Michelle’s stomach dropped at that prospect. She valued Carla’s referrals dearly, as well as the chance she was giving her to lead the upcoming workshop. “I don’t want that to happen. I want to keep growing in my career.”

“I know,” Carla said matter-of-factly. “So let’s take steps now to protect your career. And as frustrating as it may be, you need to operate under the assumption that you’re dating a celebrity. And until it becomes serious, and you’re engaged or married—not that I’m saying that will happen,” Carla said, holding up a hand when Michelle’s eyes threatened to pop out of her head because clearly she and Jack were never getting married, let alone going to date beyond thirty days, “—you simply need to be chaste in public, but behind closed doors,” Carla said, lowering her voice to a conspiratorial whisper, even though it was only the two of them in her office, “feel free to have some fabulous sex.”

“Carla!” Michelle pretended to be taken aback.

Carla wiggled her eyebrows. “Is it fantastic? Is that why you’ve been glowing lately?”

She brought her hand to her cheek, as if she could discover this so-called glow everyone kept noticing. “Am I glowing?”

Carla laughed. “No. But you seem happy. Truly happy, and I hope you are. And I also hope you’re having great sex. Because everyone should. Besides, isn’t great sex something to strive for in an intimate relationship?”

“I suppose it is,” she said, and she and Jack certainly had great sex in spades. They also had an intimate relationship. Which was a weirder thought because where she came from intimate relationships were more than just great sex. And that’s what she and Jack had to be about. The sex; only the sex. Nothing more.

Besides, these problems would all end in a few more days. The clock was ticking, unspooling minutes and seconds until their thirty days expired in a little more than one week. She fast-forwarded over the next ten days. She’d be spending half of them abroad. Without him. Which would suck royally because their plan was working, at least for her. Her heart was healing. Clay was in the rearview mirror. She felt like herself again. Like she could breathe and live and feel without the weight of all that urequited-ness yanking her down.

She didn’t want to miss a single second of her time with Jack. And she wanted to let him know how much she would miss him while she was away. When she walked back into her office fifteen minutes before her last appointment of the day, she returned a few quick calls to colleagues, then dialed Jack.

18

Too Far Gone

“I don’t want to fuck this one up.”

Jack tossed a Nerf basketball up in the air, catching it easily on the way down. He lay on his purple couch, feet crossed on the armrest, an afternoon coffee on the table. Casey lounged on the chair with her cinnamon dolce latte and an iPad, as they reviewed their plans for the upcoming charity gala. He also needed to talk to her about his meeting later this week in Los Angeles with the CEO of one of their online retail partners.