“Asher.” Bree slides up next to me and sips slowly on her rum and Diet Coke. “What are you doing here?”

“This is the company Christmas Crawl,” he says. “I believe I was invited.”

“It was really just a formality.”

“Some would say the same thing about your internship.”

“And your career.”

“It would be wise to remember who you work for, Ms. Truong.”

“Your father?”

I need a drink.

I find my way to the bar before Asher and Bree get into a fist fight. I can’t see tonight ending well, which means I won’t be going to the Ragnar Estate tomorrow and I definitely won’t be listening to carolers or going on a sleigh ride through the snow. All the more reason to drink. Heavily.

“Do you have Stella on tap?”

I think the bartender is looking at me, but then his eyes shift up. Asher is pressed against my back.

“Yeah, but we also have this craft—”

“Stella,” he says. “And a cosmopolitan. With Grey Goose.”

I turn to face Asher as he reaches into his back pocket for his wallet.

“I was very comfortable on my couch,” he says tightly.

“I seem to have made a little bit of a mess.”

“A little bit of a mess? Olivia, this is a disaster,” he says. “I have to spend an evening with Bree. I would rather surgically remove my own kidneys.”

“That’s a little dramatic,” I say. “I have a plan.”

“You don’t have a great track record with plans,” he says. “The last one ended with me in a fake relationship with you.”

“Listen, you should be honored to be in any kind of relationship with me,” I say. “Have you seen my boobs in this shirt?”

“I believe the whole bar has.”

“Then you agree I’m a fucking catch.”

“You have a filthy mouth when you’re drunk.”

“If you think I’m drunk now just wait until we’re at the karaoke bar later.”

He looks terrified. Rightfully so.

“Now my plan,” I hiccup. “You distract Francesca while I schmooze with Bree and our new friends.”

“Yes, that’s exactly what I want to do on a Friday night—mingle with my ex and her God awful friends while you go off and try to hook-up with some low-level stockbroker.”

“Deacon’s a stockbroker?” We haven’t gotten down to the specifics. All I know is that he’s cute.

“For Christ’s sake, Olivia. Do you even know this guy?”

“Don’t give me that!” I scoff. “Do you get all the credentials for the girls you hook-up with?”

“No.”

“Then why should I?”

Asher suddenly doesn’t know how to speak.

“Is it because you care about me?”

“No.”

“Then it must be because you’re jealous that your fake girlfriend is going to have some very real sex tonight.”