Page 11 of Secret Desire (Sapphic Billionaire Club #3)

Maeve

“ A re you ready for the brunch?”

I looked up to see Ariel and Grace standing in my office doorway.

The three of us had made a substantial donation to a local charity that helped sexual assault victims. Our donation had been instrumental for them to create a new program for victims who were minors, including opening several foster homes for those who needed it.

Their board was having a big fundraising brunch today and the three of us had promised to attend to try to encourage our peers to donate as well.

“I’m ready.” I looked behind them. “Is Sadie joining us?”

Sadie was working part time for our AGM Foundation now, helping us expand our philanthropic efforts. We’d all pledged to give away a substantial portion of our fortunes to charity, and we took that pledge seriously. She’d been the one to recommend that we support this particular charity.

“She’s meeting us there,” Ariel replied. “She has a class today.”

Sadie had finally gone back to college to finish her degree with Ariel’s encouragement. She was studying social work, but was considering focusing on social work administration to help her with her work at the AGM Foundation.

The three of us headed downstairs to the waiting limo.

It was probably a little excessive how often we rode in a limo.

Our car service also had Town Cars and other nice vehicles, but we all preferred the extra space of a limo when they were available.

For some reason, traffic seemed more forgiving in a vehicle this size, and if there was one thing we could count on in Chicago, it was traffic.

At least we still flew commercial – unless one of our friends with private planes could give us a ride.

We used the first part of the ride to catch up on work stuff, then the conversation turned personal.

“We haven’t been hanging out enough,” Ariel began.

“Because you two are in serious relationships now,” I pointed out. “It seems rude to kick someone out so the three of us can have alone time.”

“And you’re off all the time with your secret girlfriend,” Grace added.

I tried to ignore the tinge of hurt in her tone.

The longer I kept the details of my relationship secret, the more it bothered them.

I couldn’t blame them. If the situation was reversed, I’d feel the same.

Things were going great with me and Ashley, but we just weren’t ready to rock the boat yet and bring everyone else into the loop.

“I love Sadie and I’m so happy with her,” Ariel said. “But I don’t want to grow apart from you two either.”

“We could hang out at Maeve’s,” Grace suggested. “When you’re not spending the night with Secret Girlfriend – although that really limits our options.”

Thanks to my friends’ constant nosiness as well as the extra spying from their partners, they seemed to somehow know every time I slept over at Ashley’s.

Which was more often than not. I hated keeping my relationship a secret from my friends.

That wasn’t what we usually did, and I knew that I was hurting them by not sharing like I normally would have done.

Sooner or later Ashley and I were going to have to come clean, otherwise my continued secrecy would drive a wedge in our relationship.

“Is she married?” Ariel asked suddenly.

“What?”

“Secret Girlfriend. Is she married, is that why you’re hiding your relationship?”

“She’s not married,” I said impatiently.

“Is she… a man?” Grace asked. “Because we’d still love you, even if you were dating a hetero dude.”

She shuddered like the very thought of my dating a man skeeved her out.

“It’s not a dude.”

“Wait, is it a movie star? A singer? Someone famous who’s not out to their fans yet?”

“No, it’s no one famous. Not a movie star or a singer or a politician or a model.”

“Then what’s the problem?” Ariel gave me her pouting face. “Why are you being so secretive?”

“I’m sorry. I swear I’m not trying to hurt you guys. I just… we both just need this to be private, at least for now. I promise I’ll tell you more when I can.”

Ariel opened her mouth to argue some more, but Grace put her hand over her mouth to silence her.

“We’re here when you’re ready to talk Maeve. Just remember, we’re always on your side. We’ll love you no matter who your Secret Girlfriend is.”

I only hoped that was true.

***

“I think you’re ready to take over this account on your own now. I’ll manage the construction, but I’m turning over all the interior work to you.”

“That’s great,” Ashley said, her smile bright. “I appreciate your faith in me.”

“You’re doing a great job Ashley. We’re lucky to have you on the team.”

The team assembled around the table all shook their heads in agreement.

In a few short months Ashley had made herself indispensable to the company.

Everyone who worked with her raved about her creativity and professionalism.

Even people who might have had doubts about her being Ariel’s sister and any perceived nepotism had been won over.

Ashley was an asset to the team by anyone’s estimation.

Now that she’d finished her probationary period and was able to manage her own team, we really needed to figure out what to do about us.

I could no longer deny the fact that I was head over heels in love with Ashley.

It wasn’t just a crush. It was the kind of all-consuming love that I saw Ariel have for Sadie, and Grace have for Nicole.

I wanted what they had. I wanted to have Ashley in my home without hiding her.

I wanted to hold her hand in front of my friends and slow dance with her in the nightclub.

I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her.

And even though we’d never explicitly discussed it, I was pretty sure that Ashley felt the same way.

I knew that the hiding and the secrecy was wearing on both of us, but when we discussed it, we couldn’t figure out a way to come out to my friends and her sister without someone getting angry.

I didn’t want to be at odds with Ariel, or worse yet, have something happen that ruined our friendship. I also didn’t want to give Ashley up, or for us to do anything that ruined her budding relationship with her sister.

So we procrastinated, continuing to sneak around and keep secrets. In retrospect, I guess I should have known it would all come crashing down on us sooner or later.

