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“I knew you’d hate this and maybe it was bad timing coming in to talk to you right after your latest battle with Gabe. But yes. I need a change.” She stared up into his grass-green eyes and felt a pang of regret that she was leaving. His dark brown hair was mussed, no doubt because he’d been stabbing his fingers through it again while arguing with Gabe. His tie was loosened and that alone was so damn sexy, her breath caught in her throat.
What was it about this man that hit her on so many levels? It wasn’t just how gorgeous he was or the way he made her yearn with just a glance. He was strong and smart and tough and the combination was a constant temptation to her. So resigning was really her only choice.
How could she want him so badly and stay in a position that guaranteed she’d never have him?
“Damn it, Sadie what is it you want changed, exactly?”
“My life,” she said, looking up into his eyes and willing him to see her, not just his always professional assistant. But he never would. She was like the fax machine or a new computer. There to do a job. “Do you know my brother, Mike, and his wife, Gina, just had their third baby?”
Confusion shone in his eyes. “So? What’s that got to do with you?”
“Mike’s wife is two years younger than me.” She threw her hands up in disgust. “She has three kids. I have four dead plants.”
“What the hell does that mean?”
She sighed a little. She’d known going in that quitting wouldn’t be easy. That Ethan would try to keep her by offering raises, promotions, vacations. But she hadn’t realized how hard it would be to tell him what was bothering her. What was driving her to leave. Heck, she’d only recently figured it out for herself.
“I want a family, Ethan. I want a man to love me...” You, her brain whispered, but she shut that inner voice down fast. “I want kids, Ethan. I’m almost thirty.”
“Seriously?” He pushed the edges of his jacket back and stuffed both hands into his pants pockets. “That’s what this is about? A biological clock moment?”
“Not just a moment,” she told him. “I’ve been thinking about this for a while. Ethan, we work fifteen-hour days, sometimes more. I haven’t been on a date in forever and haven’t had sex in three years.”
He blinked.
She winced. Okay, she hadn’t meant to tell him that. Bad enough that Sadie knew the pitiful truth. Downright embarrassing for Ethan to know it. “My point is, I don’t want to look back when I’m old and gray and all alone—except for a cat and I don’t even like cats—and have the only thing I can say about my life be, Boy, I really was a good assistant. Kept that office running smoothly, didn’t I?”
“Doesn’t sound like a bad thing.”
Exasperated, Sadie stabbed her index finger at him. “That’s because you don’t have a life, either.” Yes, it had been forever since she’d been with anyone. But he was no better. “You bury yourself in your work. You never talk to anyone but me or Gabe. You own a damn mansion in Dana Point, but you’re never there. You eat takeout at your desk and pour everything you have into charts and ledgers, and that’s not healthy.”
One dark eyebrow arched. “Thanks very much.”
Sadie took a step back, mostly because standing so close to him was hard on her nerve endings. He smelled good. His jaw was tight, his eyes flashing and he looked...too tempting. Not for the first time, she wondered what would happen if she threw herself at his chest and wrapped her arms around his neck. Would he hold her back? Kiss her senseless?
Or would he be horrified and toss her to one side?
Since she was quitting, she could easily find out the answers. But the truth was, she wasn’t sure she wanted to know. Sometimes a really good fantasy was way better than reality.
“This isn’t about me and my life,” he pointed out.
“In a way it is,” she said. “Maybe if you hire an assistant who insists on a nine-to-five schedule, you’ll get out of this office once in a while.”
“Fine.” He jumped on her statement. “You want nine to five, we can do that.”
