Page 77 of Everything She Wanted

“Whatever you want.”

I harden my heart and build my resolve, ignoring the temptation of what he’s offering me.

“I could get us a room tonight,” he whispers.

I bite the inside of my cheek so hard it hurts, before I lean in even closer to him. “You know what I want?” I move my hand from his and bring my fingers to his abs, stroking him softly up and down.

“What?” he says, his words barely a whisper as his eyes watch my hands and his breaths go shallow.

“Outside of work, I want you to...” I move my hands to his face to turn his head so he’s looking directly at me. “Stay the fuck away from me.”

I ignore the flash of hurt in his eyes and hastily get up, nearly knocking down my drink in the process. I grab it just before it does. He gets up too.

“Nisha, wait,” he calls after me too loudly. I round the corner behind the booth, stopping a moment before I collide into Jess.

My heart pounds as I wonder how much she overheard and what she might have seen.

She shoots a curious look over my shoulder.

“You went for coffee without me,” she says as her eyes bounce from me to Nick and back again.

“I stopped by your desk, but you weren’t there,” I say.

“Sorry, I had to do a quick debrief with Tom.”

“Hey Nick,” she says over my shoulder.

“Hi Jess. How are you?”

“Great actually.”

I turn slightly to include him and make my face as pleasant as possible, but tension has my nerves strung so tight they’re about to snap.

“Good to hear. I have to make a call, but I’ll see you ladies back at the office.” He walks to a booth on the other side of the room and only then do my shoulders soften.

“What was that?” She glances over at me.

“What was what?” I say as I take a sip of my latte.

“Things seem kind of tense between you two.”

“Sorry, just some crazy work shit came up as always. It’s been stressful.”

She rests a hand on my shoulder. “Sorry, Nish. You really do work too hard.”

“I better get back for my nine-thirty.”

“See you for lunch tomorrow?”

“Absolutely.” I give her my most convincing smile, even as the tightness grows in my chest.

I walk slowly. My body wants to turn back and rush into Nick’s arms, and the rest of me wants to throw my latte at him.

25. Because the Night

I’m still in my office at 7 p.m. on Friday, staring at my computer screen. I’m not registering anything in front of me, but unable to leave my desk. I somehow made it through the week by drowning myself in work and a drink or two after. It doesn’t help that I have to see Nick multiple times a day for work stuff or that he’s always so kind when I do: jumping in when Tom asked me something about Henrik’s investment I wasn’t sure about, and even updating our pitch deck when the new template they wanted us to use screwed up our formatting—a task way below his pay grade. Even now, even still, all I want is to be around him.

Eshaan’s out with his cousins and Rachel is going out with some friends from the studio. She invited me along, but I don’t feel like making small talk.