Page 143 of Masters of Control

While Mr. Alexander toddled off after the host, Junior stopped for a moment to glare at her over Freddy’s head.

“We’ll talk on Monday.”

“Yes, we will.” She gave him a pointed stare. She was not going to be intimidated by him. As Olivia said, they were in her house. Marquis was hers. She could have them removed with the snap of a finger. And worry about her job didn’t have the same kind of control over her that it had.

Besides, if he fired her for having a personal life, she could sue the pants off the firm, and she would.

Disturbed his threat hadn’t had the effect he’d intended, Junior stared at her a moment longer. Olivia cleared her throat. Junior glanced over his shoulder at her, then scampered away, while the redhead shook her head. Olivia looked back at Camille, moving closer to the table, so she could talk without having to raise her voice.

“You should have let me kick them out.” She sounded disappointed. Around them, conversation resumed since the show was over.

“Sorry for ruining your fun,” Camille replied, a little smile lifting her lips. It would probably be less funny to her on Monday, but right now, she could joke about it, despite the little pit in her stomach that said she’d just messed up her life. She hadn’t.

“Don’t be. Now she can torture them all evening,” Freddy said, turning his head to look up at Olivia. She smiled fondly at him.

“He’s right. It’s going to be a fun evening. Maybe I’ll end up getting to kick them out, anyway. I’ll certainly be keeping a very close eye on them.” Sauntering away, Olivia followed to where the pair had been led. The table was on the other side of the dining room, thank goodness, but it meant she couldn’t see what Olivia was doing to them.

Probably for the best since it would have been a little distracting.

“Well, that was… unexpected.” She sighed, and Freddy looked at her with concern.

“Is it going to cause a problem for you at work?”

“Probably, but there’s only so much they can do. I’m already looking for a new job, so if they give me even more reason to jump ship, oh well.” She shrugged, even though she didn’t feel quite as nonchalant as she was pretending to be. “I can power through until then. If Junior convinces the rest of the partners to fire me because we’re dating, I’ll have good reason to sue.”

“What about your mom?”

The concern in his eyes made her want to reach across the table and kiss him. She loved that he immediately thought about what would be far more important to her than getting justice for herself.

“I can keep her where she is for a few months, which would hopefully give me enough time to find a job. Fingers crossed for Murdoch.” She held up one hand with her fingers crossed.

Freddy reached across the table toward her, and she reached back to take his hand, their fingers twining together.

“Anything you need, I’m happy to give it to you,” he said quietly, his gazed locked onto hers in a moment so achingly intimate, she could hardly bear it. Hearing him say that and knowing it was true, knowing he was there for her, that he wanted to help in whatever way she needed, made her feel painfully vulnerable.

“Thank you, but I hope you understand when I say I hope it doesn’t come to that.”

“Of course, I do.” A smile tugged at his lips. “It’s come to my attention that I’m not always very good about letting people help me, either. It’s a struggle.”

She had to laugh because he was right, and she believed he understood her problem on an intimate level. Squeezing his fingers, she filled her expression with all the gratitude she felt.

“Thank you.”

Freddy

Convincing Camille to go to Stronghold after dinner wasn’t difficult. He shot a message to Lexie to find out if any of the rooms were open for the evening. He nearly crowed with delight when he passed the answer on to Camille, and her eyes lit up.

Yes, the Office was exactly what she needed after the confrontation with her former client and one of her firm’s partners.

One upside to being at Marquis over Stronghold was the amount of privacy it afforded, and there was no way to get a room at Marquis for tonight. They headed over to Stronghold as soon as they were finished with dinner. Camille hadn’t actually been to Stronghold yet, and she wanted to look around. They would have some time to kill before dinner was ready, but Freddy had agreed, though he’d warned her they’d likely be ambushed by his friends. Alone time was much harder to arrange at Stronghold.

She said she didn’t mind.

He really hoped she meant that.

The moment they walked through the door, Lexie lit up from where she was standing behind the front desk. Beside her, Angel beamed at him. It was all he could do not to facepalm. He knew damn well Angel wasn’t on tonight. Though she occasionally volunteered to work the front desk when they didn’t have anyone to cover it, Lexie was more than capable of handling it on her own. It wasn’t like Marquis where she would have to lead people to their tables. All she had to do was get them checked in and take their coats and phones.

“Hello Mistress Camille,” Lexie and Angel chorused together, beaming so hard, Camille actually stumbled. She recovered quickly, partly because she had her arm threaded through Freddy’s, but clearly, she hadn’t been expecting to be greeted by name, despite his warning.