Nearly two hours had passed since I’d left Mila’s.

I’d taken the subway to the small apartment I’d gotten just a few days earlier, and now as I sat on the murphy bed that had come with the place, I wanted to kick my own ass.

I should have known better.

I did know better.

And yet I’d still slept with Mila.

Mila…I closed my eyes, thinking about the way she’d looked before I walked away. Fury and embarrassment had lit her eyes. Part of me wished I’d stayed with her as she faced her father. She shouldn’t have been alone.

But I was the reason she was in this mess to begin with.

How was she?

I glanced at the phone, but before the idea to call her could fully form, I cut it off.

I’d caused enough trouble, and besides, I had no doubt the quiet phone would start ringing sometime soon. I’d hate to be on the phone with my lover when my boss called to tell me I was fired. That wouldn’t be very professional.

I knew I would get a call, sooner or later, from my boss.

I was fired.

I had to be.

I deserved to be.

Even though I couldn’t find it in me to regret the time I’d spent with Mila, I’d known it was wrong.

I’d end up losing my job, and without a job, I couldn’t afford even this small square of space I’d ended up renting.

I knew Jake would let me move back in, but I didn’t know if I wanted to do that. Maybe I just didn’t belong in New York. Maybe I should go back to Texas. I could figure out something to do with myself there. I was at loose ends now, and how likely was I going to be able to find a job considering how bad I’d screwed up the one I was about to lose?

Getting up, I started to pace the small space. I still wore the suit I wore when I went to Mila’s that morning. I’d all but torn the necktie off earlier, but now it felt like the suit itself was strangling me. I tore off the coat and threw it on my bed, then jerked at buttons on my shirt until I had it open.

A knock on the door had me going still. In the middle of the floor, I stared at the door, wondering who in the hell it could be. The options were limited. Jake and Michelle knew where I lived. My employer had been given the updated address.

Shit, knowing my luck, it was my employer.

I looked down at myself and decided since I was getting ready to get fired, it didn’t matter if I looked like a bum.

I stormed to the door but kept myself from jerking it open. I’d been the one to screw up. I was going to suck this up and take it like a man.

That resolve lasted for all of two seconds because I opened the door to find, not my boss, but Mila.

I blinked at the sight of her.

She took a step toward me, her hand outstretched.

I stayed where I was.

“What are you doing here?”

“I…well, I’m here to see you,” she said, her smile uncertain. “About earlier–”

“Don’t,” I said, shaking my head. “You should go. My boss is bound to be calling me soon to let me know I’m fired.”

Mila’s eyes narrowed. “I came to see you.”

“So you said.” Bracing one arm on the door near my head, I kept my body in the doorway. “But you should go.”

“You’re just going to push me away?” she demanded, shoving her hair back from her face.

I didn’t know how to respond to that. What I wanted to do was pull her up against me, kiss her, hold her. I wanted her in my bed underneath me.

But listening to what I wanted was what landed me here.

“Just go, Mila,” I said, shaking my head.

I pushed away from the doorway and slowly shut the door. She stared at me through the narrowing space until it completely closed. Then I leaned my head against the wood, wondering if she stood out there still.

It was early yet, not quite five, but I needed a drink. Moving to the small fridge that had come with the apartment, I pulled it open and grabbed a beer. Before I could take the first drink, though, the phone rang.

I eyed it narrowly as I approached the table.

I already knew who it was.

I let it ring a second time before picking it up.

“Hello,” I said, keeping my voice neutral.

On the other end of the line, Steve said, “Kid, I’ve got to tell you, I was having a shitty day to begin with. You did not make it any better.”

I closed my eyes.

“You got anything to say for yourself?” he asked when I remained silent.

“What exactly should I say? I screwed up.”

Steve barked out a laugh. “You screwed up?” he echoed, his voice incredulous. “You’ve been fucking the woman you were hired to protect. I did make myself clear about that sort of thing, didn’t I?”

“You did.”

“I guess I didn’t make it clear enough because Christopher Golding, one of our best clients, was just in here and he ripped me a new asshole. He found you groping his daughter.”

Pinching the bridge of my nose, I wracked my brain to come up with something to say that might make this better, but there was nothing.

“Did he get the situation wrong?” Steve asked, an edge in his voice.

“I wouldn’t say I was groping,” I told him, some of my own temper snapping into my voice. “That makes it sound one-sided, and it most definitely wasn’t.”

“That doesn’t make it any better,” he snapped.

“I know that!” Frustration chewed at me, and I lashed it down. Taking a deep breath, I said, “I know that. Like I said, I screwed up.”

“And you screwed us in the bargain. You realize your actions reflect on me, on my company, on the rest of the men and women I employ.” Silence fell then, and after a few seconds of it, Steve sighed. “I’m going to have to let you go, kid.”

“I figured as much.”

There was nothing else left to say so Steve ended the call, and I went back to my bed and sat down, staring at absolutely nothing.