“Too much like propaganda. At least with advertising, you know the bias right away.”
“You mentioned crisis management this morning. And clearly”—he gestured at his desk—“you have an aptitude for it. Let me exploit it.”
I crossed my arms. “Crisis management is PR and you know it.”
“You’re a problem solver. I can make you a fixer. Give you real, time-sensitive problems to solve. Keep you challenged and active.”
“Seriously.” I tapped my foot. “How many crises do you have in a given week?”
“Several,” he said cheerfully. “Come on, you’re intrigued. I can see it on your face.”
Straightening, I pointed out, “You have people to handle that kind of stuff already.”
Gideon leaned back in his chair and smiled. “I want more. So do you. Let’s have it together.”
“You’re like the devil himself, you know that? And you’re stubborn as hell. I’m telling you, working together would be a bad idea.”
“We’re working together just fine now.”
I shook my head. “Because you agreed with my assessment and suggestions, plus you had me sitting in your lap and you copped a feel of my ass. It’s not going to be the same when we’re not on the same page and arguing about it in your office in front of other people. Then we’ll have to bring that irritation home and deal with it here, too.”
“We can agree to leave work at the door.” His eyes slid over me, lingering on my legs, which were mostly bared by my silk robe. “I won’t have any problem thinking of more enjoyable things.”
Rolling my eyes, I backed out of the room. “Sex maniac.”
“I love making love with you.”
“That’s not fair,” I complained, having no defense against that. No defense against him.
Gideon grinned. “I never said I play fair.”
WHEN I entered my apartment fifteen minutes later, it felt weird. The floor plan was identical to Gideon’s next door, but reversed. The blending of his furniture and mine had helped to make his space feel like ours but had the side effect of making me feel like my home was … alien.
“Hey, Eva.”
I looked around and saw Trey in the kitchen, pouring milk into two glasses. “Hey,” I greeted him back. “How are you?”
“Better.”
He looked it. His blond hair, which was usually unruly, had been nicely styled—one of Cary’s talents. Trey’s hazel eyes were bright, his smile charming beneath his once-broken nose.
“It’s good to see you around more,” I told him.
“I rearranged my schedule a bit.” He held up the milk and I shook my head, so he put it away. “How are you?”
“Dodging reporters, hoping my boss gets engaged, planning on setting one parent straight, fitting in a phone call to the other parent, and looking forward to hitting the town with the girls tonight.”
“You’re awesome.”
“What can I say?” I smiled. “How’s school? And work?”
I knew Trey was studying to be a veterinarian and juggling jobs to pay for it. One of those gigs was as a photographer’s assistant, which was how he’d met Cary.
He winced. “Both brutal, but it’ll pay off someday.”
“We should have another movie-and-pizza night when you get a chance.” I couldn’t help rooting for Trey in the tug-of-war between him and Tatiana. It could just be me, but she’d always seemed very adversarial toward me. And I didn’t like the way she’d put herself forward when she met Gideon.
“Sure. I’ll see what Cary’s schedule is like.”