Ask Me Something (The Something Series Book 2)

by Aubrey Bondurant

  I missed hearing her chat about everything from office gossip to what she’d seen on television on a daily basis.

  “Hey, Sasha,” she greeted, spotting me coming toward her and giving me a big hug.

  “Hi. I thought you were off this week?”

  Brian stood to the side, holding Tristan, her eighteen-month-old son, on his hip. The adorable little boy looked completely at home in his arms.

  “I am,” Juliette answered. “But Brian said you were in today, and I haven’t seen you in months. Wow, you look skinnier. Turn around.”

  Ironic, considering my sister’s friend had said the opposite about my weight. I turned, bracing myself for what she’d say next.

  “Your ass looks fantastic in those black pants. Yep, you lost weight. Must be that New York living. No down-home cooking or real food.”

  Leave it to Juliette to both flatter and embarrass me with a compliment.

  “Don’t you think, Brian?” she teased, turning toward him. Only she could manage to make him uncomfortable and seemed to enjoy doing it as often as possible.

  He blushed and then shook his head. “I’m not looking at any female’s butt in this office, let alone that of Sasha-B-Fierce.”

  Juliette’s eyes got large, and she quickly glanced at me to gauge my reaction. Ah, obviously she had known about the nickname, too. I shouldn’t have been surprised; the woman knew most everything about everyone in this office.

  I shrugged it off. “Good thing for both of you that I consider it a compliment.”

  Juliette grinned. “I missed you. Can you believe how big Tristan is now?”

  I looked at the chubby little boy, and he reached toward me.

  “Hi,” he said, waving.

  “Hi, handsome.” I was unprepared for Brian to hand him over, but luckily Tristan was quite sturdy and completely enamored with my beaded necklace.

  “Aw, Sasha, see, you’re terrific with kids. And your sister, I hope you make her sweat it for being such a—” She covered Tristan’s ears. “—bitch towards you.” She uncovered his ears again and kissed his face.

  My gaze slid towards Brian, and he winced.

  Juliette jumped in before he could explain. “Don’t be mad at him. I asked why you came up early. It was either he tell me the truth about your sister pissing you off with her awful comments, or I’d assume that you two were finally acting on your years of pent-up sexual frustration.” She’d wiggled her brows to drive home her thoughts on the matter.

  Terrific. Now both Brian and I were blushing.

  “On that awkward note, thank you very much, Juliette. I’ll leave you two ladies,” he muttered, walking back into his office.

  Her smirk let me know she’d achieved exactly what she’d wanted. “I was kind of hoping the separation might make you guys, I don’t know; want to give it a try.” She’d been convinced that we should be together since the very first year I’d started.

  After accompanying me back to my temporary office, she placed Tristan on the floor with a cup of Cheerios. “That buys us fifteen minutes,” she laughed.

  “You know Brian and I are better off as friends,” I said, revisiting her earlier comment. I did my best to sound convincing. All of a sudden, I was feeling unease about people finding out about us. “But it’s kind of funny to watch him blush. Only you can manage that.”

  She tightened her blonde ponytail and grinned. “It’s a gift. And you know I’d never say something like that in front of anyone else, don’t you?”

  Juliette might be over the top sometimes, but for the most part, she did know the time and place for blurting out inappropriate comments. “I know. It’s why I can laugh at your jokes instead of wanting to kill you for them.”

  “Ha. If looks could have killed me that first year, yours would have. But I knew I’d convince you eventually that we’d be great friends.”

  Our personalities could not have been any further apart on the spectrum, but that hadn’t turned out to be a bad thing. “You definitely brought me out of my shell.” I thought about how much more reserved I’d been only a few years ago. “How’s Rob?” I inquired, wondering how things were with her husband.

  Instantly, her eyes clouded. Juliette and Rob had been high school sweethearts. He was a police officer in a nearby suburb. She’d appeared happily in love until two years ago when he’d injured his back. Since then, he’d been moody and withdrawn according to her. Having a baby wasn’t improving things.

