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“That’s what I thought.” She smirks.
“I’m kinda hanging out with someone. It’s not a thing. I’m not dating anyone. I would tell you,” I whisper, even though the door is closed.
“Right. Who?” She leans in, matching my hushed tone.
I feel my eye twitch. I don’t want to tell her the truth. I don’t want her to judge my decision to hook up with a client. My gut tells me she won’t, but when I think about the whole situation too much, I start to feel guilty. But then, this is my best friend. I so badly want to tell her everything.
“It’s that much of a secret? If you’re just hanging out, what’s the big deal?” she pushes.
Her sunny disposition stares back at me.
My eye twitches and she keeps smiling. And I give in. “Gah, fine. Cole and I are hanging out.”
I don’t mention all the sexy time, but we are truly hanging out. Yup. We hung out last week. No sex. Just ice cream and pizza because I was on my period. The man even brought me some of those fancy heat pack wraps to help with the cramps.
She leans back, mulling my confession over. “Huh.”
“What does that mean?” I snap.
“Nothing. Just interesting.” She rubs her chin conspiratorially.
“Stop it. Catching up. Hanging out,” I lie.
“Right, yeah, I totes believe you.” She smiles sweetly. She opens my door and steps up next to me.
“Okay, well, have fun.” She starts to leave.
“Wait. That’s it?” I ask her, following behind her.
“Well, yeah, old friends becoming new friends. Sounds nice.” She looks over at me and her face is unreadable.
“That’s right,” I mutter.
“Tell him I said hi. Oh, Theo has to go away on business in a couple of weeks. I was thinking about having a girls’ night. I want to get it on everyone’s calendar.” Her subject change nearly gives me whiplash.
“Yeah, sure. Send me a calendar invite.”
“Will do. Toodles!” She waves and dips into her office. My steps falter as I consider following her in and demanding we talk more about my hanging out with Cole, but I don’t know that I want to hash it all out. Especially at work, so I continue on my way and leave the building.
Ten minutes later, I’m walking through the lobby of Reed Restaurant Group. I thought about my conversation with Cassie the whole freaking way. I’m going to have to tell her the truth. The good Lord knows I’m gonna need a sounding board before too long and she’s gonna give me a hard time for keeping this from her in the end.
I walk up to the reception desk and notice that the woman behind the desk looks familiar.
“Can I help you?” she asks.
“Layla James. Here to see Cole Reed.” She nods and starts typing at her computer. Pulling her gaze away from the screen, she studies me.
“I recognize your name. You’re not the matchmaker, Layla James, are you?”
I nod. “I am.” I laugh. “Are you a client? I feel like I’ve seen you before, but I meet a lot of people.”
She starts to nod vigorously. “Yes! Well, I’m a new client. We have a meeting scheduled next week to get to know the team working with me.”
“Oh, that’s great. I’m looking forward to meeting with you,” I tell her.
“I’ve been in your singles database for a few years but have finally decided to pull the trigger for matchmaking. I’m nervous and excited at the same time,” she says just as her computer makes a quiet ding. She looks at the screen and then back at me.
“Mr. Reed said I can send you up. That you know where his office is.” She opens a drawer at her desk and pulls out a visitor badge, handing it to me over the desk. “You’ll need this.”
