Page 53 of Strictly Business
“You like her,” Saylor says with a small smile, and that simple statement hits me like a ton of bricks.
“No, I don’t, Shey.”
“Oh yes, you do. It’s written all over your face!” Saylor smirks. “Wow, I haven’t seen you this smitten in a while.”
“I don’t like her! At least, not like that.” They don’t believe me. Hell, I don’t believe me. “She’s Josh’s little sister.” I can hear the defeat in my voice, “I can’t like her.”
But, that hasn’t stopped me yet.
Chapter Twenty-Six
MICHAELA
“ANY PROGRESS?” CAIT ASKS twisting a fork into her linguine. I spent the majority of the week avoiding anything and everyone. Cait had enough of my reclusive activities by Friday because she stormed into my office a little before four-thirty demanding I come to dinner. That’s how I found myself sitting across the table at Finestra stuffing our faces with carbs.
“On what?”
“Let’s start with David, seems like an easier topic to discuss.”
I chuckle before taking a bite of risotto. “Is it?”
“We could start with Finn and how he went from asshole to best sex of your life back to asshole again.”
“I never say that.”
“You didn’t have to,” she winks.
I blush and roll my eyes — we are not discussing my sex life. “David still wants the ring, wants me to sell the condo, and now he wants an annulment, not just a divorce.”
“On what grounds? They don’t just hand out annulments for no reason.”
“I coerced him into getting married to get access to his money.”
“But you make—”
“I’m aware, but he comes from money… His family is well known and they’re coming from the angle that I was in it for the perks, not him. They’re saying, I lied about who I was and my intentions.”
“Oh, Michaela,” the sympathy behind her eyes makes me sick to my stomach. “I’m so sorry, you don’t deserve this.”
I shrug, “I guess it’s better to find out who he is now than after twenty years of marriage.”
“You’re sure it’s him? I mean, I know he was always kind of a dick, but I wouldn’t think he’d do something like this.”
“I’m sure his mom has something to do with it, she’s always hated me. Especially after she didn’t get to plan the extravagant wedding she always dreamed of.” I finish the rest of the wine in my glass and pour another. “Just kind of sucks, y’know? It hurts to think he’d want to pretend like we never happened. Because that’s what it is… Pretending like we never got married, like we never mattered.”
“You’ll be better off without him.”
Tears burn behind my eyes, but I don’t want to waste any more on him, I’ve already given him too many the past two days. It is strange to think I’ll be better off without the person I thought I would spend the rest of my life with. How is that possible? When I said, “I do,” I meant it, but I guess that’s not how our story was meant to end..
“And Finn,” I sigh. “Cait, I—I don’t know what is going on.”
“What do you mean?”
“We slept together again.”
She drops her fork, and a few eyes look our way at the sudden commotion. “You what! But you haven’t even seen him; you’re not working with him anymore. When did this happen?”
“Sunday… He came over because I had been ignoring him all weekend.”