  “You know, all I’m going to say is that it’s been tough. I want to work through things for Tristan’s sake, though, so I’m doing everything I can.”

  I noted that she said ‘everything she could’ and bit down on wanting to give her my two cents. I’d never been in love, never been married, and I obviously wasn’t a mother. I had no business giving unsolicited advice in those areas. “Please know that I’m here for you, okay?”

  She looked relieved and let out a breath. “I was sure you’d have something more to say.”

  “Your friendship means a lot to me, and I only want to see you happy. Everyone has their own way of trying to do that in their lives.” Maybe I was evolving and learning when it was appropriate to keep my judgement to myself. I’d come a long way in the last few years and now had some amazing women I could call friends. Considering my glass house, I was in no position to cast stones.

  She let out a deep breath. “Thank you and I hope you know you and Brian are my best friends. Now if only my two besties could end up together, it would be a perfect world.”

  I rolled my eyes, feeling some guilt that her two best friends were definitely not telling her everything.

  ***

  “Do you want the good or the bad news first?” Brian asked, filling the doorframe of my office. His body looked casual, but his eyes were intense.

  My stomach fluttered with his presence. “Bad news.”

  He grinned and shut the door. “Eighty percent of people say good news first.” He took a seat and regarded me.

  “I’m a glass-half-empty kind of girl. So lay it on me.”

  “The bad news is that the new pitch I’m about to tell you about has an account representative known for being a tough sell. She’s demanding and, according to Josh, will be difficult to deal with.”

  I blew out a breath. Difficult clients weren’t anything new, but considering I was the point person in dealing with them now, they presented their own unique challenges. “Okay, what’s the good news?”

  “The good news is that we have four weeks to prepare for the pitch, and it’s worth six million in phases. The client is Tryon pharmaceuticals. They have a number of drugs on the market but mostly specialize in diabetes.”

  “All right. I’m eager to get started.” And, boy was I. The pitch was my sweet spot.

  He shook his head. “We’re traveling tomorrow. I’ll give you the file to allow you to start brainstorming, but you aren’t going to bother your staff over the holidays.”

  My temper flared. “Could you give me some credit?”

  He looked at me like he often did when I was irritated. With patience and as if he had something to say. We both knew this interaction was a test of sorts. What was the professional landscape going to be like now that we were thinking about moving into a sexual arrangement? “Of course I’ll give you credit. However, we don’t start working on it until the day we return. We have plenty of time.”

  I took stock of his answer and realized it was exactly what he would have said a week ago. For some reason, this was a tremendous relief to me. “Okay. Deal,” I agreed.

  He also looked relieved. Obviously, this was new territory for both of us. “What’s the plan with my sister for this afternoon? You know you don’t have to go shopping with her if you don’t want to.”

  “No, it’s okay. McKenzie is sweet.”

  He laughed. “Yeah, she is, until she gets fired up, and curses like a sailor. But considering she was around teenage boys from a young age, what can you expect?”
>
  I could hear the affection in his voice and smiled at the image.

  “Before I forget, here’s my credit card,” he said digging into his wallet.

  My brow arched as he handed it over. “This is on you?”

  “Nice clothes, not New York-designer-nice. Reasonable, please.”

  I took the card, amused. “You’re very generous with her.”

  “I don’t get to chance to spoil her now that she’s on the West Coast. How was your visit with Juliette by the way?”

  “Good.” I wasn’t sure how to vocalize a worry about her figuring out we were starting a relationship without sounding like I was backpedaling.

  He sat back in his chair, regarding me. “You do realize that her comments about us are nothing new. She’s been doing it for years.”

  I bit my lip. “Right, but now that we’re entertaining the idea—aren’t you worried at all about what others will think?” A few years after I’d started working in Charlotte, Juliette had told me about a bet that some of the assholes in the office had made to see who I’d sleep with first. That information had served as a reminder that sometimes it didn’t matter how well you did your job. There would always be people who would seek to bring you down.

