He strode over and pushed the door shut behind her, turning the lock. “Talk to me,” he said.
“Okay. You can’t go around dictating orders to my boss about me. He’ll never see me as someone he can look up to and trust with his accounts if he’s worried about losing his job if he so much as looks at me the wrong way. Or, heaven forbid, touches me!”
“Did he? Touch you?”
“Ian!”
He braced his hands on her forearms and looked into her eyes. “Honestly, I’m kidding. I was out of line making that phone call.”
She blinked, taking in his serious expression in search of signs of dementia. “Say that again?”
“I was out of line. I shouldn’t have called Rhodes.”
“Oh. I…thank you. I didn’t expect that to go so easily.”
He grinned. “Sometimes, I can admit I was wrong.”
“Okay, so while I’m on a roll, about the salary with my new position…”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about. I don’t know who gets paid what unless I’ve done the actual hiring.”
She eyed him warily.
“Don’t look at me like that. It’s true. Is the salary not enough? Because I can talk to Olivia—”
“No! It’s already a raise from the job I started one week ago. If anything, it’s too much. I just wanted to make sure you weren’t manipulating anything to my benefit.”
An adorable grin lifted his lips. “Finally, you accuse me of something I didn’t do wrong.”
She laughed.
“Because God forbid I give you a raise.”
She rolled her eyes. “I get the point. I do.”
“The salary’s that much more than you were earning?” He rais
ed an eyebrow in curiosity.
She nodded.
“Enough for you to move out of your unsafe apartment building?”
“Ian—”
“Consider it a quid pro quo. I’m doing my best to back off and behave for you. You can move into a safe apartment for my peace of mind.”
“And you don’t consider this you manipulating me?”
“I consider this me doing my very best by you.” He spread his hands in front of him, silently asking her to trust him.
“Fine. I’ll consider it. After I do the math. I want to pay off some of my student loans, and with a salary increase, I can start to do that.”
He opened his mouth then immediately snapped it shut.
Whatever he’d been about to say, he’d obviously thought better of it. Which meant he was thinking. About her wants, needs, and feelings.
She grinned.