“They…” He cleared his throat. “Come again?”
I dropped my hand. “They know. Someone saw us in the parking garage. They had the security camera tapes reviewed and…” I gestured dismissively. “They know.”
Rick’s eyes widened. “Oh. Shit.”
“Yeah.”
“Have they said anything about it?”
I whistled. “Yeah. Yeah, they have.” This nervous energy was going to drive me insane, so I pushed myself off the door and started pacing across the plush carpet while Rick watched. Running a shaking hand through my hair, I scrambled to put my thoughts in order.
He stopped me with a hand on my elbow. “They’re not threatening your job, are they?”
“Not…not the way you’d expect.”
“What does that mean?”
My stomach somersaulted, and my tongue stuck to the roof of my mouth. There was no going back if I tipped my hand now. If Rick knew what the partners had said, if he knew about the ultimatum they’d given me, I couldn’t just rein it back in and tell him to forget about it. What if it pissed him off? What if he confronted the firm?
He stopped behind me and put his hands on my shoulders. “Just tell me.”
I closed my eyes. After a moment, I faced him. “Look, Horizon Developing pretty much saved Mitchell & Forsyth’s ass. If you hadn’t signed with us, the whole place probably would’ve folded within a year.”
He nodded, brow furrowing slightly.
“And all of us employees have been told from day one that if anyone from Horizon Developing says jump, we say how high.” I exhaled sharply and kneaded my stiffening neck. “For God’s sake, they’ve even gotten on my case when they’ve seen us talking.”
“What? Why?”
“Because every communication between your company and ours has to go through a liaison who’s trained to not fuck things up.”
His lips thinned into a straight line. “Are you serious?”
“Yeah. It’s…fucking degrading, but what can you do?” I paused. “Or I guess I should say, what can I do?” I cursed the helplessness in my voice—this was not a side I wanted any submissive to see. Or any boyfriend. Anyone.
“Okay, so.” He folded his arms loosely across his chest and studied me. “They know about us now, so what are they going to do? Tell you not to see me again?”
“No. The opposite, actually.”
Rick blinked. “Say what?”
I took a deep breath, and my pride shriveled as I revealed the last card. “They want me to keep seeing you.”
“Keep—” He raised an eyebrow. “You’re joking.”
“I wish. Basically, if I want to keep my job, I’ve got to keep you happy.”
I’d never seen Rick’s eyes that wide. He opened his mouth. Closed it. Opened it again. As if he wanted to say something but couldn’t.
Now it was his turn to start pacing. He made it all the way across the room and halfway back before he spat, “I can’t even fit this all into my head.”
“Tell me about it.”
“I’m having a meeting with Dion and Lila first thing in the morning.” He shook his head. “No way in hell are we working with a company that treats their employees like that.”
Panic surged through me. “Rick, please. Don’t. If you pull your business from the firm, there’s going to be a hundred people out of jobs.”
He stared at me. “I can’t keep pouring that kind of money into a place that’s essentially blackmailing their own employees.”
And how could I tell him to do exactly that? But if he didn’t… If he pulled his account… If Mitchell & Forsythe lost that kind of money…
“Tell me what you want to do.” He touched my face. “I’ll follow your lead.”
I squeezed my eyes shut. “No pressure, right?”
“Well, we have the weekend to figure it out.”
“Do you think that’s enough?” I met his gaze again. “Because I’ve been trying to unravel this all week and…”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” He caressed my cheek. “You’ve been letting this eat you alive, on your own?”
“What could I do? I didn’t want to put this on you, because I knew it would…” All the air left my lungs. “I knew it would make things weird.’
Rick avoided my eyes. “What does this mean for us, then? Because it’s obviously affecting us.”
“I…” Panic and God knew what other emotions tangled behind my ribs. “I have no idea.”
“Neither do I.” But then he came toward me and slid his hands over my hips. “We don’t have to decide anything tonight. We have time to think things over. No one has to know we’ve had this conversation.”
But you know. And I know.
He touched my face. “I’m not going to give them the satisfaction of fucking this up.”
“Neither am I.” I wrapped my arms around him. “To be honest, the only thing I’m sure of right now is what I want.”
He swallowed. “Which is?”
“You.”
We locked eyes. He held his breath. I held mine.