“He’s cheating on me.” 

Beth, my best friend, sat record still on the other line. I wondered if I had shocked my cousin into silence.

I inhaled deeply through my nose and exhaled a shaky breath. Resting my head against the cushions of my couch, I stared at the white popcorn ceiling above me, wondering how this could’ve happened to me…again. 

Was there some sort of sign on my head that flashed ‘cheat on this one’?

I wanted a long-term, forever relationship. Why wasn’t it in the cards for me?

After all this time, I should’ve known things between Brian and I were too good to be true. Just when I’d let my guard down, everything came crashing down and fell apart.

“Whatever.” Beth’s voice stayed even, as though she didn’t believe me. 

“H-he is.” My voice broke as a heaviness spread through my limbs and a tightness formed in my chest, making it difficult to breathe.

Brian was my soulmate. At least, I thought he was. A psychic had even predicted his arrival in my life. She’d specifically told me the man of my dreams would swoop me up and give me the moon, literally. And he did, unknowingly, in the shape of a moon cake dessert. He fulfilled the prediction through food. It couldn’t have been more perfect.

And our relationship has been absolute bliss, until this point.

“I love him, Beth. So much.” A lump formed in my throat, making it difficult to breathe. The heater blasted on high and coldness invaded me, forming goosebumps across my forearms.

Never in my life had I given myself to another person completely. Not even my first boyfriend, who’d cheated on me, had torn my heart out and stomped on it.

“And he loves you, too. Kendy, Brian is the nicest guy in the world. There’s not a cheating bone in his body. It’s not in his vocabulary.” She sounded so sure.

I sat up straighter, refusing to let despair take me down and pull me under. Though she was my cousin and best friend, Beth had no clue. I’d seen proof. Hard evidence.

Standing, I hurried to the fridge to grab a beer. I needed a drink to calm me and clear my senses. “You think I’m making this shit up? I wish. You think I’m insecure, is that it?” I shut the fridge, pulled open the drawer and grabbed a bottle opener to pop that baby open. 

Beth let out a long, tired sigh. “Okay, how do you know for sure?”

“I found a text.”

“From another woman?”

“No, Beth, from a freaking man. He’s turned gay on me. Of course another woman.” I pulled the phone away from my ear, giving it the crazy look. “With that Ashley girl. His co-worker. The tall, beautiful, skinny-ass woman climbing the ladder at Financial State, and most likely climbing my man, as well.”

 

I’ll meet you at Clement’s after work.

 

Why would Brian be meeting her after work? More so, why wouldn’t he tell me? 

And the follow-up text.

 

Thanks for dinner, Brian. I had an awesome time tonight. I always do with you. 

 

A smiley emoticon? Why? What happened that earned Brian a smiley face?

Beth let out a carefree laugh. “Ashley. You’ve had the ‘Ashley’ talk. I thought she had a boyfriend. I thought you met her.”

“I did. You know that saying, ’Keep your friends close and your enemies closer’, right? If the saying’s true, I’m moving in with her.”

Beth laughed, but it did nothing for my mood.

Last month, Brian had set up dinner with Ashley and her boyfriend. I hated their camaraderie. I didn’t know her, but I couldn’t help notice how cold their relationship was compared to ours. How her boyfriend constantly stared down at his phone, while Brian’s eyes solely focused on me. And though I was reading into things, I sensed she wanted my boyfriend. How could I blame her? Brian bled perfection. What she didn’t know was that he was absolutely perfect—for me.

“Why the hell is she texting him after hours?” 

“I promise you. Brian is not cheating. He only has eyes for you, Kendy. I’d bet our Plack Industries fortune on this. They’re co-workers. Of course they have each other’s numbers. That’s innocent stuff. Promise me you won’t do anything crazy.” At my silence, she said firmly, “Promise me.”

I crossed my legs, my arms, and my fingers. “Okay.” 

She huffed. “You’re lying.” 

Oh, did she know me so well. Of course she did; we’d been best buds since forever. “I’ve got more proof. He’s traveled for work.”

“So?”

“Last weekend. On the freaking weekend, Beth. Who the hell travels for work over the weekend?” I stomped back to the couch and dropped against the cushions.

I didn’t mention that he’d originally lied and told me he was going home to visit his parents for the weekend. When I asked if I could tag along, he said he was really flying out for work and was thinking of piggy-backing a home trip to Wisconsin off his work trip.

It sounded fishy, but I’d let it go. 

“Brian is a successful banker at Financial State. Once you get up there, they expect you to work weekends, too.”

I huffed audibly and took a long swig of beer before slamming the bottle down on my center table. “I don’t know. Something is off, I feel it.” My eyes scanned my one-bedroom apartment, the place I’d called home since I’d moved from Bowlesville, Illinois to New York. Manhattan was where I was building a future with Brian. Or so I thought.

