Page 51 of Heated (Burned, Inc.)
CHAPTER TEN
ZORA
“You lied to me, wench.”
I look up from my computer monitor as Miriam closes my office door behind her with a snap and stalks across the room. Her brown eyes narrow on me, and even her dyed-blonde curls seem to bounce in outrage. She draws to a halt in front of my desk and crosses her arms, glaring at me. When she doesn’t speak, I sigh and fall back in my chair.
“Care to specify?”
I mean, these days, I have quite the tab going.
“You told me you were cutting off all communication with Cyrus Hart. But according to Jordan, you two are quite the BFFs.” She bends forward from the hips. “But how can that be when you promised me you wouldn’t see him again? Dad would be so disappointed in you breaking the eighth commandment.”
“And Dad would be equally disappointed in you having premarital sex with Jordan Ransom.”
She gasps, splaying her fingers over her chest like a Victorian virgin. “What? How’d you know?”
I gasp right back at her. “I didn’t. But I do now, you hussy!” I jackknife from my desk chair, slapping my palms to the desktop. “You hadsex with Jordan Ransom?” I hissed. “What were you thinking? I thought you’d friend zoned him?”
“I don’tknow! And Idid!” she wails, sinking down into the chair in front of my desk, her hands covering her face. “I swear I’m still confused about what happened. One moment we were on his private range hitting baseballs, and in the next I was playing withhisbat and balls.” She groans while I throw up in my mouth a little. “I’d always rolled my eyes at women who’d slipped and fell on men’s dicks, but now I get it. But it wouldn’t be so bad if it only happened that once. But I did it again. And again. Three times in a night. I’m fucking accident prone, Zora.” She drops her hands and looks at me with such a miserable expression that I’m caught between going and hugging her and laughing in her face. “Are you judging me right now? You’re so judging me, aren’t you?”
“No, of course not.” I round my desk and take the chair next to her. Cupping her knee, I shake it. “Hey, you know I was just kidding when I called you a hussy, right? What you and your vagina do is your business. You’re a fully grown woman, and you don’t have to ask anyone’s permission about who you do or owe anyone an explanation. I was just shocked because I thought you were adamant about not partaking of community peen; that’s all.”
“I was.” She groans again, shaking her head and staring down at her palms. As if she’s still shell shocked. “But apparently there’s a reason why it’s community peen. He knows how to service itrealwell.” She sighs, and her eyes glaze over.
I snap my fingers in front of her face, and she starts, blinking several times. I don’t know where the hell she just went. And I’m afraid to ask.
“Sorry,” she mumbles. “Anyway, I can’t go there again, and I’ve made that abundantly clear to Jordan. Contrary to recent events, I don’t do athletes.” Her mouth flattens, and her brown eyes harden into shards of flint. Yes, I remember very well why she doesn’t do athletes, which is why I was so shocked when she agreed to give Jordan her phone numberin the first place. “But he’s a nice guy, and I’d like to be friends. If he can’t accept that, then ...”
She shrugs, but I catch the flash of pain in her gaze.
“He’ll accept it.” I squeeze her knee. “Something tells me he’d rather have you as a friend than nothing at all.”
She shrugs a shoulder, but I’ve been my sister’s protector since she was born, and I know her inside and out. This relationship matters.
“Anyway, turf burn with Jordan is not why I’m in here.” Okay.Ew.“You lied, Liar McLiarson.” She jabs a finger toward my chest. “Imagine my surprise when Jordan casually drops that you and Cyrus are hanging out at his house, all cozied up. Good thing I’m a fabulous liar myself or I wouldn’t have been able to cover my shock.”
I snort. “Well, thank God for small favors.”
“Damn straight. What happened? I thought we agreed you continuing to see him wasn’t a good idea.”
“We did.” I rub a hand over the nape of my neck. “But it got a little more complicated, where I couldn’t just walk away.”
I tell her about my arrangement with Cyrus. Everything, leaving nothing out. Not even the conversation from the restaurant today. That’s the thing about Miriam. There isn’t anything too out there, too off the wall, for her to accept. She listens with a thoughtful frown, and when I finish, she thrusts her hands through her hair, drawing the curls back from her face.
“Wow. That’s some shit.”
Why, yes. Yes, it is.
“So basically, you’re going along with this whole fake relationship thing and going on this corporate retreat because of your pesky conscience and the chance that his ex, our client, might discover you’ve been making time with her ex. Which makes you—and our company, by extension—look shady as hell. And this Valerie Summers doesn’t sound like the reasonable or forgiving type if she believes she’s been played. Do I have all the facts?”
I nod. “Basically.”
She holds up a finger. “Okay, first things first. After your months of relationship-itude are up, what is your endgame? Are you going to just walk out of his life, and he’s going to disappear from yours? You never plan to reveal the truth about BURNED to him? You do realize the longer you keep this from him, the angrier and more betrayed he’s going to feel when the truth comes out, right?”
Mimicking her earlier gesture, I burrow my hands through my hair, gripping the strands.
“Don’t you think I’ve thought of that? A lot? I don’t have those answers. But he and I ... we don’t belong in the same worlds. If not for Valerie Summers, our paths would’ve never had any reason to cross. And I don’t see why, after our bargain is up, we can’t return to normal. We won’t have any reason to talk, to be in each other’s lives anymore.”
