Chapter 38
DANE
Ichecked my watch for the third time in five minutes. Keith was late.
Of course he was late. His disrespect had been an issue for some time now.
He’d been showing up late to meetings, questioning my decisions in front of the team, and making inappropriate comments about female employees despite being warned.
His little vacay to Miami had not been on the books.
I knew I had a lot of balls in the air, but I would have remembered something like that.
He took advantage of our friendship and his position in the company.
He’d been taking advantage that way for too long.
I was done.
I had about forty minutes before I needed to be at my next stop.
Lucas appeared in my doorway. “He’s here. Coming up now.”
“Good. Is Norma ready?”
“She’s been ready.” Lucas grinned. “She’s actually excited about this. I don’t think she’s ever liked Keith.”
“No one’s ever liked Keith. I was the fool keeping him around.”
Keith strolled into my office a moment later, looking completely unbothered by the fact that he’d been summoned by the CEO and chose to make me wait. Lucas and Norma followed him in, closing the door behind them.
Keith glanced back at them with a smirk.
“Wow, all three of you? I didn’t know I was so popular.” He threw himself onto my couch, sprawling out like he owned the place. “What’s this about? Another lecture about appropriate workplace conduct?”
“No,” I said, remaining standing. “This is about the end of your employment at Cupid’s Arrow.”
Keith blinked. “What?”
“You’re fired. Effective immediately.”
He laughed. “Good one, Dane. What’s this really about?”
“This is really about me firing you.” I nodded to Norma, who stepped forward with a folder.
“These are your release forms,” she said crisply. “Severance package. Non-compete clause. Confidentiality agreement. You’ll need to sign before you leave the building, or no severance for you.”
Lucas held up a cardboard box. “For your desk. Security will escort you to pack up your things.”
Keith stared at us, his smile fading. “You’re serious.”
“Look who finally caught up,” I said, nodding. “Yes, Keith. Actions have consequences, and the bill has come due. Time to go.”
He stood up slowly, his expression shifting from disbelief to anger. “You’re going to end our friendship and business relationship for a doe-eyed girl with the personality of a sugar spoon?”
My temper flared, hot and immediate. He had disrespected her for the last time. I cocked my fist back but Norma stepped between us.
“That ‘doe-eyed girl’ is ten times the person you’ll ever be,” she said, her voice sharp as glass. “She’s smart, capable, empathetic, and professional. All things you’ve never been. And if you think for one second that you can stand in this office and insult her, you’re dumber than I thought.”
Keith’s eyes widened. “Who the hell do you think you are?”
“I think I’m the woman that is absolutely sick of your attitude. I’m sick of the workload I have to navigate because you can’t keep that little thing between your legs in your pants. You have cost us countless good employees because of your harassment. Newsflash, you are not God’s gift to females.”
“Or males,” Lucas chimed in.
“Sign the forms.” Norma shoved them against his chest. “Sign them now, or you get nothing. Make a scene and you get nothing. It’s your choice how your day ends.”
Lucas stepped up beside her, his usually jovial expression gone. “You heard her. Sign. Or don’t. Either way, you’re done here.”
I stood there, feeling proud of the amazing people I had at my side. Norma, who’d been protecting me and the company since day one wouldn’t let anyone tear it down. She was friendly and all smiles, but the woman standing in my office was a Mama Bear on steroids.
Lucas had been guiding me throughout this whole Ina situation, and his help had been invaluable.
Norma and Lucas were my real friends.
Not Keith. He’d only ever been around to ride on my coattails. I wasted years thinking I needed people like Keith. I told myself I needed the rich and connected guys who were part of the right social circles. But I didn’t.
I never had.
I moved toward Keith, and my temper cooled into something much more dangerous: indifference.
“You did good work for a time,” I said, offering my hand. “But that time has passed. Your severance package is more than fair. Thanks for the good years. All the best, Keith. Never darken my doorstep again.”
He stared at my hand like it was a snake, then smacked it away.
“Fuck you, Dane. And fuck your company. You’ll regret this.”
“Not even a little.”
He signed the forms with angry, jerky movements, threw the pen at Norma, and stormed toward the door.
Lucas started to follow him, rolling up his sleeves, but I laughed. “Let him go.”
“Are you sure? Because I’d really like to help him to the elevator.”
“I’m sure.” I clapped Lucas on the shoulder. “Thank you. Both of you.”
Norma checked her watch. “You have thirty-five minutes. Traffic is going to be terrible.”
I grabbed my coat. “Wish me luck.”
“You don’t need luck,” Norma said. “You need to be honest.”
“That’s the plan.”
I arrived at Ina’s building with two minutes to spare. Abby had given me her key earlier that day. My biggest obstacle had become my best ally. I let myself into the apartment.
It felt wrong, preparing to ambush Ina, but Abby had insisted this was romantic and not creepy. I hoped so. There was a thin line between grand gesture and grand jury, and I didn’t want to end up on the wrong side of it.
I waited in the living room, pacing, rehearsing what I was going to say. I didn’t want to make the same mistake as the last time I’d shown up here. Abby had called me out on not being ready, so today I was prepared.
I heard footsteps on the stairs mingling with female voices. The door opened.
Ina walked in, saw me, and immediately turned to leave.
“No,” Abby said, blocking the doorway. “You don’t run away from your feelings.”
“Abby, he broke into our apartment. We need to call the police.”
“No, I gave him my key,” Abby said quickly.
“You let him in? You gave him a key?”
I stayed silent.
Abby nodded. “I did. And you’re going to hear him out.”
“I don’t want to hear him out,” Ina said firmly. “I want him to leave.”
