After All - Romancing Manhattan

I was licking my wounds, and I needed some time to think. To adjust the plan.

Hell, my feelings were hurt and I was sulking. I can admit it.

Nora closes the door behind her and marches in, her sweet little chin in the air, and sits opposite me.

“Did you hear me?”

I arch a brow and lean on my desk. My heart is pounding. “In what capacity are you quitting? As my assistant, or my lover, companion, everything?”

Her lips twist and tears spring to her eyes, and I want to rush around the desk, pull her in my arms, and insist that everything’s going to be fine.

But I need her answer first.

“As your assistant.” She clears her throat. She’s on the verge of tears. “It’s the right thing to do.”

“From where I’m sitting, it’s not the right thing.” What in the hell would I do without her?

“Would you rather—” She goes pale, and it destroys me.

“No.” I do round the desk now and put my arms around her, lead her to the couch. “No, I don’t want either to happen.”

“Something has to give,” she says and dabs at a tear. “And I’m seriously pissed that I’m crying. I thought I got it out of my system.”

“You spent last night crying?” I’m a complete ass. Why did I think it was best to spend last night apart when we were both just miserable?

“A little,” she confesses. “Carter, I can’t be your girlfriend and your assistant. Whether we like it or not, there is a no-frat policy in this company.”

“Nora, I own the damn company. We can do whatever the hell we want.”

“So . . . what? Do as I say, not as I do?” She shakes her head miserably. “I hated it when my parents pulled that crap on me when I was kid, and I won’t do that here. The rules apply to everyone. That’s why they’re there.”

“They’re a pain in my ass,” I mutter and rub my hand over my face in frustration.

“Mary’s a pain in my ass,” she says. “That girl doesn’t like me. I don’t think she likes anyone, and I truly think she’ll try to make things harder around here. Not that they’re hard now, but you know what I mean.”

“Then she’s gone.”

“No.” She shakes her head and pats my leg. “I can’t win, don’t you see? Quitting my position is the right thing to do. And I won’t go far. Sienna hasn’t formally hired her new assistant, so I’ll take that job, and I’ll assign someone new to you. But you don’t get Victoria because she’s twenty-six, a size four, and single. So, you get Alice, who is just as qualified, in her forties, and married with three kids.”

“I didn’t realize that was part of the official qualifications.”

“Well, it is because I don’t need to be distracted all day because I’m worried that the new assistant is trying to get in your pants.”

Now that the storm is passing, I hug her and kiss the hell out of her, just because I can and I’ve missed her.

“Darling, no one gets in my pants but you.”

“You bet your ass,” she says.

“Exactly.”

She laughs now and leans her forehead on mine. “Are we okay now? Because yesterday sucked monkey balls.”

“That’s a vivid image.” I brush my fingers into her hair, soothing us both. “We were always okay. I just had a bruised ego and my feelings hurt.”

“I didn’t mean to hurt you.” She wraps her arms around me tightly. “I promise, hurting you is the last thing I ever want to happen.”

“I know.”

“And I can’t ever do the silent treatment again.” She pulls back and glares at me now. “Ever. Don’t do that. It’s childish, and unfair. Call me into your office and yell at me, anything. Richard used to pull that shit on me, and it killed me.”

“Done. I’m sorry, Nora. I won’t do it again. I think I was thrown, and I didn’t know how to deal with it.”

“Well, any way is better than that way. So stop it.”

“Yes, ma’am. Let me make it up to you.”

“Do you have chocolate in here?”

I grin and walk to my desk, open the drawer, and toss her a Snickers. “It’s my last one, and you’re welcome to it. But that’s not what I had in mind.”

“Sexual favors?”

I laugh now, relieved that my pulse is settling down and all is right with my world again. “Yes, that sounds fun, too, but I was thinking I’d give us both the rest of the day off and we’d go back to the Met. Look at art. Flirt. End up in bed for those sexual favors.”

“Can’t.” She stands, peeling the wrapper of her candy bar. “I have to go tell Sienna I’m officially working for her, and get Alice set up with HR so she can start tomorrow. This also means that I won’t be able to leave on a whim anymore.”