serious.”
Her heart sank. Oh please, don’t fire me!
He glanced at Thomas and squeezed her hand. “We would like to discuss a new arrangement with you.”
Huh? “What? You’re not firing me?”
Tyler’s face went blank, then the men laughed. “Fire you? Are you mad? We would never fire you, sweetheart!”
He hugged her. Her relief was so strong and piercing she nearly cried.
Still holding her hand, he paused as if composing his thoughts. “Nevvie, we are very fond of you, if you haven’t already guessed. We truly consider you part of our family. Thomas and I are in need of a full-time personal assistant. It takes too much of my time for the day-to-day things around here, and write and take care of email and phone calls. His assistant at work is preparing to go on maternity leave, so he’s short-handed as well.”
She nodded, not quite following him. She only cared that they weren’t firing her.
“What we’d like to suggest is this. We feel very comfortable with you. We trust you, you respect our privacy, and your personality matches ours. We love you, Nevvie. You mean the world to us. Frankly, we hate seeing you leave every week.”
He glanced at Thomas. “Now, you don’t have to give us an answer today. If your answer is no, we still want you to come in on Thursdays, that wouldn’t change. There’s no pressure to say yes. If you say yes, we’d want you to start immediately with your new duties.”
She tried to absorb what he said, still stuck on, “We love you.” She knew what Tyler meant wasn’t what she felt, but who cared? She looked at Thomas. “Personal assistant?”
Thomas took her other hand, and now his big brown eyes had her soul impaled. Jeezus pleezus, he was a cutie pie. Freckles peppered his cheekbones, and since Thomas spent lots of time on construction sites he had more of a tan than Tyler.
“Nevvie,” Thomas said, “please move in with us and be our personal assistant.”
She gasped, sure they were teasing. She looked at Tyler. “Move in?”
“Yes.” He dropped his voice and she struggled to listen. “But just you, Nevvie—not Alex. Only you. We’ll pay you whatever salary you think is fair, we’ll provide full room and board, a car, medical and auto insurance, everything. You decide what days off you want, you come and go as you please. You’d become a full-time member of our family.”
She couldn’t breathe. “ Move in? ”
“Yes.” Tyler’s eyes held hers, drawing her in. God, she wanted to lean over and kiss him, kiss both of them!
Thomas squeezed her hand. “Nevvie, we’ll help you move if you want.”
If she didn’t get air into her lungs she’d pass out. She took a gasping, hitching breath. “Just me?”
Thomas nodded. “Just you.”
She could be free of Alex! This was too good to be true. “Are you teasing me?”
“No, Nevvie,” Tyler assured her, “this is a serious offer. We feel after six months that we’ve spent enough time with you that we’re comfortable making this offer. I know it’s overwhelming, and I understand you will want some time. Please, think about it. Give us your answer on Thursday.”
Tyler, then Thomas, leaned over and kissed her on the forehead.
She could live with her two sweet love gods, be free of Alex, and get paid!
Tyler studied her. “Are you afraid of Alex?”
She dropped her gaze. “Yeah.”
Thomas’ hand tightened around hers. “He won’t hurt you, Nevvie. We won’t let him or anyone else hurt you as long as you’re with us, we promise. And think, sugar, all the back rubs you can handle.” He winked.
Tyler sighed. “I suppose I need to run you back to the apartment. Think about our offer, and let us know on Thursday, right? If you say no, nothing changes. If you say yes, it would make the two of us very happy.”
Make that three, Tyler—I’d be thrilled. “Okay.”
* * * *
Tyler drove her home and she hesitated before getting out. No Escort, Alex was probably out
Heidi Hunter, Bad Boy Team