Page 19 of Make Her Mine

“Clearly.” Holly sounded impressed, and Esme was sure it was against her will. “Mom, you’ve gotten yourself into a real mess. I should be telling you to keep not seeing her. But I hate to see you upset. Why did you get so mad about her suggestion, anyway?”

“I didn’t want it to lead us to some kind of slippery slope of getting more involved…” She knew even before Holly’s face contorted into a comical expression of consternation that it sounded stupid. “Don’t.”

“Oh, but I have to. That’s dumb as hell.” Holly laughed. “Mom! You’re already on the slippery slope. So the way I see it, you have two choices. Either stay away like you should do or just freakin’ text her already.” She held up her crocheting. “And can we get back to our crafting now?”

Esme glanced at her end table, where her phone was sitting on a wireless charger. She leaned over and picked it up. “Yeah. Give me a minute.”

Next to Nora’s desk, Laurie was a virtual statue, standing with her mouth open and her tablet held forgotten in her hands. Nora sighed. “Earth to Laurie.”

Laurie snapped her mouth shut and set the tablet carefully on Nora’s desk. She pinched the bridge of her nose between her fingers and closed her eyes. “Explain this to me again. Slowly.”

“I don’t know how slow I need to go. It’s pretty simple.” Nora shrugged. “I’ve been involved with Esme Bloom.”

“Simple!” Laurie nearly choked out the words. “Do you know what kind of ethical quagmire you’ve gotten yourself into? Fucking the tenant of a building that you’re in active negotiations to buy? A tenant you intend to evict? Simple is the last thing this is!”

“Yes, I am aware there are some ethical issues here,” Nora admitted. “I’m not stupid.”

“Are you sure about that?”

Nora stood up. “Okay, I normally don’t pull rank on you, but you’ve crossed the line into disrespectful territory, Laurie.”

Laurie stepped back and closed her eyes again, breathing in slowly through her nose, and out through her mouth. After a few beats, she opened her eyes again and met Nora’s gaze. “I’m sorry, Boss.”

“Apology accepted.” Nora sat back down at her desk and propped her chin in her hand. “I repeat. I am aware of the issues. I’ve just been…ignoring them.”

“This is unlike you.” Laurie’s sleek red ponytail bounced as she shook her head. “Is this why you’ve been stalling on completing the purchase? Why you’ve been nitpicking the building inspection results, making Legal go over the contracts with a fine-tooth comb? You know they’ve been tearing their hair out, right?”

“I know, I know.” Guilt, still something of a stranger to Nora, twisted her stomach.

Laurie rubbed her temples. “What’s the draw here? Why this woman? All the time I’ve known you, you have essentially lived for the work you do. What could Esme Bloom have done to eclipse that?”

“She…” Nora couldn’t stop a goofy smile from spreading across her face. “She’s beautiful, inside and out. Passionate in her convictions. Absolutely infuriating, too, never met anyone with such a hairpin trigger on their temper…”

“Only for you would something like that be appealing.” It really looked like poor Laurie was getting a headache, and Nora felt a little bad that she found any humor in how she was obviously tormenting her assistant. After the last two weeks of silent pining for Esme, though, she was glad for any little mood-lift she could get.

Laurie was, of course, not nearly as amused. She leaned forward, bracing her hands on Nora’s desk. There was a steely glint in her narrowed gray eyes. “You do intend to purchase this building? And you still plan to evict the Indigo Lounge?”

“Yes to the building purchase. And I would like to try to help relocate the Lounge if at all possible. For what this building is going to cost to upgrade and renovate, I need strongly profitable businesses in all of the spaces from the get-go. I don’t see how we can keep the Lounge there.” Sitting back in her desk chair, Nora lifted her hands in a helpless half-shrug. “I know it’s messy.”

“First time I’ve ever heard you undersell anything,” Laurie muttered. She moved over to the leather chairs in front of Nora’s desk and dropped down into one with a thump. Crossing one slender leg over the other, she eyeballed Nora and shook her head once again. “Again, ethically, this is a major, major problem, Boss. I’m pretty sure someone can come after us for it legally if it gets out, although I’m not sure if it’s the Fairchilds or Ms. Bloom who’s got the case.”

“No one has to know; I wouldn’t even have told you if you hadn’t…” Nora’s face went hot.

“If I hadn’t come in here and caught you dancing around in glee, yes, I know.” Laurie cocked her head. “What’s up with that, anyway?”

“Um, we had another argument, one of many because you know, her temper, and then she didn’t contact me for two weeks, but she reached out this weekend and today she actually asked me to come by the Indigo Lounge,” Nora recited in a rush, tucking her hair behind her ears in an unaccustomed self-conscious gesture.

“When?”

“Tonight.” Nora looked directly at her assistant, daring her to say anything more.

Laurie certainly looked like she had a lot to say, but she simply pursed her lips and stood up. “Your calendar is clear this afternoon. If you’d like to go home. I’m sure this will be another late night.”

“Didn’t take you long to put two and two together,” Nora remarked.

“There’s a reason I’m your assistant, and nobody else. I’ve known something was going on. It’s finding out who it was with that shocked me.” Laurie turned to go but hesitated in the doorway. “I hope you know what you’re doing, Boss.”

She kept walking, so she didn’t hear Nora whispering in a breath, “I don’t.”

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