Page 93 of Work with Me

“No.” I laid my hand over hers, stilling her fingers on her phone. “I need an appointment with my financial adviser. Like, now. And I need a list of charitable foundations that help kids. Preferably neurodivergent kids. And if they use computers or coding to do it, even better.”

Marlee’s mouth went flat and exasperated again. “Jackson, she doesn’t need you to prove you’re worthy by giving away a ton of cash. She only needs you.”

“I need to prove I’m worthy. To myself. Before I can ask her to take me back.”

She shook her head. “Always the hard way with you.”

I lifted one corner of my mouth. “You wouldn’t want it any other way.”

Finally, I earned her smile. “No, boss, I wouldn’t.” She sank back into the chair. Her fingers flew over her phone screen.

“Thanks, Marlee. For everything.” I’d have hugged her, but I didn’t want to interrupt her research.

“You can thank me by groveling to Alicia until she takes you back and then bringing her here to San Francisco. I want to meet this woman who’s changed you.”

“You’ll love her. I do.” I had a fuck-ton of work to do before I could achieve the goal Marlee had summed up for me. But like Alicia had taught me to do, I’d break it up into tasks and knock them down one by one. Though I didn’t think she’d be impressed by a win-Alicia-back task board. I’d keep that quiet and focus on the grand gesture Marlee was always talking about in her romance novels.

Marlee looked up, her eyes sparkling. “We need a code name for this project.”

“Don’t you think that’s a little—”

She tapped a finger against her lips. “In most of the movies, the hero has to serenade the heroine to win her back. You don’t sing, so you could always do aSay Anythingwith a boombox. We could call it—”

“No singing. No boombox. And we’ll call it Project Cowboy Up.”

She grinned. “Sounds good, boss. Your financial planner will meet you here in an hour.”

“I’ve got to run to my place first. For my boots.”

“Your—”

“Boots.” I’d committed to the fucking boots. It wasn’t the same as what I was going to do with Alicia, but they’d remind me of what she’d taught me and of how I was going to live the rest of my life.

“Got it, boss. Project Cowboy Up is going to be one for the books.”

I didn’t care about books. Or movies. Only Alicia and whether I could get her back.

* * *

ALICIA

“Youwhat?”

Tyler hunched and shoved his hands into his pockets. He glanced at the closed door of the small conference room I’d dragged him into like he was considering a jailbreak. “Cooper was asking where you two were, and I said you’d probably rather celebrate alone. It was an offhand comment. I didn’t know it was a secret. I thought he knew. I thought everyone knew.”

“It wasn’t a secret,” I said through gritted teeth, “because there was nothing to tell. Jackson and I weren’t a couple.”

“But I—but you kissed. At the party at Jay’s place.”

Heat rushed to my cheeks. “Okay, we did that. I didn’t realize you saw us. Or that you’d remember. But it didn’t mean we were together.” I thought back to that Monday night in Jackson’s apartment, when I’d hoped we could start something real, if only for a while. But he hadn’t wanted even that.

“God, I’m sorry. Really. Do you know where he is? I’ve been dying to apologize.”

“He’s not here?”

Tyler’s forehead wrinkled. “Not since the day after the project ended. He came in to apologize to the team for creating a hostile work environment. And now he doesn’t pick up when I call, and he doesn’t text back. Do you think he hates me? Because—” He ducked his head. “I got a promotion. And a transfer to San Francisco. I’m going to work in his department. And it’ll suck if he hates me.”

“No, Tyler. He thinks you’re a great guy. And congratulations on the new job.” I reached out a hand to lay it on his shoulder but froze. The blinds to the room were open, and I didn’t want anyone to see me—the office’s scarlet woman, apparently—touching him. A hostile work environment? Maybe a couple of our glances had lingered too long. Maybe our kisses—outside work and in places we thought no one could see us—threatened Tyler and the rest of the team. We hadn’t been as circumspect as I’d thought. If only they knew the rest of it. Jackson and I had barely waited for my company access credentials to be deleted from the system before we’d fallen into bed together. My face burned.

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