Total pages in book: 127
Estimated words: 122382 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 612(@200wpm)___ 490(@250wpm)___ 408(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 122382 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 612(@200wpm)___ 490(@250wpm)___ 408(@300wpm)
I glance between the two of them and their frowns, and as succinctly as possible, I tell them what went down. I touch on how we met, my sympathy for Ryan’s plight, and my reluctance to go to another wedding. I explain how she misunderstood me, and how I just played along with her assumption—I was so feckin’ sure I wouldn’t be going to another wedding. I tell them about her ex and the sickening company culture she worked in. Describe her fucknut colleagues and how their misogynistic bullshit culminated in that despicable bet. And I tell them how all this swayed me. How I played the part of a doting boyfriend and how, as that boyfriend, I dealt with the ringleader. Then I admit our mutual attraction carried us to a hotel suite.
From there, the tale is a closed door.
“Sunk cost fallacy,” Oliver says out of nowhere.
“What about it?” Fin asks.
“Matt’s lie. I can see he was trying to protect himself, but his mistake was investing so heavily in that lie that he couldn’t give it up. Even when it became apparent that the truth would’ve been the more favorable strategy.”
“Not true,” Fin interjects. “The truth would’ve meant the evening ending with nothing but angry words. Not amazing sex.” He glances my way. “Or the potential for more.”
“But he’d have a clear conscience.”
“My conscience is just fine,” I snap. “And I am actually sitting here, so stop fucking talking about me as though I’m not.”
“His conscience is just fine too,” Fin says, glancing at his watch. “I expect she’s a couple of cocktails deep with my wife.” His conscience named Evie.
“Sex wasn’t the reason I didn’t tell her.” But I silently admit it was less about her in that moment than I told myself.
“Sex was definitely part of the reason.” There’s no bite or teasing to Fin’s response. “I think it’s more the case that you’ve been hoisted by your own petard. If you’d admitted the truth, you wouldn’t have gotten to spend the night with Ryan. And you wouldn’t be filled with what-ifs right now.”
“Dreyland Capital,” Oliver puts in, cutting off my retort.
“Yeah. You know the outfit?”
“I know the company. Heard of them, at least.”
“Good or bad news?” Fin glances Oliver’s way.
“There have been some . . . less than complimentary reports, as I recall. Not that I’d hold that against them.”
“Yeah, well, I hold it against their fuckin’ throats.”
“I’m not defending them. I’m merely pointing out that we, the three of us, can be as ruthless as the next cutthroat in business.”
“But you’d no more sexually harass a woman than you would your wife’s fluffy dog.”
“Fluffy demon dog,” Oliver corrects, brushing his hand over his thigh as though it’s covered in dog hair. It’s not.
“Bo is more likely to sexually harass Oliver,” Fin adds merrily. “In fact, he has.”
“Don’t remind me.” Oliver’s tone turns icy.
“I know the industry is . . . old school,” Fin continues, “but it’s hard to believe there’s still shit going on like that. At least you knew where to find her, right?”
I rub my jaw. “She doesn’t work there anymore.” A fact that is obviously good for her but was pretty shit for me when I went looking. “I haven’t been able to track her down.”
A look passes between the two.
“I’m sorry, I don’t understand,” Oliver says. “You tried to track her down because you wanted to . . . offer her a job or return her envelope of money?”
“Because I want to see her again.” Desperately. “To tell her the truth. To explain that . . .” I just can’t stop thinking about her. “Look, that night was the weirdest night of my life. But it was also the best. I couldn’t bring myself to walk away from her. I had to help. And I just thought the safest bet was to play up to her assumption.”
Fin reaches for his glass. “I’m kind of curious how she reached that assumption.”
“It doesn’t matter,” I say. “I thought I was making myself unobtainable. Undesirable, or something. And after the afternoon I’d had, there was no way I was interested in a casual fuck.”
“Said no single man ever.” Fin slices me a look I choose to ignore.
“But there was nothing casual about that night, and things just haven’t felt right since.”
“Is that why you stepped in for me?” Fin sits forward, steepling his fingers over the tabletop. “To keep yourself busy?” He glances Oliver’s way. “I’m pretty much obsolete as far as client relations go.”
“Hardly,” I answer uncomfortably. “It was just a few dinners here and there.”
I stepped in ostensibly to allow Fin more time with his new wife. So much of his job is spent entertaining and schmoozing our wealthy business partners that it takes up a lot of his personal time, which wasn’t an issue before Mila. But the man is newly wed and in love. So I said I’d help him out.