However, Vivian’s only reaction was the occasional nod and thoughtful “mm.” Then she said, “Okay. Let’s start. The pregnancy we’ve discussed—”

“Started to discuss,” Jules pointed out.

Vivian raised a hand, still looking at the screen. “Discussions are ongoing. As for where you’ll go, the answer is ‘anywhere you want to.’”

“You’re not getting me a new job,” Jules said flatly. “I can find one myself, if I want.”

“If you—” Vivian gave her a quick look but then shook her head. “Right. Well, ‘discretion’ lumps in with that. If you’re not working for me, who cares?”

Vivian could be unreal sometimes. “You think it wouldn’t be a scandal? People would say we were doing it while I worked for you. And speaking of doing it…” Jules nodded at the tablet and gave her a pointed look.

“Speaking of doing it, we wouldn’t be doing it, so where’s the scandal?” Vivian sounded exasperated, but her cheeks were pink again. “As for this”—she waved the tablet—“sexual attraction isn’t the be-all, end-all for a relationship.”

“I know that,” Jules protested. “But I like sex. Don’t you?” Surely Vivian had to. Jules knew lust when she saw it, and Vivian had looked at her lustfully this morning, even if she didn’t know it.

“Sex is fine,” Vivian said impatiently. “I’ve even had good sex, if that’s what you’re asking. Compared to the rest of your points, it’s not that important.”

“It’s important to me.” How could she make Vivian wrap her head around this? “Yes, I care about you beyond wanting to have sex with you. And I get what you’re saying, but…it’s not easy to shut that part of your brain off when you want somebody as much as I want you.”

Vivian sipped her tea as if to hide any reaction, but the artery at the base of her throat visibly pulsed, a sight that made Jules ache.

“All right. Fine.” Vivian’s words strained through her clenched teeth. “It’s not that important, but…maybe there are other possibilities for you.”

Jules’s mind raced. There didn’t seem to be a lot of ways to interpret that. “Hold it. Do you mean an open relationship?”

Before she could add that she wasn’t interested in that at all, Vivian snapped, “I do not. Of course I don’t. You with some…some—”

“Some other female fashion editor,” Jules said dryly, “not to be named here?”

“I’d be just as happy never to hear her name on your lips again, Julia. Or anyone else’s name, for that matter.”

“Then what are you talking about? If I’m not having sex with anybody else, how am I supposed to not go without?” Before Vivian could reply, she added, “Don’t say I can take care of myself. I’ve been doing that. It doesn’t cut it.”