“She’s all right. I booked us both into a hostel for tonight. I didn’t know what else to do, and at least I’d stayed there before.”
“Yeah, Des mentioned you lived there before you moved in here. You’re not staying in a hostel. You’re sleeping here with me. I might never let you out of my sight again. Your mom can stay, too. She can have the spare bedroom, and you can share mine.” He shakes his head. “I still can’t believe you wandered around that neighborhood and then talked to some thugs. The same assholes who shoved me to the ground and stole all my stuff. You’re a badass.”
I laugh and shake my head. “I think the last thing I am is a badass.”
“We also need to call Des,” he says. “I’m surprised he hasn’t called, actually.”
“Shit! I promised I’d call him as soon as I found out what had happened to you.”
James chuckles. “He’ll be losing his shit.”
Chapter 36
Sadie
Iwake with James curled around me, warm as a furnace, his hand on my stomach. I rest my hand on top of his. He threads his fingers through mine and presses his nose into my neck.
“Morning,” he rumbles.
A loud purring noise starts behind him, and he rolls us both backward as Mr. Karen’s head pops up and he gives it a sleepy shake. James pulls his hand from under the covers and scratches his ears.So cute.
After we called Des and my mom last night, James ordered an Uber, and we headed out to Jersey City to pick up my mom and our suitcases. James muttered grumpily in the car all the way back when he realized I’d moved some of my stuff out.
My eyes drift over to the clock. 7 a.m. “Shit, my mom …”
“She was up at 5:30. She’s gone to work. I showed her how to use the shower and got her phone number, just in case. She flapped her hands and told me to go back to bed, but I made her a coffee to take with her, and she said she’d never done that before.”
“I’ll bet she’s never had a man make her a drink, either.”
He chuckles into my neck. “Or buy her one in a coffee shop.”
“Banana chocolate loaf,” I whisper, and he laughs.
“Mr. Karen was very confused at the early hour. He sat in the middle of the floor with his fur all ruffled and then came back in here with me.”
I shift fully onto my back, and James props himself on his elbow and gazes down at me. My heart does a strange pitter-patter in my chest. James looking vulnerable without his glasses will be the death of me. I rub my thumb across the scrape on his face.
“You’re going into the office injured again.”
He turns his head and kisses my hand, smiling against it. “At least this time it’s not self-inflicted. God, that morning was mortifying. I felt like everyone would look at me and know.”
Talking about people at work knowing about things … “About my resume,” I start. “I want to atone for it somehow, like take a pay cut or something. I feel terrible about it, like I got away with a con.”
He shakes his head. “Don’t. You’re not highly paid as a developer anyway. We got you through this process, and, to be honest, it’s started to make me think we could find more self-taught programmers who don’t have a college degree. We’ve probably been guilty of overlooking the more practical routes people have taken. I might put you in charge of a program to recruit and train people like that.”
I stare at him.
“But we’ll go through some kind of proper procedure for you, Sadie, so it’s all above board.” He cups my face. “Please don’t worry about it. With everything else that’s gone on for us personally, and all the stuff we have to deliver for Samsung, it’s the least of our problems. I take it seriously, but this is at the bottom of our priority list.”
“Okay. But if I don’t meet the standards or start to fall behind …”
“I get it, Sadie. But you’re going to be fine. More than fine. Great, even.”
The girl writes some code to stop her heart from exploding.
He leans down and brushes his lips over mine.
“Apparently, I’ve got a meeting at 8 a.m.,” I mumble against his mouth.
