I shrugged. “He said I wasn’t being fair by firing April and not him.”
Her face clouded and she straightened, looking at me. “He’s right.”
I took a deep breath and released it, letting my hand fall. “He’s the CFO of my company. She’s just an intern—”
Her jaw dropped. Uh-oh. “Adam.”
“What? You don’t even like the interns.”
“Not your groupie interns, no. But April is not one of those jerks. And saying she’s just an intern is sexist, especially since Jordan was the one in the position of power.”
“I didn’t mean it that way. But her dad insisted I terminate her on the spot.”
Emilia’s eyes narrowed and she flicked a pointed finger toward my chest. “Then you should have grown a pair and told him no. Who’s in charge of the company, you or him?”
I didn’t answer the rhetorical question and she continued. “I’m actually pretty impressed with Jordan…that he put himself out there like that for her. He was just so miserable today…” Her voice died out and she looked off to the side, almost as if she’d forgotten that she was lecturing me.
“What’s wrong?”
She shook her head and then looked at me. “I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that… No…”
“What?”
“You’ve known Jordan for a long time, right?”
“Since I started college at eighteen.”
“In nearly ten years, has he ever stuck himself out there for a woman?”
“Not since his surfer girlfriend at UCLA, no. But that was a bad breakup, and it was after that he became a womanizer. And now apparently, a perv who screws his interns,” I said, unable to disguise the bitter edge in my voice.
“‘Cause you and I never had sex while I was working for you, right?”
I clenched my jaw and released it. She always had a comeback for everything. “We had a relationship before that and we weren’t just sleeping together.”
“But if he was just sleeping with April, why would he have gone to bat for her with you? He’s sacrificing his career for this. It means more to him than just doing the right thing. She means something to him.”
“Maybe she gives a really good blowjob.” Emilia scowled and I held up a hand. “Don’t shoot. I was joking. You’re right, though. This isn’t how he normally acts.”
“I never thought he’d be capable, ‘cause it’s Jordan, but maybe he’s in love with her.”
“But he finds the whole concept of love utterly repulsive.”
“So did you, once.”
“Well, so did you.”
We looked at each other for a minute before she mock-punched my arm. “Okay, so we were dumb, too. But you can’t let him walk away from the company like this.”
I threw up my hands, exasperated. “Apparently, I don’t have a choice. Emilia, he insisted I fire him and I absolutely refused. So he quit.”
“But he quit because you won’t take April back.”
“Her dad—”
She raised her eyebrows at me. “You’re the boss.”
“You usually only say that in bed. I’m getting all hot right now.”
She quirked her mouth at me. “I never say that to you in bed. Maybe in your dirty dreams. But seriously…I think what’s bugging you about all this is that you already know what you have to do to make this right.”
I sighed. “The timing couldn’t be shittier, and I really still am pissed as hell at him. He didn’t come forward and tell me before. And not only did he keep it a secret this entire time, but he covered it up.”
“So you’re going to trash a ten-year friendship and a meaningful business relationship because your feelings are hurt?”
I sighed, throwing my head back. “Stop making such good points, please.”
She snuggled up beside me, laying her head on my shoulder and tilting it to kiss me on the neck. I closed my eyes.
Her mouth found my ear. “You’re the boss,” she murmured, devouring my lobe, sending a nice zing right down to my center.
“That’s right. Say it again.”
“You’re. The. Boss…” she drawled, laughing.
“Mmm. That’s what I like to hear,” I said, pushing her down on the couch beneath me. I pressed my body over hers, kissing her. I didn’t want to think about anything but this.
I didn’t want to think about going down on the stock exchange floor alone without Jordan tomorrow or not having him as my right-hand man from this day forward. And I definitely didn’t want to focus on that heavy feeling in the pit of my stomach that indicated what the right thing to do really was.