“Even after the Times Square thing?” Abby crossed her arms. “You can at least hear the man out. No harm in that.”
Ina looked between us, torn between curiosity and anger. “Fine,” she said finally. “But you’re staying too.”
“No way. This is between you two.” Abby grabbed her bag. “I’m going to the restaurant. Don’t call me unless someone’s bleeding.”
She left, and suddenly it was just Ina and me in her tiny apartment.
“You shouldn’t be here,” Ina said, not looking at me.
“I know. But I needed to see you. I needed to say I’m sorry.”
“So say it.”
“I’m sorry it took me so long to get my head out of my ass. I was scared. I will forever be sorry for hurting you.” I moved closer, but she stepped back. “Ina, you terrified me.”
“Because you could lose your company?” Her voice was sharp and full of accusation.
“No.” I shook my head. “Because I could lose you.”
She looked away but not before I saw the flash of pain in her eyes.
I kept going, the words pouring out now that I’d started. “You changed everything for me. Abby called me a calculator with a nice car, and she wasn’t far off.”
Ina tilted her head. “When did she say that?”
I smiled. “The other day when I came over to talk to you and she roasted the shit out of me. I mean, I deserved it, but she all but fileted me in your hallway.”
“She said you told her all the reasons you love me,” she said, not meeting my gaze.
I gently cupped her chin to lift her gaze to mine. “And now I want to tell you all those reasons.”
Ina raised a brow at me. “This better be good.”
“Before you, I looked forward going into the office to work. The job was my bride and the app was my child. Then you showed up and I started looking forward going into the office to see you.”
“Oh, come on,” she said, rolling her eyes.
“You have no idea how much time I’ve spent looking at you at your desk.” I smiled. “At this point, I think I can sculpt the back of your head blindfolded, I know it so well.”
“That’s so weird, but flattering.” Ina shrugged. “So you’re saying I’m a distraction?”
“Yes, the best kind of distraction,” I said. “I needed someone to drag me out of my rut. You pulled me out and allowed me to see how much I was missing in life.”
She crossed her arms. “Your life seemed pretty great already when I showed up.”
“Yes, I thought things couldn’t get better for me, but your smile taught me the difference between being alive and living.”
Her face lit up at my words.
“See?” I asked, returning her look. “My chest feels full when you smile at me like that, and I don’t know how I ever got through my days without it.”
I reached out and took her hands in mine. She let me.
“I screwed things up,” I continued, my voice rougher now. “I don’t know if I’ve ever properly apologized for it, but I’m sorry for those things I said. I hurt you in ways I never wanted to hurt anyone, let alone the person I love most in the world.”
A tear slipped down her cheek. I reached up to wipe it away with my thumb.
“Love isn’t data,” I whispered. “It’s not compatibility scores or algorithms or logic. It’s you. It’s this.” I brought her hand up to my chest, so she could feel my heartbeat. “It’s the way my pulse races when I see you. It’s how nothing else matters when you’re in the room.”
“You needed an algorithm to tell you we were compatible,” she said, her voice unsteady. “My mind keeps circling back to that. You couldn’t just trust what you felt.”
“You’re right. I’ve spent my whole life not trusting my own heart.” I pulled her closer. “I don’t need data to tell me I love you. I don’t need proof that this will work. I just need you. That’s it. That’s all I need. It’s all I want. Every morning and every night.”
She was crying openly now, and I was pretty sure I was close to joining her.
“I don’t know if I can trust you,” she whispered.
“All I’m asking for is a chance to let me prove it. Every single day. For as long as it takes.” I pressed my forehead against hers. “I’m choosing you, Ina. Over the company. Over everything. This is just me, terrified, and in love, and completely yours if you’ll have me.”
Ina didn’t move. Her hands were intertwined with mine. Tears streaked down her face. Her silence felt exactly like rejection.
I hadn’t been a romantic for long, but now that I was, I had jumped in with both feet. Meaning I had never actually considered she would flat out reject me. It was going to be a sad walk down five flights of stairs if she asked me to leave now.
“You’re an idiot,” she said.
A tiny shiver of relief washed over me, but I didn’t dare latch onto it quite yet.
“It’s something I’ve been discovering about myself recently,” I said with a smirk. “Turns out I’m not always a genius. On some topics, some might even call me inexperienced.”
She smiled a little. “Dane Kavanagh, notorious ladies’ man, claiming to be inexperienced?”
I shrugged and nudged her. “When it comes to love and relationships, yeah, I’m like a little baby bird. I just hopped out of the nest and I’m flapping my tiny wings like crazy.”
She stared at me, searching my face for something. I let down every guard I had ever put in place. I let her see my pain and hope. I let the passion blaze in my eyes.
“You’ve lost me,” Ina said, and my soul deflated. I had given it my best shot, and she still wanted me to walk away.
“I understand,” I said.
She frowned at me. “What? No, I mean I don’t understand your metaphor. Like am I supposed to catch you? Am I supposed to be a soft place to land? What’s next?”
I looked into her eyes and took a risk. “Kiss me?”
She rolled her eyes, then crashed her lips against mine like she couldn’t hold back any longer. I met her just as fiercely. I had never felt anything like the joy she lit inside me.
Ina pulled back. “If you hurt me again—”
“Then call a doctor because I’ve lost my mind.” I kissed her again.
“I think you’ve already lost your mind,” she said, leaning her head into my chest. “Those Times Square billboards must have cost a fortune.”
I kissed the top of her head. “I needed you to know how much I missed you and how sorry I was for messing everything up. Did it work?”
“We’ll see.”