The worst part was that it’d even occurred to her I might exploit the thing I liked most about her—her authenticity, generosity, the way she considered others. I didn’t know how anyone could see that as weakness, but that was what Neal had taught her.
I had a lot to apologize for when she got in.
“She’s not planning to take the job,” I told Justin. “At least, she wasn’t before this morning. Who knows now.”
“Ah.” Justin extended an arm along the back of the sofa. “I wonder if that’s why she’s talking to Vance.”
I froze in the middle of booting up my computer. “Right now?”
“Yeah. She didn’t even put her stuff down, just went right to his office.”
“Fuck.” That was it, then. I’d pissed her off enough to accept the position. I’d barely had time to process all this, much less dust off my résumé.
Who was I kidding? I’d worked my way up as an intern. I didn’t have a fucking résumé anymore.
And yet, as Georgina had pointed out, maybe moving on from Modern Man wouldn’t be such a bad thing. It had certainly opened my eyes finding out that, after I’d sucked it up and played ball when they’d hired Georgina, I still wasn’t valued by Vance or the board.
I rubbed the inside corners of my eyes. “I should go in there.”
“I wouldn’t.” Justin shook his head. “Let her cool off. Maybe just keep your mouth shut until she comes to you.”
“That’s not how dating works,” I said. “You ever heard of communication? Honesty?”
“Dating?” Justin arched an eyebrow. “So yesterday must’ve gone pretty well if you’re still thinking about her that way.”
All this time I’d felt threatened by her presence, assuming the worst-case scenario would be losing control of the magazine.
Losing Georgina, though? Somehow that seemed worse.
I hadn’t wanted yesterday to end. No question, I’d never been on a better date, and to top it off, I’d woken up happy and ready to do it all over again. Especially the part where I’d had her gorgeous, naked body ready and willing underneath me.
If I was mad about anything, it was that I’d barely gotten one last glance at her mouth-watering tits before she’d covered them up with a child’s t-shirt.
I steepled my fingers in front of me. I could tell Justin to fuck off and mind his own business, but I didn’t want to. He was my closest friend and when something was important to me, he was part of it. “I like her, man. I really do. I know you’ll say you told me so—”
“No need,” he said, “as long as it’s established that I did.”
I sighed deeply. Georgina had been a pain in my ass since I’d met her. It shouldn’t have surprised me that that hadn’t changed simply because we’d slept together. She’d also pushed me in ways nobody had in a long while. She’d gotten me to open up about my mom, something I usually reserved for Libby and her husband or Justin.
And there was this one detail I hadn’t been able to get over since yesterday—Georgina had adopted a sick dog.
Maybe that had signaled weakness to her ex, but to me, it was pure strength. Losing my mom was the hardest thing I’d ever been through, and since then, I sometimes questioned how I could fully love someone knowing I might lose them too one day. Georgina, on the other hand, had faced it head on. She’d chosen it so she could give Bruno a life.
“I don’t want to fuck this up,” I admitted. “Yeah, maybe things didn’t come out right this morning. I was pissed, and I couldn’t see much beyond the fact that I was getting fired. But if she wants to take the job, I’m not willing to lose her over it. I’ll support her—I just wish that wasn’t the only option.”
“Man, do you have any idea how awkward that would be? Dating someone who replaced you?”
I ran my hands over my face, sitting back in my seat. Maybe he was right, but what other option was there? Was I supposed to let her go after we’d gotten this far? We’d pushed and pulled each other into this mess, and now I didn’t want to be anywhere else but knee-deep in it with her. “It’s fucked up,” I said, “but what hasn’t been about Georgina and me? We’ve been through a lot already. We could handle it.”
“All right, then let’s get serious here.” Justin leaned his elbows on his knees and lowered his voice. “If you want me to find out what’s going on, just say the word.”
“Meaning?”
“I have eyeballs, ears, heads, shoulders, knees, and toes all over this place.”
“You’re a creep.”
“You want info or not?” He looked offended. “Pfft. I’ve got operatives everywhere and dirt on everyone in this office, including you.”
“Then I guess they know about my recent, NSFW night in the copy room with your mom.”
Justin’s face fell. “Why would you say that, man? You know I’m sensitive about that.”
His mom had always been a total babe, which had caused him some problems in high school. “You make it so easy.”
“Whatever. You want me to have the nerds in IT hack Georgina’s e-mail?”
“First of all, ‘nerds’? You wish you knew how to hack someone’s e-mail. You can’t even dial out on the first try.”
He flipped me off. “It’s a new phone system.”
“Secondly, do not ever hack an employee’s personal e-mail.”
“Got it. Just work then.”
“Not that, either. Stay far away from IT.”
Justin pointed to his ear and then to the ceiling, indicating that we were being listened to. “Understood, boss.”
“I’m not giving you some secret go-ahead. Stay out of Georgina’s business.”
He winked. “Loud and clear.”
I rolled my eyes. “Get out of here.”
“It’s Monday. We have a standing date to do some dickstorming before the meeting. We could do it undercover in the men’s bathroom so Georgina doesn’t know.”
“You realize how gay you sound right now?” I asked. “Dickstorming is done. For good. We don’t need it—we can do better.”
I expected Justin to sulk, but he just nodded. “Sounds good, boss. Do whatever it takes to get back on George’s good side.”
“That’s not why I’m banning it, and I’m not on her bad side.” She was upset with me, but we’d gone head-to-head plenty of times over the past couple months. She’d get annoyed. I’d get frustrated. We’d duke it out. Except unlike before, now we had the bonus of making up afterward.
I’d get myself out of this.
I stood and gathered the mockup poster boards my team had dropped off Friday and rounded the desk. “Let’s go to the meeting.”
On our way into the hall, Justin slung an arm around my shoulders. “You really like her, don’t you? Never seen your confidence this shaky.”
That was just what I needed to win Georgina back—shaky confidence. Women loved that. Fuck.
I squared my shoulders as we entered the conference room.
Vance stood at the front. Georgina had pulled a chair off to the side behind him. Using her closed laptop as a surface, she scribbled in a notebook, then paused to fix the collar of her blouse, some silky cream thing with tiny sparkly buttons that looked like they’d pop right off in my hands.
She glanced up. I gave her my best remember-how-you-screamed-my-name stare, which she held for a few moments before returning her eyes to her lap. Was she shy or still genuinely pissed? Maybe I was wrong, and this situation didn’t call for confidence. After the way she’d asked me to drop the act last night, I’d still resorted to peacocking to get her attention—and still, Georgina was immune to it.
Vance fumbled with the projector as I approached. He nodded at the conference table. “Why don’t you have a seat, Quinn.”
It wasn’t a question. Was it my imagination, or were Georgina and Vance giving me the cold shoulder? I set the boards against a wall and sat far enough from Georgina so as not to seem threatening, but close enough that I could still count—or recount—the sexy freckles on her knees. I hadn’t been bluffing the night before. Georgina’s freckles had frustrated me. They’d been one of the first things I’d noticed about the utterly adorable and off-limits woman I’d instantly disliked. They’d tempted me. Teased me. Called to me when I’d had to keep my distance.