***
Sunday night, I sneak in after midnight and while the kitchen is clean, my vacation clutter and other stuff still litters the living room. Piles of clean laundry, shoes everywhere except for the floor. I go to my room and check to make sure everything is as I left it. Vacuum lines are perfect. No footsteps on my carpet. I’d set up a few things a certain way in the hopes that I’d know if he’s gone into my room. But maybe he did and was careful – he is, after all, a professional snooper. Before I go to sleep I order a nanny cam from the internet so that I can make sure I’ll know if he comes in my room. It’s not a bad idea anyway. If the Steele brothers ever catch up with me, I’ll get an alert they’ve been in my bedroom. I set up for motion detection to turn the recording on and aim it at the door.
***
Monday Morning:
When I get to the lobby, my fabulous, newly married bestie is sitting on the security desk waiting for me, legs dangling and swinging happily. She’s tanned, looks well-rested, and gorgeous with all her curls and her wide smile.
“Top ‘o the morning to you, Mrs. Carmichael,” I greet excitedly.
She hops down from the desk and the light catches her wedding and engagement rings, causing extra sparkle.
“How are you?” she wraps her arms around me and squeezes while we bounce.
“Forget me, it’s all bad news. Tell me about you!”
She sighs long like a Disney princess dreaming of her prince. “Amazing honeymoon. Not long enough, but because it all happened so fast, we’re doing a part two in another month or two when things settle down with some shiz at work. Until then, back to the grind.”
She gestures toward the door. Ash’s cab is pulling up.
“Speaking of the grind,” I wiggle my eyebrows, “Where’s Mr. Carly?”
“I wore him out with too much honeymoon sex,” she deadpans.
I high five her. “Atta girl.”
As she slaps my palm, she explains, “He went in early. Austin’s in New York so Aiden had to cover an early finance meeting.”
“What’s Austin still doing in New York?” I ask. “He wasn’t in at all last week and I talked to Candy twice and she said he’s being a grumpy bear. You heard he fired Jim Bassell, right?”
“Yeah, I know.”
Austin does not have a rep as a grumpy boss. But things went weird at Aiden and Carly’s wedding. Aiden’s ex turned up trying to cause drama and wound up in bed with Aiden’s brother somehow. Totally not what I would expect from Austin Carmichael. And I didn’t know much, other than what Carly told me at the tail end of breakfast when we were getting ready to check out. All I knew is Aiden and his mother caught Austin in bed with Aiden’s bitch-faced cunt of an ex, and Austin was claiming innocence.
“Austin has been on a firing and reorg spree. Big problems up there with Bassell. It might even go legal. Oh, and there’s an intriguing story there with Aiden’s old Girl Friday, Jada Miller, who is now Austin’s temporary roommate. I’ll tell you more when we get to the office.”
Ash is rushing toward us with a big smile on his face. When he gets to us, he wraps his lanky arms around both of us in a hug.
He only saw me Friday morning, but hasn’t seen Carly since before the wedding. Of course he wouldn’t leave me out of the hug. He’s so awesome.
“Good morning my two favorite girls. Marriage agrees with you, Missus Aiden! Tell me about your trip and then let us plot to marry this one off.” He gestures to me with his chin.
Carly busts up laughing. “I might already be working on that.”
I roll my eyes and give an exaggerated fake laugh as I shoot Ash with a finger gun. He pretends to be mortally wounded and whispers hoarsely that since I’ve killed him, I’ll have to drive Carly to work.
***
Carly and I are curled up on the bright yellow couch in the corner of the atrium at work with our coffee cups and I’m losing my ever-loving mind.
“So, let me get this straight,” I hiss. “I have to put up with Jude because you asked Aiden to make Austin let his ex-housekeeper stay there?”
She’s just explained a whack of drama with Austin, including updates, swore me to secrecy on the fact that Austin is the innocent one in the drama with Aiden’s ex, and despite feeling bad for what Austin’s dealing with, I can’t help but be annoyed because it feels like I’m getting punished for crap that has nothing to do with me.
She shakes her head, curls bouncing. “Jada needs a place to stay. And for real, I think she and Austin would make a cute couple. Austin’s gotten the shitty end of the stick lately, especially with all the Sienna drama. I think Jada could be just what he needs. I channeled my inner-Ally matchmaker there. I mean, he’s going through a lot and he’s being a bit of a dick to her, but underneath he’s such a good guy and I can totally see this blossoming into something for them. I’m like… how cool would it be if they got together like me and Aiden got together after being roomies?”