Chapter 22
I carried on with my work, my thoughts churning away about Mitch. So I wasn’t paying much attention when Mia went over to the supply cupboard. But when she started rooting around in there more insistently, a flash of foreboding passed through me, though I wasn’t sure why.
‘Prim, where are the condoms and lube?’ came her slightly irritated voice a moment later. ‘There was practically a full box and a new bottle in here last time I looked. And now they’re gone. They were the last ones before the new supply arrives.’
Ah yes, that’s why I should be panicking.
They were still in Mitch’s suite! In my rush to leave the other day and deal with Mia’s latest problem, I’d forgotten to retrieve them.
Then all that stuff happened with Shoshana, and Mitch staying at mine, so putting them back in the cupboard had been the least of my worries.
I should probably have been more vigilant.
Mia was now standing in front of my desk with her hands on her hips, looking annoyed.
And I knew why. She was expecting Tyler to make it through to round two, so she wanted things to go smoothly and to be well-prepared.
She didn’t want to look unprofessional. If being out of condoms and lube was tantamount to that.
She raised her eyebrows when I stared at her blankly. ‘Well, where are they? You must know. No one else has the key except me. And I haven’t touched them.’
I couldn’t think of a good enough excuse off the cuff. Nothing that she would believe, anyway. Nothing was going to wash with her but the truth.
Suddenly, I was weary of keeping Mitch a closely guarded secret. If I were going to be fired for fooling around with him, then so be it.
I took a deep breath. ‘They’re in Mitch’s suite. W-we had a practice session. It was before he started. He was nervous and needed to acclimatise to being with someone in the dark. So I … helped him out.’
Mia tilted her head. To my relief, she looked more bewildered than angry. ‘What do you mean… helped him out?’
I cleared my throat. ‘You know…’
Mia shook her head slowly as if she were trying to comprehend my words. ‘No, I don’t know. You might have to explain.’
Feeling awkward, I said, ‘I pretended to be a client. So he could get used to the setup. It was purely to assist—’
‘So you and Mitch were naked in the dark?’ Mia interrupted.
I nodded.
She let out a breath. ‘Did you have sex with him?’
By her tone, I couldn’t judge if that was cause for instant dismissal or not. Luckily, I could answer in the negative. ‘No! Of course not. We just, ah, fooled around a little. Anyway, you called in the middle of it, and I came straight back upstairs.’
‘You fooled around? With Mitch.’ Mia gave a disbelieving laugh.
My cheeks heated with annoyance. ‘Despite you pigeon-holing me as an asexual person, I actually have a very healthy libido where Mitch is concerned,’ I blurted.
An image of him lying on my bed with his stiff cock jutting between his spread legs jogged across my mind.
‘As he has for me,’ I couldn’t help adding.
Mia frowned. ‘What’s that supposed to mean? Have you been seeing each other outside of work?’
I lowered my gaze from her glare. Damn. Oh well, I may as well tell her. ‘Um, he’s staying at my flat for a few days,’ I said, bracing myself.
Mia sucked in a breath. ‘What the fuck, Prim? You know I have a strict policy about not fraternising with the guys!’
I spoke quickly, attempting to put out the fire before it got out of hand. ‘I know, I know,’ I said placatingly, ‘but what else was I supposed to do? He turned up on my doorstep the other night with a blood-soaked t-shirt thanks to Shoshana, so I gave him first aid…’
Mia snorted. ‘I bet you did.’
I continued blithely ignoring that jab, ‘He didn’t have anyone to look after him, so I said he could stay at mine while he healed. He took my bed, and I took the couch.’
‘How innocent. So there was no hanky-panky?’ She smirked.
I averted my eyes. ‘Not really.’
‘Hmm, I don’t believe you.’
‘Well, a tiny something may have happened, but I shut it down immediately,’ I said. Shut it down and ran away.
Mia rolled her eyes. ‘Of course it did. This is Mitch we’re talking about. He thinks with his dick. That’s why he wants to work here.’
I bristled at that. ‘He is a person you know. And he’s not just interested in sex… we got takeout and watched a movie. It was relaxing…’
Mia’s eyes narrowed. ‘Seriously? This is all sounding mighty cosy. And not something I…’
‘Please don’t be mad,’ I begged. ‘And please don’t fire me.’
She sighed. ‘I’m not mad. And of course, I’m not going to fire you. But I wish you’d told me what was going on. I need to be able to trust you implicitly, Prim.’
‘You can,’ I said fervently. ‘I’m going to ask Mitch to leave tonight. I would have done it this morning, but he’d gone for a walk after hanging out the washing.’
Mia clicked her tongue in approval. ‘How very domestic of him.’
I smiled. ‘Yes, he’s surprisingly well house-trained.’
Mia stared at me thoughtfully. ‘Maybe Mitch isn’t a bundle of walking testosterone like I thought. Are you sure you can handle working with him? I mean emotionally. It sounds like you two are setting up house together.’
My lips twisted, somewhat ruefully, at that ridiculous notion. ‘I’ll be fine,’ I said with a short laugh. ‘Honestly, he’ll be gone tonight after I’ve had a talk with him. Tomorrow at the latest.’
Mia looked even more thoughtful.
‘If you want my advice…’ Her phone buzzed with an incoming text, and she swore and moved swiftly to her desk.
‘Shit. It’s Tyler Holt. He’s in the lobby.
There’s no time to run out to Boots. Bring your handbag, you can come down with me and get off on the first floor.
Collect the condoms and lube from Mitch’s suite and then go out and get a coffee and come in acting like you’d gone out for morning tea.
If Tyler makes it through to round two, then bring your handbag into the testing room. ’
I nodded, a bit amused at the lengths Mia was going to appear “professional”. Surely Tyler didn’t care? He probably knew this was a male brothel, and that condoms and lube were a given. But as I was in the doghouse, I didn’t protest.
We made our way to the lifts, and I felt lighter but also heavier now that Mia knew about my after-work activities with Mitch. I was glad she was distracted before imparting her advice, though. I had a feeling it wouldn’t have been anything I wanted to hear.