“Nope. You need a decent car. I need you to have a decent car,” I add quickly before she can interject.
“I can buy my own damn car, Cole.”
“I’m sure you can. But while you’re working for me, you don’t need to.”
She thinks for a moment. “So if I were to leave, I’d have to give it back?”
Abso-fucking-lutely not. “Sure. Yeah.”
“Another benefit of my already overpaid job.”
“That’s it. Consider it a bonus for unsociable hours.”
“You’re away half the time. I have the best hours of any job ever.”
“Early mornings, late nights, demanding boss,” I list, making her snort a laugh.
“Oh, yeah. It’s a nightmare. I don’t know how I’m coping.”
“By accepting my gifts to make your life easier. And safer.”
“My old car was safe…”
“Until it left you stranded for any murderer to pick up on the side of the road.”
She huffs but doesn’t argue. For a minute at least, anyway.
“The Uber driver wasn’t a murderer. He was very friendly and drove very well.”
“Thank fuck.”
“You’re being totally irrational, you know that, right?”
“No, I do not know that,” I state as I turn onto my street.
“Where’s it gone?” Freya asks, noticing that her new car is missing.
“I had Melvin park it in your space.”
“Cole,” she sighs.
“Freya,” I counter.
“I hate you spending money on me.”
“That might be something you need to come to terms with, because if I want to buy you things, I will.”
“I’m not sure that’s a normal thing for a boss to do.”
“Fuck normal, Whirlwind. I’ve never been normal, and I’d hate to start now.”
“I’d hate for you to change, too. I like you the way you are,” she confesses as I pull into my space and kill the engine.
I turn to her with a wide smile.
“Is that right?”
Her eyes bounce between mine as she tries to decide how to answer.
