“Something about my personal life being a distraction.”

“How long did they ask you to stay away?”

“Just today. That’s all they said. Oh my gosh, can they tell me to never come back? To take a leave?”

“You’ve done nothing wrong. And you don’t have to go anywhere even if they ask you to. There are protocols in place for things like this. We live in New York, for fuck’s sake. I’m sure you’ve had celebrities or high-profile clients in your hospital before,” he said.

I wasn’t sure if he was asking me a question or not, but I answered him anyway. “We have. Numerous times.”

“Then, they know how to handle publicity. They just weren’t prepared for it coming from within.”

“Can they fire me?”

“Not legally. And I’ll sue the hell out of them if they try.”

I know Joseph meant every word. He would sue them and do everything in his power to win. But I’d still be jobless and have to start over somewhere new. Most likely, I’d be blackballed by every other hospital in the city, and then what? I’d have to move out of state in order to work? I loved living in New York. I loved working at my hospital. At least I had up until this morning’s awkwardness.

“I don’t think I can do this. It’s too much. Your mom was right.” I couldn’t look at him while I said the words. I was afraid to see his expression.

“You’re breaking up with me?” His voice broke, and it took a piece of me with it.

“How can we break up when we were never together in the first place?”

“No.”

“No what?” I asked, finally focusing on him.

He was staring right at me, his eyes intent, his features steeled and strong.

“No. I’m not letting you break up with me or whatever it is you think you’re doing.”

I scoffed, irritated and turned on at his brashness. “Oh, you’re not letting me?”

“Listen to me, Sutton. You’ll tell me to leave, and I’ll go but only because you asked and not because I wanted to,” he pointed out before continuing, his tone almost bored, “and then we’ll both be sad, pretending like we made the right decision, but we’ll both secretly know that we didn’t. I’ll miss you but be way too arrogant to ever tell you. Your life will be unbearable without me in it, but you’ll be too embarrassed to admit it. And then Kayla will have to intervene and get us back together, where we always belonged in the first place.”

I laughed out loud, but I could clearly picture the reality of what he’d just said. Or maybe it was one too many Hallmark movies as a kid that had me believing his diatribe. “That’s a very intricate story.”

“And it’s true. I like you. I want to be with you, so I’m skipping all that in-between stuff I just mentioned and staying put by telling you, no, you’re not breaking up with me.”