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Megan cocked an eyebrow.

“Wanna give me suggestions?” she asked.

Vanessa did indeed want to give her suggestions; deliciously erotic suggestions that Vanessa had an inkling Megan would like to explore with her. But that was a discussion for another time.

Instead, she asked, “What do you usually do on your birthday?”

“Have lunch with my family in La Jolla. It’s a tradition. Every year, I take the day off work and they take me to a place called Marcano’s. Have you ever been?”

Vanessa shook her head.

“It’s one of the best steakhouses in California.”

Megan propped herself up on her elbow again; it took her farther away from Vanessa and Vanessa instantly missed the closer contact.

“I was thinking of taking the next day off also, because that’s a Friday,” Megan said. “I have sooo much vacation time stocked up. And I was hoping you’d like to spend part of my birthday with me?”

“I’d love to.”

“Good,” Megan said, nodding. Then she looked away shyly, seeming to consider if she wanted to say something else.

“What’s on your mind?” Vanessa prodded, rubbing Megan’s arm.

“Promise me you’ll tell me if you don’t think this is a good idea. I mea

n, considering…”

“I promise,” Vanessa said, intrigued.

Megan took a deep breath.

“I think I’d really enjoy waking up with you on my birthday. I’d like you to stay over the night before.”

Vanessa pulled Megan back to her, cupped the back of her neck and kissed her. Then she pressed her forehead to Megan’s and used her thumb to play with Megan’s earlobe.

“Just try to keep me away,” Vanessa whispered.

Chapter 24

Three days later, Megan was in her home office typing a follow-up e-mail to one of her co-workers when her laptop notified her that a Zoom call was coming in from Sophia, her boss. Megan answered it, Sophia’s face appearing on her screen.

“Hey, Soph.”

“Hey, Megan. You got a sec?”

Sophia was the Vice-president of Operations for BeachSoft. In fact, Megan was going to be BeachSoft’s Sophia in New York: Vice-president of Operations for the East Coast. This, despite the fact that she was twenty years younger than Sophia. Even though Megan was supremely confident about her professional skills, there were times she wondered if she was too young for her soon-to-be new role in the company. But if the CEO, Lucy Whitaker thought Megan was ready, that was good enough for her.

“There are two things I need to talk to you about,” Sophia continued. “First, has Lucy reached out to you, by any chance?”

Megan shook her head. “No, not yet. Why?”

Sophia pursed her lips.

“I’m just curious,” Sophia said. “She had mentioned to me a few weeks ago that she wanted to start seriously planning for New York, but I haven’t heard anything new.”

“Oh.” Megan felt a twinge in her chest. She knew that a couple of weeks ago, that twinge would have been pure excitement because she was jazzed about starting a new life in New York. She still was. But now, she knew that part of the twinge was sadness at being reminded that the end of what she was enjoying with Vanessa was still somewhere on the horizon. Nonetheless, she managed to put a neutral expression on her face and say, “Well, she hasn’t talked to me about it.”

Sophia shrugged.