“Let’s start from scratch. From tomorrow.” He opens the door. “Goodnight, Jordan.”
He turns his back to me and disappears quickly down the stairs, as I close the door behind him, then lean my forehead against it.
The other night doesn’t count. He’s right. I was the first one to say it. So why do I feel likeI’mthe one who doesn’t count, as if it’s my fault this time, too?
Niall
The door to her office is open, and Jordan is standing next to the window, her back turned to me.
“Good morning.”
She spins around instantly.
“I brought…” I hold up a takeaway cup of coffee.
“Good morning.”
Her tone is distant, tension plastered across her face. I think I messed up last night when I kissed her goodbye, right after she’d told me that things like that couldn’t happen between us anymore, right after she gave my daughter a chance; but I couldn’t resist. There was something hanging in the air between us, and I wanted to clear it up. The fact that there are now a thousand other things suspended between us is a totally different story.
“I didn’t mean to interrupt.”
“You haven’t.”
I place the coffee on her desk – I get the impression she doesn’t want me anywhere near her.
“Thanks.”
She moves slowly in her skin-tight skirt – which I stare at, shamelessly – and she takes a seat behind her desk. She gestures for me to do the same, and I sit across from her. She slides a well-organised, stapled stack of papers towards me.
“This is my proposition.”
“Where do I sign?”
“Don’t you want to take a look through it first?”
“I trust you.”
Her eyes soften just for a second, before snapping back to normal. “You should really read the contract, Niall. Including all the small print.”
“By ‘small print’ do you mean the list of things that can never happen between us?”
“It’s way more complicated than that.”
“Okay, so…” I grab the stack of papers and flick through them, slowly.
“You should…”
“Here we go.” I stop at the second-last page – before the one I have to sign – and scan through the small print she was talking about.
“Aren’t you going to read the rest?”
“I don’t care about the rest.”
I lift my eyes to study her reaction. I watch as she bites her lip, but with no other signs of giving in. I let my gaze fall back onto the papers, and after intently reading the things she has in mind for me, I lift my head again, leaning back against the seat.
“Wow.Do I seriously have to refer to you as Ms Hill?”
She nods, deathly serious.
