For several moments, we just breathed together, coming down from our shared high. I slowly withdrew my fingers, straightening my clothes with shaking hands.
“Fuck,” Sean finally said, his voice rough. “That was...”
“Yeah,” I agreed, a giddy laugh bubbling up. “It was.”
“I need to see you,” he said, suddenly serious. “Tonight. I don’t care what time you finish. Call me.”
“I will,” I promised, my heart fluttering at the urgency in his voice. “I should get back before someone comes looking for me.”
“Beth,” he said, stopping me before I could hang up. “I meant what I said. Be careful around Garrett. And not just because I’m jealous as hell.”
“I will,” I said again, more soberly. “Can’t wait for tonight.”
“I’ll be waiting,” he promised. “And Beth? Wear that black lace bra.”
I hung up with a smile, taking a moment to compose myself before stepping out of the stall. As I washed my hands, I caught sight of my flushed face in the mirror. My eyes were bright, my lips slightly swollen from biting them.
I looked like a woman who’d just had incredible phone sex in a bathroom stall.
And I couldn’t wait to do it for real tonight.
FLUSH.
The sound, loud and jarring in the quiet bathroom, came from the stall at the other end of the row. The one right next to the door.
My blood turned to ice. My smile vanished. My entire body went rigid. No. I had checked. I had looked under every single door. They were all empty. I was sure of it.
The latch on the far stall clicked open with agonizing slowness. I hurried back into my own stall to hide just in time.
Next, I heard the soft tread of expensive shoes on the tile floor, a pause at the sinks, the sound of water running, and then the quiet, deliberate click of the restroom door closing.
I waited, my body trembling, counting to ten before I dared to move. I slowly opened the stall door and peered out. The room was empty. But the air felt thick, heavy with the knowledge that someone had been there. Someone had been sitting in that first stall, in complete silence, for God knows how long. Someone had heard everything. My flirtation, my gossip about Kyra and Garrett, my intimate, heated promises with Sean, my climax. Everything.
My stomach churned with a humiliation so profound it felt like I was going to be sick. I had to get out of there. I pushed open the heavy restroom door, my head down, and nearly collided with a solid, unmoving object that smelled of expensive perfume and condescension.
Kyra.
My blood turned to ice.Oh my God, it was her. It was her in that stall.The world narrowed to that single, horrifying thought. She had heard every dirty word, every whispered confession.
“Watch where you’re going,” Kyra snapped, her perfectlymade-up face twisting into a familiar smirk as she took in my flushed cheeks and wide, panicked eyes. “Flustered, are we, MacLeod? You look like you’ve just seen a ghost.”
My mind raced, scrambling for a defense, a denial, anything. But then I noticed it. Kyra was holding a steaming cup of coffee and a folder, clearly on her way back from the break room, walkingtowardthe main office area, not comingfromthe direction of the stalls. It couldn’t have been her.
The wave of relief was so potent it almost made my knees buckle, and in its wake, the panic was replaced by a cold, sharp clarity. She hadn’t heard my call. But she was still a snake, and armed with the knowledge from my morning’s research, I finally had the venom to bite back.
“Buuuut,” she said, her voice a low, mocking purr as my silence stretched a moment too long. “I’m surprised you had the nerve to show your face here today after that performance you pulled at the gala.”
The old Beth would have withered under that glare or snapped back with a childish insult. But something had shifted. I was done being a victim. I was done being a prop.
I gave her a slow, deliberate smile, letting my gaze drift over her impeccable, expensive outfit. “Oh, I don’t know, Kyra. I thought I handled myself rather well. It takes a certain kind of skill to manage… unexpected entanglements, don’t you think?” I let my gaze flicker meaningfully over her shoulder, towards the general direction of Garrett’s office. “Discretion is such an important quality in this line of work.”
I saw her falter. A flash of pure fury crossed her face before she masked it with indignation. For the first time, I had thrown her completely off balance.
“I have zero clue on what you’re going on about,” she hissed, her voice a little too sharp.
“Don’t you?” I replied, my smile never wavering. “Pity.” I shifted the files in my arms. “Well, if you’ll excuse me, Ms. Henderson gave me a new research project. I really must get back to work. It seems my role here is evolving.”
I brushed past her without another word, feeling a surge of triumphant adrenaline. I had stood up to my bully, and she had blinked first. That wasn’t just a win; it was information.
