Down for Her by Melissa Chambers (best electronic book reader .txt) 📕

She holds out her arms. “Congratulations.” I stand up and we embrace. She pulls away, smiling at me, but her eyebrows are drawn together. “Can I just say I’m sorry?”

I swallow hard, ready to address the elephant in the room. I was kind of hoping it would just tromp away. “What for? You haven’t done anything.”

“I did do something pretty horrible. I ghosted you after that night we went out.”

I grab her hands. “I totally got it, though. You don’t know me. I’m sure I seemed like I was just jumping from one guy to the next. But I swear I wasn’t.”

“I know you weren’t. And even if you were, that’s not any of my business.”

“It would totally have been your business. You had just told me how you felt about Jack.”

She shakes her head. “I’m just such a freaking hot mess. I hope you’ll forgive me and we can move forward?”

“Nothing to forgive. I’m just thrilled that we cleared the air.”

“I know you’re probably seeing Brett tonight, but Simone and I are going out and we’d love to have you join us.” She points at me. “But girls only.”

“I’d actually love to. Brett is going to his mom’s house tonight.”

She clasps her hands together. “Perfect. I’ll text you the plan.”

She heads off, and I pull out my phone to text Brett, but I want to tell him some of my good news in person, so I just text him the part about going out with Bailey and tell him I hope his day is going well. He responds.

That’s great. Bailey and Simone are cool. You’ll have a good time.

I sit back in my seat, wondering how this day could possibly get any better.

27

Brett

I lean against my truck, waiting for Kylie to come out of her office. I just want to see her face before I head to my mom’s house.

I haven’t seen her much at all this week. She’s been working a lot of late nights. I tell myself it’s not my insecurity, but part of me wants her to see me more than anything. She texted a while ago to say she’s having a girls’ night with Bailey and Simone. I’m happy that she’s cool with Bailey again, but the three of them are bound to turn heads tonight. I want to kiss her and give her something to think about before she heads out for the night.

A group of corporate drones come out together—Easton, Taylor, some asshole I don’t recognize, Janelle, Bailey, Kylie, and of course, Jack Massey. They’re all smiling and laughing, Kylie beaming from ear to ear. “Hey,” she says with wide eyes as she spots me.

“What’s up?” I ask.

“Your girl,” Bailey says, beaming at her.

Kylie’s face goes red, and the rest of them look like they’re proud of themselves or something.

Bailey squeezes Kylie’s shoulders. “She’s the newest official member of Corporate.”

“You got a permanent job?” I ask.

“Yeah,” she says. “I guess the presentation went okay.”

I make eye contact with Jack, who stares back at me with his hands in his pockets. I don’t know if I want to thank him or punch him in the face.

“That’s awesome,” I say, giving her a hug.

“Thank you. I don’t even know what to say.” She glances around at the group. “You’re all so wonderful. I can’t believe I’m gonna be your new co-worker permanently.”

“You deserve it,” Easton says. “You kicked ass these past two weeks.”

I study him. Is this another asshole I need to worry about?

“Are you coming to eat with us?” Janelle asks me.

I look at Kylie, confused, and she says, “We’re going to happy hour. Can you come?”

“I’ve got to go to my mom’s,” I say, hoping to hell she remembered that.

She shakes her head. “Of course. I knew that. I just didn’t know when you had to leave.”

“Can you come for one drink?” Bailey asks.

I look at this group of people and Jack standing there so smug, like he’s responsible for the earth spinning. I glance down at my phone to check the time. I have maybe enough for one beer if I drink it through a straw.

Kylie turns to Jack and they’re discussing something, huddled together. I freaking hate that she lives with him and they have this strong connection. She sees him way more than she sees me. For all I know, they’re sleeping in the same bed. I know that’s ridiculous when she’s told me repeatedly to trust her, but it’s hard, especially when I see how close they’ve gotten both at work and personally.

“Let me check,” I say and step away from the group, calling Matthew. He picks up the phone with an irritated, “What?”

“Are you going out tonight?”

“Later,” he says.

“What time?”

“I don’t know.”

“Can you stay with Mimi for a couple of hours?”

“I thought you were coming right after work?”

“I’ve got something to do for an hour or two. Can you at least stay there till nine?”

He gives an irritated sigh. “I guess, but I’m leaving here at nine.”

“That’s fine. Thanks.”

“Whatever.” He hangs up and I pocket my phone, rejoining the group. “I can come for a drink.”

“Oh, good,” Kylie says, wrapping her arms around me, and I hold on to her, feeling less in control than ever.

We go to an Italian restaurant off property and get a table. This is more than drinks. This is dinner with expensive bottles of wine that Bailey ordered with advice from Kylie. A real cloth-napkin-in-your-lap kind of joint. I’ve been to these sorts of restaurants with Robert, but never when I was growing up. We were lucky to get a bag of fast food back then. I’ll never get used to this kind of life. But it’s clear that Kylie’s very comfortable at a place like this.

She turns to me and squeezes my knee. “I hope this is okay? I know you were only expecting to get a drink.”

“It’s fine. I just want to see you for a minute.”

She smiles at me