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“I know my worth,” I teased, relieved that she seemed a little less likely to talk about extending our stay in Brazil. “That’s why I’m here with you and not-”

I cut myself off, my heart punching up into my throat.

Had I really been about to tell her about Donnie? The weight of his blackmail weighed so heavy that I could barely sleep.That had to be it, I thought.

“Not what?” She smiled. She didn’t realize the magnitude of what I’d almost confessed.

I forced my mouth into a smile, praying she bought the lie sitting on my tongue. “Working some awful retail job where I’d have customers treat me like shit for twelve hours every day.” I laughed.

Reid rolled her eyes and took a sip of her drink. Water, surprisingly. Something I’d noticed she’d done since the day she found me standing in a puddle of wine and broken glass. The irony hadn’t escaped me.

Reid was by no means someone who drank a lot, but she enjoyed it when she went out with her friends. Or in the privacy of her own home. And mostly when eating out at restaurants.

After years of Hayden’s harsh lectures about the “right kind of wine”, Reid’s palate was just about as refined as Hayden’s, and she enjoyed showing that off.

“You’d cuss out the first customer to give you shit on your very first day.” She chuckled.

“You’re not wrong.” I giggled. “I’d be fired on the spot.”

“Their loss.”

“Your gain?” I asked, lifting a brow.

“Of course,” she said, leaning back in her chair. “I did it once before; I’d find you no matter where you were hiding.”

A thrill shivered through me, curling pleasantly in the pit of my stomach. “I’ll try not to make it too difficult then,” I said thoughtlessly.

Reid’s head cocked to one side, a tiny smirk curving the corner of her mouth. “Are you planning to leave me, Mia?”

What thefuck?

I blinked at her, my heart thudding hard. She had to realize what she was saying and…howshe was saying it, right? But her face betrayed nothing except calm interest.

“N-no,” I stuttered. “Obviously not.” I wanted to punch myself in the face for stuttering.

Her smirk widened into a smile. “Good,” she said. “I’ll be right back; going to the ladies.”

I nodded, not trusting my own mouth just then, and watched her get up and leave.

As soon as she left, I breathed out a shaky sigh. What the hell was going on?

“It’s all in my head,” I whispered to myself, releasing my death grip on the fork in my left hand. “You’re over-analyzing again.”

Because this wasReid, I reminded myself. Whose heart had been obliterated by her ex-wife, who was cunning and way too smart. Who could have literally anyone she wanted.

And I was her assistant.

A tiny voice in the back of my head disagreed.You’re the closest person to Reid, it whispered.You’re much more than that. I swallowed around nothing, my tongue drying up the longer I thought about it. Things had been weird since we’d slept together but… never uncomfortable.

In fact, in the six years we’d been working together, I’d never felt uncomfortable with Reid. Even in disastrously uncomfortable situations, as long as she was there, I was fine. That may very well be entirely one-sided. But did it matter?

“You seem so deep in thought, querida.”

I froze in my seat, the air in my lungs evaporating. I didn’t look up; I didn't want to. I knew what I’d find, and who I’d see standing next to me, the gold buckle of his belt inches from my right shoulder.

“Ah, no greeting today?” Donnie lamented. He sat down in Reid’s seat and all I could do was stare at him, dumbfounded.

Utterly alone and petrified.