It’s Monday morning, and I’m glad I have to work today. It’ll be good to have some time apart from Julian after what happened yesterday.
Right now, we’re eating breakfast together like a married couple, but soon I’ll be on my way. Julian has already worked out and showered, his hair slightly wet.
I want to touch it, but I don’t.
He has a gym in his penthouse, and I peeked inside while he was lifting weights. Not gonna lie, it was pretty hot, his muscles rippling under his T-shirt. He saw me standing at the door and winked at me, and I nearly asked if he’d consider working out shirtless, but thankfully, I managed to keep my mouth shut.
Now I’m eating Cheerios, and he’s eating some kind of freaky high-protein cereal.
“Is that stuff any good?” I ask.
He slides his bowl toward me. “Try it.”
I take a bite and grimace. “It tastes like hamster food.”
“Does it?”
I nod. “It does.”
“How do you know what hamster food tastes like?”
Oh, this is embarrassing.
“We had a pet hamster when I was a kid. I thought the food pellets looked tasty and figured if the hamster could eat it, why couldn’t I?”
He doubles over in laughter. I’m glad the story made him laugh, and I can’t help joining in.
“Julian?” says an unfamiliar female voice.
I immediately sit up straight and force myself to stop laughing. Why the hell is there another woman in his condo?
I turn to see an older white woman, and I breathe out a sigh of relief. This must be his housekeeper.
“I’m sorry,” she says. “I wouldn’t have let myself in if I’d known you had company.”
“Don’t worry, it’s fine,” he says. “Courtney is heading off to work in a few minutes. Courtney, this is Elena, my housekeeper.”
“It’s not what you’re thinking,” I say. “We’re just friends.”
I think of that kiss.
Right. Just friends.
Keep telling yourself that, Courtney.
Elena rolls her eyes. “I wasn’t born yesterday. If Julian has a guest at eight o’clock in the morning, she’s not just a friend.”
I’m not sure how to respond.
“Courtney’s working for me,” Julian says. “I went into the office on Friday because I didn’t know what to do with myself. I need to figure out how to have fun, and she’s helping me with that.”
“Uh-huh,” Elena says. “If that’s what you kids call it these days.”
She heads to another part of the penthouse, and a moment later, I hear the vacuum cleaner. I assume she’s trying to give us some privacy.
I push Julian’s bowl of hamster food back toward him and have one last bite of Cheerios.
“I take my second career as a how-to-enjoy-life coach very seriously,” I say. “I will be checking up on you throughout the day, and you better not be in the middle of putting on a suit to head to a meeting, okay?”
