She takes a deep breath, her eyes scanning my face. "It's complicated, isn't it?"
It doesn't need to be. We like each other, the sex is beyond amazing and we're clear on how important it is to talk about where things are, so our friendship doesn't go down in flames if we do.
"Every relationship has its issues, Bean."
"This one is different." She wraps the pear core in a paper napkin she brought with her to the park. "We're all a family. My kids need you both. If something goes wrong…"
I reach for her hand across the table and give it a quick squeeze. "He makes me feel safe, Ellie. He looks at me like no man has ever before and I love that. I love how I feel when I'm with him."
"Nolan loves him like a brother." She traces her finger over my palm. "I love him too. I don't want your heart to get broken if it doesn't last."
Ellie has always been the more cautious one. It stems from her tumultuous childhood, the death of her sister and her broken engagement to a jerk she moved to Las Vegas to marry. It wasn't until she met Nolan that she found her center. He's given her more joy these past two years than she felt in the twenty-four years before that. She deserves that level of happiness more than anyone.
"I don't know if it will last," I say honestly, biting back my emotions. "I do know that if I don't take the chance to see where this could go, that I'll regret it for the rest of my life."
"I believe you belong together. I've always felt that but now that's it's reality I'm freaking out. "She laughs softly. "I'll kill him if he breaks your heart."
She could do it, literally, with her bare hands. "He won't break my heart."
"He better not. I know where he lives."
I laugh. "Don't worry about me, Bean. Whatever happens, I've got your shoulder to cry on."
"I have two of them." She taps her hand on her left shoulder, and then the right one. "Don't ever forget how much I love you."
I can't. I won't. I love her just as much.
Chapter 36
Crew
"There's no fucking way that you're in my office right now." I look back at my assistant. "Nancy, you're fired."
She rolls her eyes because she's heard it before. She knows it's my go-to phrase when I'm pissed as hell. I am now becau
se Damaris Costa is standing in my office with her hands on her hips looking like the little princess she thinks she is.
"What the ever loving fuck is going on?" I direct that question to Nancy who has now conveniently buried her nose in a magazine. "Why is she here?"
Nancy looks up at me. "She said you almost married her. That in itself is hard to believe, but then she talked about your brother. It sounded legit enough that I thought you'd want to hear what she has to say."
"What is that?" I point my finger to the wall opposite where I'm standing.
She cranes her neck to get a better look. "That's the reception couch."
"You didn't think maybe you could put it to use today and tell the Wicked Witch of the Upper East Side to park her ass there?"
"Your office door was open." She sighs. "I told her to stay put, but that's when she told me you two had been engaged once and you wouldn't mind."
"The reason I do mind is because we were engaged once." I curl my fingers around the edge of her desk. "When I'm out of the office, no one is to step foot in there. Is that understood?"
Her brow furrows as she scrunches her nose. The woman has to be as old as my mother, but she tries to pass herself off as late-thirties. It's not convincing. "You're really angry this time, aren't you?"
I nod. "Keep everyone out of my office unless I am in there. Understood?"
"Understood," she repeats back meekly. "I need to run some files to Mr. Black's office. Should I do that now?"
"Nolan," I correct. "Call him Nolan and go."