Page 94 of Last Night Was Fun

“No,” Emmy said with a laugh.

“Good.” Alice stopped walking and leaned on the rail they’d approached. Emmy joined her and gazed out at the field.

At face value, it was a diamond of dirt and some grass on which a bunch of grown men threw and hit a ball around, but it was so much more than that. It was dreams and goals and aspirations. A place where the highest level of a profession was carried out. Where legends were born, and records set. It may have been just a game, but it was also a community. A place that brought people together and gave them something to care about. Something to believe in. Something that made the rest of life a little better for the moments of delirious celebration because a collective goal was reached. Emmy’s love for the sport thrummed through her as she stared out, and she knew by the look on Alice’s face that she felt the same.

The significance of them standing there as two women was not lost on her.

“Emmy, the reason I brought you out here to talk...” Alice began, and Emmy’s nerves jumped again. Alice turned to her with a serious look in her eyes. “I wanted to let you know that as of now, you are the front-runner for the senior analyst position. Olson is great, but your leadership qualities give you an edge that I would love to see continue to grow as you advance through the organization.”

Emmy’s breath hitched. Her heart soared. Alice’s straight-to-the-point delivery almost knocked her off her feet. “Um, thank you. That’s great news.”

Alice nodded. “Of course. And you shouldn’t be surprised. In fact, don’t be. You deserve this, and you know you do, so act like it.”

Emmy wiped the shock off her face and heard what she was really saying. Her discreet reference to the steel backbone of confidence they needed to make it as women in their industry. “Yes, I do deserve it. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. Part of the reason I’m telling you this now is that I need you focused. You are the front-runner, and with one week left until Director Allen makes a decision, you need to bring it home. That’s why I’m giving you lead on this project.” She said it all with the subtext ofDon’t let me down.

Emmy heard her loud and clear. She knew Alice advocated for her where she could, and her giving Emmy a heads-up that the job was all but hers meant she’d cleared a path for her. She had to make it to the finish line. “Understood,” she said with a nod.

“Great. And on that note, you seem a little distracted today. Everything all right?”

Embarrassment leapt up and gripped Emmy with two hands. Apparently, it had been obvious. She trusted Alice and had confided in her before, but she didn’t feel like she could confess to her that her distraction came from the explicit fantasies about her cubicle mate playing on repeat in her mind.

“Oh, it’s just some... relationship stuff. Sorry about that. I’ll keep it in check.” She knew it was a lie even as the words left her lips.

“Ah. Well. I will be the first to admit I am not a font of knowledge on that front,” Alice said with a light laugh.

Emmy shot her a smile, knowing she was single and in her own wordsmarried to her career. Alice was someone she aspired to emulate. When she’d sworn off dating after Jacob, she’d reassured herself she’d made the right choice many times by looking to Alice asinspiration.She’s happy. She’s thriving. She loves her job, and that’s enough for her.But now that her own world had been turned upside down by a fake number text, Emmy wondered if it was enough forher. If maybe she truly could make room for the joy that had unexpectedly filled her life for the past several weeks and make things work with Gabe.

“Alice,” she said, hearing the timidity in her own voice. “Don’t answer if this is too personal, but do you ever wish you’d done things differently?”

The look Alice gave her said she knew exactly what she meant, and also she didn’t find the question too personal at all. “This career comes with sacrifices, but the best ones often do. Sure, sometimes I think about what it would be like to come home to a husband and kids instead of a quiet—blissfully quiet, I might add—house.” She paused for a sly smile. “But then I remember why I got into this career and what I want out of it. For me,that’swhat drives me.That’swhat gets me out of bed every day. Getting to come here and be part of something big and influential, to help build a legacy—and to get to do it as one of so few women.” She gave her a dazzling smile, and Emmy felt it shimmer through her body. They were so alike.

“But it doesn’t have to be an either/or, Emmy,” she went on. “Plenty of people find ways to make careers and families work. And you’re still young.” She nudged her with her elbow. “Plenty of time to figure things out. Hell,I’mstill young. We better stop talking like I’ve got one foot in the grave in case we manifest it.” She laughed, and Emmy joined her.

“Thanks, Alice.”

“Yep. Now, let’s get back to work on getting you promoted.”

Chapter18

The rest of the day took approximately ten thousand years to pass. Emmy kept her head down, spinning with happiness over both what Alice had told her about the promotion and the idea of seeing Gabe after work. The emotions were nearly too big to handle—not to mention complicated, because she wasn’t sure how one would affect the other. She and Gabe definitely needed to talk.

He texted her his address when she asked for it at lunch. She had thought to suggest they ditch the rest of the day and head over right then, but she managed to behave herself. He asked her to come over around 6:30, and it took every ounce of her willpower to make it through the day.

She’d never been to his apartment before, but the North Park building looked much like hers: a boxy stone-and-glass structure lined with palms and hedges. She buzzed at the building entrance and all but ran up the stairs to his second-floor front door when he let her in.

Gabe opened his door, and Emmy had hardly crossed the threshold before he pulled her into a kiss. She immediately surrendered to it, burning to her fingertips with desire for him. He lifted her, and she wrapped her legs around him. The entryway wall was suddenly at her back and his mouth moving in a fevered desperation against hers.

“I thought I was coming over to talk,” she managed to mutter.

He kept kissing her like he couldn’t get enough. Like he might die if he didn’t steal all the oxygen in her lungs for himself. He bit at her bottom lip and sucked on it, grazing her with his teeth and swipinghis tongue. One of his arms braced under her thighs and the other hand tangled in her hair. She could feel his desire for her already rock hard pressing into the warm space between her legs. Just as desperate for him, she tilted her hips, grinding against him as much as she could. He groaned a coarse, aching sound into her mouth. “Bed, and then talk?”

“Yes,” she agreed, completely ravenous.

He carried her to his room, Emmy peeling and discarding clothes along the way. She missed any view of his apartment because of the pure inability to pry her lips from his. When he laid her on his bed, she bounced and felt his hands urgently at her jeans’ button. They were both nearly frantic with need.

“I’ve been thinking of being in your bed all day,” she said, and helped him shove down her pants.