“Yeah, he may be one of the hottest men I’ve ever seen, but the guy is a prick.” Keith plops down next to me, laying his hand on my leg. “Want me to beat his ass?”

A chuckle bubbles in my chest but doesn’t reach my mouth. “No…” I think about my next words, trying to decide if I want to give them life. What have I ever gained from ignoring the way I really feel? “Full disclosure, I’m hurt. I liked him...”

“Aww, Win, I wish I could hug you right now,” Sondra’s voice fills the room, making my head snap up in confusion.

“Sondra?” My eyebrows dip as I volley my attention between my two best friends.

Dottie holds up her phone, showing Sondra’s name on the screen, the time clock counting on, approaching twenty minutes.

“Uhh, she’s been on the phone this entire time?”

“Well…” Dottie grimaces. “Yeah. When you walked through the door, I was talking to her. So I put her on speakerphone so she could hear. You just kept talking and talking, cleansing yourself of this big thing you thought was a secret.”

I narrow my eyes on her. “What do you mean, this thing I thought was a secret?”

“Honey,” Sondra’s voice comes through the phone, again. “We knew you were boning the billionaire.”

“What?”

Keith squeezes my thigh. “We’ve known the entire time. Also, we saw you getting fingered from the balcony—”

“WHAT?”

“Yeah.” Dottie laughs. “As if it wasn’t obvious enough with the way you answered the door.”

“Oh, for the love of God and his disciples!” My cheeks heat to an unhealthy shade of red, no doubt, because suddenly the room feels too hot to be comfortable in.

“Also,” Sondra chimes in from the phone. “We know you guys boned in the bathroom at dinner.”

“Oh, my god!” I gasp, letting my head fall into my hands.

I’ve never done anything like this. Have an affair with someone I’m really not supposed to. Hide it from my friends. Give head in a public restroom. But Aleck swept me up and took me by storm. He entered my life like a goddamned tornado, ripping my life from its roots before I even knew what was happening.

“We didn’t bone in the bathroom…” I lift my face from my hands to see my two grinning best friends staring back at me. I can all but hear Sondra’s grin over the phone. “I just gave him a blowjob.”

Laughter erupts in the room, making me follow suit. I knew my friends would make it better. They always do.

“I’m so sorry I didn’t tell you guys. I didn’t mean to lie to you. I just… Well, saying it out loud would have made it real, and I guess I didn’t want it to be. I didn’t want to admit that I’d even give someone like Aleck a second glance, and that I actually”—I grind my teeth—“have feelings for him,” I grumble the rest, rolling my eyes.