Free Beneath the Surface by Gracie C. McKeever

mirror. No broccoli in her teeth, every golden-blond hair in place, make-up immaculate and smooth.
    What reason could EJ have had to deny her unless he was falling under little Ms.
    Personal Shopper’s negligible charms after only a few days of knowing her? How much more entrenched in his life would she be weeks from now? A month?

    40
    Beneath the Surface
    Jade didn’t intend to find out, had been around too long, worked too hard and gotten rid of far worthier romantic adversaries than to allow some new Jill to just step into the picture and take EJ away from her. She’d scratch out Ms. Uptight Personal Shopper’s eyes first.
    Jade turned the ignition, started her car and pulled out into the relatively light early evening traffic. She wasn’t sure where she was going, she just knew she needed the comfort of a bracing shot of good liquor and even better company.
    As she made a right at the next light, she realized just where she needed to go and steered her Lexus uptown, aiming for the east side and her favorite bar and restaurant.
    Her heart palpitated with nostalgia and first-date anticipation, as if she were on her way to a rendezvous with EJ at what had turned into their preferred haunt.
    Jade had to admit now the “friendly rival” comment EJ had used to introduce her to Ms. Uptight Personal Shopper had been pretty accurate, even if it did rankle her.
    Even when they’d been rivals—EJ’s agency competing with and beating out her agency for the right to do the advertising for several big-name accounts—EJ had always been a charmer, friendly outside of the confines of their respective offices without rubbing Jade’s nose in her agency’s flops.
    In this way, he actually hadn’t changed much since high school—always the charmer, always the crowd pleaser, an estrogen magnet wherever he went.
    But Jade hadn’t known exactly how charming and gracious EJ had remained until—a year after they’d first “met” at some official business function at The Waldorf—
    her agency finally beat out his for an account.
    Jade had been out celebrating, her agency’s director in the midst of toasting her and her team for winning the coveted multi-million-dollar account, when EJ sauntered to the bar from across the restaurant where he’d been having dinner, and congratulated her accomplishment.
    Far from drowning in his sorrows, he seemed genuinely happy for her success, a fact that didn’t fail to surprise as well as turn her on.
    Jade watched as he hobnobbed with her associates, accepting their good-natured ribbing and promising redemption.
    She refused to believe he could be as nice as he appeared, that his girlfriend’s suicide hadn’t irrevocably damaged his spirit, and just knew that he was harboring some deep dark animosity, if not for Sinclair for checking out on him so early, then for the cruel world that had taken her away from him.
    But then she realized she was judging EJ by most of the boys she’d associated with in high school, most of the executives in her agency now, all men, and even a few women like herself with giant-sized egos who would cut a rival’s throat as soon as look at her to hook an account.
    As the evening progressed and her gang left the bar to take two prime tables in Smith and Wollensky’s dining area, EJ smilingly lingered at her elbow, showing no signs of disinterest or wanting to leave, nor any signs that he recognized her or had heard 41
    Gracie C. McKeever
    anything untoward about her and Sinclair in high school. Of course, it helped that Jade and EJ had gone to different high schools, their only connection being Sinclair Donatelli with whom Jade shared one class: creative writing.
    Also, despite his allure and charming personality, EJ had been a serious student with no time for frivolous rumor mongers and backstabbing cliques; too wrapped up in his family and very few close friends, especially Sinclair, to entertain the negative social aspects of high school.
    After