Another knock. By this point, Ben sounded extremely pissed as he shouted through the door. “I just thought I should let you two know that a maintenance man is on his way up to open this door.”
J.D. turned back. “We’re out of time, Payton. You said it yourself: the only way we’ll make it is for us to go into this together. I know we can do this. But I need you to believe it. You need to believe . . . in us.”
Payton didn’t say anything for a long moment, and J.D. could literally hear his heart beating.
Then she finally answered.
“It would have to be called Kendall and Jameson.”
It took J.D. a moment to catch on. Then he grinned. “No way. Jameson and Kendall. It’s alphabetical.”
“You told our boss that you banged me on top of your desk.”
“Kendall and Jameson sounds great.”
Payton smiled, victorious.
“So we’re really going to do this?” J.D. asked.
She stuck out her hand. “Should we shake on it?”
He took Payton’s hand and stood up, pulling her with him. “I want to hear you say it, Payton. Are we really going to do this?”
She nodded. “Yes.”
“Good. Then you should know that starting today, I never, ever want to spend another day without you.”
Payton’s expression changed, and the lighthearted smile turned into something deeper. She moved closer to J.D., taking his hands in hers.
“Done,” she said softly.
J.D. brought his hand to her face and kissed her, more gently than ever before, more lingering, because for the first time he felt absolutely nothing hanging over their heads, nothing standing between them. They had all the time in the world to themselves.
Except for the angry man banging incessantly on the door, that is.
And the crowd of at least a hundred people waiting impatiently in the hallway outside.
With all the rumblings coming from the other side of the door, Payton pulled back. “I think we should probably go out there.”
J.D. grinned slyly. “Actually, there’s something I’d like to do first.”
“Is that so?” she asked. “Oh, I see . . . did the empty desk give you some ideas?”
“Just so I have a sense, how long is that going to be held against me?”
“Longer than a day, I can tell you that.” But she sweetened it with a smile.
“Well, your mind may be in the gutter, but I had been thinking of something else.” J.D. pulled his cell phone out of his suit jacket pocket and scrolled through to find a number. He held out the phone to show her. “What do you think?”
Payton looked at the number on the screen. “If we do that, there’s no turning back.”
“I know.”
She grinned. “I really like the way you think, J. D. Jameson. Let’s do it.”
Twenty-eight
WHEN THE DOOR opened and Payton and J.D. stepped out, the crowd that had gathered in front of the office immediately quieted down.
Front and center stood Ben, who walked over to them with a look that said he was thoroughly annoyed. “Are we done with the theatrics now? Can we finally finish this?”
Payton nodded. “Actually, Ben, we are finished with this. Because I resign, too.”
She could’ve sworn she heard several people gasp.
Ben’s eyes narrowed. He glanced between her and J.D. “What sort of bullshit is this? You’re both resigning?”
“Sorry, Ben. But you forced our hand,” J.D. said. “Payton and I have decided to stay together.”
Payton heard an “awww” come from the crowd behind her in a voice that sounded suspiciously like Irma’s.
But Ben was not ready to be outplayed yet. He held up a sealed envelope. His trump card. “I’ve got a letter offering partnership that I think will change one of your minds.”
Neither Payton nor J.D. moved.
Ben looked between them, stunned. “Don’t you at least want to know who we chose?”
Hell, yes. Payton wouldn’t deny that part of her was tempted to grab the envelope out of Ben’s hand and rip it open right there.
But.
She glanced over at J.D., who glanced over at her, and she knew he was thinking the same thing.
Some questions were better left unanswered.
Realizing that neither of them was going to bite, Ben shoved the envelope into the inside pocket of his jacket. “You’re both fools,” he snapped.
“Yes. But only for not doing this earlier,” J.D. said.
“You shouldn’t have let it come to this, Ben. J.D. and I both deserve this,” Payton said. “And if this firm values strategic leveraging over the commitment we’ve shown over the last eight years, then, frankly, you don’t deserve us.”