I snort, and Will exhales a breathy laugh.
“I’m serious, Josie. I think you might be the most hardworkingperson I’ve ever met. You also care more about employee happiness than raising venture capital. You care more about B Corp Certification than your profit margins. And somehow, you’ve managed to get Derrick Lovell to buy in. Do you even know how inspiring a person has to be to have achievedall that?”
His praise is awakening a long-dormant part of me that hungers for this kind of approval.
“And you’re emotional, too,” Will goes on. “Not just some corporate robot. You feel remorse, and guilt, and you feel them deeply. You’re scared Camila might be leaving Revenant, and worried what it will mean for your friendship. You have empathy for the girl who sold you that overpriced vacuum. Everybody, including me, knows how good of a person you are.”
“Thank you,” I say, voice shaking.
His hold on me loosens, but only so he can push himself upright again and pull me back against him. I try and fail not to overthink our positioning. If my abdomen wasn’t sore from retching, I think every press of him against me would bolt straight to my core.
“You never answered my question,” I say.
“What question?”
“Do you think you’ll leave New York?”
He’s silent for eight seconds. I count them.
“I really like Austin.”
Dangerous, but I smile anyway, playing with a strand of hair hanging by my shoulder.
“You’re so fucking gorgeous when you smile like that.”
My head shoots up, and that’s when I notice our reflection in the blank TV screen. A slip of moonlight peeking through the window is illuminating us just right.
I look like a person who belongs to him, curled up between his legs, with his head above mine and his arms hooked around me underneath the supple bedspread. His lips hover by my ear, and Ican see them, and I canfeelthem, too. The careful puffs of his breath warming the side of my face.
But his eyes are on mine in our reflection. His expression is hungry, like the sight of us woven together this way is an image Will is interested in expanding upon.
“Sorry,” he says immediately, voice breaking. “I’m sorry. I promised you this didn’t have to mean anything. And it won’t.”
“Will. It would be impossible for this night not to meaneverything.”
“To me, or to you?” he asks tenderly.
“To both of us.” I sigh, conflicted. “Maybe it’s time for me to give youmyfive worst things.”
He smirks. I watch him on the screen as he says, “If you want.”
I consider, then begin. “Number one. I’m vain about my appearance. I’m grumpy if my roots are showing, and insecure if someone meets me for the first time and I’m not wearing makeup. If I’m not put together.”
“As long as you’re doing it for yourself and no one else,” he says.
I nod, even though I’m not sure how true that is.
“Two. I come from a well-off family.”
After a beat, Will laughs lowly. “The horror.”
“I just mean I’m not self-made or anything. I started Revenant mostly with my own savings, which came from my father, and only a little bit from the boutique where I steamed everything.”
When I look at our reflection, he’s still smiling at me. “Okay. Don’t forget I already knew this about you, Josephine.”
“Number three, I’m a workaholic. I have terrible work-life balance. I’m obsessive about my company. It isn’t conducive to a relationship.”
“As you’ve explained previously,” Will says.
