“I mean like this.”
“I think it’s smart that in the office that it’s a separation. Outside of that, I won’t have a lot of demands on your time. Work or leisure. Sorry for that, but there are times after hours I’ve got other obligations.”
Dinner and drinks with colleagues, family, even friends.
Would he like to include her in them? Fuck yeah.
But now sure the hell wasn’t the time and he didn’t know when it’d be. If ever.
“Are we exclusive?” she asked.
“Hands down, yes. I don’t share. Nothing. And I meannothing.”
“You don’t have to worry about me stepping out. You’re the one more likely to do that.”
He wouldn’t be hurt by her words. She didn’t know him well enough to make that correct assessment.
“Many have judged me in the past and I’d like the person I’m with not to do that.”
She flushed, her eyes even got a little misty. “I’m sorry. That was uncalled for.”
“I don’t mean to come off like a dick, but it’s the truth. You’ve got your past and I’ve got mine.”
“Do I get to ask about yours?”
“In time,” he said. It wasn’t the place for this conversation. “I’m not as much of a player as you might think or even hear. Have you heard anything?”
“Not really. Blair has said little and I’m not talking to many in the office. I think they are wary of me.”
“And they will be for a while,” he said. “Feed off it.”
“No one can get a whiff of this,” she said. “I mean it. Not just about my father or what happened a month ago, but now. I don’t need that headache in my life.”
He wouldn’t be insulted over that either. Nora clearly had insecurities he was just touching the surface of. She’d find he’d had some too.
The only way to get her to open up was if he did the same.
“I won’t take offense to this. We are working our way around things. You commented on being exclusive and I said we are.”
“What are we?” she asked. “I don’t do friends with benefits. Or boss with benefits. I don’t know. I don’t know any of that.”
“We are feeling the other out. Dating but privately. That is how I operate normally.”
“Really? Or you’re just saying that to make me feel better?”
“It’s what I do. If I’m with someone who is out there boasting, bragging, or broadcasting, it ends quickly. It’s happened in the past and I think I’ve got a reputation for it. On the first date, it’s brought up.”
“You didn’t do any of that with me.”
“Because you left before I could the next day,” he said.
He might need to fill her in on his brother too. If Eli and Griffin knew, then Egan would. Just one of those sibling things. Best to clear the air with everything while he had the chance.
“Did you really want more with me?”
“I did,” he said. “If I didn’t, I wouldn’t have had you come in for that interview. I would have found an excuse to shut it down.”
“You said you wanted to talk to me.”
