Burning Desire

Chapter 21

Kacey's advice had been stuck on repeat like a broken record in my head for the rest of the weekend. She'd made perfect sense. I'd been so focused on trying to hurry up and make a decision before – God forbid – Alex and Jesse found out about each other, that I hadn't realized I barely knew Alex and I'd just recently started learning more about Jesse. Kacey was right. I was trying to decide too soon. I needed to get to know both of them better. It was only fair.

After Selena's date was over, I'd told her about Kacey's and my conversation, and she'd echoed the same advice, as well as reminded me that I shouldn't be worrying about dating two men since – technically – nobody had uttered the words "boyfriend," "girlfriend," or "relationship" yet. Maybe I was fretting over nothing. But then again, it wasn't like I regularly dated a handful of men the way Selena did. She was used to it. I wasn't.

I'd spent all of Sunday trying and failing miserably to work on my animal rights article that was due by Friday. Every time I'd sat down at the computer, my mind wandered back to Jesse and Alex and I couldn't focus. I decided to talk to Alex on Monday and see about making plans to spend time with him before the New York Times dinner. I knew that event was going to be so busy that I wouldn't get much, if any, one-on-one time with Alex, and we'd barely have time to chat between all the speakers. I planned to invite him over for dinner Monday or Tuesday night. He'd cooked for me. Now it was my turn to cook for him.

Before I could take two steps out of the elevator on Monday morning, Selena had latched onto my arm and was practically dragging me down the hall to my office. Once inside, she shut the door and dropped the blinds that covered the glass wall so we had complete privacy from passersby.

"Sel, what the hell is going on?" I frowned, setting down my computer bag. "What's got you so worked up?"

Then I heard it.

Shouting came from down the hall. It sounded like Mandy was exploding at someone. A door slammed so hard it rattled the frames on my walls and shook the blinds.

I looked at Selena in shock. "The fuck is going on?"

"You're not going to believe this." She held up her hands and paused for dramatic effect. "You know how Nicole entered that New York Times contest? And you know how she's been stealing articles and ideas from Joseph? It turns out, the article she entered in the contest was written by Joseph for a local magazine three years ago and he didn't even know how she got ahold of it. The Times apparently researched it and called Mandy about it. Oh, man. Nicole is in some deep shit now."

My eyes were so wide and my eyebrows were so high, my forehead hurt.

"What... the... fuck..." was all I could muster.

Selena nodded rapidly. "I'm fucking shocked. But at the same time, the bitch had it coming. It was just a matter of time before she got caught."

I looked at my thermos and groaned inwardly. I didn't have enough coffee to be prepared for such a wild morning, and a Monday, nonetheless.

"I'm worried about Joseph, though," Selena continued, flopping down in the chair opposite me. "He and Nicole are both in there getting their asses chewed. Apparently, Mandy doesn't have too much sympathy for him since he let Nicole get away with it so much. I think I heard that seventy percent of her articles since she's been here have all been Joseph's ideas."

My eyes nearly bugged out of my head. "Seventy? Holy shit..."

My head was starting to hurt and the yelling down the hall wasn't helping. I was concerned for Joseph, too. If I knew Mandy as well as I thought I did, Joseph would be very lucky if she didn't fire him over this. No doubt Nicole would get the boot, though – thank fuck!