Page 196 of Zach
stiffens. It’s nearly imperceptible, but I see it.
“You didn’t want to like me?”
“No,” I say quietly, “I didn’t.”
“Why?” There’s a hint of hurt in her tone that kills me.
“At the time, there were a lot of reasons I thought we would be a bad idea. The fact that you’re my
employee is one of them. And I just…wasn’t sure I was ready for any of this.”
She’s quiet, and I watch her profile carefully, counting the blinks of her eyes and her soft inhales
and exhales, willing her to understand me.
And everything I didn’t say.
“Sometimes, I’m not sure I’m ready for any of this either.”
It takes work to make my words come out level. “I see.” But I don’t. The idea that she has doubts
about us, especially now that I don’t, makes me want to wrap her up in these blankets and haul her to
my plane. I can be on a deserted island with her in a few hours. Then I can work on making her love
me as much as I love her.
Kidnapping seems like a reasonable reaction at the moment. How the hell do I reel in a woman
like this? One who seems to care nothing for the material stuff I can shower her in. What do I have to
offer her, if not my money?
“Do…are you rethinking things…I mean me. Are you rethinking me?” I ask, staring at her profile.
She rubs her cheek on the white comforter and sighs. “Maybe I should be, but no, I’m not. We
don’t make sense on paper, I know that. But somehow, someway, we work anyway.”
I lean down and bury my nose in her hair, breathing in complete relief. “Yeah baby, we do.”
For now, we’re ok.
How the hell do I make sure we stay that way?
34
MAYA
E ight hours into this sharing my space thing, and it’s fine. Totally fine. I don’t know what I was
worried about.
Of course, she’s been asleep the whole time, but that’s ok. When she wakes up, we’ll have
breakfast, and then she can spend the day doing her thing.
Proud of myself for how well I’m handling this, I hum along to Katy Perry as I scoop out some
