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