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snapping at me like I'm a dog.
We've just & talked. A lot.
And I've felt a sense of calm for the first time since he d hired us. Like things were on the
right track and I finally had everything under control. Things were going great with the business and
Finn and I were actually getting along okay. I should have known that peace wasn t going to last long.
Thoughts of Finn bring my mind to the time. I glance at the digital display on the lower right
hand side of my computer.  Oh no! I m late.
Tara moves back as I race around the desk and grab my bag sitting on the chair in front of the
desk.
 I m sure he ll understand. This was an extraordinary circumstance.
 Maybe but I can't take that chance. It s in the contract. And I don t want to give him any
reason to screw around with us. We need this too much.
As I m jogging down the hall, I hear Tara call out  Don t let him give you a hard time!"
Things have been better with Finn but I still remember vividly how much he enjoyed taunting
me about Andrew. He'd had me on the verge of tears that day but then he did the incredibly sweet
thing of sitting in his car for an hour just so I didn t have to walk alone to my car at night. It was the
kind of thing he would have done when we were teenagers.
Part of me thinks he's just trying to screw with my head by being evil one minute and nice the
next. But when we talk, he seems so sincere. He was a sweet boy but he's become an incredible man.
As if I need any other reason to regret the stupid decisions of my youth. The more time I spend with
him, the more I realize that what I gave up with him would have likely been the best thing in my life.
By the time I get to Finn's building, it's a quarter past eight. I race through the lobby, waving
over my shoulder to John, the morning concierge. The elevator seems to take forever and by the time
I burst through the front door, my breath is coming fast and hard.
Finn is sitting at the counter in the kitchen eating a bowl of cereal. He looks up when I burst
through the door.
"I'm sorry. One of the girls had an emergency. Her baby is sick. I had to rearrange some
things."
He doesn't reply just spoons up another bite of cereal.
I wilt a little at that. He doesn't look particularly sympathetic. This is what he does. He
appears calm and collected and then he lets loose one of his cutting remarks that can slice you open
just as surely as a blade. When he's only messing with me, it's one thing. My ego can take it. But this
is about the company's future. All those women who won't have jobs if he decides not to pay us.
"You aren't going to void the contract, are you?"
The spoon lowers and he frowns at me. Now he really looks pissed. "Christ, Rissa. I m not
heartless. Your employee, is her baby going to be okay?"
Now that I know he's not angry, I relax a little.
 Yeah, he just has a cold, I think. But it means I'm in for a really long day. Carrie normally
helps me at my evening client and there's no one I can pull in to help out. The other girls already have
as much as they can handle.
My heart is still racing from running down the hallway so I rest my arms on the counter. Then I
rummage through my bag for my phone. Once I find it, I pull up the last employee schedule Tara
emailed me. There's got to be someone that I can move around to make things a little easier.
 I ll help you.
Now that gets my attention. I put my phone down on the counter and peer at Finn skeptically.
 You're going to help? Cleaning?
He looks amused.  Sure. You used to help me with my chores at home, remember? I figure I
owe you one.
"This is slightly more complicated than mopping a kitchen floor, Finn. We're going to be
covering a large area. Are you sure you want to volunteer? Because if you are, I'm not going to say
no. I'm that desperate." I walk to the couch and set my bags down on the floor.
"If it'll help you out, then yes, I'm serious." His eyes fix on mine and I shiver beneath his gaze.
"Yeah, it'll help me out a lot."
"Then it's done. Just let me know what I need to do."
My phone rings. "Can you check who that is? It might be Tara."
He picks it up and his smile vanishes. When he hands it to me, I see the name Andrew. I
quickly hit the button to silence the call.
When I look up, Finn is watching me.
This is definitely not something I want to talk about, no matter how much better things have
gotten between us lately. I clear my throat. "I'll be back to pick you up around nine then. Usually it
takes a few hours to clean the whole store and then I'm out of there by midnight."
He stands. "First, I'll pick you up. My driver will take us over and pick us up at the end of the
night. You're already exhausted and I don't want you driving when you're this tired. Second, I want
you to relax with me this morning. This place is still perfect from yesterday's cleaning. So sit down
and take a load off. We'll watch something on television."
What he's offering is so tempting but a shade too close to charity. He started out wanting to
rub my nose in his wealth and now that we've cleared the air he's probably feeling guilty. But I don't
take a paycheck for nothing.
"I'm fine, Finn. Really. I don't need to be chauffeured around and I'm not that tired."
"You are. And you already know that I'm a complete ass when I don't get my way. So sit."
He's not going to give up on this, I can tell. So I drop down on the couch and then glare at him.
"You're the boss."
He grumbles under his breath. "If that was true, we wouldn't be wasting time watching TV."
* * * * *
Finn turns on the television and we settle on the couch. I grab one of the pillows and squeeze
it to my middle trying to pretend that relaxing in a place that looks like a layout for Architectural
Digest is no big deal. I'm also determined to ignore what he just muttered under his breath. Things felt
different last night, like we reached an agreement. But that doesn't mean I trust him.
"We can watch whatever you want."
I shrug. "I don't watch much TV. I'm never home when most shows are on anyway."
He tunes it to one of the morning shows. The anchors are talking about the latest bestselling
book, something racy with a cover that makes me blush just to look at it.
Finn points at the TV.  Emma has that book. Tank teased her about it until she finally told him
that reading hot books is to his benefit. That shut him up pretty quickly."
"I don't get why people think they have the right to shame women for their entertainment
choices. And nobody asks men to defend why they're watching the last Mission Impossible or Jason
Bourne flick. No one says they must be boring or unfulfilled in their real lives because they like those
shows."
"Who says that?"
"Usually jerks on TV. Anyway, all those action movies are way more unrealistic in my
opinion and they glorify violence. If you have to portray something unrealistic, I don't see how
showing people falling in love is hurting anything."
He glances over at me. "Falling in love is unrealistic?"
The soft tone of his voice lulls me. I know what he's thinking. How can it be unrealistic when
we had that? We had in reality what most people only experience in the pages of a book or through
soft focus scenes in a movie. But I can't think about that right now so I take the coward's way out and
make a joke of it.
"Isn't it? I'm glad it works out for some people but I think for most of us, it's still nothing but a
fantasy."
"I hear billionaires in those love books are all the rage. According to Emma's ereader
anyway."
I look over at him in shock. "You were snooping?" [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]