Page 4 of Secret Desire (Sapphic Billionaire Club #3)

Ashley

T he next few days I found myself spending a lot of time with Maeve.

Professionally of course. Things were just starting to get rolling on the Clark Street project and there was a lot to do.

While I’d eventually have other projects to work on, for right now Maeve wanted me to focus all of my attention on this project.

It gave me the luxury of time that I didn’t normally have with my work.

It also gave me plenty of time to obsess about my new boss.

Every time our hands brushed against each other my breath would hitch and lightning would travel up my skin.

I had to force myself to pay attention to business when we were in the same room.

But either Maeve had an excellent poker face, or she didn’t feel anything for me.

I mean of course she didn’t. I was like a little sister to her.

She wasn’t attracted to me, no matter how much I wished it was true.

It was ironic. I’d just left a job where my boss was lusting after me, now I was disappointed that my new boss was keeping things strictly business. Until we had lunch at the end of my first month of work...

“Hey, Ash.”

I looked up from my laptop to see Maeve in the doorway of my office, looking every inch the CEO in her pencil skirt, blouse, and jacket. The outfit was form-fitting but professional, only hinting at the curves that had been revealed when I saw her wearing a swimsuit a few days ago.

“Hi Maeve, did you need something?”

“Are you free for lunch?” she asked. “I thought we could go out to celebrate the completion of your first month with AGM.”

I brightened immediately. Maybe she did this with everyone, but Maeve’s invitation made me feel special. And as the younger sister of a charismatic billionaire brought up by parents who were continually disappointed in me, feeling special was a big thing to me.

“Well, I’m super sad to miss the yogurt and carrot sticks I brought for lunch, but I guess I can suffer with real food,” I said overdramatically.

Maeve gave me a stern look that made me shiver. “You need to eat real food.”

“I haven’t gotten around to going grocery shopping,” I said dismissively. “But it’s okay. I could stand to lose a few pounds I guess.”

“Don’t you dare! You’re perfect just the way you are.”

I was surprised by how adamant she was.

When I didn’t say anything else she gestured for me to come along. “Let’s go.”

I loved this bossy side of her. Would she be bossy in the bedroom I wondered? Would I like it if she was? I mean, usually I was the bossy one…

I grabbed my purse and followed Maeve to the elevator.

The building had three different elevators.

One was private, going only to the top four floors where my sister and her friends lived, one went directly to the AGM offices, and the last one was for the condos in the middle.

It was one of the thoughtful design elements that made this building unique.

Of course it was also good security for the three billionaires living upstairs.

When we got to the lobby a black limousine was idling in front of the building. The driver hopped out and raced to open the door as soon as he saw us.

“Here’s our ride,” Maeve said, pointing at the limo.

“We’re riding in a limo?” I asked. “Did they close down Uber?”

Taking a limo to lunch on a workday really seemed like overkill.

Maeve smirked. “If I’m going to be stuck in traffic, I like to be comfortable.”

I shook my head as I slid into the limo after her.

I guess when you were one of the richest women in the city you could ride in style.

I wasn’t poor by any stretch of the imagination, but I still took public transportation as much as I could.

This was Chicago after all. The only thing worse than the traffic was parking.

“Where are we going?” I asked.

“Chantelle’s, it’s in Evanston,” she replied, referring to a suburb just north of the city.

“We’re going all the way to Evanston for lunch?” I asked.

There had to be hundreds of restaurants in downtown Chicago we could go to.

“It’s only half an hour to get there,” she said dismissively. “You can update me on your work this week while we go.”

“Okay then,” I said, settling in across from her. The seats were buttery soft leather, and I sank back with a sigh. It was like sitting on a supportive cloud.

“Do you want a drink?” Maeve asked, gesturing to a little refrigerator she’d just opened.

It was stocked with an assortment of both alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages.

I was tempted to ask for some alcohol to take the edge off my sudden nerves at being in an enclosed space with Maeve, but I didn’t want to look unprofessional.

I’d already been called ‘Ariel’s little sister’ multiple times this month by my new coworkers. It was annoying.

“I’ll have a sparkling water please.”

Maeve handed me a can, then took one for herself before opening up the leather folio she carried everywhere. My boss was old school, she liked to write on a legal pad, not type on a laptop. I was pretty sure her poor assistant later scanned those notes for her.

We kept the conversation focused on business as we rode to the restaurant. Maeve had a great memory and was very detail oriented, but I was able to answer every question.

“You’re learning quickly,” Maeve said as we pulled up to the restaurant. “Your excellent reputation is well earned, I see.”

“Did you doubt it?” I asked curiously. “I mean, I know you all think of me as a kid still, but…”

“I don’t think of you as a kid,” Maeve interrupted.

Her gaze bounced down my body and when it returned to my face, she looked troubled. “Not at all.”

The driver opened the door and she slid out of the limo while I definitely did not watch how the movement made her skirt slide high up her toned legs.

Get it together Ashley, I chastised myself. This is a business meeting. Stop thinking about wearing those thighs as earmuffs.

Partway through lunch, our business meeting started feeling more like a date. To me anyway.

The restaurant obviously catered to the area’s wealthy class.

Everything was high end, from the real crystal water glasses to the original artwork on the walls.

My family had enough money that I was accustomed to dining at high end restaurants, but this place was on another level.

A level so far up you couldn’t even see it from my family’s level.

As we walked through the restaurant I recognized a U.S.

Senator, a famous singer who’d just completed a worldwide mega tour, and the Chicago mayor sitting at different tables.