A couple of weeks after the charity lunch I was working on a Saturday when I heard a knock on my office door. I looked up in surprise, having assumed I was alone. Ashley stood there with a bag from my favorite burger place.

“Have you had lunch?” she asked.

I glanced around for my phone, then realized that I’d left it upstairs in my condo. I’d been so deep into my work I hadn’t even noticed.

“What time is it?”

“Almost two o’clock.”

“Holy crap. I totally lost track of time.”

I was working on finalizing an important report for one of our angel investors.

While Ariel, Grace, and I owned nearly all of AGM and were fully responsible for our operations, in the early days we’d accepted a capital stake from a small investment group who had deeper pockets than us at the time.

They’d never needed to do more than supply the initial cash infusion, and they’d earned their money back a hundred fold.

We’d been so busy the last few months that I’d put the report off to the last minute, which wasn’t like me.

We were gradually hiring more staff to expand the company, but we’d all agreed to do so slowly and planfully.

As a result, we’d all been working crazy hours, even with Grace finally quitting her parents’ company and focusing on AGM full-time.

“I know you’re busy,” Ashley said gently. “But you have to eat. Come on.”

She moved over to the leather couch that was pushed along one wall, sitting down and spreading the food out on the coffee table. I saved my document and came over to join her.

“Is anyone else here?” I asked.

I hadn’t seen anyone here all day, probably because it was Labor Day weekend and everyone was taking advantage of summer’s last hurrah before the weather turned cold again.

“Not a soul,” Ashley said. “I walked the whole floor to make sure.”

We ate in silence, the thick bacon cheeseburger and fries filling my empty belly while the caffeine and sugar in the Coke she’d brought gave me a nice burst of energy.

Ashley was an incredibly thoughtful girlfriend. I’d never felt so loved and cared for before. And unlike most of the other women that I’d dated over the years, Ash didn’t want me to buy her things. She just wanted us to spend time together.

“I really appreciate this,” I said. “My eyes were starting to cross from fatigue and hunger.”

“You can thank me tonight,” she said, giving me a flirty look.

“Why wait for tonight?” I said, setting down the rest of my burger to pull her into my arms.

As usual, the minute our lips touched things turned hot.

I couldn’t get enough of Ashley, even though we’d just had sex last night.

I pushed her backwards on the couch, stretching out on top of her to get closer.

I shoved one thigh between her legs, pushing off my toes to grind myself against her clit.

She moaned, and the sound only made me more desperate to have her.

Our tongues dueled for control while I dry humped her, lost in the moment. Until I heard a gasp.

“What are you doing to my sister?!?!!”

I leapt to my feet like someone had hit me with a cattle prod, promptly bumping into the coffee table and falling back onto the couch. Ashley sat up, staring in shock and consternation at her sister and Grace who’d somehow come into my office without either of us hearing them.

I could tell from Grace’s expression that she was thinking, This all makes sense now.

Ariel’s expression was more like, Who do I kill first? She was shaking with outrage.

“What are you guys doing here?” I asked.

“Last I checked, this was my company too,” Ariel sneered.

Damn, she was really mad.

“Ariel…,” Ashley started.

“You be quiet, Ashley. I should have known you’d pull something like this.”

Ashley jumped to her feet, her face turning angry. “Excuse me? What does that mean?”

“You bring trouble wherever you go,” Ariel said angrily.

“Now you’re just making shit up,” her sister retorted.

“Is this your thing?” Ariel asked. “You seduce your bosses for kicks? Did that guy at the last company really start it, or did you come onto him first?”

Ashley looked like she couldn’t decide whether to punch her sister or burst into tears. I grabbed her hand and gave her a squeeze to let her know I had her back.

“You’re out of line now Ariel,” I said firmly, feeling protective of my girlfriend.

“And you,” Ariel turned to me. “How dare you take advantage of my little sister? She’s practically a child. How desperate are you?”

“Hey!” Ashley and I both spoke in unison.

“It’s not like that, Ariel,” I said softly, earnestly. “I love her.”

“Bullshit,” Ariel spat. “What’s this really about Maeve? Were you so jealous about Grace and I being in committed relationships that you jumped the first girl who dropped her pants for you?”

“Ariel,” Grace spoke up for the first time. “Let’s not say things that we’ll regret later. We don’t even know what’s really going on here. Let’s everyone calm down so we can talk.”

“I don’t want to calm down,” Ariel yelled.

“And I don’t owe you an explanation for who I choose to spend my private time with,” Ashley shouted just as loudly. With them both in the same stances, wearing the same expression, there was no doubt that they were related – they looked like angry twins.

“You may be my boss and my sister, but I’m a grown ass woman who can choose who to date.”

“No wonder you two were sneaking around, because you knew you were doing something wrong. Something depraved.”

“There’s nothing depraved about being in love,” I said softly.

Ariel gave me a look that cut me to the core. “I’m done with you. Both of you. I’ll never forgive you for this.”

She stormed out of my office, leaving an eerie silence in her wake.

“I need to go,” Ashley finally said, breaking the silence. Her eyes were shiny.

“Ash, wait.”

“I’m sorry, but I need to be alone right now.”

She hurried out, much like her sister had, leaving me and Grace alone. My other best friend gave me a long, measured look.

“How about I buy you a drink and you tell me all about it?”