Modern Girl's Guide to Friends With Benefits (27 page)

"Get the things you need, and then call it a day," she said. "I'll have time tomorrow while Peter's at work. I'll be able to help you."

"Help me what? Paint?" he said, frowning. "I wouldn't want to put you out or anything. If I skip the trip to Naperville, I could have it finished by the end of tomorrow."

"Are you trying to say you don't want my help?"

"It's just the last time you helped me paint, I had to re-sand the floors."

"That wasn't my fault," she said, putting her hand on her hips. "You were the one who set the roller tray on the ground."

"But then you proceed to walk up and down the hallway with paint on your shoe. Why don't ya take the day off? I'll have the kitchen wrapped up in no time."

"Fine. I won't help. Maybe I'll talk Peter into playing hooky tomorrow, and we'll hang out at his house."

"I changed my mind," Connor said as he gathered the paint chips and his jacket. "I give you six months, tops."

Grumbling, Megan headed to her office and locked the door behind her. She snatched her phone off the desk and saw she'd missed eight calls. Swiping the screen, she saw there were two calls from Julia and six from her agent, Jackie.

She wasn't sure what Julia might want this early in the morning, but she didn't leave a message so it couldn't have been that important. Megan knew exactly what Jackie wanted. The witch had been hounding her for the last few chapters almost every day since New Year's. As if harassing Megan was going to make her write faster.

They both could wait until this afternoon. Megan shot off a quick text to Jackie, just to make sure she didn't send search and rescue to her door, demanding the book.

Megan: Last pages will be on your desk before the close of business today. Call you when I'm finished.

She sent Peter a short email, begging off lunch today. They hadn't made a lunch date last night, but she'd met him almost every day. Megan was actually proud of herself for being all girlfriend-like and thinking about his schedule before getting lost in her writing. They were going to make this work.

With that done, she turned off the phone completely, shoving it into the desk drawer, and found her noise-canceling headphones. After picking her favorite writing mix, Megan sat down at her desk and started to work. There weren't going to be any interruptions and she'd get this book done.

It was weird waking up alone in his apartment. The space felt empty, and Peter wasn't sure what to make of that. As he was shaving, he saw Meg's pink toothbrush sitting next to his, and realized he didn't like the feeling. He was ready to make a change in their living arrangements. The only thing they'd have to decide was where they should live, her house or his apartment. He loved his apartment, the views, the location. It was exactly the place he wanted to be…last month. Now, he wanted to be wherever Meg was.

He stared at his reflection in the mirror, trying to figure out what had happened. Moving into her house seemed like a big step. Huge. He wouldn't have considered it with another woman. And there he was, mooning over Meg's toothbrush, mentally picking out a spot for his signed Greg Maddux ball on her bookshelf.

Maybe she'd been right yesterday. Things were moving fast between them. Especially since most people didn't even know they were dating.

But it didn't feel fast. They'd known each other for half their lives. There wasn't that awkward getting to know you phase or even the meet and greet with the family. They were friends first, and now that they were giving a relationship a go, all the hard stuff was already done. He wanted her in his life. Now, next month, next year. Hell, fifty years from now, when they were both wrinkled and gray, he'd still chase her down the hall with his walker.

That was the real reason he didn't understand why she kept putting off telling Simon. After many years of having the "Are you sleeping with my sister?" talk, Peter was pretty sure Simon would be on board with their relationship. And if their chat in Vail was any indication, he'd probably be relieved that Meg was finally settling down.

He'd been thinking about their relationship ever since that fateful night in Vail. Hell, probably since that first time they'd kissed on prom night when she was only seventeen. He might be cautious by nature, but once he made up his mind, he was doggedly determined. He'd made up his mind about Meg. He was in love with her. And he realized now that he was going to marry her. So there was no reason they shouldn't be living together.

As he finished getting ready and made the short commute to the office, the only thing he could think about was getting back to Meg. This was new ground for him. Peter had never been closed to the idea of commitment and marriage. He just hadn't had a desire to explore that option with anyone he'd dated before.

He thought about calling her from the parking lot to ask her…what? Ask her to sell her house and move in with him? Clear out space in her closet so he could move in? Marry him? Luckily, he was saved from his clumsy profession of love. His cell phone was dead. He'd have to wait until he got settled into the office. Even though he was itching to talk to Meg, tell her exactly how he felt, Peter decided that it would be better to ease Meg into this new transition.

Having a direction, a plan, removed a lot of the anxiety he'd been feeling since this whole affair began. He stepped into the elevator, feeling better than he had in weeks. But as soon as he walked in the door, he could tell something was wrong. The mood of the office felt off. Even though it was Monday and the first few major snowstorms of the season always caused issues with commutes, the office was eerily quiet. As he passed the two employees standing by the coffee maker, they returned his greeting with a mumbled response about some meeting they were late for.

"Have you already seen this?" Griffin caught him before he got to his office and shoved the morning paper in his hand. "It's pretty bad. Everyone in the office is worried that this is going to cause problems with the business. Matt's telling people to go home. Please, tell me—"

"Peter, why haven't you been answering the phone?" Matt said, coming up behind him.

"I dropped it last night. The damn thing is broken. Why are you guys are acting crazy? Is this about last week? Did the Brovonts crash their website again? I told them to stop messing with the settings."

"We don't have a lot of time to talk. Simon will be here soon," Matt continued as if he hadn't spoken. "He was able to catch the six thirty flight, so I expect him to be here within the hour. If we can have a plan in place by the time he gets here, there's a slight possibility he won't kill you."

