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I sit in my chair and we stare at each other, separated by my desk. I want to reach out and smooth the sadness from her face.
Hell, maybe kiss her again, if only so we can forget this hell for one bleeding minute.
Scratch that.
I definitely want to kiss her.
That greedy fire in my blood demands a lot more, too.
I grit my teeth, forcing the unsettled thoughts away. We agreed this was going to be the end, and it should be.
Mind over blue balls.
Remember how much trouble it’s caused already.
“Shepherd,” Destiny says, then pauses. “Mr. Foster...”
“If I can’t Miss Lancaster you, you’re not Mistering me, woman,” I growl.
Her unexpected smile feels like witnessing a miracle.
“Fine, but... what do I do now? What do we do?” Her tongue moistens her lips. I look away too quickly. “When I came up here this morning, everyone was—”
“Staring?” I interject.
“And whispering. Muttering a lot behind my back.”
“I’ll have Miss Cho put a stop to that. She’ll send an internal memo about the unfounded rumors today,” I say. “But since you’re here, you should go back to work.”
Her eyes dart up to meet mine, horrified. “In the office?”
“Where else?”
“But—”
“The worst thing we can do is acknowledge it. The second worst is pretending it’s going to stop us from moving ahead with revolutionizing wildlife tracking. Scandal or not, it doesn’t change the fact that our little outing convinced me your idea works.” My eyes search hers and I wait until she breathes. “Your presentation to the board is today, Dess. Finish prepping. Use everything we discussed and you witnessed over the weekend.”
“You think they’ll stillwantto hear it?”
“They’ll listen. If anyone breathes a word about unrelated hearsay, I’ll gladly stand in front of their firing squad.” By some miracle, I don’t snap at her.
There’s a chance that if I do, her entire body will shatter like blown glass.
She needs courage right now.
Destiny isn’t usually this fragile, and that worries me.
“We can’t deny we went out together,” I continue, making sure my voice is gentle. “However, if anyone wonders, the fact that you’re presenting our findings reinforces the idea that we went there to gather intel on the otters and our proprietary technology. There are a lot of good points begging for you to make them. Focus on that, and mute your phone.”
“Shepherd, I—” She takes a deep, slow breath and looks at her lap. “Okay.”
“I know it won’t be easy,” I tell her. “But if anyone says anything that tries to sidetrack you from this work, refer them to me immediately.”
She blinks at me. “Won’t that look suspicious? If you come charging down to defend me?”
“I won’t come personally unless it’s a board member,” I say. “I’ll send Hannah. One look is the only warning they’ll get before a termination notice shows up.”
A tiny smile touches Destiny’s lips. It feels like a victory.
