Harley
“Sowhereisthisluxury hotel you’re going to?” Maria asks as she pours us both a glass of wine and hands one to me.
“It’ll be mediocre at best,” Griffin grumbles from the other side of the kitchen where he’s eyeing up the egg incubator like it’s a nuclear warhead that could deploy at any given second.
“Don’t worry, boss. I will be sure to report back on all of the other hotel’s offending shortcomings.” I give him a small salute.
Maria stifles a giggle as Griffin walks over to us. “You know what you have here is perfect, Griff. You don’t need to view every hotel, including one that’s an hour’s drive away, as a threat.”
“Oh, I know what we have here is perfect, Sweetheart,” he growls against her neck as he strokes her long, dark hair over her shoulder. He kisses her exposed skin from behind, forcing me to rescue the wineglass from her hand just in time before the contents slosh out over the rim.
Maria laughs and turns to kiss him on the lips. His eyes linger on hers with a heat in them until I cough.
“Um, if you could just, like, stop looking at her like you want to devour her for one minute so I can have her to myself, please. Then she’s all yours for the rest of the night.”
Griffin smirks at me, then kisses Maria again. “You hear that, Sweetheart? You’re mine for the rest of the night.”
“Okay.” She smiles at him like an emoji with heart eyes as he looks back at her in the same way, but with a dose of wicked sexiness thrown in.
God, these two. They’ve been together a year now. You’d think I would be used to their complete infatuation with one another when they’re together, but it still has the power to render me speechless.
“I can’t wait to be looked at in the way he looks at you.” I sigh as Griffin disappears into his study.
“Oh, I don’t think it’ll be long.” Maria bites her lip with a smile.
“What planet are you on? In case you hadn’t noticed, I’m not even dating at the moment. And we can’t count Reed, before you say it.” I hold a finger up in the air and Maria closes her mouth. “Which, by the way, is why I came to talk to you while he’s out at this community hall thing he’s doing tonight.”
“I’m listening.” Maria slides into the velvet bar seat at the kitchen island opposite me.
“Okay.” I glug a big mouthful of wine, then place my glass down.
She already knows about our fight, if you can call it that. And about me delivering the truce cookies during my lunch break today. I omitted the part about Reed kissing me hello, his lips lingering against my skin when there was absolutely no need for him to do so with only Stuart there as an audience, who already knows full well it’s fake. I also omitted the part about how my entire body heated up so much when his eyes were looking into the depths of me that I thought there was a real possibility I was about to pass out.
I haven’t worked out what any of that means yet. I’ve stored that little gem of a head fuck away for another time.
But what I do want to talk to her about is the realization that came to me while I was working this afternoon.
“I think I know what Reed’s hurt is from,” I say.
“Oh? Did he tell you?” Maria listens, sipping her wine.
“No. But I’ve figured it out. It’s something that happened when he was younger. And when I said someone close to me was hurt…” I choke on the words, my throat burning, the way it does sometimes when I talk about it. Maria lays her hand over mine and gives me a reassuring smile. She’s known all my secrets for a long time now. Both her and Griffin. They both know why I started honey trapping and why I need the extra money. I didn’t tell them to begin with. But it was a weight off my shoulders when I did finally decide to share.
“Anyway,” I continue. “He said it was similar for him, too. And I know he has a twin sister, Riley, who he was close with growing up. She’s a lawyer who specializes in sexual assaults, and Reed… well, it’s one of his policies he wants to change when he becomes mayor. He wants stricter laws. More safety for people. For women.”
I roll my lips together and take a deep breath.
“I think his sister was sexually assaulted when she was younger and Reed found out about it, but was too late to do anything to stop it. I think he feels partly responsible and blames himself.”
Maria looks down at the marble countertop. “That would make sense.”
“What do you mean? Do you know something?” I lean forward in my chair, over the counter toward her. “Has Griffin said anything?”
“Only that it’s something Reed feels very strongly about. He hates sexual crimes with a passion. He was over here once when a news report of someone being drugged and assaulted came on the news. I thought he was going to melt the TV the way he was staring at it. It’s like something they were saying hit home with him. And it hit hard.”
I nod as Maria’s eyes meet mine. “It does make sense. And here I was thinking he was upset over Bea. No wonder he was so angry. He’s there, hurting over something serious. Over his sister being…” I squeeze my eyes shut and swallow. “And there’s me trying to set him up on a date because I thought it would fix all his problems. I’m so dumb.”
“No. You’re not.” Maria grabs my hand and waits for me to open my eyes and look at her. “You are not dumb. Don’t ever say that. You have the biggest heart of anyone I’ve ever met, Harley. You were the first friend I made when I came to New York, and you helped make it feel like home to me.”