“Cindy! Hi.” I stand up to hug her. “What are you doing in these parts?”
“Oh, I was just on my way to my friend’s place on the Lower East Side, and I had to pee, so I stopped in for a quick glass of ale.” She finally sees Declan sitting in the chair next to mine. “Oh! Hi, Mr. Cannavale! I’m so sorry—I didn’t see you there. Happy holidays!”
He stands up to hug her just as she holds her hand out to shake his. “Happy holidays,” he says.
“Oh!” She gasps and wraps her arms around him. “Thank you.”
“Can I get you another beer?” he asks casually. “Would you like to join us?”
“Thank you, no, I’m already late for my friend.”
Both Declan and Cindy are watching me. It feels like my right eye is twitching. “Declan just dropped off my belated Christmas gift, so I invited him for a quick drink,” I explain. “I live right by here.”
“Right,” she says. “That’s great.”
“Right.” Declan looks down at the table. “Welp. Since I’m up, I’ll hit the jacks real quick. Excuse me.” He pats Cindy on the shoulder and heads to the doors that lead to the restrooms.
Cindy and I watch him go. He’s wearing dark jeans, and his butt looks magnificent in them.
“You don’t have to worry about me saying anything to anyone at work, Maddie.” Cindy touches my arm, reassuring me. “My friends and I go out a lot during the day on weekends, all over town, and you wouldn’t believe how many people I’ve seen together from the office. All hungover and post-coital. But don’t ask who, because I won’t tell.” She mimes locking her lips and throwing away the key.
“Really? Wow. That’s an effective policy, huh? But really, this isn’t anything.”
“Hmmm. Not what it looks like to me, but if you say so. Okay. Say goodbye to Mr. Cannavale for me. Got any big plans for New Year’s?”
“Not really,” I say with a shrug. Another lie. “You?”
She grins. “Huge.” She waggles her eyebrows and waves as she walks away. “See ya.”
I sit back down and finish my beer. My ears are ringing, and this dark ale tastes more bitter than it did a minute ago. When I see the expression on Declan’s face as he returns to the table, I feel guilty for making up that lie. Being around all those Catholics, their guilt has rubbed off on me or something.
“Hi,” I say when he sits down opposite me.
“Hey.”
“I’m sorry I made up that dumb lie. I guess I panicked.”
“Wasn’t dumb at all. It’s what I would have said too. You’re such a good liar. You’d make a good lawyer.” He raises his nearly empty mug. “May all your lies be laced with truth and your truths laced with whiskey.” He twists his lips to the side and shrugs. “Or something a lot cleverer than that.”
I’m about to say what I wanted to say before we started singing, but he slams the mug down on the table, stands, and blurts out, “Should we head to your place? Or maybe I should go home?” There’s that mood again. And here I thought we were done with all that.
“No. Come to my place. I want you to.”
“You sure?”
“You’re coming to my place, Dec. You vill have some kutya. And you vill like it.”
He gets a flash of something in his eyes—horniness, I guess, but I’ll take it. I’ll take it day-by-day with him, and we’ll see where that leads us. Even if it leads to disappointment or worse by January first. At least we’ll have tonight.
Thirty
Declan
DO YOU FEAR WHAT I FEAR?
This has been the best post-Christmas hangover I’ve ever had. I’ve always thought of the hazy period between the 26th and 30th of December as the taint of the holiday season. It ain’t Christmas and it ain’t New Year’s Eve. But Maddie Cooper has found the sweet spot, gently massaged it, and stimulated it to the point where I now think of it as the exciting climax.
I can’t seem to stop waiting for the other shoe to drop, though. I had thought that seeing Brady and Hannah together and finally forgiving them was enough. I thought being truly happy with someone for once in my life was enough. I’m still a fucking badass alpha and all, but if I’m this happy with this woman, it might just kill me if she leaves me. And I’m the idiot who created this weird situation to begin with. This is what they call a fool’s paradise. I’m not the kind of guy who’s comfortable being the fool, but I’m not ready to leave here yet and I don’t regret getting us here either.
It seemed like the only logical thing to do at the time. Or maybe logic never really came into play. Regardless, I don’t want to lose her as an assistant, and I don’t want to lose her as a girlfriend. I want all of it to be real, and I want all of it to last. I just need to show her that things can go back to the way they were between us at work when we’re still involved outside the office. I’ll talk to Shapiro and HR as soon as the holidays are over if that’s what she wants.
It’s what I want.
We’ve been spending entire days and nights at each other’s apartments since the 26th, and she somehow managed to convince me to stay away from the office all that time. Running into the receptionist put a damper on our spirits for maybe ten minutes. I didn’t love that Maddie’s go-to response was to lie, but I get it. We decided not to take any more chances, and we’ve been in our own little world since then. We haven’t killed each other yet, so I’m optimistic.
She went home to change clothes after breakfast at my place today, and I
