Page 57 of Wild Love
“Nah.” She glares at me head-on now. “It’s too much.”
“No, it’s not. I pay my employees well. Always have.”
She shakes her head. “This is a start-up. It’s not in the budget. I’ve been working on those spreadsheets. Iknow.”
I tilt my head and give her my best are-you-fucking-kidding-me look. “Rosalie. It’s in the budget.”
“You don’t give people with zero experience a signing bonus like this. I don’t even have references.”
My molars clamp down at the mention of her fucking references. “I do.”
Her lashes flit rapidly, like she’s trying to keep from crying. And god, I hope she doesn’t cry. If she cries, I’ll be up and out of this chair faster than you can say,Stan Cumberland is dead.
“I don’t deserve this.” Her lips wobble as she stares down at the check again.
“Rosalie.” I say, and she takes a deep breath. Our eyes lock, and I give her a moment to get her bearings.
Then I tell her the simple truth. “You are worth every penny.”
Her jaw pops as her teeth clamp down, and her shoulders do this little shimmy as she pulls herself up taller and one hundred thousand dollars richer.
I thought it was enough to help her situation without making it seem like a handout.
Truthfully, it didn’t seem like that much to me. Which is bizarre and wholly out of touch if I let myself think about it.
To Rosie, it seems like this might be a lot of money. But from where I’m sitting, she deserves so much more.
“Ford, I?—”
I lean forward, hanging on to her every word.
But that’s when Bash comes stomping back, announcing, “You’ve got mold.”
Rosie mouths a silent but carefully pronouncedthank youas she clutches the check to her chest and wipes at the corner of one eye.
And I spend all day wondering what she was about to say.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
FORD
Tonight isa night I would have chosen to spend away from Rosie. I need to create a little distance. My train of thought constantly reorients to her, my eyes constantly search for her, my body turns in her direction without me even thinking about it.
It seems I’m attuned to her no matter what I do.
So it tracks that I was both thrilled and devastated when I walked in to Cora announcing she and Rosie were playing a game of Monopoly. I tried to leave them to it, but participation wasn’t optional. Now I’m stuck spending my downtime trying not to stare at Rosalie Belmont.
My body doesn’t seem to recognize that she is now my employee in an official capacity. But my brain does. My brain ispainfullyaware that not only is Rosalie Belmont my best friend’s little sister, but she’s also someone I can’t cross professional boundaries with.
“Oh my god!Another one?”
At the kitchen table, Rosie rubs her hands together with an evil grin as she places yet another hotel on the Boardwalk. “Listen, little storm cloud, I told you I was good at this game. I always have been. Ask Ford. I kicked his ass at this game as a teenager.”
My lips flatten. “No, you didn’t.”
“Ha! Yes, I did. It’s actually incredible that you became as successful as you are with how truly terrible you are at Monopoly.”
“I’m not terrible. I just have different priorities.”
