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“No. And Maggie?”
“Yes?”
“Neither do you.”
Maggie stared up at the heights of Alex’s condo building with a symphony of doubt singing in her ears. The building wasn’t quite as pointedly “conqueror of worlds” as the Ice headquarters but it was still a testament to luxury and money and power. Gleaming glass and marble and stone streaking toward the sky and reflecting back all the other testaments to luxury and money and power that surrounded them.
Alex lived right at the pinnacle of all that.
And he was home.
Gardner had yielded that tidbit. No doubt he’d immediately told Alex after she’d hung up the phone but she couldn’t help that.
If he’d chosen to leave and not be here when she arrived then she’d deal with that.
Right now she had to deal with him.
She checked in at the front desk and was directed to the same separate penthouse elevator that had whisked her heavenward back at the party. That damned party. That was when she’d made her first mistake and given in to that damned mistletoe.
This time she didn’t care if he’d papered the place in mistletoe. There would be no kissing.
The door was open when she stepped out of the elevator. At least there was an outer hall. She’d been in other mind-bogglingly expensive apartments throughout the city, and she’d never liked the ones where you stepped straight out into the apartment. It made her feel like a trespasser.
Much like she was feeling now as she pushed the door all the way open and stuck her head through.
No Alex waiting for her in the foyer. She glanced upward. The light fixture—gleaming industrial steel-and-glass—was free of any adornment.
Small mercies at least.
She made up her mind and stepped into the apartment, pulling the door closed behind her. Where was the man? She remembered the layout from the party. Alex’s bedroom and an office were off the long hallway that led to the kitchen. And the vast living space was through the doors directly ahead of her.
But if he was in that room, surely he would have come out to greet her by now?
Unless he was doing something stupid and male and wanted her to have to come searching for him. Like some damned supplicant.
She paused, considering. She wasn’t going to play that game, that was for damned sure. She pulled out her phone and dialed his number.
“Yes?” Alex said when he answered.
“I’m standing in your damned foyer, where are you? I assume Gardner told you I was coming.”
“Yes, he did.” The cool voice didn’t come through her phone. She turned and saw him in the doorway that led to the hall. “I’m sorry, I was on a call. What can I do for you, Maggie?” He didn’t come any closer.
Well, that was good. She wouldn’t lose her mind if he didn’t come any closer. She would be able to say what she had come to say and then she’d be able to leave with her dignity mostly intact.
“I came to tell you what I decided.”
He went, if it was possible, even stiller. “I see.”
“I said no to Sutter.” She steeled herself for what came next, hating the smile that bloomed on his face. She shoved a hand out to ward him off as he started to move. He stopped, looking puzzled. “I haven’t finished. I said no to Sutter and I want to keep working with you, but that’s all. I can’t sleep with you anymore, Alex.”
He blinked. “Do I get to know why?”
“Because I should have listened to my instincts in the first place. It’s too complicated. If we’re working together, you need to be able to tell me to do something and I need to not react like your girlfriend when that something affects me. Maybe some people can separate the two. Maybe you can. But I can’t. So we need to stop.”
He bowed his head for a moment, took a single breath. Then a single step.
“Alex—,” she said warningly.
