“Can you stare at each other when the meeting is over?”
Heat blooms from the back of my neck to the tips of my ears, but I keep my game face on and nod. “I let you believe before I left for Paris that I was indifferent to him.”
“Well, I knew you weren’t indifferent. I thought you just didn’t like him.”
I laugh at her blunt words. “Oh, I liked him plenty—too much, in fact. And I should have told you that there were some unresolved feelings between us. But I thought he would be indifferent to me.”
I can feel Tyson’s eyes on me, but I don’t dare look at him before I’m done saying what I came to. “And yesterday I agreed to complete a task that I knew I wouldn’t be able to. In order to avoid telling you that I was with him. I admire and respect you tremendously, and I’m sorry I let my personal feelings get ahead of my professional responsibilities. But I also can’t promise it won’t happen again. Because I’m falling in love with him, and I’ll want to protect him. So that means whether Tyson is in my reporting hierarchy or not, I’m not sure I can be objective when it comes to him.” Saying it aloud for the first time is like taking a deep breath after choking on smoke.
“Dina—”
“No don’t say anything yet, Tyson, I wa—”
“Dammit, Dina.” He raises his voice, and I realize with a start that he’s never done so before. Not even when he got in Ron’s face at dinner. Mrs. Wilde looks surprised, too.
He clears his throat and adjusts the cuff of his shirt. “I know I shouldn’t expect you to trust me overnight. And yes, I am afraid of messing up, not being good at being your man. But you’re so afraid of being let down that you don’t give people the chance to even try.”
I nod, my throat clogged by tears. He’s paid such close to attention to me, and I feel so seen, so understood. “Yes, I know. It’s easier that way.”
“No, Dina. It’s not.” Mrs. Wilde’s words are a sharp admonishment, and she’s watching me with a thoughtful expression in her dark eyes as she steeples her fingers beneath her chin. “It’s just a different kind of hard. And dare I say, a much less rewarding one. Yes, some people are going to let you down. Because…”
“They’re people,” Tyson finishes the sentence for her, and they share a smile that tells me it’s a private joke.
“And yes, it will mean hurt, disruption, but you’ll survive. And you’ll get better at knowing who and what to put your faith in. And there’s no better feeling than having your faith rewarded. But it’ll never happen if you don’t give it a chance to,” Mrs. Wilde says.
“I know I messed up. But baby, I’m right here with you in this,” Tyson calling me baby is enough to make me melt and forget where I am.
I reach for his hand and search his face. “You are?”
He smiles and grasps my hand. “Yes, Dina. I am.”
Oh God, is this for real? Am I about to have what I want and what I need all at once?
Mrs. Wilde clears her throat. “Well, that’s very, very good news. And I’m so glad that at least one of my sons has good taste in women.”
“Mom,” Tyson scolds. She and Kal had a rocky start to their relationship that never quite smoothed out, but I suspect she says things like that to be provoking more than anything.
“Have you come to resign?” The tight clip in her voice and the direct nature of her words bring me crashing back down to earth.
My eyes widen. “No, I haven’t.” I turn to Tyson, who is staring at me incredulously. “I’m sorry, Ty, but I’m not going to resign. I don’t expect you will either.”
I look back at Mrs. Wilde. “I was going to propose that we present a cost benefit analysis of our roles. May the best person win. If that’s not me, I’ll be the first one to toast Tyson. Because I know if I gave him the chance, he’d do the same for me.”
She smiles and glances up at the ceiling. “I’ll leave you two alone now. Dina, I’ll see you in Houston in a few months. Tyson, plan to spend the next few days here.”
She pats me on the shoulder and mutters, “Thank the Lord” before she strides out and leaves us alone.
“Why is she saying thank the lord?” I jump out of my seat and stand in front of him.
He cups me around the waist. “Because, you sweet thing, I turned the job down this morning.”
“You did?” I stare down at him, dazed.
“And gave my three-month notice for my position in France.”
“You did what? Why?” I lean away from him, trying to make sense of the words he’s saying and the thousand-watt smile on his face.
He tugs me into his lap. “How can I woo you and convince you to be mine if I’m in France and you’re in Houston?”
He leans down to kiss me. I put my hand on his chest to stop him. “I thought you wanted that job more than anything.”
“Turns out we were both wrong.”
He leans down to kiss me again, and this time I let him. I’ve missed him so much. How did I live months without this? “Oh, Tyson, are you sure?”
“I’ve been ready to leave France since a month after I got there. If I wanted the COO job enough to duke it out with you, I would. And if you came out the victor, I’d be the first one to buy you champagne, too.”
“I don’t want you to give it up for me.”
“I want there to be an us. I’m not giving up anything I can’t find somewhere else. And you, my beautiful Huntress, broke the mold. You’re irreplaceable.”
I blink rapidly to clear the tears that pool without warning. “Are you ready? Really?”
“This weekend, when we were working together, I felt unstoppable. I want that feeling all the time. And when I feel lost, I know you’ll leave the light on so I can find my way home. I want to try. If you’re ready to let me. Please, let me.”
My heart feels so full, I’m afraid it will burst. “Yes, I am. So ready.”
“Listen, you know if you give me half a chance, I’ll catch you and I’m never going to let you go. I mean that.”
“How about we just start with dinner?” I ask with a giddy giggle.
“How about you let me kiss you like I’ve been dying to?”
“Not in my office.” Mrs. Wilde’s disembodied voice fills the room.
“What the hell?” Tyson sits up and glances around the room.
“She has cameras, and microphones.” I speak in a hushed voice.
“It would serve her right if we had sex right here,” he whispers in my ear.
“But it serves us better to wait until we’re back at my hotel.”
He grins at me. “Us. I like the sound of that. I don’t know why I was worried about this relationship stuff. We’re going to crush it.”
We so are. Because that’s what we do. And cameras be damned, I wrap my arm around his neck and pull his lips to mine. “But first, kiss me like you’ve been dying to.”
Epilogue
The Perfect Ending
Dina
Two Years Later