Her gaze settled on mine, questions in their navy depths. “What if I screw up?”
“What if you don’t?” Leaning forward, I put a hand on top of her much smaller one. “You’re smart, Adaline. I wouldn’t have suggested it if I didn’t think you could handle it. Obviously, I’ll be around to help, and as I said, their team has been working with the finer details for years. You’ll coordinate with them, learn, and if you have questions, you ask.”
She kept her eyes locked on mine as she considered my words. Then a slight smile curved her lips. “Okay, then. I guess I’m running point.”
Her hand turned over so our palms were touching and her fingers slid between mine. “But if I come to you with stupid questions, promise to tell me if you lose this faith you seem to have in me.”
“If you come to me with stupid questions, I’ll answer them,” I countered. “It’s the best way to learn, but if it looks like you need extra assistance, I’ll assign someone else to help.”
Adjusting her hand in mine so her fingers faced my wrist, she shook it. “Deal.”
Sadly, she withdrew from me after. Reaching for her coffee instead, she took a long sip before turning her laptop toward me. A spreadsheet was open on it, and she pointed at a column highlighted in red.
“Those are all the clients I haven’t spoken to yet. Should I introduce myself, or would you prefer to continue making the introductions?”
“Forward that to me. I’ll send out an introductory email to lay the groundwork. Then you can contact them from there to establish a personal connection.”
“I can do that.” She paused, bit the inside of her lower lip, and let out a soft sigh. “Would you have trusted me with all this if we didn’t also have that other aspect of our relationship?”
“I hired you when I didn’t even know I had a shot with you,” I reminded her, a frown drawing my eyebrows together. “Where is this coming from?”
She looked directly at me. “I’m not insecure or anything like that. I just want to make sure we’re keeping personal and professional separate, you know?”
I tipped my head back, studying the small motes of dust floating in the sunlight illuminating a section of the ceiling. “For the most part, that’s what we’re doing.”
“And for the other part?” I heard worry creeping into her tone, so I brought my gaze back to hers.
“I don’t make it a habit to bring coffee for my employees, but I enjoy being around you. I wanted to spend a few minutes with you having coffee together before the week started. Is that acceptable, or does that blur the line too much?”
Surprise flashed in her eyes, but she blinked it away. “You’re refreshingly honest sometimes. I’m glad you brought coffee, and I think it’s acceptable.”
“Good. We’re in agreement then.” I allowed myself a satisfied grin, then inclined my head at her as I got comfortable. “What did you get up to yesterday?”
She settled back in her chair as well, wrapping her fingers around her mug as some tension eased from her shoulders. “I watched a movie with Elena and did some work. You?”
“Aldo and I met to go over some proposals for the foundation.” He’d also used the time to drill me about Addy, but I didn’t mention it. “If you’d like to, there are a few people he thinks you might be able to talk to which would help him out.”
“I’d love to.” She beamed at me, but curiosity melted her smile away too soon. “I’ve been wondering about the two of you.”
My brows went up. “If it’s that thing Aldo wanted to know if you were wondering about on Saturday, mine’s bigger.”
She snorted as she tried to hold back a laugh. “Yeah, I’m not surprised to hear you say that. It’s not that, though. Thanks, but no thanks. You can keep those details to yourself.”
I smirked. “You didn’t want me to keep that detail to myself on Saturday night or yesterday morning.”
Pink streaks colored her cheekbones, but she shook her head at me, not backing down. “Maybe not, but I never asked for any of those details about Aldo.”
“Touché.” I chuckled as I unbuttoned my jacket. “What did you want to ask?”
“Your English is very good. From what I’ve seen, the two of you even communicate with each other in it and not Italian. Why is that?”
“Our father insisted.” I remembered the day in vivid detail. Mom had been opposed at first, but eventually relented. “I was very young when I told him I wanted to be a businessman. He said that if I wanted to be successful globally, I needed to be fluent in the most commonly used language for international business.”
“You were that dedicated even when you were little?” Her brows knitted together. “My brother was the same way. It doesn’t seem fair.”
“Why not?” I lifted my shoulders, pulling them back as I dropped them again. “I’ve always been interested in business. I’ve been reading the financial sections of the newspapers since I was thirteen.”
The corners of her mouth twitched. “So while other teenage boys were off exploring their newfound hormones, you were reading newspapers?”
“There was plenty of time to do both those things, Pasticcino.”
A burst of surprised laughter shot out of her. “Did you just call me a cupcake?”
“I did. I didn’t know if you’d know the word, though.”
“Please.” She rolled her eyes at me. “What do you take me for? One of those heathens who don’t eat cake? I learned the words for my favorite treats in my first week here. The only real question is why you called me that.”
“Because you’re my favorite treat,” I quipped, earning myself an eye roll so exaggerated I worried she might have hurt herself.
Thankfully, she ended it with a laugh. “Fair enough, but be prepared. I’m going to come up with something equally cheesy for you. Actually, I might just call you ‘cheesy’
