Nora lowers her feet to the floor. “Yes,” she answers.
“You’re really offering me a full-time job here?”
“Salaried with benefits. Yes.”
I close my mouth, suddenly realizing it was hanging open. “Why?” I ask.
She presses her red lips together. “I like having you around. You’re like…” She smiles. “Okay. When I was a kid, I only ever had vanilla ice cream.”
I laugh. “Oh, I see where this is going…”
She grins. “And all of my friends kept telling me about chocolate. And strawberry.”
“And rocky road?” I ask.
“And rocky road!”
“So, I’m your naughty, corrupting, devil ice cream,” I joke. “Is that it?”
“You’re that sweet, delicious, wonderful treat that I should have let myself have ages ago.” She runs her thumb along my cheek. “And I don’t want to give you up.”
“Even if I make you fat?”
“Especiallyif you make me fat.” She laughs. “How’s that for a performance evaluation?”
I shake my head in disbelief. “I don’t know what to say.”
“Say you’ll take it,” she says. “Or, at the very least, that you’ll think about it.”
“In that case…” I push forward, stopping just short of her lips. “I’ll think about it.”
Nora gently purses those perfect red lips against mine.
“Good boy,” she says.