"What the fuck do you mean, kill me? Why is Simon on his way here to begin with?"

"He hasn't seen the paper yet," Griffin said to Matt.

"Would you two stop being so cryptic and tell me what the fuck is going on?" Peter said. His patience was gone now. He looked from Matt to Griffin and back again, but answers weren't forthcoming.

"We shouldn't talk about this in the hall," Matt said, lowering his voice. "Let's move this to your office."

Griffin had just closed the door behind them when Peter's desk phone rang. It was his direct line and only a select few had the number. He reached for the phone. The way these guys were acting, he expected news of a death or some other tragedy.

"Don't answer it," Matt warned.

"One of you better tell me what's going on." Peter slammed the paper on the desk, deciding to let the call go to voicemail. He was tired of this game and wanted answers.

But instead of answering, Matt asked, "Why didn't you tell me that you were sleeping with Megan?"

"Why is it any of your business?" Peter asked, looking between his friend and his assistant. This was ridiculous. It was like he'd stepped through a portal into some kind of bizarro world. Nothing was making any sense, everyone was acting strange, and they obviously knew something he didn't. Even if Matt and Simon knew about his relationship with Meg, it shouldn't have been this big of a problem. "Why does it matter? Why is Simon on his way home? Even if he's pissed that I'm dating his sister now, he didn't have to jump on a plane first thing this morning." Before either of them could answer, his office phone rang again. There was something going on they weren't telling him about, so this time Peter answered it, hoping that whoever was trying to get ahold of him was more forthcoming. "Peter Bradley speaking."

"Mr. Bradley, this is Haley Conrad from the Post. I was calling to see if you'd do an interview. We are willing to compensate you for your time."

Her words sent a chill down his spine, and he immediately conjured any number of horrible events that might have befallen the people in his life. He looked directly at Matt, a cold knot forming in his stomach and asked, "An interview for what?"

"About your relationship with the senator's daughter," the reporter answered, much to Peter's surprise. Before he could form a response to this surreal situation he found unfolding this morning, Haley continued with a rapid-fire succession of questions. "Do you and Ms. Shelton often engage in sex in public places? Do you join her at the sex clubs? Participate in the group orgies? How do you feel about her other lovers?"

"Orgies?" Peter's head was swimming by the time she took a breath. This had to be a prank call. "Listen, whoever you are, I don't know where you're getting your information, but I don't appreciate you spreading rumors about my girlfriend."

"So you are admitting to a relationship with Megan Shelton," the reporter said with a little too much eagerness, as if she'd just received a tip from Deep Throat.

"I don't have time for this. Don't call back." Peter hung up the phone and shot Matt a look that could have left a bruise. He was confused, pissed, and tired of being in the dark. "Mind telling me what the hell is going on? Why the fuck am I getting phone calls from reporters asking me if I go to sex clubs with Meg?"

"I told you not to answer your phone," Matt said, shaking his head. He picked up the newspaper from Peter's desk and displayed the front page. There, covering half the page, was a color photo of Megan in the alley behind the Palmer House. Peter was in the photo too, with his hand up her dress and his head bent at just the right angle, conveniently covering her exposed breast. The bold title exclaimed:
Senator's Daughter Gone Wild!

He read through the article. Most of it was bullshit. But the reporter did have some damning truths about her secret life as an erotica author that lent credibility to the whole story. There was anecdotal evidence of secret trips to a members-only BDSM club. Photos of her with half a dozen different men, including one very incriminating photo of Megan with Connor and Patrick that looked as if they'd all just crawled out of bed.

If he ever learned the name of the "anonymous source close to Megan," Peter would need a lot of bail money. He slumped into his chair, feeling as if his entire world had collapsed in on itself.
Fuck.
He wanted to hit something. He wanted to storm into the Times' office and demand a retraction. But regardless of what he wanted, he needed to go to Meg before she found out like he did.

He started for the door, but Matt stepped in his path. "Where do you think you're going? We need to deal with this."

He, Simon, and Matt had been friends for years. And during that time they'd fought amongst themselves, but never once had it come to blows. This time, he couldn't guarantee that would be the case. "Get out of my way," Peter said in a low, warning tone.

Matt held up his hands, backing away slightly. "I get it. This is a huge shit storm for all of us, but now's not the time to lose your cool. We need to strategize and come up with a response."

"What's this 'we' shit? This isn't about you or me. How do you think Meg feels about all this"—he motioned to the abandoned paper on his desk—"libelous bullshit. There is no 'we' about it. That article is about her. Those photos are of her. And right now the only thing I care about is how she's handling it."

"You don't think I care about Megan? She's been part of my family since long before you were around. Beth is headed over to Megan's as we speak." Matt raised his voice, letting his usually calm demeanor slip. "I'm trying really hard to not lose my shit. From where I'm standing, you're neck-deep in this scandal and no one but you seems to know anything about what's in that article. Fuck, Peter, this is bad on so many levels, least of which, it's a huge fucking betrayal of our trust. Both Simon and I would have been thrilled to have you and Megan together. But going behind our backs, keeping all that shit about her writing and the sex clubs a secret. I get that you want to protect Megan, but this is bigger than just her. We need to think of the business, our employees. And then there're the friendships that need to be saved. So while I appreciate you thinking of Megan, let's handle our shit first. We need to work fast and come up with a plan before Simon gets here."