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“Oh, most definitely.” She lifts her hand and starts to count on her fingers. “We have the married coworkers. We have the executive sleeping with his assistant. And then there’s the engineer who just started dating one of the new sales reps—who is thirty years younger than him.” She sighs. “The office is just teeming with inappropriate romance.”

I blink at her. “That’s…a lot of scandals.” I hesitate, then add casually, “I bet they lead to plenty of personal issues around the office, too.”

What I really mean is, I bet they lead to plenty of financial and/or career issues around the office.

Because those are the types of things that might affect a company as a whole. Especially if it’s happening at the executive level. If high-level finances are at play, or threats to careers, people can do drastic things.

Things like fuck up a big company decision.

“Some do,” Bethany agrees with a shrug. “Some just try to act normal. Like, the executive sleeping with his assistant isn’t as big as it sounds. To most people, it’s only a rumor because you’d never know of their affair if you didn’t see the inner workings of the executive level. The ones that affect the office are the ones further down the totem pole. The ones who are too far gone and desperate to hide their drinking problem or online gambling debts. Those are the ones that become glaringly obvious around the office.” She takes a sip of her water. “You’ll spot those soon, don’t worry. I’m sure it’s not a surprise, but I just wanted to give you a heads-up.”

Thank God my brain can compartmentalize well, because I spend the rest of our lunch talking to Bethany about some non-gossip, but mentally working through everything she said. I don’t have time to do a company-wide deep dive on every employee, but I can focus on the problematic ones. And Bethany just gave me the perfect starting point.

When we finally end our lunch date and walk back to the office, we return to working like nothing happened. Bethany starts to walk me through one of the executive’s upcoming travel schedule, and I go back to taking notes on my screen. It doesn’t matter that I’m already planning to drop the job tomorrow morning with an excuse of receiving a better offer from a different company; I still make it look like I’m fully invested in learning everything today.

I’m just focused on learning something…different.

TWENTY-FOUR

CHARLI

My mind is still spinning with theories when I walk into the apartment and find Lucas in the kitchen.

He’s lifting a beer to his lips when he sees me. And promptly chokes on his sip.

I tilt my head in surprise. “You’re home.”

He swipes a hand over his mouth, his eyes trained on me. “You’re— You’re wearing… Why do you look like that?”

I look down at my outfit with a frown. “You don’t like it?” I hear a touch of self-consciousness in my voice.

His brow pinches. “Baby girl, you could wear anything or nothing and I would think you’re the hottest thing I’ve ever seen.”

I have to bite down on my smile. It’s not that I need a man to tell me I look good, but hearing Lucas’s genuine—and instant—response feels nice.

Lucas softens and puts his beer down before walking toward me. “I’m just surprised,” he explains. “This is obviously not your usual outfit. I’m wondering what the occasion is.”

I pause as I debate telling him the truth. “I went undercover at the buyer’s company today,” I finally admit.

His eyes widen. “You… You what?!”

I prop my hands on my hips with a grin. “Boots on the ground journalism, baby.”

He sputters for a moment, searching for words. “That can’t be legal,” is what he lands on.

I drop my hands with a shrug. “It’s not illegal; you just can’t use it in your case. Since I went in under a false pretense. But separately, technically, I went through the proper channels, got a proper job offer, and entered the building with a real reason.”

He’s gaping at me by the time I’m done. “Okay…and?”

Another shrug as I slip off my flats. Heels really would’ve completed this look, but for the life of me, I’ve never been able to handle heels.

“Nothing jumped out at me, but sometimes just being in that environment inspires ideas. Which it did. I was going to check into a few of them while I waited for you, but…” But he’s home early.

Lucas swallows and looks behind him at the kitchen. “My last meeting canceled, so I got home early. I was going to surprise you with dinner.” He turns back to me, his gaze moving over my body. “But right now, I can’t even remember what I was cooking.”

I have to hide my smile again. “Shut up. I look ridiculous in this outfit.”

“Agree to disagree,” Lucas says instantly. He reaches out to touch my slicked-back hair where my bangs are hiding. “You look so different. I kind of feel like there’s a stranger in my house right now.”