Page 138 of Fierce-Zander

“I do. It’s hard to be the one to apologize.”

“Yes,” Betsy said. “It is. But a strong man can swallow his pride and admit he’s a jackass.”

He snorted. “I can.”

“And there she is,” Betsy said. He turned his head and saw Regan get off the elevator. She had a large coffee in her hand and was moving briskly as if she wanted to avoid being seen or stopped.

He wasn’t giving her that chance and moved just as fast to whip open his door.

“Can we talk?”

“Sure,” she said. “Are you positive you want to? Our last communication ended with me almost two days ago. I wasn’t sure if you have it formulated in your head yet.”

He wasn’t going to bite his tongue when he wanted to.

He was being the childish one not talking when that wasn’t like him.

“I’m ready. I guess maybe my pride has made it hard for me to do it before now.”

She turned before she opened the door. “You wanted me to make the first move,” she said. “I didn’t do anything wrong. I believe I’ve been very accommodating to your requests even when I haven’t wanted to do it.”

She was being professional and the bite of the words stung hard. “You have been. I’m the one that hasn’t seen it.”

“Or you wanted it all your way. Maybe for me to be the damsel in distress and say what a big strong boyfriend you are to me.”

She said that when she opened her office door and Miles was sitting at his desk, his mouth open.

Guess he wasn’t the only one that was stunned by the words Regan was saying.

“Maybe,” he said.

Admitting that in front of Miles only resulted in a covered laugh.

Their two assistants were getting earfuls today. Maybe working next to each other wasn’t so great.

“Come into my office and we can talk,” she said and kept walking.

He looked at Miles and saw the smirk. “Am I creating an invoice for this?” Miles asked.

“I’ll let you know when we are done,” she said.

Ouch.

He was going to get his ass handed to him.

He shut her door and sat down on the couch facing the chair she normally sat in for her sessions.

Regan took her time removing her jacket and hanging it up and then took her seat.

“I’m sorry,” he said right away. “I was a jackass and didn’t listen to what you were saying. I didn’t ask your opinion. I just started to give mine and say what I think you should do.”

She sat there and looked at him for five seconds. “Why is that?” she asked. Yep, she was in professional mode and not even accepting what he said.

He had that coming, he knew.

“I’ve got this fear I’m going to let you down. Not just a protection part because I’m standing behind that right now. I feel this is serious and we have to address the threats too. But more from a relationship part. My parents have a great marriage in my eyes. They were able to do it with both of their demanding careers. I haven’t had that luck.”

“Have you tried before?” she asked.

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