Page 14

"So fire his ass." No woman should put up with that kind of behavior from a coworker.

"It would be…" She sighs. "It would make my job exponentially more difficult. He's good at what he does, and he'd be hard to replace."

"So you need a girlfriend to show him why you're not interested. Do you even like women?"

Apparently,thatoffends her. "Yes." She swallows. "Yes, I like women. Quite a bit, actually." The corner of her mouth quirks up. "He asked if I would go to an event with him, because most people will be bringing a plus-one."

"Let me guess," I laugh. "You told him you have a girlfriend, and now you need someone to go with you to the event."

A blush rises in her cheeks.

"Your lawyer is in the other room, and I need to sign a non-disclosure agreement before you'll tell me who you are."

"We don't have an NDA drawn up yet." She sighs. "Tonight was just supposed to be an informal vetting process."

"I need to pass a vetting process to go on a date with you?" I ask incredulously. I push my glass of wine away.

"Josie, wait." Her voice roots me to the spot. "Please."

"What did he say to you to throw you off your game?"I've seen her in action before. This seems so unlike her.

An inaudible sigh escapes her.

"Look, whatever you tell me is safe. I won't tell anyone anything. You have my word," I tell her, serious now.

She shakes her head. "How can you read me so well? You don't even know me." She takes another sip of her wine and squares her shoulders. "He directly asked if I would go with him. I told him I already had a plus-one. When he didn't believe me, I told him that my fiancée was a very private person."

That's the piece I was missing."You're not looking for someone for a single date," I murmur. "Youarelooking for a long-term commitment. Hence the vetting."

"The loser had the gall to tell me I'm uptight and need a man," she seethes, "and when I turned him down, he decided to force my hand."

"How so?" I sit back in my chair, intrigued.

She bites her lip nervously and lets out a long breath. "Someone posted on social media that they'd seen us together, and it started trending."

I rack my brain for anything I've seen or heard lately. I don't keep up much with social media and the rumor mill, but Mel's fiancée Renna keeps an active presence. She was the top athlete for the university's winning gymnastics team—she still earns sponsorship money, maintaining a healthy presence online. She mentioned something over the weekend, but I hadn't connected the dots.

"You're…" I pause, pretending I've only just worked it out. I start to say the name people whisper. Cold Rock. Delmont's ice queen. Her last name means 'rock' in Italian. She's known for being cold and hard, for running a tight ship—but also for doing a damn good job at it. Even her critics respect her.

The only reason Renna mentioned it was because she had looked up to this CEO of our teaching hospital. Not many openly queer women make it into such positions.

"Icy boss," the woman at the table nods, finishing my sentence. HerHerhandle.

"My friend works at the hospital," I tell her. "She mentioned it the other day. She was disappointed to hear you were dating a man. She respected you immensely for your competence and what you'd accomplished."

"Respected?" Her brow furrows. "I've never been in the closet, but I've never made an issue of my queerness, either." Her shoulders drop. "So now I'm disappointing all the young queer kids, too." She lets out a frustrated breath. "I need to put a stop to this."

"Let me help." I reach over and squeeze her hand. "I'll be your fiancée."

"It's not that easy," she argues. "We need to talk over the details with Hettie. But what about you? What if you decide you're ready to start dating again?"

I scoff. "I'm still not over Mel." I don't know if my heart will ever let go of her, after being in love with her for the last seventeen years. I just always thought we'd be together.

Giving up sex for however long this farce lasts will be the most annoying part.

"What about your friend with benefits?" she asks.

"She's a friend without benefits now." I shrug.