”
I shook my head.
“What’s there to worry about? You’re great at what you do. Now, if you were screwing a client…”
I coughed.
Bethany gasped.
“No,” I cried out. “Bethany. No!”
“Who?” Bethany asked. “Who is it? Is it Herbert?”
“No. He’s not a client. This is…”
“Then who is it? Huh? I’ll start naming names.”
“Bethany. You can’t do that. You have no idea what you’re-”
She gasped again. “I’m such an idiot!”
“What?” I asked.
“Your face is turning red. You know that I know.”
“Please.” I shook my head. “Don’t say-”
“That hunk of hockey meat,” Bethany said.
I closed my eyes.
My face burned hotter by the second.
“Holy hell, Anna. I mean, you know, sleeping with a client isn’t a good thing. But if there was one person to break all the rules – and laws – for… that guy. Joe? Whew.”
“Bethany.”
“No. You’re not going to get me to shut up about this. No way. I’ll keep it a secret. But this is… this is sexy. This is hot. This is steamy. This is like one of those books…”
“This is my life right now,” I said. “And it’s not as clear as it seems. Okay?”
My jaw quivered, wanting to tell Bethany everything about Joe and me.
She was too busy fanning herself.
Then she dug a half-melted cube of ice out of her soda and rubbed it on her forehead.
All she could do was picture Joe naked.
Which… I mean… I totally understood.