EA
cause Ken called as soon as Reeves dropped the call to tell me one of our
thing I did
k. I had Bowman's report to read, three c
tforward enough to resolve by the tim
ed my jacket, and wal
and a contract that needed reviewing before midnight. The DC trip had cost
d called her ba
sa
ive in the evening. But she was my PA now, and that came with a different
ntil midnight, she fuck
to make sure whatever happened b
would quiet down the voices in my head te
alked in. Most of the floor h
itting at
ask for and immediately resented. She was engrossed in her phone, completely unaware I'd walked
rry. You shouldn't be paying s
ugh into my office, dropped my brie
r desk, gathered some files in her
rry, Ocean
k from here on
attention before anything else. The desk was a disaster - papers out of sequence, folders stacked with
e to it. I sensed her shock and hes
his, you won't have a job to come ba
d as I coun
yes,
ly looked up to
t her chest. Her hair was up in that ponytail with the bangs framing th
at nervous habit she had, wiping her hand against h
ven though I had no
hand out.
blin
the stack with trembling fingers. "He's been one of our biggest..." Her voice cracked on the
sternum did somethin
sweet
t on the desk and stood. "Wha
d, taking a
nding there, with her lip trembling, and her eyes red at
e me a
files dow
the desk carefully, like she
k at
were glassy and enormous, and I fe
ink happened in
Stark
arly, and I needed to say it clearly, and I needed us both to be on the same page before another second passed. "Whatever you think happened between us - it was one ni
g moved behind her eyes, b
building and outside of it. What happened in DC stays in DC - not as a secret, but because it was a mi
efused to meet my gaz
for any other reason." I pulled the chair back and sat down. "If you cannot separate what happened personally from what is required of you professionally, then th
ind her eyes when she li
she said in a completely, al
han I needed to, then I pulled the Fr
ooking up. "And take me throu
*
ine when she
of scotch from the cabinet behind me and
een si
ey could outlast me, and closed every deal I had ever opened. I did not leave things u
d before I disappeared into the panicked crowd, and six years later,
e left me was the smell of her hair for half
air had fallen across her face, and I reached to move it - I desperately needed to see her face - bu
king know that. She saved my life, a
fe I could not solve, which meant it had become,
n know if s
t that doesn't
eam. My jacket was gone, along with the custom-mad
saying it to the men in suits asking questions with too much urgency.
g knew that. My head of security had told me that it might
hat if she survived? I ha
that lady eve
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