Chapter 6

• “Carrie!”
• Immediately as Talia got to the office she went in search of her friend. Being fellow International Relations Officer, they sat opposite each other, their backs to each other. Their curved cubicles made a nice private horseshoe enclosure around them, great for a midday nap.
• “Carrie I’ve got something juicy for you!” Talia said as she dropped into her seat and swiveled around to face Carrie. But her friend still had her back to her, and her head was on her crossed arms on the desk. Talia grabbed the back of her seat and forcefully turned it around, making Carrie sit up with a pained moan.
• Talia reared back, surprised, when she finally saw her friend’s face. “Why do you look like death walked all over you?”
• Carrie’s eyes were red and puffy, her caramel skin tone looked two shades lighter and she gagged like she was about to barf. Talia pushed her chair back until it hit her desk, curbing her escape.
• “Don’t you dare!” Talia warned, holding a finger up to her.
• With one hand Carrie covered her mouth, the other lifted and waved shortly to say she was okay.
• “I’m good,” she burped out.
• “Oh Carrie!” Talia whined, chasing the smell of barf and vodka away with her flapping hands.
• “Sorry, long night.”
• Of course. Talia shook her head. Though they were friends, Carrie was the type to go out clubbing every night of the week while Talia much preferred having her glass of wine at home. But then again, it was their differences that made them such good friends.
• Talia looked at her clothes and nodded. “At least you went home to change this time.”
• “Hey!” Carrie complained loudly, only to double over a second later with a pained moan, her fingers at her temples. “I’m never drinking again.”
• “Sure you won’t,” Talia scoffed, reaching behind her for the bottom draw of her desk. She opened it and pulled out an Advil. She handed it to Carrie and with her chin indicated the cup of coffee sitting on Carrie’s desk.
• “You say that all the time, and yet, here we are,” Carrie said with a pout. She took the pill and washed it down with the coffee.
• “Did you at least get some sleep?” Talia asked.
• Carrie placed the cup back on her desk and with closed eyes leaned her head against the headrest of her chair. “No, Miss Honorary Tourguide. Some of us didn’t have the same luck of clocking in at noon like you.”
• Talia rolled her eyes at that, but speaking of which, she shot out, “You want the dirt on DeLuca or not?”
• Carrie shook her head. “Unless you saw him naked, I’m not interested.”
• Talia smiled to herself and let the silence speak on her behalf.
• Carrie’s eyes flew open and she sat up fast, quickly turning to her. She closed her eyes for a moment with a groan, her finger tips pressing against her temple. “Damn!”
• Talia just shook her head. No matter how many times she suffered from a hangover, she still went out. Talia was sure after her bitching and moaning the entire day, at seven o’clock, she would be in her favorite club. Carrie oh Carrie!
• After a second her hands dropped from her head and she opened her eyes. “You saw DeLuca naked?”
• Talia nodded.
• Carrie leaned back with a whistle. “You dirty girl! I thought you didn’t do one night stands!”
• “Shh!” Talia admonished. She peeked over the short walls separating their cubicles from the rest to make sure no one had heard Carrie before she sat down again. With a whisper she said, “I did not sleep with DeLuca!”
• “Then how did you see him naked?” Carrie challenged.
• “Because someone didn’t bother to give me his itinerary,” she said, suddenly remembering she had someone’s neck she needed to wring. “Long story short, I had to deliver brunch to him instead of breakfast and that’s when I saw him.” She clapped her hands with a squeal remembering DeLuca wet and naked. “Girl, he is fine!”
• Carrie held up her hand. “Wait. Back up. I feel there is something you left out.” She leaned forward and asked, “How exactly did you see him naked?”
• “On his boat, he’d just come out of the shower.”
• “You? On a boat?” she shook her head. “Wait, he lives on a boat?”
• Talia nodded. “Yacht actually. Don’t ask me why. They are a prickly pair, those two—DeLuca and his assistant Enzo Romano.”
