Chapter 2
There is a Purr Deep Down in My Panties
Max
Iam a certified, card-carrying nerd. I love learning, and I love taking whatever new information I pick up and adding it to my skill set like another tool in my arsenal.
Reading gives me a break from data, code, symbols, and numbers, which is why people who know me always look confused when they find out I love romance.
Even more so when they learn I attend romance conferences like some pink-floral Trekkie.
I used to be much more girly. I used to write notes to my friends in school, folding the paper into those special envelopes. I used to play M.A.S.H. on the city bus while we rode downtown to the mall. I even daydreamed about being kissed until my knee popped just like in the movies.
But somewhere along the way, the soft, lovey-dovey version of me short-circuited and was replaced by a sassy, crass-talking one. And while I genuinely like Sassy Max, I sometimes miss the girly version of myself, even if bringing her back would leave most people not knowing what to do with me.
When I make it back to my office, Reese’s fine-ass is there looking at pictures on my bookshelf.
I clear my throat so he knows I’ve entered the room but he doesn’t turn around.
“You and all your friends are unfairly beautiful.”
A small blush creeps up my neck and I’m suddenly glad he’s not facing me.
He grabs one of the pictures and turns around with it in his hand. “You look really happy in this one. Celebrating something?”
I take the picture frame from his hand and smile looking down at it. The memory is flooding back to me like it was yesterday.
“That’s me and my best friend, Eslin,” I say. “We’d just passed a final together and the only reason she passed is because she cheated off me. That class was brutal. We were honestly just relieved to survive it.”
He smiles and I notice the dimples in his cheeks instantly. Deep ones. Yummy ones.
Thank goodness I’m a professional. “Let me guess,” he says. “Professor Sherman’s Advanced Cryptography and Network Defense?”
My eyes widen. “Yes! How did you know?”
He laughs. “Because I had to take it twice. Word was, only a handful of people ever passed it on the first try.”
I groan. “Yeah. We barely scraped by and got separated during lectures more than once. The class was hard, but we also barely paid attention when we were supposed to.”
He chuckles again, dimples flashing. “You two sound like trouble.”
There is a purr that happens deep down in my panties.
The vaginal neglect I’ve been experiencing is beginning to kick into overdrive since Nyles only allowed me to sleep when I was at his house last night. No sex.
I clear my throat. “Something like that and I’m headed to a conference with her next week.”
“The two bandits getting back together, huh?”
I laugh nervously, taking the picture and placing it back on the shelf so I can get back to myself.
“I’ve got a meeting in twenty minutes. Let’s get to business, shall we?”
“You don’t have to run from me, Ms. Palmer.”
I round the corner of my desk and sit. “Trust me, Reese, I don’t run from anything. I strategically keep everything in its rightful place.”
He arches a brow. “And my place is?”
“On the other side of that desk, telling me what the hell I need to know about these hackers and then out of my office.”
He smiles. “Touché, boss. Touché.”
That’s enough to snap his attention back where it belongs and yank my thoughts out of the gutter. His pants are tight, we just hired a new HR director, and I am clinging to my professionalism—and my don’t-sleep-with-the-help streak—with everything I’ve got.
Still, by the end of our meeting, we’re no closer to figuring out who is behind the attempted breaches we’ve been experiencing. So we set up a honeytrap for the next time they try, and then Reese heads out of my office.
I glance at the time on my monitor. One minute before my next meeting. Perfect. I’ve been looking forward to this one all week.
The camera clicks on, and I join the link at the exact same moment she does.
Eslin grins. “Hey, best friend!”
“Hey, best friend!” I shoot back.
I’ve been so slammed lately that scheduling calls during the workday is the only way I get any real face time with my best friend.
“How have you been?” she asks, her whole face lighting up.
“Girl, how do you think?” I say. “I just got back from the BlacksNTech Conference in Colorado, where I presented new MatchSense features, I’m entertaining a board seat for a start-up Timantha might invest in, and breaking news, I have to schedule meetings just to see my best friend’s face.”
She lets out a long sigh. “That is a lot. And the board seat sounds like overkill with everything you already have going on. Are you actually considering it?”
I shrug. “I can’t slow down long enough to consider anything right now. It sounds incredible, but I know it will stretch me.”
“Well, go with your gut,” Eslin says.
I smack my lips. “This coming from the therapist who makes pros-and-cons lists for breakfast, lunch, and dinner?”
“Shut up,” she laughs. “I’m trying to be a supportive friend who encourages you to do what feels right.”
“No. Be the friend who tells me the real!”
“Fine,” she concedes. “Don’t go with your gut. Go get your bag, girl. Whatever that means for you, okay?”
“That’s more like it,” I laugh. “Speaking of going for our bag, are you ready for your interview with the Atlanta Strikers on Thursday?”
Timantha’s husband and his friends own the professional soccer club in Cinnamon Grove, and they’re looking for a new team therapist. Since I happen to know the best executive therapist in the game, I tossed Eslin’s name into the mix.
And because she comes recommended by me, the job is basically hers unless she completely fumbles the interview.
“I think so!” she says. “I honestly can’t believe they want to interview me when I have zero sports experience.”
“Grant Mills’ daughter is taking over for him, and she wants to shake things up. Hiring you will be her first bold move.”
Eslin lifts her water bottle in a toast. “Cheers to nepotism and wanting to make your own mark, then!”
I laugh. “Amen to that.”
“But seriously, thank you for getting me this interview. If I get this job—”
“When you get this job,” I cut in.
“Fine, when I get this job, I will finally be fulfilling your lifelong dream and moving back to Atlanta.”
“I know! Finally.”
We met in college during a summer coding course and clicked instantly.
We’re both a little weird, a little quirky, and our humor leans darker than most, so the friendship was inevitable.
But the summers here were too hot and sticky for her, and she missed the loud, unapologetic streets of New York where she grew up.
She left not long after graduation. I’ve been trying to lure her back ever since.
Now that she’s ready for a change, I can’t believe we’re this close to living in the same city again.
Eslin didn’t grow up with much family or a big circle of friends, so I became her family. When she’s not spending holidays with my family, I fly to her so we can create traditions she never had. So maybe my soft side isn’t completely gone. It’s just reserved for her.
“My flight lands next Friday at eleven in the morning, and I’m renting a car and coming straight to you.”
“And then we will drive across the border to Canada together for our first RomantiComicon!”
We squeal, and I swear to God, if she tells anyone I’m acting girly about this, I will hurt her.
“I cannot wait to see you, best friend!”
I smile into the screen. “I can’t wait to see you either, best friend.”
We end the call, and I roll my eyes at how ridiculous this all is…and at how much I’m already counting down the minutes until I get to act a fool with my best friend.