Alex

"Joan..." I spoke hesitantly.

"Shh! Shut it. Shut up. I'm still processing all of this." She snapped back.

"There's nothing to process!" I insisted. All she did was shush me again. Then there was another long ass pause before she said anything else, and for a second there... I thought I might have broken Joan.

"How long?" She demanded after some time.

"How long what?" I asked.

"How long have you two been clapping cheeks?"

Orange juice burst from my mouth.

-19 minutes earlier

"Oh... OHH."

I watched as Joan's purse hit the ground with a loud thud. I remained frozen in place like a deer caught in the headlights. Joan's face was blank, besides the slight eyebrow raise she couldn't stop herself from doing as she eyed the partially shirtless Christian from head to toe. Moments later, she slowly picked up the purse that had fallen to the ground, and started to back out through my apartment.

"I'm going... to wait outside. Yes. Yeah. I'm going to do that. Out here. I'll be out here." She mumbled before shutting the door closed behind her.

"Fuck." I whispered under my breath as soon as Joan was out of sight. This one was going to be a tricky one to explain.

When I glanced back at Christian, he was grinning from ear to ear.

"Your friend is funny. I'm glad at least one of you two care about making it in on time for work. Let me get changed and we'll get coffee on the way in."

"No!" I sorta blurted out all too quickly. Christian looked at me confused. As if the word "no" was a foreign concept to him.

"By we, I really meant you can get me coffee while I wait in the car, and I can enjoy it on the way to the office." He explained seriously. "Coffee shops in the morning on a weekday sounds congested. I don't do congested. I also prefer to stay away from any place that screams... commoner."

This pretentious fuck.

I almost rolled my eyes at him, but managed at the last moment to compose myself.

"Just go on ahead. I'll pick up the coffee and meet you at the office." I insisted. After a few seconds of pondering, Christian finally nodded in agreement.

He finished dressing soon after, and even offered to help pack up everything that we had abandoned on the table from the night before, but I told him I would take care of it.

It took me approximately 15 minutes to usher this man out. In between complaints about the injuries I inflicted upon him that were "sure to bruise," he was looking for his other shoe that had somehow disappeared.

What I needed was for Christian fucking Ivanov to leave my apartment.

"Don't forget: Large coffee, two sugars and-"

"And one creamer, yes, I know." I finished. He'd just made it through my apartment door when he passed be someone else.

"Nice seeing you, Janice." He nodded to Joan on his way out. Joan's expression said it all as a flash of confusion then annoyance passed through her face, but she ended up biting her tongue and just nodding.

As soon as Christian was out of sight, Joan sprung into action. She body checked me out that doorframe so hard, I almost flew into the coffee table. I guess my apartment was now a goddamn community center, I thought to myself as she made her way into my living room.

-

And this was how we got here... with Joan perched on the edge of my futon saying some more outrageous shit while I stood amongst a mess of orange juice that had just came bursting out from my mouth.

"What the hell Joan, no. Nononononono. We're not doing anything like that, that's not what's going on."

"Tell that to the next person that walks in to such a compromising position."

"There was no compromising position!"

"With him all naked like that in your kitchen..."

"He had a shirt on! It was just unbuttoned. He was getting dressed." I tried to explain.

"It makes me question what it was exactly, that got him undressed." Joan countered, looking up at me as she wiggles her eyebrows. My fingers started to gently rub the bridge of my nose. I wasn't even fully awake yet for all of this.

"I hit my head falling off my bed and he was just helping my clean the cut." I insisted, but Joan was past the point of reason.

"You know I truly understand. Who knew Christian Ivanov was hiding alladat underneath those work clothes. Hercules? Talk about Hunkules. Woohoohoo I'd like to make some sweet music-"

"Okay okay okay we're done here." I interjected as soon as she started quoting one of the muses from The Gospel Truth in Hercules. She gave me a hearty laugh as she set her things aside and helped me file all the paperwork from the night before.

That's what I truly appreciated about Joan. She'd have to damn near catch me in the act of murder, before she judged me. And even then... under the right circumstances, she'd hear me out.

Wouldn't trade that shit for the world.

Christian

"I've been calling you and texting you all morning." Brad snapped at me as soon as the door to my office closed.

I hadn't managed to look at my phone until I made it to the building. I hadn't even managed to step foot in my own office before Brad's assistant ushered me out to my first meeting of the morning. "What's the big deal? We made it to all three meetings, didn't we?" I countered.

"Yes, but we were supposed to grab breakfast with mother before all that."

My body grew a bit more rigid at those words. I had completely blanked on that.

"And when the hell was I suppose to wake up for that?" If I had gone to bed at the time I usually did, I could have easily done both this morning... but a late night with Alex would trump an early morning with my mother any day.

Speaking of Alex... my eyes wandered toward the door I'd been itching to peak through all morning. I wanted to see how his head was doing.

"Are you even listening to me?" Brad interjected, pulling me from my thoughts. I hadn't noticed he was still talking.

"Yes." No.

"Mother wants to have a dinner with you next week, sometime before you leave for your business trip. She feels like she hasn't seen you in a while."

"What the fuck, this woman was just here." I blurted out almost immediately.

"Tell that to her. She wants to see you rain or shine. And she mentioned to bring that new assistant of yours."

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