• “If you can’t handle it, I’m happy to take over.”
• Both Carrie and Talia turned to the intruding voice. Of course, Talia noted with an eye roll, Nosy Becky.
• “Of course you are,” Carrie responded sarcastically.
• Talia looked at Carrie and discreetly smiled at her twisted lips and glare. While Talia called her Nosy Becky for always wanting to know about people’s lives and being the head gossip in the office, Carrie called her Triple-D—Double Ds and Dick. Becky wasn’t exactly known for being chaste. She was the female version of the hot office guy who made it his life mission to sleep with every woman in the office. While he would be considered a hero, Becky, to put it kindly, was just loose. The biased scrutiny of society.
• Talia turned to look back up at Becky with a strained smile. “I’m good. How can I help you today Becky?”
• With a pretentious sigh from her blood red lips and eye roll that was barely visible behind the curtain of her fake long eyelashes, she held out a file to Talia. “The itinerary you wanted.”
• Talia grabbed it. “Finally!” she stated, flipping through it. “Who had it? Was it just done?”
• Becky played with her long fingernails, painted as red as her lips. “Nope. It was done yesterday. I had it.”
• Talia rolled her lips into her mouth, praying for patience. “I’m sure I sent out numerous emails asking for this itinerary. Did you not get any of them?”
• She nodded with a pout. “I did.”
• Talia closed her eyes and with her head bowed, pressed her fingers to her forehead. Becky did it on purpose, she was sure of it. As much as she would like to give her a tongue lashing, Talia wasn’t a fan of cursing people out, especially in public.
• “So why didn’t you give it to her when she asked for it?” Talia heard Carrie demand, not too kindly.
• Carrie, on the other hand, could teach a vulgar vocabulary class in the middle of a crowd. Talia peeped over the cubicle walls, hoping they didn’t draw a crowd.
• “Because I wanted to look after Signore DeLuca.”
• Talia found herself shivering with revulsion from the way she said that. Especially the way she said Signore. Arrgh!
• “I’m gonna barf,” Carrie said, echoing Talia’s sentiment. “Don’t worry, when he needs a quick screw in the gents, I’m sure someone will let you know you are needed.”
• A bark of laughter escaped Talia’s mouth before she quickly covered it with her hands. Carrie had no chill. Talia always wondered if she thought about what she was going to say before actually saying the words. There was no way she did.
• “Dur,” Talia asked Carrie to stop in Turkish, and Carrie just raised a brow in response.
• It was a requirement for International Relations officers at DeLuca to know more than one language. While she spoke Italian, Spanish and Portuguese, Carrie spoke Turkish, French and German. They were teaching each other conversational phrases in different languages, which was actually how they became friends, plus the sitting arrangement helped.
• Talia turned to Becky whose face was red and pinched in ire. “Thank you for this,” she said, then waved her away before Carrie or Becky said something and a fight broke out.
• Becky made a quick turn, her blonde pigtails swishing widely behind her as she walked away.
• “Carrie…” Talia chastised, shaking her head.
• Carrie shrugged. “What? I didn’t lie.”
• Talia chuckled, not knowing what to say. Sadly, the quickie in the gents had happened before, and to make it worse, with a client. So, an office survey was done through the chatroom and, apparently, that client wasn’t the only one who had gotten a quickie in the gents. But Talia just couldn’t see DeLuca being that kind of guy. He looked the type to take total control and he wouldn’t be able to do that in a bathroom stall.
• Just thinking about that made Talia hot and bothered all over again. She shrugged off her jacket and undid the collar button of her shirt.
• “What’s with you?”
• Talia turned to Carrie to see her staring at her with a raised brow and a question in her eyes.
• “Nothing. Just worried about my project and pulling double duty as DeLuca’s assistant,” Talia lied.
• With a cheeky smile, Carrie said, “Bet you Triple-D could help you get that project approved in no time.”
• “Carrie!”