tools for the job and the lunches are just a perk. Julie monitors all of the accounts, so she’d tell me if there was an issue. But I’ve never really had one before.”
“Okay,” I breathe. “Okay.”
I don’t know what else to say. There are a million things that I could say, but instead, I just murmur a thank you. He continues to explain my duties to me, all of which sound way too easy.
Granted, I don’t know how to use all of the systems that he’s talking about, but I can figure it out. And I haven’t told him yet, but being available to him twenty-four-seven could be an issue.
“Mr. Astor?” I ask when he finally finishes. He hums, his eyes finding mine as he waits for my question. “You haven’t asked, and I’m not sure if you know,” I say, stumbling over my words. “But I have a child.”
His eyes widen. He sits back in his chair and he watches me for a long moment, too long. “He’s two and he’s in the childcare downstairs. It’s just the two of us, but I swear it won’t inhibit my ability to do my job and do it well.”
“It’s just the two of you?” he asks.
I don’t want to go into detail. I don’t want him to know the truth of my pregnancy, how it happened. I honestly don’t want anyone to know, not ever again.
My therapist knows, my mother knows, and a few people from college. But I don’t want Holden growing up his whole life hearing about the way he was conceived. I don’t want him to think that he is wrong or bad, because he’s not. He’s perfect.
Nodding, I smile. “Just the two of us.”
His lips turn down, his gaze flicks from mine to his desk and then back to meet mine again. “Okay, Tennessee. It won’t be a problem, your personal life is just that. Yours.”
“Thank you,” I whisper.
He smiles softly. “Don’t thank me. That’s just the way it is. We’ll be working closely together, we’ll be getting to know one another personally, but I don’t want you to feel as if you owe me any explanations about your personal life.”
Nodding, I sink my teeth into my bottom lip as my mouth turns up into a small smile. “I do appreciate it, Mr. Astor. More than you could ever know.”
“Landry,” he grunts. “You can call me Landry.”
I can feel my face heat as I say his name. “Okay, Landry. Thank you.”
He grins, his eyes searching mine, but he’s kind enough not to mention my heated face, no doubt bright red in color. He clears his throat, then continues.
“You don’t have a desk yet. I’ll see about getting something set up. You won’t need it immediately, I’m sure that Julie will keep you on your feet filing for the first week. I am going to have some time-sensitive documents that I need hand-delivered to my attorney’s office. Can you do that for me?”
“I can,” I lie.
“You’re new in the city and don’t know where anything is, right?” he asks.
Licking my lips, my mouth turns up into a grin. “I have a new phone with GPS,” I remind him.
He chuckles. “You do. If you ever need help on an errand that I send you on, don’t hesitate to say something. I’ll find a safe way to get you there and back here.”
“Thank you, Mr.—” He arches a brow causing me to pause. “Landry,” I correct.
Landry grins. “Okay, the rest of the morning you’ll file after you set your devices up. Julie can help sync everything, mainly because I don’t even know how to do that.”
I stand to my feet, thanking him again and feeling my face heat even hotter with the praise, because I’ve said thank you about a thousand times and now it’s starting to get awkward. Instead of allowing more awkwardness, I turn away from him and hurry out of his office.
LANDRY
The offer is drawn up. As I watch Tennessee leave my office, I know that Susan will not accept it, not on the first go anyway. She will fight me, for my money, for the company, just to make me miserable because she will not want her society people to know I’ve filed. She will force me to pay for the embarrassment.
Shoving the document into a folder, I turn toward my computer. Typing in her name, Tennessee Bradley into the search engine, I do something I haven’t ever done before. I contact my private detective and