Page 14 of Secret Desire (Sapphic Billionaire Club #3)

Ashley

I was cleaning the bathroom Saturday morning when I heard someone knocking on the door. Setting down my scrub brush, I headed for the door. When I looked through the peephole I saw my sister.

This was a surprise. She’d never been here before. I didn’t even know that she had my address.

Other than that glare in the hallway, she hadn’t spoken to me – hadn’t even looked at me – since she’d found me and Maeve fooling around. I’d never gone this long without talking to my sister, even when we were younger and didn’t really like each other.

I’d told myself repeatedly that she was the one who needed to make the first move towards reconciliation. Was that why she was here? Or had she come to call me a whore again? I pulled the door open slowly, steeling myself.

“What?”

Ariel winced. “I’m sorry. I should have called to let you know I was coming over.”

“Why didn’t you?” I asked coldly.

“Because I was afraid you’d tell me to fuck off.”

“I can do it now if you’d like,” I shot back.

“Can we talk Ash? Please?”

Leaving the door open, I headed for the kitchen to grab a bottle of water. Ariel followed me, but I didn’t offer her a drink. I just leaned against the counter, watching her as I chugged down some water.

“Ashley, I owe you an apology. A huge apology.”

She paused, and I lifted my eyebrows, waiting.

“I’m really sorry. I was out of line. It’s just… well I trusted Maeve with my little sister…”

“I’m an adult,” I interrupted. “Have been for years now.”

“I know that logically, but I’m getting used to the idea that you’re a grown woman, capable of making your own decisions. I know we have never been particularly close, but I still feel protective of you.”

Ariel took another deep breath.

“Maeve and Grace and I have never had secrets before,” she continued.

“At least not big secrets. But things have changed for us, with me and Grace being in serious relationships now. We’ve all felt the distance between us.

Learning that Maeve was having a secret relationship with you felt like a big betrayal. ”

“And what would you have said if we told you in the beginning?” I asked, crossing my arms defensively over my chest. “Back when we were trying to figure out if we even wanted a relationship?”

Ariel made a face. “I’m going to be honest. I probably would have been pissed.”

“There you go.”

“When I saw you two in Maeve’s office, I’m not sure what part bothered me the most – you two sleeping together, or you keeping it a secret. But Theo made us talk yesterday and, well I can see I was wrong. Sadie told me. Theo told me. But I needed some time to get there on my own I guess.”

She paused, then added, “Because I’m a giant idiot. I was a total bitch to both of you.”

“If you’re expecting me to argue with you, you’re going to have a long wait,” I said, but I felt myself softening towards her.

Ariel wasn’t big on apologies, or admitting she was wrong. My sister was confident, sometimes overconfident, and was usually convinced that she knew what was best. I knew it took a lot for her to come over here and apologize.

“Maeve and I made up yesterday thanks to Theo and the Wonder Woman talking stick.”

I frowned in confusion, but she continued talking.

“She and Grace and I had a besties night last night. We did a lot of talking, and I told Maeve what I’ll tell you… if y’all make each other happy, you have my blessing.”

“We don’t need your blessing,” I reminded her.

“I know, but I’d like to give it to you anyway,” Ariel said quickly. “I know what I did was inexcusable, but I’ll make it up to you, I promise. Tell me what you want, I’ll do anything. Anything.”

“You can’t buy your way out of this,” I said, even as I enjoyed making her squirm. We both knew I was going to forgive her eventually.

My sister gave me a wry smile. “All I had to do was give Theo a Porche to get back on his good side.”

“What did you give Maeve?” I asked.

“I promised her I’d talk to you. Try to get you to give her another chance.”

“You can do that while cleaning the bathroom.”

My sister’s jaw dropped open. “What?”

I picked up the scrub brush I’d dropped on the counter when we walked in. “I was just about to scrub the grout in the bathroom. You want to show me that you’re sorry for all those terrible things you said to me? Get scrubbing.”

Ariel stared at me, probably waiting for me to tell her I was joking, but when she realized I wasn’t she said, “Fine, but I’m going to need gloves. These are not the hands of someone used to doing manual labor.”

She paused. “Also I’m going to need you to show me how to clean grout. I’m not even sure I know what that is.”

I was sitting on the couch relaxing about ninety minutes later when there was another knock on the door. Goodness, I was popular this morning. This time when I looked out the peephole it was Maeve standing in the hallway.

I pulled open the door, drinking her in. Even though I’d seen her yesterday at work, I hadn’t seen the real Maeve, the one who liked to wear comfortable clothes and ponytails, since the last time we spent the night together.

