scalp. “Why won’t you let me make anything right? You won’t take any of the jobs you’ve been offered—”
She rose to her feet. “How do you know about that?”
“Forget I said anything.”
“No. How do you know about Executive Placements?” She crossed her arms.
“I referred you to them.”
“Okay, but how would you know if I took a placement or not?”
He shut his eyes.
She could tell she’d caught him. “It’s a subsidiary of WFG.” Of course, it was. “Is there anything you don’t own?”
“Come on, don’t be like that.”
“No, I’m serious. You think you can buy your way through life, claiming what you want, and that makes everything okay.” Brilla coiled around Raven’s legs.
“How else can I show you that I care about you? That I’m sorry?”
“Not by buying a car and delivering it to my house.”
“Why? Don’t women like grand gestures?”
She blurted out a laugh. “Not if we can’t tell if it’s for real or to buy forgiveness.”
Jack threw his hands up in the air. “Can’t it be both? If it weren’t for me, you wouldn’t have been on that island.”
“If it weren’t for you, a lot of things wouldn’t have happened,” she shot back.
The buy-out, firings, and benefits cuts. The best orgasms she’d ever had. A sense of calm and security she’d never felt before. The first timid opening of her scared heart.
“I did my job. I wasn’t trying to hurt you. What do you want from me?” His expression was pained.
To change the part of himself that she couldn’t accept. But that wasn’t her right to ask. And she didn’t even know if he could. So instead, she focused on what was possible.
She held out the key fob. “I want you to take this car back so I can take the train home.”
With defeated eyes, he took it and shoved it into his pocket. “Will you at least let me drive you to the station?”
She nodded. “Yes.” Only because it was faster than a car service. Definitely not because she wanted to spend more time with him, close to his body, smelling his warm, sandalwood and citrus scent, or basking for a few last moments in his smile.
They climbed into the Range Rover with Brilla and set out. Brilla popped her head between the two front seats and leaned her chin on the center console.
Raven rubbed her head. “There’s something I should’ve told you the last time we were together, but, well, you know how that ended.” She gave a small laugh.
He shot her a nervous look. “Should I be scared?”
“No. I didn’t spy on your company. Mari and the other disgruntled workers did that on their own. She’d called to tell me she’d gotten caught and fired. That’s what you overheard.”
Raven hadn’t planned to tell Jack she was innocent. For weeks, she’d been fine with him thinking she’d betrayed him. But seeing him now made her want to tell him the truth.
A grateful smile bent his lips. “Thanks. That means a lot.”
“So . . . how are things at Paulson Diagnostics?” she asked.
He laughed. “Am I supposed to answer that?”
She shrugged. “I wouldn’t have asked if I didn’t want to know. Is the game ready to launch?”
“We just approved the TouchDown marketing campaign.”
“Touch what?”
“It’s what we’re calling the device and game system. You know, you touch it, blood sugar goes down.”
Damn. It was catchy and better than what she’d had in mind—the PD Glucose Ultra Meter. But she’d be damned if she’d admit that. “It’s not terrible.”
He grinned. “It’s great, and you know it.”
She shrugged. “Okay, it’s good. Gimmicky, but memorable.”
“Which is why it’ll sell like hotcakes.”
“Anything else happening?”
“Tiffany’s only allowed to come into the office on Friday afternoons.”
“Most of the headquarters staff works at home on Fridays.”
“Exactly.”
Impressive. He was protecting the staff from Tiffany. “I’m sure she loves that.”
“I don’t care what she thinks. If she’s rude to my employees again, I’m banning her outright. She thinks being an executive means she can scream at people. That’s not the way it works.”
Raven’s chest warmed. “Thank you.”
“For what?”
“For looking out for the ones that are left.”
“It’s the only thing I can do for them . . . for now. Things will change when I’m in charge of WFG.”
“Sure.” Whenever that was. Raven doubted it’d ever come to pass. Beckett Winthrop was in his seventies but was in tip-top shape. And he obviously loved running the company. Otherwise he’d have been long gone.
“Kiara’s doing a great job at Paulson Diagnostics. She’ll be taking over so I can move on