Page 57 of Last Minute Fiancé

“You can’t just hire me because I’m your friend.”

“Actually, I can do exactly that. I’m the boss. You need a job, and I need someone with your talent for my multimillion-dollar company. I mean, I was going to try to poach you before, and then you went full speed ahead with this promotion thing, and now the pregnancy? It felt a little wrong to try and poach you. But now I don’t even have to. You can come to me willingly. Look I’m the spider and you’re the precious little fly in my web.” Paisley frowned. “Not that, well, I shouldn’t really call you a fly. I’m not going to keep you for later then eat you. At least parts of you. I really don’t know how a spider eats a fly. I should look that up.”

Addison set down her cookie, looking a little green. “And on that note, I’m done with the cookies.”

“I think I’m done with anything remotely connected to food,” I said, equally as queasy.

“I went off on a tangent, but for real. You’re brilliant. And I was going to offer you a job. But I was going to be casual and cool and find a way to secretly make it happen so you wanted to work for me. You could work for anyone in this town, or in any state for that matter.”

Panic settled in, before Paisley looked at me. “Not that she’s going to move. I mean, you’re going to have a baby together. And your practice is here, you just moved here—and I’m going off into another tangent again. Anyway, you should work with us. I haven’t told Devney I’m asking, but she and I have been talking about how amazing it would be to have you working with us. Because we would be able to take on the world. Between my departments, her in PR, and you coming in on finance? It’s perfect. I’ve needed someone with your talents for a while now, and I haven’t found them. Harrington-Wells III’s loss is my gain.”

“But I quit, he didn’t fire me,” Addison said as she wiped away tears. I cursed under my breath and handed her the box of tissues.

She mouthed the words “thank you” before taking one and blowing her nose.

“He was going to make sure you never got what you deserved anyway. You deserve everything. And you should also know that now that I’m working with Kelly, I’m trying to also lure Nathan over. But you guys would be in two separate positions so it won’t be a competition thing. I want the best, and you are the best. You can work from home, you can arrange things however you need to. And with Devney also pregnant, I already said that I’d be working on expanding the childcare section, so there you go. We’ll find a way to make it work. Because I believe that no matter how you choose to live your personal life, my company shouldn’t be taking the life out of you. Work for me. Get medical insurance, get that paycheck, and get a job that you could actually do with joy. Make me happy. Because it is all about me.”

I needed Addison to say yes. Because just the thought of her moving to work for a better company in another city? That hadn’t even occurred to me. I’d been so worried about making sure that Addison didn’t panic that I didn’t think about the fact that she could leave. She could go at any time, and we still didn’t even have a plan. I hadn’t even told her how I felt. I had barely let myself think about what I felt.

Because I was in love with her. At least, that’s what I thought this feeling was. I hadn’t really had it like this before. It had been different with Ashleigh. Everything had been different with Ashleigh. But Addison wasn’t Ashleigh.

I knew that, and so did she.

And now I was going in circles.

“Paisley, I can’t be a pity hire.”

“If you call yourself that one more time, I’m going to hit you. And I don’t want to hit a pregnant woman, but I will.”

“I’m just…I don’t know what to do.”

“Work for me. Let me help with that part. You’ve got a lot on your plate.” Paisley looked between us, and finally Addison smiled.

“Okay. Okay.”

She moved forward, presumably to hug Paisley, but before she took more than a step, she looked at me, her eyes wide with what looked like fear.

“I don’t—” but she didn’t get the rest of the sentence out before her knees gave out, and I ran towards her with my arms outstretched.

She fell into my arms, unconscious, and my world shattered.

* * *

“I should be back there with her. Why aren’t I?” I growled, pacing the waiting room.

“Because you’re not on her emergency contact list. Only her parents are, her parents who are out of town right now. But it’s okay, she’s going to let you back there, and everything is going to be okay.”

I looked over at Paisley and raised my brow at her voice going that high-pitched.

“I see you’re panicking with me right now?”

“All the damn panic. But it’s okay. Everyone will get here soon and we’re going to fill this waiting room, and then we’re just going to find out that I gave her too much sugar with all those cookies and it’s all my fault.”

I held out my arms and Paisley reluctantly came into them, hugging me tightly for one moment before letting go.

“Thank you. I needed that. Please don’t tell your brother.”

My lips lifted into a smile despite the fact I had no desire to. “Don’t worry, I won’t. Did you call Jacob?” I asked, speaking of her boyfriend.

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