Page 107 of Boss Me

“Mad? It’s hard to tell. He’s always in control. He walked out voluntarily. Calmly. I wish I could be like that.”

“No.” I pictured Cooper the way he sometimes was before you got to know him, icy and aloof. So what if he got a little hot sometimes? I could handle it. He could, too. “I love you just the way you are.”

He cleared his throat. “I did have security walk my father out. I got a bit…heated over that. And it was a good thing I didn’t find that guy who attacked you on the island. Who hid video cameras in our bedroom.”

I blinked. “Wait, what?”

“I saw him in the building before the board meeting. The housekeeper we saw that day we came back from town. I confronted Weston after the meeting, and he admitted he hired him to follow me. He said the guy wasn’t supposed to jump you. Only send intel back. Weston said it was because he was concerned for my mental health.” He gripped his fork with a force that would have bent one of Mimi’s flimsy ones.

I wanted to break something, too. “That asshole.”

“I let my security guys know he’s in San Francisco. They’ll find him if they can.”

“Oh, my God. All that, plus Weston threw your father in your face again. Are you okay?”

He set his fork on his plate and reached across the white tablecloth to hold my hand. “I am now.”

I leaned over and kissed his cheek. “So, the buyout?”

“Not happening. But I don’t think we’ve heard the last of the merger conversation. Some of the board, not only Weston, thought it was the best path for Synergy’s future. For our security. We’ll prove him wrong.” He looked up, his eyes blazing.

I swallowed. “I’ll support you all the way.”

He knew without my having to say it that I wouldn’t go back to Synergy. Not as his assistant. Not even in marketing after I got my degree. “And what about you? What will you do?”

“Keep looking for a job. At least I can pay my tuition now, thanks to your gift.”

“You can’t sell that stock to pay your tuition. The price is going to soar. Just you wait.” His cheeks glowed with confidence. I shivered.

“Listen to me, Ben. Really listen.” He waited until I met his gaze. “I know you don’t want to be dependent on anyone, but let me do this for you. Let me pay your tuition. Go to school full time. How long would your degree take if you did that?”

“A-assuming I could get the classes I need, just one more semester. But I pay by the class, so—”

“Don’t worry about the money,” he growled. “I know the value of a good education. I also have connections at a number of foundations that help kids. Isn’t that what you’re interested in?”

Shit, he remembered. I blinked back the burn in my eyes. “Yeah.”

“I could get you a part-time internship at one of them while you go to school. It could turn into a permanent job after you graduate.”

“You—I—you can’t.”

“Why not? You’re an excellent employee. Consider it an investment in San Francisco’s youth. In Synergy’s future workforce.”

“Wow.” I set down my fork. “Way to make your very generous offer sound unromantic.” But it was a lie. Cooper took care of those he loved, and now I was in the group of loved ones he cared for.

He leaned back in his chair, his blue eyes shining. “I haven’t even started the romantic part. You asked about business, so I gave you business. Will you consider my offer?”

“Yes.” I’d be a fool to pass it up. And once I had a job in my field, I could pay him back the tuition money.

“All right, then.” He shoved his plate a little away from himself, and our observant waiter whisked it away, along with mine. “I’d like you to come home with me tonight.”

I flashed him a wicked smile. “I think I already agreed to do that. Remember, we’re doing Netflix and chill without the Netflix?”

He gave me a look, and I shivered. I could imagine him looking at me like that as I knelt before him, lowering his zipper.

“I’d like you to come home with me and stay. I’ve got more space in that house than I could ever need. Seven bedrooms, and you’d get your choice. Though I hope”—he picked a crumb off the tablecloth—“you’ll choose mine.”

“What, and give up Mimi’s ratty sofa?” I waited for a smile that didn’t come. Okay, I guessed some things you didn’t joke about with Cooper Fallon. “I’m kidding. Yes, let’s do it. On a trial basis, anyway. You might hate how I throw my socks on the floor.”

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