Page 142 of Serving the Mogul

“Hmm, girlfriend,” I murmured, but now my mind was on something other than the Biscayne project.

Girlfriend,It was the first time I’d ever had someone to call a girlfriend. I liked it.

“James?” Tina eyed me warily.

“Oh, sorry. I got hung up on the word girlfriend.”

She smiled, her cheeks flushing a bit.

“Come here.” I held out a hand, and she came to me. “But to answer your question, no. I hired you because I knew you’d do a great job. And... I’m offering you the chance to do the rest of the hotel because I know you’ll do more than just a great job. Our relationship has nothing to do with it.”

She smiled and said, “Then I accept.”

I rested my hands on her waist. “Excellent.”

Delight danced in her eyes as she rose onto her toes. “I can’t wait to tell my boyfriend about my new job. We’ll have to celebrate.”

Dipping my head, I covered that smiling mouth with my own.

Fifty-One

Tina

“You look exhausted.”

James came in behind me and nudged me farther into the foyer of the house so he could shut the door.

I stumbled into the spacious living room and fell, face down, on the sofa. “Emmphh.”

My response was probably not an actual word. I had no idea what it sounded like to James.

The cushions gave way as he sat down on the end and he stroked a hand down my hair.

“You okay?”

I turned my face, so he’d hear something besides unintelligible mumbling, and said, “Tired.”

“How did it go with your parents?”

Sighing, I wiggled farther up onto the couch and turned so I could rest my head on his thigh. “Hell has no fury like a mother scared. Andignored.”

“But you called her the night of the fire.”

“James, James, James. The night of the fire barely counts,” I said. “For all she knows, I could have suffered some weird panic-related malaise after I went to work on Monday.”

“She didn’t really say that.”

I snickered. “How do you know? You’ve never met her.”

“True.” He kept finger-combing my hair. “But I’m just not seeing it.”

I laughed and rolled onto my back so I could smile at him. “You’re right. She might mumble it to my dad but she wouldn’t say it to me.” Then my guilt returned. “I should’ve gone over there this morning. I just…I don’t want tothinkabout it and with people hovering, that’s all I’d do.”

“They worry about you.” James cupped my cheek, his thumb stroking my lower lip. “Well, at least you’ve got that.”

“Yeah. I know.” I covered his hand with mine. “It could be worse. At least it’s just me, my sister, and my parents. You’ve got enough family members your dad could form his own militia. If they started worrying…”

He blanched at my remark. “Bite your tongue.”

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