He slid it slowly across the table. “I don’t want to work alone anymore. I need someone by my side. I need someone like you; someone who could hear a quick summary of a roadblock in one of my new investments and figure out that I might be getting hustled. I might have the funds and the vision for opportunity,” his tone softened significantly at his next words, “but you have just abouteverythingelse.”
I glared coldly at the papers he set in front of me, not bothering to touch it. Was he seriously asking me toworkfor him? A pity job? I’d heard enough. I finished off the cappuccino. “Time’s up. Thanks for the cap.” I pushed off the table to stand and he reached out and caught my arm.
“Please,” his voice was soft. “Just open it.”
I ran a quick hand over my forehead and picked up the document, scanning its contents. My mouth opened before I spoke. “This is an offer for…”
“Full partnership. Fifty-fifty,” he stated. “And I’m not asking for an investment or buy in; I’m not interested in your money.”
“Very funny,” I muttered.
He smirked. “I’m interested in everything you have to offer…intellectually.”
“That’s all?”
He studied me with a slight lift of the corner of his mouth, then cocked his head. “What else is there?”
I grinded my teeth. He was still cold and unforgiving.
I stood. “I don’t understand, first you try to fire me…now you’re offering a partnership?”
He rubbed the stubble on his chin. “I suppose that would be accurate.” Scott stayed seated and looked up at me. “I’m a patient man. I’ll give you time to think about it.”
I glanced down at the tempting offer to not only live out what could possibly be a dream job but do it side by side; equally, with the man I loved.
And who didn’t love me back.
Pain stabbed at me again and I needed to get away. I glanced out the window and saw a place where I could cool off with a guarantee he wouldn’t follow me. “Don’t bother, I’m not interested,” I muttered and strode away.
I ran through the doors and hoped to have disappeared in the crowd that surrounded the rink. I zipped up my puffer jacket and walked up to the booth, handing the attendant my boots.
I breathed a sigh of relief to have gotten away from the man that had the ability to shatter me with anything he said. Tying up my skates, I tried to remember the last time I’d been on the rink. It had been at least ten years and I wasn’t that good at it to begin with.
Perhaps I hadn’t thought this through. I was heated, hurt, and confused as all hell. But the cold air blowing at my face was just what I needed to snap me out of it all.
Scott had caused my adrenaline to spike when he showed up out of nowhere, looking at me the way he did and then having the audacity to offer me endless days of suffering working side by side with him while he what? Went out with the Claudia’s of New York City?
No thank you.
The rink had a fairly small crowd on Christmas mornings. I grabbed on to the handrail along the edge and watched for an open space to roam free.
The flurries continued to fall around me as I took off, attempting my first lap around the ice. After a few slow and steady strides, I picked up the pace and managed to get halfway across the rink smoothly. I breathed in and let my mind wander back to his tender eyes, letting mine falter for just a moment.
I looked up to see a figure coming toward me. An older gentleman holding a little girls’ hand. He was watching and guiding her, his head down.
Oh no. How do you stop these things again?
I braced myself for impact just before a hand caught mine and tugged me out of their way.
I gasped as Scott skillfully slid across the ice, pulling me into an even glide alongside him.
“I thought you didn’t skate,” I called, gripping his hand more than I should have.
He glanced down at me. “I said I thought it was an odd sport—not that I didn’t know how.”
I clutched his arm with my other hand. At this speed, there was no way I could balance on my own.
He was frustratingly quiet as we made our first lap together, and I got the feeling that he was silently letting me know that if I needed to cool off this way, I wouldn’t do it alone.
