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  Gabe came out of his office with blood in his eye, and Nell said, “Wait a minute, I took the design straight off your window.”

  “You can take them straight off my desk, too,” he said, slamming the box down in front of her. “Burn those damn things and get the old cards reprinted.”

  “Look, you didn’t pay for them, I did,” Nell said. “They were your St. Patrick’s Day present.”

  “Wish I’d known,” Gabe said. “I’d have given you a case of Glenlivet.”

  “Well, if I’d known you were going to act like this, I’d have drunk it,” Nell said. “If you’d just give these a chance—”

  “Not only will I not give these a chance,” Gabe said, “I’m not going to give you another one. Get my goddamn business cards back or you’re fired. And for the last time, stop changing things.”

  “You’d give up sleeping with me for business cards?” Nell said, trying to lighten the mood a little.

  “No,” Gabe said. “But I’ll give up paying you to type for me if you don’t act like a secretary and follow orders.”

  “Hey,” Nell said. “I am not just a—”

  Riley opened the door to his office and came out with one of his new cards in his hand. “When did I become a really expensive hairdresser?”

  “That’s not—”

  “Or maybe a hooker,” he said, looking at the card. “‘Answers’? That pretty much depends on the question, doesn’t it?”

  “She’s getting rid of them,” Gabe said and went back into his office and slammed the door.

  “Just because it’s something new,” Nell said, glaring after him.

  “It’s not because it’s new,” Riley said, dropping the card on her desk. “It’s because it’s geeky. Don’t do stuff like that without checking with him first. You know how he is.”

  “But he’s wrong,” Nell said. “He’s such a control freak. Those old cards—”

  “—are the ones he likes,” Riley finished for her. “You’re not paying attention.”

  “Does this place look a lot better than it did before I came?” Nell said and watched Riley look around the reception room.

  “Very shiny.”

  “And the bathroom—”

  “—is a work of art,” he finished for her again. “Nell, you’re missing the point. It’s his business. And this is not the way he wants it to look.”

  “It’s yours, too,” Nell said.

  “And I agree with him.” Riley shook his head at her. “You know, the problem is not that he’s a control freak. It’s that you’re both control freaks. And one of you has to give in. You, to be specific.”

  “He’s wrong,” Nell said.

  “And on that, I’m going back to my office,” Riley said. “Let me know when the dust settles, and I’ll talk to whoever is still standing.”

  “Damn it,” Nell said and picked up the phone to order the old cards again, determined to find a better way. Okay, he didn’t want anything too different. But that didn’t mean he had to keep butt-ugly cards.

  “Cream card stock,” she told the printer five minutes later. “Dark brown ink. A classy older serif typeface. Very plain. Bookman? Fine. McKenna Investigations in twelve point…”

  There, she thought when she’d hung up. Who says I can’t compromise?

  She went in to see Gabe and said, “I reordered the cards.”

  “Exactly like the old ones?” he said dangerously.

  “No. I compromised. I think—”

  “No, you don’t think. I don’t want you thinking and I don’t want you compromising. I want you listening. And I want the old cards back.”

  “Look, you can’t just keep saying no,” Nell said. “You have to listen to me.”

  “Actually, I don’t. I’m the boss, you’re the secretary.”

  “Technically, yes. But—”

  “No.” Gabe looked up at her, impatient and exasperated. “Not ‘technically.’ That’s the way it is.”

  Nell stepped on her anger. “You don’t think my opinion counts.”

  “It counts,” Gabe said. “Just not very much.”

  “In spite of everything I’ve done—”

  “Nell, sleeping with me does not make you a business partner. I told you, this isn’t Tim and the insurance agency.”

  “I’m not talking about sleeping with you,” Nell snapped. “I’m talking about everything I’ve done for this place in the past seven months.”

  “You’re a genius at organization,” Gabe said. “Now go away.”

  “Just like that,” Nell said.

  “Just like that. I have to think and I can’t with you bitching at me.” He rubbed his hand over his forehead. “Can we talk about this later? I’m tired of this fight.”

  “No,” Nell said. “If I’m hired help, there’s no reason to talk about it at all.”

  “Well, what the hell did you think you were?” Gabe said. “We hired you and we pay you. At what point did that sound like a partnership to you?”

  When I started sleeping with you, Nell thought and realized he was right. She’d slipped right back into her old life, sleeping with the boss and running his business.

  He leaned forward, fixing her with those eyes, and said, “For the last time, you are just a secretary.”

  “My mistake,” she said faintly and went back to sit at her desk, nauseated by her discovery.

  The office looked lovely, the walls in soft gold, the couch in gray, the gold-framed photos breaking up the expanse over the bookcases and filing cabinets. Really lovely. Like an expensive insurance agency.

  She hadn’t started a new life at all. She’d found the closest guy who looked like Tim and remade her old world. She looked around the beautiful office, trapped again. Even fixing the window wouldn’t change things. She’d just sold herself into the same old slavery. If Gabe dumped her, she’d be back on the street because she was still serving men. She hadn’t started anything for herself at all.

  She should quit.

  That was it, she should quit. Force herself to find a new life. That would fix him. No, that wasn’t right, that would fix her. There must be something she could do. Maybe take over The Cup? Nope, she’d still be working for somebody else, for Gabe, actually, until Chloe came back.

  No, if she wanted to be her own woman, she’d have to quit and start her own business. The thought hurt, she loved being part of Gabe and Riley, loved the working relationship and even the work, loved the community of them, but she had to go. It was the only way to save what she had with Gabe. She should have gone long ago, after the first fight, except that would have been before the first kiss. She had absolutely no idea of what kind of business she wanted to start, but she was definitely going to take what was left of her divorce settlement and whatever Budge could screw out of Tim for the agency and start something new. The hell with security in her old age. She could get hit by a truck tomorrow. She should start something new today. Something that would be hers. No men involved.

  Gabe came out of the office, shrugging on his suit jacket. “I’ll be back at five,” he told her as he headed for the door. “You want dinner at the Sycamore or the Fire House?”

  “Neither,” Nell said. She had a new life to plan.

  “You are not going to start skipping meals again,” he said from the doorway. “Just pick a place.”

  “I’m going to eat at home tonight. I want to think.”

  Gabe closed his eyes. “Oh, come on, don’t sulk. That’s not like you.”

  “I’m not sulking. I want some time alone to think about things.”

  “What things? Your life isn’t that complex.”

  “I know,” Nell said. “That’s the problem. I jumped from one tidy situation to another without ever really finding out what the possibilities were. I just moved right in here and thought I had the same thing with you that I had with Tim. I don’t.”

  “Well, I’m not cheating on you. I assumed that would be a plus.”

  “You did