yet. I’ll spill as soon as I can unless I’m being escorted out by building security.
Her eyes were twice their normal size. “Dalessandra is ready for you in your office, Mr. Ru—Dominic,” she squeaked. She pushed a drink carrier in our direction. “I ordered you a tea and a coffee.”
Dom paused, a puzzled frown on his lips. “Uh. Thank you, Ruth. That was… nice of you.”
Ruth gave what looked like a little curtsy and then turned bright red.
Dominic cleared his throat and picked up the tray. “Are you ready?” he asked me.
“As I’ll ever be,” I said grimly.
He turned and started down the hall. “Thanks for the drinks,” I whispered to Ruth.
“I can’t believe I curtsied! He’s just so hot it makes me stupid.”
“Preaching to the choir, my friend.”
“Good luck in there. Drinks tonight after dance?” she said.
No matter what happened in Dalessandra’s office, I was going to need a sweaty dance class and alcohol. “Yeah. Sounds good. I’ll text you.”
We found Dalessandra seated on the white silk sofa next to the head of HR, a woman with deeply etched frown lines bracketing her mouth. Clearly Jasmine had snapped her photo ID too. In it, she had one eye closed and something resembling a snarl twisting her mouth.
“Good morning, Dominic, Ally,” Dalessandra said, putting her teacup down on the oval glass coffee table. “Please, have a seat.” She gestured toward the white leather chairs across from her and Lady McFrowny.
“Morning,” Dominic said, sounding about as friendly as a pissed-off wolverine.
“I believe you two know Candace from HR,” Dalessandra continued.
I actually didn’t know her but didn’t feel like it was a good time to bring that up.
There wasn’t a hint of what kind of shoe was about to fall on me. Was it a steel-toed boot designed to smash me into the carpet? Or perhaps a designer stiletto that would skewer me.
“Hi,” I croaked out a forced greeting.
Dominic sent me a what the fuck look, then took my hand and squeezed. Hard. Whether it was a good idea to rub our physical affection in HR Lady’s face, I wasn’t sure. But the contact calmed me. We were in this together.
Dalessandra’s lips quirked.
“I’ll just go ahead and put you two out of your misery,” Candace announced, peeling what looked like legal contracts out of a folder.
“Am I fired?”
“Christ,” Dominic muttered under his breath, rolling his eyes.
“No one is fired,” Candace said dryly, sliding the pair of contracts toward us. I reached for mine, my sweaty fingers leaving smudges on the pristine glass beneath.
I skimmed over the first page looking for words like “termination” and “pack your shit” and “security is being called.”
“Since you two managed this budding relationship in a professional manner, the HR department is not opposed to allowing it to continue with a few caveats.”
Dominic squeezed my hand hard. Professional manner? He must not have mentioned me watching him masturbate in his office after-hours or me giving him a lap dance in his disclosure document.
“Which are?” he asked crisply.
“Ally will be transferred out of her current position and into a new placement at her current level of pay and benefits but further removed from your direct management.”
“Is that really necessary?” he asked, looking annoyed.
“It’s quite necessary,” she insisted.
I was busy scanning my document for the pertinent information. Graphics. I was being transferred to the graphics department. I was going to work for one of the premier publications in the world as a graphic designer, and I got to keep my hot boyfriend.
“I accept,” I said quickly.
All three of them looked at me, eyebrows raised.
A laugh bubbled up in my throat, and I covered it by choking on my coffee.
Dalessandra looked amused.
“In that case, Dominic, you’ll be assigned a new assistant until Greta returns,” Candace continued, peering over her glasses at him. “You and Ms. Morales will be expected to maintain a professional demeanor at all times during work hours.” Her gaze lingered on our linked hands. When I made a move to pull away, he merely tightened his grip.
“We’re not interested in creating any workplace drama,” Dominic said smoothly. “We are both serious about this relationship. I’m confident we can continue to do our jobs without allowing our personal lives to interfere.”
“Yeah. That,” I said, nodding effusively.
Dominic’s mouth quirked, and I knew he was going to tease me mercilessly for this student-principal interaction.
“Then I’d suggest that you speak as little as possible about this situation. We certainly don’t want to set a precedent that makes the rest of the staff