She stewed while he spoke to his driver.
“He’s happy to collect overtime.” He ended the call. “He’ll meet us downstairs in a few minutes.”
“What on earth makes you think I want to move in with you?” she cried.
“Your tone?” he suggested drily as he pulled on his own overcoat.
“Why would you even want me to?” she demanded. The belt on her coat felt too tight.
“Half the building saw us leave together today. I would love to believe I’ve ferreted out all the moles, but rumors are liable to get back to my father. I won’t underestimate what he might do with that information. You can’t work there, not while he’s still trying to reclaim it.”
“You’re not firing me.” She put her foot down.
“No, I’m protecting you,” he said in his most implacable tone. “You heard today how he’s going after Oladele.” He muttered a distracted curse and rubbed his jaw. “I still have to deal with that. But he could target you just as ruthlessly.”
“So I should lie down and let him quash my career before I’ve properly got it off the ground?”
He glowered at her.
She lifted her chin and gave him a too-sweet smile. “Yeah. It turns out I’m smart enough to see the holes in your logic.”
“As your employer,” he said very patronizingly, “and the father of your unborn child, Iinsistyou stay off work until you have your health in order.Thenwe will discuss if and where you can work.” Oh, he was smug over that.
“I’ll make my own decisions, thank you very much.”
“Then make smart ones!” He opened the door.
“How does quitting my job and moving in with you serve me in any way?”
“We just agreed we’re doing this together.” He nodded at her middle. “How does that happen if I’m in Barcelona and you’re here? Because as soon as this acquisition is finalized, I’m finding a new CEO for LVG and will only be here quarterly.”
“And you expect me to pick up sticks and go to Barcelona with you? For how long?”
“Twenty years?” he replied, shrugging.
“You’re unbelievable.”
The driver arrived at the curb as they exited the building. Siobhan got into the car because she had a feeling Joaquin would have the driver take him to her building regardless.
After ten minutes of stewing in bumper-to-bumper traffic, she leaned forward to ask the driver if he spoke English.
“No, señora,”he said with an apologetic shake of his head.
“No problem,” she assured him in Spanish. “Please disregard any raised voices you hear in the next few minutes.”
The driver chuckled and Siobhan switched to English.
“You don’t get to order me to quit my job and move in with you,” she hissed.
“What are you? A vampire? You’reinvited.”
“To be what?” she challenged. “Your houseguest? Are we going from pretendingnotto be a couple to pretending tobea couple? Will we be roommates who coparent or are youinvitingme—” she wrapped the word in a layer of sarcasm “—to start a relationship with you?”
He seemed to retreat a little more into the shadowed backseat. “We’re already in a relationship.”
“Hardly.” He ignored her more often than he spoke to her.
“You’re asking if I want to have sex with you?” he growled. “I think I proved that yesterday.”
