His tone wasn’t aggressive like it had been the night before when he spoke about the date I intended to go on, but that didn’t make me feel better.

“I didn’t go,” I answered, surprised he would have expected me to.

“Why?”

My eyes widened as his finally met mine.

He didn’t wait for me to answer, simply cleared his throat and nodded. “Ah. Well, if it was because of me, I apologize.”

Lee almost never apologized, and he knew it was because of him. “It’s fine. Like I said, I didn’t really want to go anyway.”

A moment passed in silence, then he said, “We have to address what happened last night if you plan to keep working here.”

My stomach plummeted. “Of course I plan to keep working here. Don’t you want me to keep working here?”

“What I want is of little consequence right now. What happened between us last night, what I did to you—”

I interrupted. “You didn’t do anything to me. I’m fine. Everything is fine.”

He locked gazes with me, subtly shaking his head in disapproval. “Don’t do that, Georgia.”

“Do what?”

“Let me off the hook.”

The truth was, I loved him too much to hold a grudge. Obviously, I couldn’t say that.

“I know you didn’t mean to put me in that position,” I said a little more honestly. I’d been working for him for two years at that point. If he wanted to try crossing a line, he’d had plenty of opportunities before then. “You were drunk,” I said with a faint shrug. “I’m not mad. We don’t even have to talk about this if you don’t want to—I certainly won’t say anything to anyone about it.”

I thought that would bring him some measure of relief, but his gaze dropped to his folded hands on the gleaming mahogany surface of his desk.

After a long stretch of silence, he looked back up at me, an unfamiliar gleam of vulnerability in his eyes. “I think you should quit. I’d prefer not to fire you for legal reasons, but I can still offer you a very generous severance package.”

My heart and soul had melted into a puddle in my stomach. The thought of leaving him was so excruciating, tears stung behind my eyes and I could scarcely breathe.

“No,” I said, digging my heels in. “If you want to get rid of me, fire me. I’m not quitting.”

“You’ll have no trouble finding another position. Hell, I can even recommend you for one, a more stable one with better pay.”

“No,” I said again, crossing my arms over my chest and glaring at him.

“I’m not trying to get rid of you.”

“It seems like you are.”