“You’re staying here.” I swear to God, she was going to kill me with her logical train of thought. “It’s where I have the most security and where I can keep an eye on you so you don’t run off.”
“Yeah, because I’m just going to up and leave Franny behind.” She scoffed. So easily, she dropped my daughter as a reason rather than the salary I promised her.
I closed my eyes at how it affected me. Her blind loyalty to my daughter was dangerous and naïve, but damn if I didn’t love it. It wasn’t my cock this time that was attracted to her, but something else. Something shifted in my mind, in my heart. Something I couldn’t control. I didn’t want to have to scramble to find a fucking fault in this woman in front of me. She was supposed to mostly care about the money, and it was supposed to give me a reason to keep her at arm’s length.
“Well, I can’t be too careful after the show you gave me on the way here.” I reminded her and myself that she secretly was lashing out at me.
“The show?” She frowned. She thought I wasn’t watching.
I grasped her wrist and unfolded her middle finger from the fist she made, tracing it with my forefinger and thumb.
“I watch the cameras, Mia. If you wanted to say fuck you, you could have called or texted.”
“That—It—I meant that for Archer.”
“Archer’s harmless,” I mimicked her earlier phrase. “Were you mad I texted so late?”
“No.” Her eyes were now watching how I dragged my fingers up and down hers. Why did I need her to tell me so badly?
“Were you mad I inquired about your teaching?”
“No.”
“What, then?”
“It was nothing.”
“Distracted on the job isn’t an option. Answer my question.”
Her eyes snapped up and held mine for a moment, ready to fight, but then she looked away as if conceding. I hated the disconnect.
“I’m just tired. It’s not every day your boss admits to being a Diamond, Jameson. And my sister is being … difficult. I do have a life outside of this, even if it appears to be a small, irrelevant one to you.” She chuckled, but it was forced.
I took a calming breath. Then another before I let go of her finger and dragged the back of my knuckles over her cheek. Maybe it was my touch or that she was so tired, but her emotions brimmed on the edge of her eyes, tears glistening and ready to spill over. My gut twisted. “Want to fly out to see her over the weekend? We can take the jet. Franny’s at her grandma’s like always.”
She frowned at me as if I confused her. As if my offer was out of character. It was. She was a fucking employee, not my damn girlfriend or wife.
“No, but thank you. She’d kill me if I showed up unannounced. I just need the weekend to process everything. It will be fine.”
I reached behind her head and grabbed a glass for her.“You’re exactly right. Diamond or not, it changes nothing for you, Darling. You’re still teaching Franny, same as you always were, and I’m handling everything else.”
“But handled in what way?”
“Ask only questions you want answers to.”
She winced and glanced away like she wasn’t sure she liked imagining what that might mean. She hesitated and then sighed before saying, “I guess I’m retracting the question then.”
Her hesitation and the way she wouldn’t meet my eyes in that moment had me reconsidering if I wanted her fear. If her fear was good like I’d first thought walking into that kitchen. Of course I wanted her aware of dangers, but did she know she didn’t have to fear me? I probably should have wanted her to, but did I really?
“Are you scared of me now that you know I’m a Diamond?”
She didn’t want to admit it, but I saw the hesitation, how her eyes danced away from mine as she muttered, “No.”
I slammed the glass down next to her, and she jumped against my body.
My heart fucking stuttered as she did. It gave me the answer to my question.
I should have relished in her fear. I’d been wanting it from the very beginning because I knew exactly what it meant. People listened to fear, and it gave me a power over her.