It seemed like a lifetime ago.

“What are you doing here?” I asked.

Maeve gave me a hopeful look. “Have you talked to Ariel?”

I nodded. “She’s scrubbing my grout.”

Maeve tilted her head like she thought she hadn’t heard me correctly. “I’m sorry? It sounded like you said Ariel was scrubbing your grout?”

“She is. She tried to buy me a Porsche, but I told her I needed her to do something more personal.”

Our eyes met and we both smiled.

“I really want to talk to you, but I’m not going to be able to concentrate until I see this.”

“Come on in.”

Maeve followed me to the one bathroom in my apartment, stepping past me to look inside. My sister was on her hands and knees, her designer pants completely trashed, her dark hair matted to her head as she worked the scrub brush into the grooves between tiles under the sink.

Without looking up, she held up one gloved hand and said, “I’m just finishing here. I think it turned out pretty good. Much better than when I started.”

She sounded proud of herself.

Then she looked over her shoulder and saw Maeve. Her cheeks were already red from exertion, but I could still see her embarrassed flush.

“Oh. Hey.”

Maeve whipped out her phone, taking a series of pictures.

“Hold up your hands so I can get a better shot of the gloves,” she instructed. “Ooh, and the dirt on your shirt.”

Ariel scowled at her. “Don’t make me regret being your friend again, Maeve.”

“Too late,” she said, just as I heart a series of chimes from the phone in Ariel’s pants pocket. “I sent it to the group chat.”

“Which group chat?” she asked, her eyes narrowing.

“The one that’s the Sapphic Billionaire club, Theo, Sadie, and Nicole.”

Maeve looked at me. “I’ll add you to the group chat after we get back together. It’s pretty active.”

“Who said we’re getting back together?” I asked.

Ariel pushed to her feet with a groan, pulling off her rubber gloves and tossing them into the bathroom sink. I’d never seen my sister look more disheveled. I was glad Maeve had taken pictures.

“That’s my cue to go,” Ariel said. “But remember, I’m the one who fucked things up with you two, not Maeve.”

She stepped closer and to my shock, pulled me into a hug. She was filthy and she smelled like floor cleaner and sweat, but I hugged her back anyway.

“You hugged me,” I said in shock.

No one in our family was a hugger, although I’d spent enough time with Sophie to know she was trying to change that.

“Don’t tell anyone,” Ariel winked. “I’ll leave you two alone to talk, but Sadie and I would love to have you over for dinner tomorrow night. Nicole and Grace will be there too.”

“We’ll get back to you,” Maeve said, her eyes on me.

We walked a bedraggled Ariel back to the door and she grimaced as she called for her car service.

“I hope they send a driver who knows me,” she said. “I’m a mess. I had no idea Sophie had to work this hard when she was a cleaning lady.”

Her phone beeped and she added, “Okay, you two make up, and I’ll see you girls tomorrow night at six.”

I closed the door after her, then turned to Maeve.

“We didn’t have a fight,” I reminded her. “There’s not really a making up part.”

Maeve nodded. “No but we should talk about what happened.”

I shrugged. “Ariel freaked out and said some nasty shit, and I suggested that we take a break while things cooled down.”

I stalked closer to her. “Things are cooled down. I think we’re good.”

Maeve looked surprised. “So we’re back together? It’s that easy?”

“We never had an issue with each other, did we? Throughout our time together, the only sticking point was my sister. Trying to keep her from finding out, then dealing with her finding out.”

“What if Ariel hadn’t come around?” Maeve asked.

“It was going to kill me,” I admitted. “I hated to lose you. I hated to lose my sister. And I hated to lose a job that I love.”

We stared at each other for a long moment, the air between us growing warm and electric.

“Do you need to talk anymore about what happened?” I asked.

“Just to be clear, now that we’re back together, we’re going to be out in the open, right? No more hiding.”

I walked closer and put my hands on her shoulders. “Outside of work, sure. But let’s keep our personal life personal okay? People will hear that we’re dating and that’s fine, but I don’t want to make anyone at work feel uncomfortable or have it be at all obvious that I’m madly in love with you.”

Her eyes widened. “It’ll be obvious that I’m madly in love with you, but I’ll try to act cool at work.”

“Good.”

I pulled Maeve into my arms and gave her a long kiss that left us both breathless.

“I know we technically weren’t fighting, but can we still have make-up sex?” I asked, waggling me eyebrows dramatically.

Maeve laughed as she grabbed my hand. “I thought you’d never ask.”