Doin' Me by Wanda B. Campbell

that? she thought. She cleared her throat. “What I meant to say was, since I no longer attend church, I’m free.”
    He opened the door and stepped inside. “Good. Let’s spend the day together.”
    â€œClose the door!” she yelled. Liberation for her had finally come, but some things would always remain private. Sitting on the commode was one of those things.
    â€œWhy? I’ve seen everything already,” he smirked, then walked over to the sunken tub.
    â€œGet out!”
    He ignored her and turned on the water. Then he searched the cabinet and pulled out scented bubble bath and bath salts.
    Reyna watched, speechless, as the tub filled with water.
    â€œSoak in this for a while,” he said, pointing at the tub. “It’ll help with the soreness. Forget about breakfast. We can pick up something on the way. I don’t want to make you late for any million-dollar deals,” he added on the way out.
    Reyna’s mouth hung open, but she couldn’t form any words. His thoughtfulness warmed her, yet guilt caused her to shiver. Peyton’s intentions were honest, but hers were built on false pretenses. Sooner or later she would disclose the truth about her job.
    An hour later, when Peyton frowned first, then got into her five-year-old Camry, Reyna decided the sooner the better.

Chapter 14
    â€œReyna?”
    The shrill voice put an abrupt end to Reyna’s attempt to sneak into the office undetected. She’d planned to slip into her workstation and act as if she’d been busy working for the past hour. In actualilty, Reyna was an hour late, thanks to Peyton. Sunday’s sightseeing excursion had turned into dinner and dessert at the town house, with her being the main entrée. She wouldn’t have minded so much if Peyton hadn’t decided to spend the night and then overslept. That required her to drive him into San Francisco in Monday morning commute traffic, since he’d ridden BART into Oakland the day before. She had tried unsuccessfully to persuade him to take mass transit back, but he’d insisted he wouldn’t have enough time to go home and change and make it to work in time. Peyton was still under the impression she was a real estate broker and set her own hours. Now, as she prepared to face Paige’s wrath, she wished she’d told him the truth. She wasn’t a real estate broker, but a secretary/assistant with a no-nonsense boss.
    â€œReyna,” Paige called again. “You’re late.”
    â€œAs if I didn’t know that,” she mumbled and then slumped into the chair and placed her head on the desk.
    â€œAre you all right?” Paige’s tone softened as she stepped into Reyna’s workstation.
    Reyna launched into performance mode. “I’ll be fine,” she groaned. “I have a bad case of cramps.” She moaned and gripped her abdomen.
    Paige’s hand rested on her shoulder. “Would you like me to get you some tea? I’m sure we have some in the break room.”
    Reyna lifted her head but kept her eyes closed. “If you don’t mind. That might help.” She pronounced the words as if every syllable was a labored effort.
    â€œI’ll be right back.”
    Reyna opened her eyes and watched Paige’s departing back. She smirked and whispered, “That was easy,” once Paige was no longer within earshot. Although lying was a recently acquired trait, Reyna had discovered she was very good at it. She had dodged a bullet this time but would be more careful in the future. She turned on the computer, and while waiting for it to boot, she sorted the papers in her in-box.
    A few minutes later, Paige returned, carrying a steaming mug.
    Reyna let the papers fall onto her desk. “Thank you so much,” she offered weakly and reached for the mug. She placed the mug under her nose and inhaled the steam from the minty hot liquid.
    Paige continued standing in front of