STALKED AROUND his office. Something was off, but he couldn’t put his finger on the source. It could be all in his head...but he didn’t think so. Instead of the weekend bringing them closer together, Trish had become more and more withdrawn as it went on.
He stared hard at his door, but he’d effectively trapped himself in here. He told her he would respect the work boundaries between them, which meant he couldn’t haul her in here and demand an explanation. And after the day was done, she’d go back to her apartment and...
And what?
Nothing had changed. There was no reason for the dread curdling his stomach. Tomorrow she would be back in the office, and the next day, and the next. They didn’t have to spend every night together, despite the fact that he wasn’t keen on the idea of more distance between them.
You hold her too close, and you’re going to suffocate her.
Fuck, he didn’t know how to do this. Relationships were iceberg-scattered waters under the best of circumstances, and this was hardly that. It didn’t help that Trish wouldn’t talk to him.
Footsteps sounded down the hallway, and Cameron’s chest got light. She was coming to talk to him. This weirdness had to bother her as much as it bothered him, and she wasn’t too conflicted to put it all out in the open here and now. Trish had never been afraid of anything, so there was no reason to think she’d start now.
Except it doesn’t fit in with her plan.
He opened the door and froze. “What the hell are you doing here?”
Aaron raised his eyebrows. “I know I’ve been gone a few weeks, but last time I checked, I’m still the other owner of Tandem Security.”
Suspicion flared. “You’re on paternity leave for another month.”
“Technically, yes, but with the way things are falling out, I thought it’d be prudent to come back on a part-time basis for the rest of my leave. I’ll mostly be working remotely, but I’m officially back.”
Nothing short of a catastrophic event would drag Aaron away from his new family earlier than planned. “What happened?”
His friend’s smile faltered. “Nothing happened, not yet. But since Trish has an interview for a job in California later this week, things might be moving for her, and I don’t want to hold her back. We can find someone else to work the front desk if she needs to quit, but I’m not going to put everything on you while we figure that out. It’s really not that big a deal. Becka and I have found a good rhythm, so cutting out a few hours while they nap to work from home is doable.”
Cameron picked apart everything Aaron had said and focused on the single most important statement. “Trish has an interview.”
“Yeah, she just found out this weekend.”
It struck him that his friend had no idea about the change in their relationship. Cameron sure as hell hadn’t told him and Trish obviously chose not to as well. They’d more or less agreed on keeping things to themselves, but the knowledge stung unexpectedly. Aaron had no clue that his casual mention of Trish making life plans without Cameron would be an issue at all. And why would he?
She didn’t tell me.
If she found out this weekend, she had plenty of opportunity to share that information with him. While they were watching her favorite horror movies. While they were walking down to the restaurants he liked to frequent on the weekends. While they were lying in bed and talking about nothing.
Trish hadn’t said a word.
He knew Aaron was looking at him strangely, but he couldn’t get his reaction under control. “Excuse me.” He shouldered past his friend and stalked down the hall to the front office. Trish looked up as he crossed the threshold and if he hadn’t already known that she kept something from him, her guilty look would have made it clear. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“There was nothing to tell.”
It shouldn’t be possible for five little words to bring his hopes for the future crashing to the ground. “You don’t think taking an interview for a position across the country is worth mentioning to me? I was under the impression we were on the same page.” Every word got colder and more remote, but his mouth was a runaway train, and Cameron had never been that good at filtering himself to begin with. “It appears I was mistaken.”
“It’s an interview.” She pushed to her feet and gave him a pleading look. “We talked about this. Every single thing that’s happened to me after graduation has been one step forward and seven steps back. This could be the thing that finally puts my plan back in action. This could be the thing that finally gives me my freedom.”
“Your freedom.” He clipped out the words. Cameron felt Aaron come up behind him, but they’d gone too far to pretend like everything was all right now. “And your fucking plan. You love that damn plan more than you can ever love another person. I understand wanting to get out from beneath your mother’s presence, but fuck, Trish. Did this thing between us really mean so little to you that you’re not even willing to reconsider that plan you worship so much?”
Her guilt disappeared, replaced by anger. “Easy for you to say. You are living your dream job in your dream city, and you’ll eventually succeed in convincing your parents to move out to this side of the country and won’t have to compromise on that, either. What the hell do you know about constantly reaching for something and being constantly told that you’re not good enough?”
“I’m a black man in America, Trish. I think I know a thing or two.”
She stopped, pressed her lips together, but charged on. “Point conceded. But the fact remains that working for Barton Fashion is one of my dream jobs and prematurely saying no to an interview with them because of a guy I’m sleeping with is the height of stupidity.”
“The guy you’re sleeping with,” Aaron muttered behind him.
The guy you’re sleeping with.
That was all this was to her. He’d known. Damn it, he’d been the one to set the terms to begin with. Stupid of him to think that just because things had changed for him that meant they’d changed for her, too. He couldn’t tell her he loved her now. She’d accuse him of trying to keep her from taking the interview—from potentially taking the job—and she’d be right.
He had to let her go.
The realization nearly took him out at the knees. He couldn’t ask her to stay. He might love her, but he had no right to ask her to give up her dreams just because those same dreams would take her away from him. Damn it, he had to end it. “You’re right.”
Trish blinked. “I’m sorry, I thought you just said that I’m right.”
“Because I did. You have to take the interview—and the job, if they offer it. It would be idiotic not to.” Even if you made that choice for me. If she did, she’d spend the rest of their time together resenting him for clipping her wings the same way she felt her mother wanted to, and it would spell the end of them before they had a chance to begin.
Cameron drew himself up, cloaking himself in the coldness he was so often
