Page 48 of Secrets, Lies and Love

“What?”

“You aren’t satisfied with your salary, so you want to work at the library?”

“Of course I am. You know you pay me well above the market rate.”

“So, what is the problem?”

“There is no problem, but I like to make my day productive.”

“Study, then.”

“I’m not following.”

“Take an online university course. I’ll pay.”

“You haven’t even hired me definitively yet.”

“I’m hiring you now. The trial period is over.”

“What if I don’t want to stay?”

“You do want to stay.”

“Yes, I do.”

“Then why are you being so stubborn?”

“I’m not being stubborn. I’m being independent. If you don’t want me to work at the library, that’s fine, but I’m not going to let you pay for a college course for me. With the salary I receive, I will be able to pay for it myself. Thanks.”

“Stubborn.”

“This is not an appropriate conversation,” she says, and even though I know she’s right, this irritates me.

I can’t have her, but I don’t want to give up the intimacy between us either. “I don’t care about being appropriate.”

“Because you are the owner of your world.”

“That’s right.”

“Well, I’m the owner of mine. These interactions between us will end with me fired and you moving on to your next conquest.”

She’s right, but I won’t accept being contradicted. “Do you think I’m trying to win you over?”

Cecily seems to have some difficulty responding to that, and I feel like an idiot because I know that since that day in the hospital, there has been a web of seduction developing between us.

“No . . . I mean, I expressed myself poorly. But you leave me confused. I never know how to act.”

Hell! What am I doing? I need to put a stop to this. “I’m not trying to win you over, just being friendly. Let me know if you change your mind about university. You can continue your part-time job at the library too, as long as you’re available when I need you to take an extra shift with Joseph.”

“I will be.”

“Regarding my son’s clothes, I’ll send a stylist with some options for you to choose from. I’m only going to arrive on the wedding day. I’ll meet him there.”

“Madison invited me to the ceremony and party.”

“And you’re going?”

“If you have no objections, then yes, I’m going.”

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