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Caesar just stands there, and I’m not sure why. It’s unsettling seeing him behind me in the reflection from my monitor.
I turn in my chair toward him and muster my calm. “Sir, it’s hard to work with you standing over my shoulder like that. There’s a storm coming anyway. Shouldn’t you get home?”
He looks out the wall of windows surrounding us. “It doesn’t look too bad out there.”
“Not yet. That’s why it’s a weather alert. So we can prepare now, before the emergency hits. The app I use only ever notifies you for big ones.”
Caesar thinks for a minute. “Okay, I’ll drop you off.”
I don’t understand what he’s saying at first.Drop me off where?Then I realize he means escorting me home. He stands to the side and holds his elbow as if he’s escorting me to a dance.
“I have a lot more work to finish up this afternoon. I can’t leave.”
“Sure you can. You have the boss’s permission. I’ll drop you off at your place. Get your things, and we’ll go.”
When it finally sinks in, I’m incredulous. Asking me about my likes and dislikes is one thing, but myapartment?That’s too far. “Please don’t worry about me. You go. I’ll be fine. If I don’t do more work today, it’ll affect your schedule, and I know you don’t want that.”
He cocks his head. “I’ll deal with it then, and I’ll take the blame for it. What I won’t take, at least for this, is ‘no’ for an answer. I’m not letting you stay here when there’s a big storm coming. I’ll get Bree and some others in the office tomorrow to help you with the extra work.”
There is no way out of it. “Okay, sir. Has anyone ever told you you’re persuasive?”
He laughs hard. “Come on. Let’s go down. I’ll call Ted, and he’ll get the car from the garage.”
We lock up our section of the office and say goodnight to the guard, then head down in the elevator. Ted is already waiting outside in the Lexus.
I take a deep breath and hop into the backseat, and Caesar sits next to me. He keeps up his line of questioning, and I start to give him a little more, talking about what brought me to New York.
“I came here for school, and I just never left.”
“Do you think of living anywhere else?”
“Maybe, but for now I’m happy. I have a job I like and all.”
By the time we arrive at my apartment, the sky has opened up. When Caesar offers to walk me up, he makes it difficult to refuse.
What am I doing?My heart races as he proffers his arm to lead me to my apartment building’s door. There’s never been a man in my home before.
I try to calm down when the doorman lets us in. Then I try to calm down in the elevator, my thoughts going a mile a minute. I don’t know how these things work or how to ask him to leave politely.
When we get to my apartment, he takes the key from my shaking hand, lets us in, and steps directly into the kitchen. He surveys my cabinets, retrieves two wine glasses, pulls a bottle of white from the fridge, and sits on my couch.
“You coming?” He’s looking back at me with an expectant expression.
“Don’t you have to get home?” I ask.
“Nope! It’s coming down out there. I gave Ted the rest of the night off. I’ll get a cab home after we eat. Let’s get Chinese. I heard it’s your favorite.”
“What?” I’m flabbergasted. My boss has invited himself into my apartment and is sitting on my couch drinking my wine and offering to order me my favorite meal.How did this happen?
“Sit.” He extends his arm to gesture toward the seat at his left. Mechanically, I join him on the couch. “So you were talking about your family. Is this them?”
He notices a picture on the coffee table. I nod as he picks it up. “Whoa. I had no idea your dad was a U.S. Senator. Carter as in Delano Carter?”
“The very same.”
“How come you’re in New York and not D.C. in that case?”
I shrug. “I wanted to go into international relations, and I kind of wanted to escape the family business. He’s always supported me.”
