at anything I asked you. You never made me feel like a
tyrant for needing things a certain way.'
'Of course not.'
He half lifted a brow. 'Others did.'
'I know they did.'
We shared some silence.
We shared some silence.
'You realy know me, Paige,' Paul said finaly. 'I'l be sorry when you leave.'
This time I did reach for him, if only to give his tie a gentle
tug. 'I'm not going anywhere.'
The cough interrupted us, and we both looked toward the
door. I didn't drop his tie, not at first. Not when I saw it
was Vivian, her blond hair freshly styled and her brows as
high as her heels. I let Paul's tie slide from my fingers as
slowly as I stood.
'I brought those files to go over, Paul.' She didn't come
into the room.
'I thought you were going to cal me first,' he said.
She and I both looked at him. I couldn't see her face, but I
knew my mouth had dropped a little. Paul, as a rule,
wasn't mean. Not even close. And he'd pretty much just
spanked her, and not in the good way. I wanted to laugh,
but settled for a smile he returned.
'I can come back in fifteen minutes,' she said cooly.
'Would that suit?'
'Would that suit?'
'How about twenty? Paige and I were in the middle of a
meeting.'
She left without saying anything, and his shoulders tensed
again, but he took another long, slow breath. When she'd
gone he ran a hand over his hair again and let it cover his
eyes for a minute. When he looked at me, though, his smile
seemed genuine and the horrific blank look in his gaze had
faded.
'She's going to think we're fucking,' I said in a low voice.
It was perhaps an inappropriate thing to say, but we'd
moved beyond the pretense of formality.
He nodded. 'She might.'
'Is this going to be a problem for you?'
Paul didn't even look at the photos of his wife and family,
though his mouth tightened. I wondered if I'd been wrong
about him and Vivian. 'It might be a problem for her. But
not me, no.'
He paused. 'It could make a difference when she's your
He paused. 'It could make a difference when she's your
boss, though.'
'I already told you, I'm not applying for that job.'
I went to the bathroom to get a wet paper towel to take
care of the coffee dripping on the desk. When I came
back, Paul had moved the mug, contents half gone. He'd
