Page 58 of Tell Me What you Think

"God, Cardona, you're full of surprises. Are you sure you're not just confused? I mean, she kissed you out of nowhere…"

"I was, at first—confused, I mean, but not about the kiss itself. There were a few weeks where I thought I was going to lose my mind. I kept going back over my whole life looking for something I'd missed, even wondering if maybe my marriage had failed because of this."

"And?"

"It didn't. This is happening now and that's all there is to it—no need to go looking for more," the vice president says, wrapping it up.

Jordi folds his hands on the desk.

"Okay, so what's actually going on? Because you came to tell me this for a reason."

She leans back in the chair, surprisingly relaxed, gripping the armrests.

"Honestly, I'm not sure. I think I'm just a little on edge," she says with a smile, and he envies Olga for being so lucky.

"Why?"

"I invited her to dinner tonight, and she suggested her place."

Jordi bursts out laughing, and Marina's expression sours.

"What?"

"Come on, Marina, you're seriously scared of dinner at someone's apartment?"

She looks at him very seriously and sighs.

"No, I'm not scared of the dinner. What scares me is screwing it up, I guess."

"Because she's your subordinate?"

Marina runs a hand along the back of her neck, under the loose strands of her updo.

"No, that's the least of my concerns. We're both adults and we wouldn't be the first couple at this company. What scares me is her—doing something that makes her pull back. You don't know her that well, but anything that has to do with me makes her flush and trip over her words. I think I intimidate her, and I don't know how to stop that from happening."

He gets that smile again, the one Marina doesn't like, but when Jordi opens his mouth she lets it go.

"That'll go away when… you know."

The vice president's eyes go wide—then a laugh slips out of her.

"You think?"

"Don't you? It's like that teenage fear. You really like someone and you're terrified they'll reject you, or that you'll say something that makes them think you're an idiot. Has that never happened to you?"

She runs her tongue over her teeth.

"No, of course not—you've always been on the other side. I'd bet you've never had to work to get someone's attention," Jordi murmurs, eyes narrowed.

"Does that make me guilty of something?"

"No. Just inexperienced with people like Olga. That kind of nervousness usually fades with time—you get more secure, more confident—but there are people who never fully shake it. Every time they fall for someone, they go right back to the beginning. I'm guessing that's Olga."

"Huh. I hadn't thought about it that way."

"But you have thought about having something serious with her," he says with a grin.

"Excuse me?"