It was the painting I’d admired at the gallery a couple nights before.
I read the enclosed card to find Anson had bought me the painting.
I couldn’t believe it. Not only was it about the most thoughtful thing anyone had ever done for me, but it was also incredibly generous. I sank into my chair with the painting in my lap, shaking.
Somebody bought me a painting.
My mind immediately flew to where I would hang it in my apartment when I heard footsteps outside my cubicle. I quickly tucked the painting under my desk before anyone saw it and started asking questions.
A lump formed in my throat. Anson, Von, and Brade were terrific, and I was about to test-drive Cato. I might never get my promotion, but I sure was spending time with some high-quality men.
I sure as hell couldn’t knock that.
Chapter 14
Cato
Was I actually, finally, going out on a date with Maizy?
Holy shit.
It was about freaking time. I’d had the hots for her since we met on her first day a few years before. The senior partner I worked for caught me checking her out and had taken me aside.
“Cato, my friend. I see you admiring our new paralegal—the blonde.”
He’d busted me and had gone on about “not dipping one’s pen in the company inkwell,” and all that. He said he’d seen disastrous things happen when a rising star at the firm (did he mean me?) got involved with someone at the office, etcetera, etcetera.
I got the message, loud and clear. I would remain firmly in the friendzone with Maizy ‘til the end of my days. Or until she or I left the firm.
Then, I could pounce.
But as the weeks and months went by, and we became closer and closer, no one else I dated even came close to her. I mean, she was beautiful, sure. But also smart as a whip and kind, to boot, with the way she helped her somewhat crazy sister.
So, I’d run out of patience. Exhausted all other options. I’d dated like a maniac, not hard to do in Manhattan, which is teeming with single people looking to hook up. But there were few women I wanted to see a second time, and none I wanted to see a third time. I was clear on what I wanted, and I was done with the friendzone. The opinions of the senior partners could go to hell.
So when my boss, Steve, was headed to Europe for two weeks with his family and gave me access to his kick-ass penthouse apartment on the Upper East Side, I figured it was time to make my move.
I mean, the place came with a goddamn cook.
Yeah, the senior partners at my firm did that well. They had penthouses, cooks, and went to Europe for their kids’ spring breaks.
I was on that track, I supposed. All I had to do was play my cards right.
Which I wasn’t going to do.
I swung by Maizy’s desk to check in.
“Hey, Maiz. What do you say to heading out in an hour or so?” I asked in a low voice.
She looked past me to ensure her bitch boss was not in earshot. She was also moving around something under her desk, but I couldn’t make out what.
“Yeah. Sounds good.” She looked around again. She was so not sneaky. But I liked that about her.
“You sure it’s okay? Hanging out at Steve’s?” she ask
ed.
No, it probably wasn’t okay. But he’d never know.