Maeve and I were shown to a booth in the back, the high-backed seats creating a private space around us. As soon as we sat down, the hostess poured us each a glass of water and placed our napkins in our laps.

“There are no prices on the menu,” I said, perusing my options.

“You have to be a member to eat here,” Maeve said with a quick glance up from her own menu. “The menu changes every day, but everything is delicious.”

I was glad that Maeve had already told me that lunch was on her. I had a feeling I could never afford this place.

“Would you like a bottle of wine, Ms. Winters?” the waiter asked. I hadn’t even heard him approach, maybe because this place had the thickest carpet I’d walked on in my life.

Maeve raised her eyebrows at me, and I shook my head.

“Wine makes me sleepy.”

“I’ll have a gin and tonic,” she told the waiter.

He looked at me. “Rum and coke please, with easy ice.”

The waiter faded away again like he was a ghost in a movie.

“What are you going to have?” Maeve asked.

“I think the steak salad,” I said. “What about you?”

“Coq a vin. It’s one of my favorite dishes.”

The waiter returned with our drinks and a little platter of bread, cheese, and fruit. We gave him our lunch orders, then tucked into our appetizers. After a few minutes, the conversation turned personal.

“I realize I don’t really know anything about you now other than your professional experience,” Maeve said. “Well, and what I remember of you as a kid.”

I suppressed a sigh, wishing she would see me as a woman, not someone’s kid sister.

“Well, I no longer have boy band posters on my wall,” I joked. “And I’ve given up my dream of owning a pony.”

Maeve smiled.

“Tell me about the real you. What happened after you graduated high school and left home. Ariel has mentioned you here and there, but honestly she hasn’t said a lot. I’d really like to get to know you as a person.”

My sister didn’t tell her a lot because we were practically strangers. I heard more about what was going on with Ariel from our parents than I did from my sister herself. I suspected it was the same for her.

“Well, you know my work history but I’m not sure if you know that I got my degree in interior design at RISD?” I said, referring to the prestigious Rhode Island School of Design.

Maeve nodded. “Oh, that’s right.”

“While I was at RISD I was able to… spread my wings a little. As you probably remember, my parents were not happy when Ariel came out to them.”

“Oh I remember.”

There was a lot of weight in that answer, telling me that she was more than aware of how shitty my parents had been to Ariel.

They still seemed half convinced that being a lesbian was just some kind of phase Ariel was going through, even though she was engaged to a woman.

They also were sure that I’d ‘turned into’ a lesbian just to emulate my sister and irritate them.

It was a sore subject, and I did my best not to discuss it with them.

“I realized I was a lesbian in high school, but I didn’t date any women until college.

My first real girlfriend was this cool girl named Riley.

I got really involved in lesbian causes, and the two of us were pretty active in the Queer Affinity Group at school,” I explained.

“We dated for a couple of years, but eventually we fell out of love, the way you do sometimes. We broke up right before graduation. Riley’s parents loved me – I think they were more upset about the break-up than either of us. ”

I paused, suddenly wondering if Maeve’s question had been more about my hobbies instead of wanting me to tell her my dating history. Why was I sharing all this?

“Do you still talk to this Riley?” Maeve asked, a strange edge to her voice.

“Yeah we’re still good friends. She lives in New York, so I don’t see her very often, but we usually text each other a few times a week and get together when we can.”

Maeve didn’t look happy about that for some reason.

“When did you come out to your parents?” she asked.

“After my college graduation when I moved back to Chicago,” she said.

“I wasn’t comfortable hiding it any longer.

Plus I figured with my luck I’d run into them while I was on a date, and I didn’t want to have some awkward scene.

Good thing too, because you heard how they acted when they ran into Ariel and Sadie that day, right? ”

She nodded. “Yeah, although I thought that was more about them being upset that your sister was dating a house cleaner than the lesbian thing.”

Ariel and Sadie had been on a date at Millenium Park early on in their relationship when they ran into our parents.

Dad was relatively calm about it, but Mom had been apoplectic, especially when she realized that Sadie wasn’t from what she called ‘a good family’.

In Mom’s estimation, even if we were lesbians, we still needed to marry well.

“Have you dated a lot since you moved back?” Maeve asked. “It’s been what? Six years since you graduated?”

“Yeah.”

“I’ve mostly had casual relationships since I moved back to Chicago,” I admitted. “I’ll date someone for a month or two, maybe six, and then for some reason I start getting itchy.”

“Itchy?”

“You know how sometimes you have a shirt that you wear for a while but one day the tag feels scratchy and it irritates you?” I asked.

She nodded.

“It’s like that,” I said. “I date them a few months, and when I realize they’re not the woman I’m going to spend my life with, I’m ready to move on, no matter how good the sex is. And for the most part, I’ve had spectacular sex.”

My eyes widened as I realized how unprofessional it was for me to share at a business luncheon my boss.

Maeve’s fingers looked white against her fork, like she was gripping it too hard.

Damn it, I was making her uncomfortable.

I wondered how our conversation had turned to dating.

Oh yeah, I brought up coming out in college and then started rambling about my sex life. I was such a dork.

“Oh, I’m so sorry,” I said quickly. “This is a totally inappropriate topic for me to discuss with my boss. I just… well, I’ve known you all my life so I’m probably a little too comfortable with you.”

“It’s fine,” she reassured me. “I want us to be comfortable with each other.”

Then my mouth engaged before my brain could stop it.

“Great, tell me about your love life then so we’ll be even.”