Page 31 of Yours, Finally

I frowned again. "She wasn't flirting."

Was she? Sure, I'd noticed the preening, and her phone was on my card, but…

Vi shook her head and straightened. "As soon as she heard we weren't here together but for my parents' party. Constantly playing with her hair and smiling. Giving you the one card with her number, while telling you that she's available for anything you need. You have to have noticed?"

"I guess she did those things. Doesn't mean she was flirting with me."

Her face turned disbelieving. "Yes, it does."

My frown deepened until the muscles involved hurt. I had dated. I had been flirted with. It happened often enough. But I had not seen it with Joanna.

Vi let out a sad chuckle. "In any case. You may choose to do something about it. I shouldn't have said anything. I'm just in a bad mood because Andrew sent me an email."

She turned to walk away. Instinctually, I wrapped a hand around her forearm and held her back. She didn't turn to me, but didn't pull away either.

I frowned. "What's going on? What did Andrew want?"

She pulled her arm away and turned to me.

She crossed her arms. "He's trying to get back together. I'm deciding if I want to tell him again that I'm uninterested, or just block him."

"Block him. Fuck that guy. He should have heard you the first time."

She cocked her head, but there was no playfulness in her eyes. "You're jealous."

Vi studied me with something close to frustration twisting her mouth.

"It's not about jealousy," I said. "He's an ex who's not getting it in his head that you broke up with him."

"Good, because you shouldn't be jealous." She pursed her lips together. "And I shouldn't be either. There are rules I cannot break."

I hid the flinch that seized my shoulders. "You're jealous?"

The possibility spread through my chest with entwined cold and warm vines. I shouldn't have asked, either, but I had to know. Even if I couldn't do anything about it, a little burnt place inside of me would heal to know she felt that way. That she still had feelings for me.

She frowned. "We shouldn't talk about this."

My jaw ticked. I took a step closer without meaning to, and I stopped myself before I could keep going and going until I had her in my arms.

"Please." The word came out in a pleading whisper. "I'm asking. Not to do anything. Not to put you in a bad position. I just need to know."

She shook her head. "Technically, the fact that we're outside work doesn't change the fact that I'm still one of your bosses, and it's on me to stop this."

"I'm the one at a disadvantage. I know that, but our lives are too entwined to make surgical cuts between us. Would you answer the question if this were a month from now, when I'm VP?"

She crossed her arms. "Depends. Do you feel that the fact I am a billionaire changes how you see me?"

I snorted. "Of course not. All my friends have more zeroes in their bank accounts than letters in their name. It's never changed a thing. And I'm more than financially comfortable myself."

"What about my family? Do you still feel my family is more mine than yours? That whatever happens between us when you're a VP could make them push you away?"

My nostrils flared. My heart hammered in my chest. That was the biggest question of all.

She took my silence for an answer.

"Then I can't be jealous, Jake. Even when you're a VP." She looked at the ground for a moment, but then lifted sad, beautiful brown eyes my way. "We should go."

I tightened my jaw and spoke through clenched teeth. "Every time someone else gets to see your smile and kiss you for it. Every time you give your time and affection to someone else. Every damn flower that Andrew sent you. I've been jealous, too, Vi."