Page 298 of Sexting His Assistant

My weight is on my forearms so I don’t crush her, but she keeps pulling me down like she wants all of me there anyway.

Her fingers slide through my hair. “You’re heavy,” she says.

I start to move.

She tightens her arms. “I didn’t say move.”

I settle back carefully.She sighs under me, satisfied.

The house is silent. No staff. No security inside. No footsteps in the hall. No Meredith outside my office door.

Just Nina breathing beneath me.

After a minute, she says, “Your mother is terrifying.”

“Yes.”

“She planned this entire thing.”

“Yes.”

“She told me you were brooding too much and needed to be handled.”

I lift my head. “She said that?”

Nina nods. “More or less.”

“I’m going to fire every man who left this house with her.”

“You are not.”

“I might.”

“She also said you would threaten that.”

I stare at her. Nina smiles. I lower my head and kiss the smile off her mouth. She makes a tired sound, but her hand slides down my back anyway.

“You need rest,” I say.

“You need to stop talking like Mirov.”

“I will never forgive you for that comparison.”

She laughs softly. Then she looks at me, and the humor fades just enough. “You know I don’t blame you.”

I don’t answer.

Her hand touches my jaw. “For Meredith.”

“Nina.”

“No. Listen. I don’t blame you.”

“I blame me.”

“I know,” she says. “But I’m alive. Misha is alive. Alina’s safe. Meredith ran, but she didn’t win.”

I look at her for a long moment. “She’s still out there.”