  He met my eyes and spoke calmly. “We don’t work in the same office any longer. Juliette won’t know anything. Neither will anyone else unless we choose to tell them.”

  I swallowed hard.

  “And nothing has happened yet, so if you’re having second thoughts, then we can go slower or not at all. The last thing you need is more pressure from me, either,” he offered.

  The thought of moving any slower or not at all left me unsettled. “Is Juliette as unhappy as I think she is?” I questioned, concerned for our mutual friend and desperately needing a change in subject.

  Luckily, he shrugged, taking it in stride. “You know her. One minute she looks sad and the next she pulls it together and is her bubbly self again. I think she wants to make her marriage work.”

  “Well that makes one of them,” I retorted.

  “I don’t disagree. Did you tell her that?”

  “What do you think?” I was mildly offended.

  “I think that sometimes your well-intended advice may be a little harsher than you realize.”

  I tried not to let his words sting. “Duly noted.”

  “I’ll call McKenzie. You all right with heading out in an hour?”

  “Sure. Send me that file on the pharmaceutical company, and I should be.” I was anxious to get some information about this potentially lucrative client.

  He hesitated, knowing that once I got the file I’d want more time. “Okay, I’ll tell her ninety minutes.” He resigned, and left me to my work.

  ***

  The late lunch with Brian and McKenzie had been fun. They had an easy affection between them and made sure I was part of the conversation whether I wanted to be or not. Sometimes the people who put me most at ease were the ones not waiting on my cues but who instead charged forward with exuberance. McKenzie reminded me of Juliette in that way. Spending time with her was easy and found myself getting comfortable with her a lot more quickly than I normally would with someone new.

  It was in the first dressing room, however, that McKenzie dropped a bombshell on me.

  “I’m sorry, what did you say?” I inquired, thinking I must have misunderstood her.

  “I asked if you could teach me how to seduce a man,” she repeated.

  Uh oh, it was what I’d thought. I hesitated, handing her the next dress to try on. After taking a seat on the stool in the corner of the large dressing room, I finally found my voice again. “I need a little background information first, McKenzie.” Watching her sigh, I shook my head at the first dress she’d tried on. “Not that one. Try the pink and white one.”

  “I have a crush on someone and I’m tired of only being friends.”

  “Someone at school?” Before I gave advice, I needed to find out who she was trying to seduce. The last thing I needed was for Brian to discover I’d given his baby sister advice on how to blow her professor.

  “No, someone from home. I’ve known him a long time, but he still sees me as a kid.”

  I arched a brow and looked at the flattering dress she was modelling. “Turn around let me see.”

  She was such a naturally pretty girl with her long, sandy blonde hair and puppy-dog eyes like her brother’s. She wore no makeup, and yet her face was flawless. She only needed to learn to flatter her lean body better.

  “I like this dress on you.”

  Kenzie looked in the mirror and frowned. “I want something a little more sexy.”

  Shaking my head, I reminded her, “You’re attending a wedding shower on a boat filled with women. Who exactly do you want to be sexy for?”

  She grinned sheepishly. “Good point. But I want the dress for the wedding to be a little more—you know.”

  Yeah, I did know. She was a young woman trying to pull it together and look like a grown up. I’d been there. “How much older is this guy you have a crush on?”

  It wasn’t a good sign when she paused. “Eight years, technically, but—”

  “Eight years, Kenzie? Please tell me he isn’t one of your teachers or someone you work for?”

  “No. Our families have known each other for a long time, and eight years isn’t all that much. Look at Josh and Haylee. She’s only a year older than I am, and their gap is larger.”

  She had a point. “True, however that’s not the norm.”

  “I know. But you should have seen them at the Christmas Eve party together. You could feel the love between them, you know. And with the exception of my awful sister-in-law, Rebecca, there wasn’t one person there who thought about their age difference.”

