“So, Jade, how’s your first week going at Grayson’s firm?” She asks.
“It’s going,” I reply.
“Uh oh, that doesn’t sound good. What happened?”
“One of the interns was a total bitch to her and she never said anything about it. I had to find out through the office gossip,” Grayson answers for me.
“Oh no, what did she do?”
“Nothing I couldn’t handle,” I jump in before Grayson could. “Seriously, it was more like office hazing than anything. Now it’s over.”
“Not quite. We still have Tyson to deal with,” Grayson grumbles.
“Garfield’s son? What about him?” Nichole asks, curious.
“He asked Jade out on a date. She turned him down, of course, but you know how he is. He won’t quit until he gets his way.”
“My, you have had a busy week.”
“You say busy, I say it’s life. Besides, I’ve had worse.” I shrug.
“On a brighter note, the decorator is almost done with your place. She said you should be able to have it move in ready by the end of the month. Isn’t that great?” Nichole’s smile is beaming and I don’t want to tamper her good mood by telling her what I really feel. This is all too much. I come from a bartering world, and I have this gut feeling that when Nichole finally collects, a baby won’t be enough.
“Yeah, great,” I mumble through a forced smile. I’m glad for the interruption when the waitress comes and takes our orders.
When she leaves, Grayson and Nichole talk shop about some case he’s working on while I zone out, playing with my napkin. By the time our food arrives, I’m starving and I dig into my chicken salad sandwich. This place was too fancy for regular fries, so on the side I had some sort of glazed sweet potatoes sticks that Nichole recommended. I believe she wanted me to try them because I read somewhere that sweet potatoes are really good for fertility.
“What’s this I hear about a coat?” Nichole says and I glare over at Grayson who just shrugs.
“Nothing, I love my leather jacket,” I reply.
“Nonsense. It’s nearly winter and you know how brutal New York winters can be. That’s hardly enough protection for you or our little one. If you don’t want a coat, that’s fine. But think about the baby.”
“Fine,” I relent. Nichole is playing dirty by throwing in the hypothetical baby card. “But I’ll buy it myself,” I add and she frowns.
“You have to work. I can find you something suitable,” Nichole starts, but I interrupt her.
“I don’t work all the time. I’m perfectly capable of buying my own coat. You have been more than generous. Besides, shouldn’t you be out shopping for baby stuff or something?” I say, just to get her off the topic of me.
“Why? Is there something you want to tell me?” She asks, a little too excited.
“No, but I know how you like being prepared,” I answer, giving Grayson the side eye. No way am I telling her he’s only fucked me twice in a month and both times were in the same week.
“You’re right, I could go browsing.” She’s about to say something else when her phone goes off. Answering it, she says a couple short replies before hanging up and turning back to us. “Sorry about that.”
“Is everything okay?” Grayson asks her.
“Yes, just a couple little mishaps I need to handle before tonight’s charity event. Why don’t you enjoy your lunch with Jade, and I’ll see you when you get home?”
“Are you sure? Surely they can wait. You barely touched your food and you didn’t eat last night either because you got a migraine.”
“I’ll be fine. In fact, I’ll take it with me to go,” she says, giving him a compromise and he nods his head. Nichole waves a waiter down and I watch as he takes her plate away and comes back with a to go box for her, all wrapped up and ready to go. Kissing Grayson, she tells him goodbye before waving to me and leaving. I watch her leave, sad to see our buffer go. With her gone, it was like we were on a date. I take another bite of my sandwich, but this time I barely taste anything and I set it back on my plate.
“Oh no. Not you too.”
“What?” I ask.
“Not eating. I don’t know what’s going on with Nichole, but you normally eat like a horse. More than once, I thought you were already pregnant.”
“Hey, that’s not nice. I like to eat, and before, food was hard to come by, okay,” I say defensively.
“I’m not saying anything is wrong with it, I’m just telling you I noticed,” he sighs.
“How? At the office, I tend to eat at my desk and I eat dinner alone in the hotel.” Unless I’m out with Robert, which I won’t be telling him anytime soon.
“And snack, and midnight snack. You forget, I’m footing the bill at the hotel, so I know everything you order from room service.”
My eyes widen. Well hell, is he trying to say I’m a pig? Am I spending too much?
“Don’t give me that look. I didn’t mean it like that.”
“If I’m ordering too much, I’m happy to...”
“No,” he says, interrupting me. “It’s fine. Hell, I’m surprised your stay isn’t costing me more. You haven’t nearly taken advantage of the amenities there like others would have. Although, I don’t mind you making more appointments with the spa to get that sweet pussy of yours waxed.” He says this in a low voice but I still blush looking around to make sure there isn’t a spy in our mists.
“Are you embarrassed?” he asks, giving me a wicked grin.
“No, you fool. What if someone hears you? It’s bad enough Nosey Nancy knows what’s up.”
“Nancy is harmless, nothing but a ladder climbing shrew. After today, she’ll sulk at her desk until her part in your warm welcome blows over then she’ll be back to looking for ways to get off the lower floor. No one will believe anything she has to say.”
“What if they do? It’s not like I have a baby bump to prove otherwise. You’ve been avoiding me like the plague, and at this rate, I’ll be like forty and past the fertile stage before I get pregnant.” I didn’t want it to seem like I was complaining, but I guess I was. Nichole has done so much for me and I haven’t been able to come through on my part and give her what she asked for.
“You’re right. This shit is just hard for me, okay? Give me a little more time.”
“Wait, hold the phone. Did you just say I’m right?” I ask, dumbfounded.
“Yes, and I hope you heard me because you’ll never hear me say it again.”
“Is that a challenge?” I ask with a wide smile.
“Yes, definitely.”
“Well I accept, Gray.”
We finish our meal and he takes me back to the office where we go our separate ways. Him to his lush office and me behind my desk. The rest of the day was a madhouse and I didn’t get a chance to ponder about McHottie. Before I knew it, it was time to pack up and leave. I didn’t have a workout session planned tonight and I was actually looking forward to a deep soak in the tub and Netflix. Maybe I’ll even order some of the hotel’s famous caramel popcorn with my dinner. I deserved to pamper myself.