Page 192 of Sexting His Assistant

“That’s your apology?”

“No. That is me admitting the first part.”

She exhales, still looking outside. “Then continue.”

“I was angry.”

“I noticed.”

“I didn’t handle it well.”

That makes her turn her head.

Her face is calm, but her eyes are not. She looks hurt, and that’s harder to deal with than anger.

“You didn’t even ask me properly,” she says. “You decided I was hiding something and then started speaking to me like I was one of your employees who made a mistake.”

I grip the wheel tighter, then force my hand to relax. “You are my employee.”

Her expression closes.

I correct myself immediately. “That came out wrong.”

“You know what the problem is?” she asks, voice quiet now. “You want this both ways. You want me close to you, but the second you feel out of control, you treat me like staff again. Or worse, like a problem to solve.”

I keep my eyes on the road because looking at her while she says this would make it harder to think clearly.

“I’m used to solving problems,” I say.

“I’m not a problem.”

“I know.”

“Do you?”

I don’t answer fast enough.

She laughs softly, but there is no humor in it. “That’s what I thought.”

The car is quiet for a few seconds.

Traffic slows near a signal. I stop behind a line of cars, the red light washing across the windshield.

“I don’t trust easily,” I say.

“I know that.”

“No,” I say, looking at her now. “You know I’m controlling. You know I’m careful. That’s not the same thing.”

Her anger shifts slightly, but she says nothing.

I look back at the light. “There are people who have sat at my table, called me brother, smiled at my mother, taken my money, sworn loyalty, and still sold pieces of me the moment it benefited them. After a while, you stop asking whether people will betray you and start asking what it will cost them to do it.”

Nina’s face changes, though it’s not pity. “I’m not them.”

“I know.”

“You keep saying that after you already act like I am.”