saying is my job is nowhere near as important as yours.”
His eyes narrowed. “I’m not going to get into this with you—”
“I don’t blame you, because you’d lose the argument. I get your point,” she added, trying to be fair while his brows slammed down. “No one’s going to kill themselves over fashion. I never claimed that to be the case, Gus, so what you just did was compare apples to oranges. What I had hoped was that you’d find it in your heart to understand that this isn’t just a job to me. It’s my career. And like your career, it’s an important part of my life.”
“You’re a trust fund princess. You don’t even have to have a career.”
Goddamn it. “Is that why you’re attracted to princesses? They don’t have jobs that make any unexpected demands on them, so…what? This frees them up to worship at your feet twenty-four seven?”
“Don’t be fucking ridiculous.”
“You’re the one who brought princesses up, so obviously it’s not ridiculous.”
“The point is, you don’t have to work to put food on the damn table, Joelle. You’re just playing at being a career woman. It’s cute and I love it, but it’s not real.”
She sucked in a breath as his words hit her like a smack in the face. “My God, is that how you see me?”
He spread his hands wide. “Am I wrong?”
“I don’t know how you could be more wrong, or disrespectful, for that matter,” she gritted out, still so stung her eyes burned and her throat clenched. Blindly she turned to the open closet and began yanking the clothes she’d hung up off the hangers to stuff them into the carryon bag she’d stored at the bottom of the closet. “I love what I do, and I’m fucking awesome at it. I have powerful ambitions—ambitions I refuse to apologize for or explain. No man would ever be made to feel that way.”
“Joelle—”
“Maybe my career isn’t life-and-death like you obviously feel yours is. But it’s just as important to me because it’s a part of me, a huge facet that makes up the spectacular diamond that I am. When you dismiss it like it’s unimportant, you’re actually dismissing me as unimportant. Thankfully, I know I deserve better than that kind of disrespect.”
“You crazy woman, I’m not disrespecting you—”
“Oh, no? Turn it around. Imagine me saying to you what you just said to me—you don’t have to have a career anymore because you’re rich now, Gus. At this point, you’re just playing at having a career. It’s cute and I love it, but it’s not real.” She watched his eyes narrow, and for a brief moment she wondered if that got through to him. Not that it mattered. Now that she knew how he viewed her, she wanted nothing to do with him. “The thing is, Gus, I would never say those things to you, and not because your job happens to make a shit-ton more money than mine. I would never say those things because I respect that your work is a part of who you are.”
He took a measured breath and let it out slowly. “I get it. Look, stop packing, okay? You want a couple hours’ studio time? Fine. I’ll find you a fucking st—”
“No, thank you,” she said coldly, heading into the bathroom to dump everything that was hers into the bag. If things spilled, they spilled. All that mattered now was getting out of there. “My equipment at home will do just fine.”
“Goddamn it, you’re overreacting. No way in hell am I flying us back to Chicago with this shit going on between us. We’re hashing this out here and now, before we do another goddamn thing.”
“Please, feel free to stay on and enjoy the remainder of your weekend. I don’t need you to get back to Chicago. I don’t need you, period.” As those words came out of her mouth, an invisible hand curled around her heart and squeezed until she couldn’t breathe. The stinging in her eyes got worse, but she ignored it and tried to think if she’d packed everything. “I’m just glad this happened right at the outset of this relationship instead of months from now, when I’d really be head over heels in love with you. That would have hurt so much more than it does now. Timing is everything, I guess.”
“You’re not leaving.” He stood in her path, arms crossed in front of his bare chest and his dark eyes fierce. “We talk this