After All - Romancing Manhattan

She’s everything good in my life, aside from Gabby.

And I can’t wait to officially make her mine.

Movement from the corner of my eye catches my attention and I turn to see Nora walking down the beach toward me, smiling as she approaches.

“Hey.” She sits beside me and links her arm through mine, putting her head on my shoulder. “It’s a nice morning for a walk.”

“Agreed.” I kiss the top of her head and breathe deep, inhaling the sweet smell of her. “You were asleep, and I didn’t want to wake you.”

“Well, someone kept me up half the night.” She smiles up at me, her brown eyes shining. “Not that I minded.”

I reach for her hand and kiss the palm, then press it to my heart.

“Are you hungry?” I ask her.

“I could eat.” But we don’t move. We sit where we are, watching the waves. “How many sharks do you think are in the water?”

“Plenty,” I say with a laugh. “Do you want to swim in it?”

“God no.” She shakes her head vehemently. “No, there’s a pool for that. Is it always so warm in Florida in the winter?”

“I think this is warmer than usual. I’m not sure.”

She sighs happily and leans her head against me again. “I like the way your bicep feels against my face. When do you find time to work out?”

“I fit it in,” I reply. “Push-ups in my office, runs now and then.”

“You do push-ups in your office?” Her gaze flies up to mine, her eyes wide. “I want to see that.”

“I’m alone when I do them.”

“Not anymore.” She kisses my arm and then looks back out at the water. “I can’t stop staring at it. It’s so powerful, yet soothing at the same time. The sound alone fills me with peace.”

“I understand. I love it, too. We’ll come back soon with Gabby.”

“When do we have to go back?” Her voice is soft, as if she dreads the idea, and I don’t disagree with her. Thirty-six hours wasn’t enough.

“Not until after dinner.”

“Great. Let’s go sit by the pool and be lazy.” She stands and pulls on my hand. “I’ll fix snacks.”

“You’re a delicious snack.”

Her grin is quick and full of mischief. “You can have both.”

“Deal.”

“This is against the rules,” Nora reminds me a few days later. It’s early in the morning, before anyone else is in the office, and I’m kissing her at her desk. Or trying to anyway.

“Fuck the rules,” I mutter and plant my lips on her neck. This spot, right here, always makes her crazy. The way her fingers tighten on my arm tells me I’m not wrong.

Rather than pull away, she chuckles. I want to take her into my office and fuck her on my desk the way I’ve daydreamed of more times than I’d like to count, but this isn’t the time, so I pull back and clutch her hand in mine.

“Let’s go out for lunch,” I begin, but Nora suddenly stiffens and tugs her hand quickly out of mine. “What’s wrong?”

She shakes her head once and drops into her chair.

“I’ll see to that, Carter.”

I glance around, and see Mary from HR walking away, down the hall to the lounge.

“Was that for her benefit?”

“Do you need anything else?” she asks rather than answer my question, and it immediately pisses me the fuck off.

“What in the hell is going on?”

“This is rule number one,” she reminds me, not meeting my eyes. Her hands shake a little as she reaches for a folder. “We need to remember to stick to the rules. No hanky-panky at work.”

“Screw that.” My voice is hard. The rules were before I’d spent the past few weeks with her. Before I freaking fell in love with her. “Are you embarrassed about us, Nora?”

“Of course not.”

“Is what we have something to be ashamed of?”

“No, that’s not—”

“Because if that’s the case, we’ll call it right now.”

“Carter, that’s not what I’m saying. Of course I’m not ashamed of you. It’s just not appropriate for the workplace, that’s all.”

“I see.” I step away, hurt more deeply than I would have expected. Her rejection hit a nerve I didn’t realize I had.

“Carter—”

“I don’t want to speak to you just now,” I say as I stride to my office. “I’ll let you know if I need you.”

I shut the door behind me and sit in the chair behind my desk, swiveling to look out at the city around me.

I was ready to propose to her. Clearly if she can’t handle being affectionate at work, we’re not on the same page.

How could I be so stupid? So sure that what I was feeling is reciprocated. It doesn’t mean we won’t ever be, but perhaps I’m rushing things.

Nora pulling away hurt. More than I want to admit.

“I quit.”

Nora barges into my office the next day. We didn’t spend the previous evening together. In fact, I’ve barely spoken to her since the altercation at her desk yesterday morning.