Page 37 of If You Dare

Now she knew that he lived in a comfy house in a sleepy neighborhood and jogged in the morning. Which was harder to accept than if he’d just wham-bam-thank-you-ma’amed her one night and had never looked back.

To be fair, he might not be planning on looking back. And if that was the case, then they would be on the same page. They’d simply had a consensual one-night stand. Period. End of story.

He was accustomed to this sort of thing. She was sure he’d find his footing. Hell, he probably already had.

She’d find out soon enough.

Too soon, she thought with sinking dread as she pulled into her parking space in front of Cameron Designs. And there was his white car, sunshine bouncing off its pristine paint.

“I didn’t want my car to get dirty.”

“Are you serious?”

“It’s white. I just washed it.”

She hadn’t spoken to him again over the weekend, which was why she was feeling so awkward now. It wasn’t like they hung out after work…ever. And now they’d had sex and snuggled in his bed. How the hell did men do that on a routine basis and manage to function? She was an overthinking mess.

And she still hadn’t come up with a rational explanation for what had happened at the mansion. Terror on the hillside followed by the most amazing sex ever? Or…had it been okay sex masquerading as amazing because they’d both been keyed up? No pun intended… It’d been a while since she’d had sex with a partner, and being scared meant that every cell had been on high alert.

Which meant she technically couldn’t be held responsible for her actions.

She gathered her nerve before entering the building by taking a deep breath and adjusting her hold on her Louis Vuitton. She could do this. She’d just walk into work like she had every weekday for the last two-ish years. After greeting the temp at the front desk, Lily rounded the corner.

“There you are!” Her friend Joanie appeared out of nowhere, causing Lily to nearly leap out of her shoes. She grinned. “Did I scare you? Or is it leftover fright from Friday night?”

“Uh—” Lily wasn’t sure how to answer that, but luckily she didn’t have to.

“Got my hair cut. Do you like it?” Joanie fluffed her curly hair that was a few inches shorter than it had been last week. Maybe. It was hard to tell.

“You look beautiful.”

“Enough about me.” Her friend rolled hazel eyes. “Clive told me about the mansion. You know I didn’t know he was there, right? I never would have let him help Marcus try to cheat.” Her grin turned into a frown of concern. “Why didn’t you call me? I found out what happened this morning, and that was filtered down from Marcus to Clive to me.”

Lily gave her friend a weak smile. What had Marcus told her? What had he told Clive? He promised he wouldn’t say anything to their friends!

“Sounds like you’re in the know,” Lily said cautiously. If Marcus told Clive about the sex, she’d kill him. Maybe both of them and then hide the bodies.

“I guess congratulations are in order,” Joanie said.

Lily’s stomach flipped. “Sorry?”

“The trip! I think the two of you splitting it is a reasonable compromise.”

Splitting the…what, now?

“I can’t say I blame you,” she continued. “I would lose my mind if a raccoon leaped out of the fireplace. I would have run out like you did. Those things have sharp teeth. They’re terrifying. I don’t care what the internet wants us to believe.”

“A raccoon,” Lily repeated carefully.

“But I am not gonna lie…” Joanie spoke out of the side of her mouth. “The two of you on a trip together? Awwwkwarrrd…”

Joanie didn’t know the half of it. Lily paced to her office, her friend at her heels.

“Just drink a lot of piña coladas and forget he’s there,” she suggested.

“Good plan.” Lily rested her handbag on her desk.

“Hawaii is worth it. It’s the least he owes you after sort of cheating to win it and then sort of cheating to keep it. Clive told me about the mask. You should have kicked Marcus’s ass!”