27. Will
27
Will
I lace my fingers through Alice’s and lay them on the armrest between us on this plane. “This is a secret worth keeping.”
She glares at me—but she’s just not that intimidating.
“You want me to lie?”
“I don’t. I know you’d hate that. But couldn’t we just keep quiet?”
She blinks up at me, uncertainty written all over her face.
And yet?—
“You’re beautiful,” I say, tracing one finger over the apple of her cheek. “And honest and trustworthy. We can do this.”
“This?”
“Yes, we can keep this secret.”
“It’s more than that,” she says. “It’s a secret that breaks the rules of our employer.”
I hate my own rules at the moment. Rules I made for myself. Rules I made after making old girlfriends sign NDAs and giving them giant payouts to keep their mouths shut. I’ve worked hard to make sure that everyone in this office knows me as Will—Billy’s executive assistant. I can’t lose that.
But I can’t lose whatever this might be with Alice either. “I don’t know what this is exactly. But I’d really like to figure it out.”
She swallows. “If Zoe asks me straight out?—”
“I know,” I say, “you won’t lie. I won’t ask you to.” But then, I’m not worried about Zoe. She’s the least of my worries. “Zoe can keep quiet,” I tell her.
“What then? We’re asking Zoe to lie for us too?” She shakes her head. “I don’t like that.”
“I know. But I like you. I like you a lot, Alice.”
“What if Billy asks her?” she says, worried for Zoe, for us, for her job.
I can’t let her stress this way. Not when it’s all for nothing. “He won’t.”
She presses her lips together, peering up at me.
“What if I asked Billy for special permission?”
She swallows. “What if he says no? What if he fires me? Or you? Or?—”
“He won’t.” My eye twitches—this is still a lie. “If Billy doesn’t agree, we’ll end this.”
Her gaze roves over my face. It’s clear she doesn’t like the sound of that any more than I do. “Before it’s even begun.”
“We can at least ask him.”
“This job is important to me, Will.” Her fingers squeeze around mine, her eyes boring into me.
“I’m glad.” I can’t stop my grin. “You won’t lose it.”
“We’ve known each other such a short time?—”
“ Ouch . Alice, I promise your job is not at risk. I like you, and I think we’re worth a shot. I can convince Billy of that. He’ll want us to keep our relationship quiet around everyone else.”
She thinks, mindlessly batting her lashes as she looks up at me like Bambi. “I like you too, Will.”
“So…” I dip my head, meeting her eye level. “You’ll try.”
“You can’t agree with me simply because you like me,” she says.
I narrow my brow, not quite following.
“In our meetings. You can’t agree with me or push my ideas onto Billy just because we’re… something.”
I shake my head. “I wouldn’t do that.”
“You will agree with me because I’ll be right, but it can’t have anything to do with the fact that I find you stupidly cute and sweet, and I really enjoy doing this.” She pecks my lips.
“Keep talking,” I say, leaning in for another kiss. Sparks flit from my lips to my heart to the rest of my body, all igniting with Alice’s name.
I lay out paperwork for every marketing team member, awaiting their arrival. I’m humming and ignoring the glare Zoe’s giving me from the corner of the room.
“So,” she says, her arms crossed. “Do you want to tell me what happened in Denver?”
“I already did. Didn’t I? The meeting with Jet went well. He and his wife are visiting next month. I have a good feeling.” I spin on my heels and lay Alice’s folder in her place two seats down from me.
“Nice try,” Zoe says. “Are you going to tell me what happened with Alice ?”
I swallow and open the lid of my laptop. “She was a great help. Jacobson loves her.” I don’t blame him.
“Do you think I’m that na?ve?” Zoe stomps. “Will! I know something happened between the two of you.”
“How could it?” I say, unafraid of my lawyer friend. She may be the only person in this organization who knows my true identity, but that doesn’t mean I’m fazed by her scolding or her glower. “As you so often remind me, a relationship with Alice is against the rules.”
Zoe sets a hand on my arm, stopping my movement. “You could always change the rules, Will.”
I just stare at her. She knows exactly why those rules are in place.
“ Or you could just come out. Tell the company and the world who you are.”
At this, I scoff. “We both know how that would go. Let’s put a face with the name of the billionaire who thought a circus was a smart purchase, who destroyed a small town, who?—”
“More like a series of neighborhoods,” she says, interrupting me.
“Yep, the jagweed who thought he could run a circus at sixteen. Let’s destroy the reputation Will Henley’s built for himself and put Billy back in charge.”
She cringes. “You know I hate it when you talk about yourself in the third person.”
“And you know I can’t come out of hiding.”
Zoe sighs. “The circus was a long time ago, Will.”
“Not that long.”