Chapter 37 Effing Pillow Talk #2
“It doesn’t have anything to do with money,” Savannah said, pushing a tray of chocolate-frosted cookies in front of me, “but I’ll stock your freezer with heat-and-serve meals so you don’t have to worry about cooking.”
I clutched her hand. “That’s kind of you. Thank you.” I grabbed a cookie off the tray and bit into it. My shoulders lowered as the chocolate melted in my mouth.
“Okay,” Tessa said, “that’s your current situation started. What about the future? Who has leads on a new job?”
“I know a lot of people in biotech,” Oliver said. “Have you ever considered working in that industry?”
“Do you think my skills would transfer?” I asked.
“Mine did,” Tessa said. “It’s not too different from tech. Operations is operations, right? You’ll have to do a little extra research.” Research was Tessa’s forte. I supposed I could do it, especially with her help.
“What about your foundation work?” Carly asked. “Could that become a full-time job?”
“I’m only a volunteer,” I said. “Though the foundation has some paid positions.”
“I’ll ask Audrey if she knows any nonprofits looking for an executive director,” Carly said with a grimace. “She knows everyone.”
“Wait,” Lucie said. “We need to talk about the elephant in the room. That asshole coworker of yours. The one who stole your job.”
“Cole Campion,” I said. His name felt different on my tongue tonight. In his bed, he’d wrung it out of me with pleasure. Now, the consonants were sharp as icicles.
“What’s his story?” Lucie demanded.
“He might have fucked me over, but he deserved the job. He’s talented,” I said carefully.
He had talented lips that had kissed me breathless.
Talented fingers that had touched me gently, then teased me to orgasm again and again.
Worst of all, a talented tongue that had talked me out of my rational mind and into bed with my enemy.
“What the fuck does that mean?” Lucie asked. “No judgment, but were you screwing him? Is that why you need reputation rehab?”
“Ugh.” I buried my face in my hands and rubbed my burning eyes. “Soon everyone will know. It’s going to be a stain on my reputation forever.”
My friends were silent as they processed that.
“Why didn’t you tell us?” Lucie asked. “Were you fucking him the whole time?”
“Since Costa Rica,” I mumbled between my fingers.
Another beat of silence. “It’s been a month,” Tessa said, “and you didn’t tell your best friends?”
Sitting up straighter, I peeled my hands from my face, praying my eyes weren’t red. “I’m sorry. I needed to keep it secret, so I didn’t tell anyone. Not even my sisters or my besties.” I glanced around the room. “Though everyone found out yesterday.”
“What?” Carly gasped.
“He told them. He announced to everyone on the floor, including two board members, that he l-loved me. Right before security walked me out.”
“Wait. You weren’t just fucking asshole-Cole-Campion. He loves you?” Lucie widened her eyes.
“Of course not. It was that…that euphoria that comes with sex.” The sex had been top-tier, but I refused to think about that. “Or it could’ve been a lie. He was stringing me along while he worked behind my back.”
“Hang on,” Tessa said. “He said he loved you after they fired you? Why would he do that? Admitting a relationship didn’t make him look great either.”
I snorted. “Like he’d face the same consequences I would.”
“Maybe not,” Justine said, “but Tessa’s right. It makes him look bad too. Why would he do that after he’s won?”
I picked up another cookie and stuffed it into my mouth. Who knew the machinations that went on inside Cole’s brain? He was always three steps ahead. “Don’t make me think about him,” I mumbled around the cookie. “It makes my stomach hurt.”
“Did he hurt you, Bridget?” Danny asked. “Do my brothers and I need to have words with him?”
I swallowed the cookie. “I…I’m not sure. I mean, no, definitely don’t go beat him up.” As angry as I was, I didn’t want anything to happen to him.
“Do you have feelings for him?” Carly asked gently. “Despite what happened?”
Everything from that day was a whirl, but in the middle of the tempest, Cole had told me he loved me.
Again. For no apparent benefit. I’d proved I wasn’t the type of person who needed to have feelings for someone before I slept with him.
And after he stole my job, there was no way I’d sleep with him again.
So, if saying he loved me wasn’t an angle…
“Do you think he meant it?” I asked.
“Why would he lie?” Tessa asked.
“I don’t know.” I reached for another cookie. “I’m getting a headache from all this sugar.”
Faster than I thought she could move, Lucie scooted the tray away from me. “Bridget, do you love Cole?”
The room went silent, every ear listening.
“Obviously, not anymore,” I said. “I’d be a fool to love a man who worked against me.”
“Are you sure about that?” Carly pressed. “Feelings can be irrational and complicated.” She exchanged a look with Andrew.
“Especially feelings for someone you work with,” Oliver said.
“Right,” I said. “We shared a job, and with all that…proximity, we got confused about what we were to each other. We crossed a line. It was a mistake.”
“That’s not really what we meant,” Carly said. “If you care about him, you can overcome—”
“Stop.” I didn’t want to hear the rest or reflect on my feelings.
I especially didn’t want to talk about my error in judgment that would keep me out of the CEO’s office, possibly forever, and might prevent me from getting any other respectable job.
Everyone would treat me like a pariah at the next foundation event.
“You’re right. I can overcome any feelings I might have had.
Thank you all for your help. I’m going to be okay.
” The lie was bitter on my tongue. I stood and picked up my purse.
“Wait, you’re leaving?” Tessa glared at me, her green eyes seeing to where the tears pushed against the dam I’d erected in mine. “Don’t go.”
“I need to think.” Those damned tears cracked my voice.
Tessa pressed her lips together. “If you need anything…”
“Or if you change your mind about me and my brothers having a conversation with this guy…” Danny cracked his knuckles.
“You know where to find us,” Lucie said.
“I do.” My smile wobbled as I looked around the circle of my friends. “Thank you.” Then I rushed outside to the safety of my car.