Chapter 470

You were so invested in the conversation with Amanda, keeping her laughing as you told her about all the petty little shit from Joy and how she’d been trying to make you her summer sex slave, that you were legitimately startled when Maeve pulled out a chair and sat down on it heavily. Amanda had a sort of light, tinkling laugh but she tended to snort while she was laughing, and the look on her face when she did that and covered her mouth was cute as hell. You could only imagine how cute and sexy it would be if she was wearing something a little more revealing than her tightly buttoned-up blouse and suit jacket.

After a surprised cough and clearing your throat when Maeve sat down, you smiled at her questioningly. “Hello,” you said.

“Hello,” she replied, then looked at Amanda. “You’re flirting with him.”

Amanda blushed. “We’re having a conversation, Maeve. That’s all.”

“No, you’re flirting with him,” Maeve said. “The same way you flirt with me.”

“Maeve,” Amanda said, her eyes going a little wider, and you realised that Maeve was spot on.

“I’m sorry,” you said. “I didn’t realise that you two were together.”

“Oh, we’re not together together,” Maeve said. “We’re just having a summer fling.”

“Maeve,” Amanda said, hissing it quietly this time and checking to make sure no one was around paying attention to the three of you.

“Oh, what would anyone do about it now?” Maeve sighed, shaking her head. Her British accent made her sound more eloquent than the words she was using. “We’ve got two and a half weeks left to go, they aren’t going to fire us for being involved.”

“Still,” Amanda said. “We agreed we were going to keep it quiet.”

“Well, I figured if you were flirting with him you liked him,” Maeve said bluntly. “And I’m interested in him as well. So we might as well have some real fun and make it a thing.”

Amanda was blushing furiously now, and you could feel your own cheeks heating up just a little at the blunt way Maeve was approaching things. Sure, you’d started to have the feeling that Amanda was flirting and not just getting away from her teammates, and maybe Sabrina and Gemma were right again, but having it sort of just dropped on the table was a lot different than discovering it naturally.

“Of course,” Maeve continued. “We’ll need to get the permission of his girlfriend. I’m not sure which one it is, though. Are you dating the blonde or the brunette on your intern team?”

“I-” you said, blinking. You were sure the three of you had kept everything professional all morning.

“OK, let’s get this out of the way,” Maeve said, holding up a hand. “I have Asperger’s Syndrome, or ASD. It’s mild autism, without any language or intellectual impairment. I’m weird, I know it, but I’m still a woman with all the emotional, physical, intellectual and spiritual wants and needs that come with it. Part of my weirdness is that I have a hard time regulating social niceties and pointless small talk.”

“Alright,” you said, slowly nodding. “That sounds ... I don’t think tough is the right word.”