Naughty Resolution - Cassie Cole Page 0,2

with Quinn. Or was it Dante?”

“Let me see…” I said as I switched to the Quinn chat. “Crapola. I have a date with Quinn at seven!” I switched over to the Dante chat. “And a date with Dante at eight? Seriously?”

Britney wrapped her arms around Brad while he cooked food. “Oh yeah. I think that was my idea. Three dates all on the same night.”

“I can’t go on three dates,” I said. “I can’t even go out with Josh. I told him I wanted to lick his chest!”

“Guys like it when a girl is forward,” Brad chimed in. He put a plate of food in front of me. “Maybe this is a good thing?”

“This is why I don’t take shots,” I told Britney pointedly.

She smiled at me. “Look on the bright side! You have three dates with three super cute guys!”

“I’m not going on these dates,” I said.

“Then you’re burning your chances with these guys. You don’t want to do that, do you?”

I lifted the fork and sighed. “This isn’t going to be my year.”

2

Josh

“This is going to be our year!” Dante shouted above the bar music.

I took a pull of my beer while my buddy pumped his fist in an embarrassing semblance of dancing. Next to me, Quinn shook his head at the sight. I laughed. Any more drinks and Dante would go from delightfully drunk to embarrassingly drunk.

“What?” Dante demanded while dancing. “I’m telling you, broseph. This is the year.”

Quinn sipped his beer carefully. The same beer he’d been nursing for the last hour. Always the responsible one, even on New Year’s Eve.

“This is the year for what?” he asked.

“The year we all meet kick-ass women! I’m talking, like, wife material. It’s going to happen!”

We laughed at how certain he was. Dante was famous for making huge boasts like that. And he was usually wrong. Very wrong. A couple of years ago he claimed the Rams would win the Superbowl. Instead, the team moved to Los Angeles. Then two years ago he declared he was going to run a marathon. He broke his ankle after three weeks of training and had to have surgery.

So when he declared that he was ready to meet the woman of his dreams, we all rolled our eyes.

“Whatever you say, buddy,” I told him.

“Mr. Ogletree!” My assistant tugged on my arm. “There you are. It’s almost midnight, and we were thinking you would make a speech before everyone celebrates…”

I patted him on the shoulder and walked through the bar to the music stage. The DJ nodded at me, turned the music down, then handed me the microphone. A few people booed at the lack of music, then broke out into cheers when they saw it was me who was about to speak.

“Okay, okay,” I said while patting the air. Once the cheering died down I went on. “I’m not good with speeches, but I’ll do my best. As you all know, Gateway Construction just had its best year ever.”

The room of construction workers and their spouses roared with approval.

“We set some awfully aggressive targets this year, and you guys managed to come through in a big way. I thought those rainstorms in August would derail us, but we pushed through and met our timelines. I know that doesn’t just happen by accident. Each and every one of you busted your butts to get it done. With that in mind, I’m excited to pass on the news that our bonuses are going to be ten percent higher than what was originally projected!”

Now the crowd really cheered. Electricians and masons high-fived. Two of the heavy machinery operators hugged. My assistant beamed like an orphan who had just learned he was getting adopted.

“Drink up!” I said. “Gateway Construction is paying for all of it. And have a great new year, everyone.”

I had to walk through the crowd afterwards. By the time I reached the bar, my back was sore from so many people slapping it.

“You did good,” Quinn told me.

“Really?”

“Totally. I’ve never seen everyone so happy.”

“That’s because of what I said, not how I said it.”

“The news was good enough that it doesn’t matter how you said it. They loved it.” Quinn cleared his throat and ran his fingers through his auburn hair. “Actually, if you have a minute I’d like to run something by you. If that’s okay.”

“Sure,” I said. “What’s up?”

Before he could answer, Dante walked up and wrapped an arm around each of our shoulders. “I’m serious.”

I smiled at him. “I’m sure you