Wanted by My Three Bosses novel · Chapter 19 of 24

Chapter 19: What Anson Never Said

Anson's POV

"I know," I said again, "because I hung it there."

Daphne turned from the wall and looked at me.

"I read your cover letter in March," I said. "Recruiting sends us a short list of five, and I read every page myself. I always have."

"March."

"You wrote that your mother kept our faces on the fridge for fourteen years. You wrote that you didn't want a job. You wanted to be in the room she'd been looking at."

Her mouth opened and closed.

"I took the letter home," I said. "I read it four times. I put your name on the nine o'clock list myself, and I told Meredith to make sure you were looked after."

"You told her."

"I told her to look after you. Then I sat upstairs for ninety minutes, and when she said you hadn't arrived, I believed her."

I made myself keep my eyes on hers.

"Rule one says no lies. This is the part I haven't said. When she told me you were a no-show, I felt relief."

She went very still.

"Say that again," she said.

"I felt relief, Daphne. I had a woman's letter in my pocket that made me feel something I hadn't felt in years, and I was glad to be spared meeting her. I was afraid."

"Of what?"

"That I'd be one more man she left."

My voice would not stay level, and I let it go.

"I told myself the women left because we were who we were. It let me stop trying. Meredith made it easy, and I let her, because it meant I never had to be brave."

"Anson."

"Then you stood up in my lobby and demanded an apology, and Gray pressed the button, and I stepped out of the elevator." I breathed. "I have not been afraid of you since. I've only been in love with you."

The room was silent.

She crossed the carpet in four steps.

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