AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Yeah. About us,” he says. “I talked to him about work.”
“It’s the same thing and you know it.”
“How is it the same thing?”
“Because now I’m saddled with a job offer I can’t possibly turn down that makes it impossible for...”
“Impossible for what?” he asks.
I tighten my crossed arms. “Oliver, if I take this job, we’re done,” I say. “I can’t date you and be your Junior at the same time. I might have been able to get Graham on board with us when I was your assistant temporarily, but now this is definitely crossing a line. You shouldn’t even be here right now.”
He nods with a blank expression before walking around me into the kitchenette. I bristle with annoyance as he opens the cupboards above the counters.
“What are you doing?” I ask.
“Looking for wineglasses,” he says.
I bite down. “Oliver, were you even listening to me?”
“I heard you. Corkscrew?”
“Oliver.”
“Paige.”
“Stop!”
Oliver faces me. “No,” he says with a smirk.
“No?” I repeat.
“No,” he says again. “I’m not giving up.”
He successfully retrieves a wineglass from the cupboard and squints as he looks for a second one.
“I’m not giving up,” I argue.
“Sure sounds like. Do you have another wineglass?”
“No, just that one.”
“You only have one wineglass?” he asks.
“I... broke them. And I never have company, so I didn’t replace them.”
“Fair enough.” He snatches two drinking glasses instead. “We’ll slum it tonight.”
I pinch my eyes closed. “Oliver, will you please just stop and listen to me? Please?”
Oliver stops. He sets the glasses down on the counter next to the bottle and turns to me, giving me his full, undivided attention.
“Oli, I wish things were different,” I say, taking a breath. “I wish that we could have... found each other in a better way. At a better time. But we didn’t. What we have is?—”
“I’m going to stop you there,” he says over me.
“No, Oliver, please. I need to get this out.”
“Don’t bother. What we have is a choice, Paige. A choice to deny ourselves what we clearly want or to continue living by someone else’s rules.” He takes a wide stride toward me. I think to move, but my body locks in place instead. “I’ve been through... so much in my life,” he says. “You have, too. If you ask me, we found each other right when we needed to.”
