Kai: LOL, hello to you too.
Me: Let me start over. Hi! How are you, Kai? Have you ever been in a threesome?
Kai: Nope. Never had the opportunity. Why, are you considering bringing a third guy into the mix? I’m cool with it, although it complicates the pay structure. And I think it would be less profitable.
Me: No, I wasn’t thinking about that. I was just curious.
Kai: Well if you ever want to, I’m open to it.
Me: Maybe in the distant future, if the content we create becomes stale.
The distant future,I thought.If I’m still doing it by then. When I started this, I thought it would take years to earn enough for a down payment for a house. Now that I was rapidly approaching that goal, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do. Quitting and focusing on my job at NMCF was still the plan, but it was tempting to keep earning money…
One thing at a time. I need to see how much I earn working with Kai.
And speaking of that…
I collected my things and popped my head into Allison’s office. “I’m headed to that doctor’s appointment. I’ll be back after lunch.”
“No rush!” she replied, giving me a wave. “I’ll be gone all afternoon. One of my grandsons is playingHamletin the school play.”
It was a relief to work someplace where I didn’t feel guilty for taking time off. Even something as simple as going to the doctor on my lunch break. I never would have been allowed to do that when I was working at Subway.
I turned away from Allison’s door… and ran headfirst into Michael. He didn’t budge, but I bounced off his chest. “Ah, sorry!” I sputtered.
He grabbed my arm to steady me. “Watch where you’re going. Next time you might run into someone who didn’t block linebackers in college.” He grinned, which helped take away my embarrassment.
But then it returned tenfold as I thought about last night. “I’m heading out to lunch,” I said.
Michael fell in beside me. “Me too. I’ll walk you out.” We took about five steps before he brought it up. “I’m sorry about last night. It wasn’t what I meant to do at all. I was trying to hug you.”
“Me too!”
“I hope we’re still cool?” he asked, glancing sideways at me. His icy blue eyes seemed to cool my discomfort.
“Of course we’re cool,” I quickly said. “Forget it ever happened.”
He snorted. “Not likely to happen any time soon.”
A smile pushed its way onto my face. “Me neither.”
He grinned over at me, then stopped in front of the glass doors leading out of the NMCF offices. “Do you want to get lunch?”
Joy spread through my chest and gut. He was asking me to lunch! Then I remembered where I was going.
“Sorry, I can’t.”
“I understand,” he said, putting up a poker face. “I shouldn’t put you in the position to—”
“Not because I don’t want to!” I said before he could finish his sentence. “I have a doctor’s appointment. I’ll be back in the office after lunch. Maybe tomorrow?”
He nodded slowly. “I will probably be hungry at this point tomorrow.”
I breathed a sigh of relief. Not only did our kiss last nightnotruin things, but we were better than ever.
My grin disappeared as a woman came walking up on the other side of the glass doors. Michael immediately opened the door for her. “Sandra! We weren’t expecting you.”
Sandra Trout strode inside without acknowledging that he was holding the door. She removed her horn-rimmed sunglasses and gently tapped them against her wrist. “It’s been a while since I popped in.”