Page 61 of Yours to Keep

“My Sullivan,” I confirmed. “Unfortunately.”

Ellora leaned back, chuckling as she reached for her cocktail. “Oh, my God. I had a feeling this was going to happen. Tell us everything.”

I took another long sip of my drink, but then I started talking, and once I did, I couldn’t stop. I told them everything. About the church. The reception turned liberation party and the dancing that had become so much more. I very intentionally did not describe details, but I even told them about the closet and ending up back in his suite.

When I finished, Mercedes was staring at me like I’d just confessed to robbing a bank. “You slept with your boss.”

“Yes.”

Ellora grinned. “Your boss who also happens to be a grumpy billionaire you hate.”

“Also yes.”

She clutched her chest like I’d just made her dreams come true. “I love this song.”

“I hate this song,” I said. “This song ruins lives.”

She waved me off. “No, it doesn’t. It just feels like it will, but then it all works out and your life is better than ever. Trust me on that one.”

Mercedes chuckled. “Let’s shelve that for now. How are you feeling, Bree? How did it go, you know, after?”

I laughed, but the sound was humorless. “I’m feeling like I made the best, worst decision of my life. Or the worst, best one. I don’t know.”

Ellora raised an eyebrow. “The worst, best one? Yeah, you’re going to have to elaborate a little bit.”

“I really don’t know. Look, I don’t like him. He’s infuriatingly arrogant sometimes and he’s actively messing up the hospital. Just today, I heard more rumors about what he’s planning to do, and if they’re true, it’ll be awful. Plus, he’s my boss, which makes what I did monumentally stupid.”

“And?” Ellora prompted when I stopped talking. “There’s more. I can tell.”

I paused for a beat, but while I knew I should’ve just told them there was no more, I also knew they’d help me reason this out if I told them the whole truth. If anyone could talk me through it, it was these girls.

“He held me after. Like I mattered to him,” I said quietly. “I can’t unknow what that felt like.”

Mercedes reached across the table and squeezed my hand. “That’s the problematic part, right?”

“Yep. I can’t be with him, guys,” I said firmly. “I won’t. Hospital politics alone make it impossible. If anyone so much as suspects I’m sleeping with him, my credibility is gone. I fought too hard for this job.”

Ellora nodded. “You’re right.”

“Of course, I am.” I rolled my eyes at her. “You don’t have to sound so surprised about it.”

“I’m not, but as much as I agree that you’ve worked too hard to have the other staff members start questioning your dedication now, I also think this is unfair and deeply annoying that life keeps doing this thing where it hands good people impossible men.”

Mercedes laughed. “Welcome to the club.”

Ellora lifted her glass. “We really do have a type. Grumpy. Powerful. Emotionally constipated until we unblock them.”

“Please don’t romanticize this,” I said. “He’s a walking HR violation.”

“Is he?” Mercedes asked gently. “Do you feel taken advantage of or like he forced you into it in any way?”

“No.” I frowned. “That’s not at all what happened.”

“That’s what I thought.” She smiled, but it was a lot more tender than usual. “You don’t look like someone who slept with the boss to get ahead at work, Bree. Frankly, you look like a girl who’s falling and I know exactly what it looks like because I saw it every day in the mirror for a long time before I was ready to admit it.”

I opened my mouth to deny it, but that wasn’t quite what came out. “I didn’t plan for it to happen and I won’t do anything about it.”

Ellora let out a soft sigh. “You don’t have to plan for everything. You also don’t have to plan for forever right now. It’s okay to just plan for what comes next.”