“No. I just wanted to see if you thought it wasstrange.”
“Definitelystrange.”
She relaxed, setting her elbow on the table and her chin in her hand. “How come you always call meGeorgina?”
“What should I callyou?”
“George, same as everyoneelse.”
“Not everyone uses George,” I pointedout.
“Everyone does sometimes. Georginaisexhausting.”
I would’ve steered the conversation back to the issue at hand, but I had a feeling we were somehow circling the heart of it. In her eyes, was there some differentiation between George and Georgina? I stayed standing, looking down at her as I chose my words carefully so she wouldn’t get defensive. “You think Georgina is burdensome toothers?”
She blew out a breath, meeting my gaze. “It’s amouthful.”
“If you think that, why not call me Seb? Or ‘hey you,’ which has less syllables than Sebastian. My name is longer than yours.” She furrowed her brow as if tallying the letters, so I saved her the mental strain. “Yours has eight, mine hasnine.”
“Okay, I’ll call you Seb,Seb.”
“I still won’t call youGeorge.”
“Because George feels like your equal,” she reasoned, “whereas Georgina is easier to see as aninferior.”
“Jesus, no.” I pulled back. That had nothing to do with it. Her name could be fucking Fido but while we were both humans, I’d see her as an equal. An equal who potentially held my fate in her hands. The only way to dig my way out of this was the truth. “When I met you—let’s just say, I had impurethoughts.”
With the way her eyes widened, I couldn’t keep the hint of triumph off my face. Itwasfun to surprise her. “Aboutme?”
“About you. And since then, I refuse to picture you asGeorge.”
“Well . . . that makes things difficult,” shesaid.
“Only if you yourself favor George overGeorgina.”
She opened and closed her mouth. “I—I don’t know what thatmeans.”
“Yes, youdo.”
With a quick glance around me, as if searching for an exit, she stood. “I should get backto—”
I put my hand on the table to block her with my arm. “You’re like one of those complex, jumbo puzzles with hundreds of pieces. Even when I manage to put a corner together, I can’t help feeling further from completing thepicture.”
“You’re wrong.” She moved around me, but I caged her against thetable.
“Am I?” I couldn’t ignore the way her cheeks flushed as her breathing sped. She didn’t look happy to be cornered in more than one way, but I wanted answers. Not just the job kind anymore, like if Vance had said anything to her about my work, or whether my fate rested on her shoulders—now, I was curious about other things too. Like exactly which nerve I’d hit in the café to make her blow up at me. And why she allowed François and the loudmouth Yankee to treat her one way, but she never let me get away with shit. “I’m not even sure I’m playing the rightgame.”
“Try checking the box,” she said. “If it says ‘ages three and up,’ you probablyare.”
We narrowed our eyes at each other without so much as a blink betweenus.
“Doyousee Georgina as inferior?” I asked, my eyes on her full, pink mouth, just inches frommine.
She dropped her gaze to the zipper of my hoodie. After a couple seconds, she said, “Not inferior,just. . .”
“What the hell is taking so long?” Justin appeared out of nowhere, causing each of us to flinch. “And where’s my dr—oh. Shit. Am Iinterrupting?”
I straightened up, and Georgina stepped out from under me. “No,” she said, relief passing over herface.
