“But I did scare you.”
“Yeah.” The word came out quietly, but at least it came out.
For a moment, neither of us said anything, then Tobias glanced toward the open study door.
“Ben will speak with you as well.”
“Ben?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I am aware my presence may make it difficult for you to speak honestly.”
That one caught me off guard.
Because it was true.
And because I hadn’t expected him to know that.
Ben found me later in my office, carrying two coffees and wearing the kind of sympathetic expression that made me suspicious on instinct.
He set a coffee on my desk. “Thought you might need this.”
“I’m fine,” I told him.
“Didn’t say you weren’t.”
I looked at the cup, then took it, grateful for the warmth it brought. “Thanks.”
Ben then dropped onto the sofa, sipping his coffee.
It was a few minutes before he said anything.
“He told me what happened.”
My face went hot, and I avoided Ben’s gaze by staring into my cup. “Yeah?”
“He was upset.”
That made me laugh once, dry and awkward. “Hewas upset?”
“Yes.”
“He wasn’t the one who woke up to his boss watching him sleep.”
“No,” Ben agreed. “He wasn’t. And he’s well aware that he fucked up.”
“If it had been anyone else…” I stopped, throat tightening around the rest of the sentence.
“You’d be gone,” Ben finished for me.
I nodded.
If literally anyone else had done what Tobias had the night before—billionaire or not, employer or not, gorgeous private aquarium or not—I would have run for the hills. Packed my bag, blocked the number, called whoever I needed to call, and never went near that cliffside house ever again.
That was the part I had been trying not to look at too closely.