“Stop, baby. I’m on the phone,” Beth squeed, bringing me back to the present. I could hear Kent’s horny ass beside her. “I said stop,” she commanded.

Her millionaire husband was one big horn-ball; one who loved her nonetheless. He couldn’t keep his hands off her. I’d been jealous of their relationship—until I’d found my Brian.

My eyes caught the pictures of us hanging in black frames on my living room wall. One of me and Brian in London, where he’d taken me for my birthday. Another one of my mother and us together the previous Christmas. 

There I was at Thanksgiving with all his sisters and his parents. Our lives and families were mixed nicely together, like a knitted scarf. That’s what you did when you thought long-term. 

I shook my head as a feeling of despair threatened to choke me. Christmas was in less than a month, and Brian’s family had invited my mother and step-father over for the holidays. Our families were finally going to meet.

Why does this have to happen now? Why does this have to happen at all?

I glanced at the small Christmas tree, no more than four feet tall, in the corner of my small apartment. Rainbow lights and green and red ornaments hung from its branches. We had bought it at the local drugstore and had talked about purchasing a more expensive, permanent one when we finally moved in together. Even though the tree screamed cheesy, I loved it. I’d told Brian the tree shined full of color, just like our love—vibrant with rainbows and butterflies and unicorns. He had laughed wholeheartedly, but agreed.

I rubbed the center of my chest, at the ache which had been there since I saw Miss Ashley’s texts. The ones where she was hanging out with my boyfriend. 

“Kendy? Are you listening to me? Give the guy the benefit of the doubt. He loves you.”

“I know. I should,” I said, staring intently at the tree. He’s mine.

“She’s a co-worker, that’s it.”

She’s just a co-worker. He loves me. Only me, I tried to convince myself. 

“Promise me.”

“Okay,” I finally complied. “I gotta go.” 

We said our goodbyes and as I finally hung up the phone, I lifted my chin. “He’s mine,” I said, my voice firm and full of emotion. And in my head, I knew what needed to be done.

Operation D.I.P was in order—“dick in his pants”. Which meant either in his pants or my pants, and nowhere else.

* * *

I peered into his work cubicle and stood a few feet behind his chair. Brian Benson, hot and delectable, was dressed to the nines in his business suit. He typed away, focused on his computer screen as I came up behind him. The high walls, which surrounded his desk, caged us in. I had come to his work, with purpose. And that purpose sat right in front of me, all handsome and edible in a professional package. 

My mouth watered with want as my lips parted.

I so badly wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt. Who cared that Ashley had texted him and I’d caught him in a lie when he’d flown out for work? I must have heard him wrong. He was moving up in the world. This is a good thing. Yep. I tipped my chin in agreeance to my own thoughts. That’s it.

My soft hands covered both of his eyes, and I sensed him smiling as he leaned back against the chair. Inhaling Brian’s signature cologne, musky with a scent of spice, my insides instantly warmed with arousal. He was mine and damn it, I was never giving him up.

He turned around and threw me his panty-dropping smile. The one that made my heart skip a million beats a minute. “Hey, princess. You’re making it hard to concentrate.” His eyes lit with mischief and I leaned into him, flirting back in response.

“I’m here for lunch,” I whispered in his ear. And for Operation DIP. 

My breath tickled his neck, causing goosebumps to form on his skin, which only intensified my deep hunger for him. He pulled my hands off his neck and tugged me onto his lap. I adjusted my cute winter-white beanie, while my black wool skirt crinkled around my thighs as I squirmed into a comfortable spot.

”Where do you wanna go?” He grinned, making my knees weak. 

“Cameron’s.” I spit out the name of the upscale restaurant I knew we’d never get into as a joke. We’d both been trying for a year, but we didn’t have any connections and we weren’t famous.

“I wish.” He tightened his hold on me, his one hand grazing my bare knee.

Colin peeked over his cubicle. “Hey, Kendall,” he said with a grin. His eyes traveled up the length of my legs in my knee-high, four-inch black leather boots.

Brian noticed, too, as he adjusted and pulled my skirt a little lower. When Brian shot him a sit-the-hell-down look, I stifled a laugh.

“Hey, Colin,” I replied nicely, not tearing my eyes from my man.

Brian shifted me closer. “No, really, where are we going for lunch?”

“Um, I was thinking McDonald’s today.” My voice lowered as I inched closer and nibbled on the corner of his ear. “I’m in the mood to be bad. Or we can be good. There’s that salad and soup place down the street. Or you can have dessert first.” A throaty undertone escaped my voice, one I hoped he’d recognize. We’d never done it during working hours, but desperate times called for desperate measures.