  I wouldn’t disagree. Haylee and Josh complemented one another fully. “Wait, back up. What did your sister-in-law say?”

  She proceeded to try on a lavender dress which suited her coloring very nicely. “She’s a bitch and trash talks her behind her back, saying Haylee is a gold digger and that she trapped Josh.”

  “I see. Is she coming to the wedding?”

  “Unfortunately she is. Anyhow, she’s jealous because she’s miserable with my oldest brother. What do you think of this one?” She looked at herself in the mirror.

  I walked over behind her and held up the back of her hair. We both looked in the mirror at the image. “Perfect for a beach wedding. It’s subtle sexy, which is what you want.”

  “Will you give me some advice on what to do to get his attention, pretty please?”

  Now I knew why Brian was hard pressed ever to say no to his sister. I might not be able to ever offer relationship advice, but over the years I had inadvertently mastered the technique of getting a man’s attention.

  “All right. Come on, then. We have some more shopping to do.”

  She hugged me exuberantly, practically squealing in delight.

  ***

  An hour later, McKenzie had new underwear, bras, and a couple cute outfits that she could wear both to school or out in the evening. And the most important thing: shoes. I talked her into two pair and told her to practice walking in them that night.

  “Thank you for doing this. I know I kind of put you on the spot to take me shopping today,” she said when we got to Sephora in search of makeup.

  “I love shopping, and I’m having a good time, Kenzie.” I was enjoying myself. It was like having a younger sister. One who wanted to spend time with me. A pang of regret hit me over the current tension with Addison. I checked my phone, but she’d stopped calling after several unanswered attempts.

  “When do I get the actual seduction advice? I mean, all of these clothes are great, but if I flounder like an idiot, none of it is going to matter.”

  I swiped my card, opting to pay for her makeup myself as a gift instead of having Brian pick up that, too. Considering he’d already been generous with the clothes and shoes, I didn’t want to push it. “
I’ll tell you on the car ride home.”

  She nodded, eager to leave with her bags in hand. “Thank you for the makeup. It was very generous. But, um, you’ll teach me how to put this crap on my face, right?” She eyed the cosmetics dubiously.

  “Yes, of course. And you’re welcome,” I smiled.

  We got into the car, and I turned towards the younger woman. “Okay, you ready for the one thing you need to know about seduction?”

  She nodded, enthusiastic to hear whatever I was about to say.

  “It’s simple. You need to stop trying.” I’d learned this unintentionally due to my social anxiety. Ironically, my inability to be charming came across as playing hard to get. This made most men more interested than ever.

  She frowned. “What?”

  “You have to stop trying. Tell me the truth. Does he know he’s your crush?”

  “Probably. He used to tease me about it when I was younger. I’m sure he still knows I’ve got feelings.” She sighed, obviously not liking that fact.

  “That’s the first obstacle. You’ve got him up on this pedestal, Kenzie, and I have news for you. If you keep him up there as your crush, he’s not incentivized to get down and be part of the real world. Relationships aren’t easy.” From what little I knew about them. “What could be better for a man’s ego than to have a woman adore him and not have to deal with any obligation?” I started the car and we exited the mall.

  She thought about it for a while. “I get your point. Maybe I should sleep with someone else and try to make him jealous?”

  Ugh. This was dangerous ground, I realized as I drove onto the highway towards Brian’s house. “Absolutely not. First of all, it won’t make you feel better, and secondly, it won’t get the reaction you’re looking for. However, you should go out on dates and with your friends. Let him see you looking great, feeling good, and not putting him as the center of your attention. Even if you have to go to Starbucks at nine o’clock on a Friday night to sit by yourself, make him think you’re out. And let him know it’s none of his business with whom.” No one knew that I came home from the gym on Fridays and completely crashed on my couch while eating something indulgent. It was all about the image, and who was better at hiding behind it than I was?