“Are we done talking about business now?” Ted asks me, leaning back in his chair and tilting his head back to catch the sun’s rays. “Because I could really get to the drinking part of this meeting.”

Considering Ted’s had two martinis already, I’m sure the drinking part has already started.

It’s Friday afternoon, mid-May, and the city is finally getting the sunshine it deserves. Ted and I just had a two-hour lunch with the Warner Brothers executives who flew into town to check on how DinoWars was going.

The meeting went well. They’re happy, everything is on schedule, which means we’re happy.

Add in the fact that the weather is good and we’re on the patio at Carderos in Coal Harbor, watching the seaplanes take off and sailboats coming in to their slips, and things really couldn’t be better.

Well. I guess that’s not quite true.

They could be better—a lot better—and it’s something I don’t dare dwell on sitting across from Jackie’s father.

The truth is, I’m heading down a slippery slope and the incline gets steeper with each passing day.

The last time I fell head over heels obsessed with someone was with Sasha. Back when I was in my twenties. And that was just a fraction of what I’ve been feeling lately.

After she confided in me at the sushi restaurant, I’ve felt a bond with her unlike any other before. I can’t explain it. I just feel that she gave me a part of her that she never gives anyone and it’s up to me to protect it, keep it close to my heart and keep it safe. It’s not that she gave me a piece of her own heart, it’s more like she gave me a fragment of her soul. A part that burdens her and this somehow lightens that weight.

Maybe I’m looking too much into it because I want to. But I know something about her that not many people know. Perhaps if I had never brought it up, if Ty never said anything, she would have never discussed it with me. I love to think that in time I could become close enough to her that she would open up naturally. But that could just be wishful thinking.

In fact, I’m not so delusional to think I’m powered by anything other than wishful thinking. I know that she probably doesn’t look at me other than her dad’s friend, her boss, and now, just a regular friend. I know it. But it doesn’t make what I feel go away.

And it doesn’t make me understand what I’m feeling any easier. There’s still so much about her that I don’t know—her hopes, her dreams, her fears—but I’m determined to do whatever I can to learn more.

I’m fucking obsessed with her.

Plain and simple.

“So Jackie is working out pretty well,” Ted says to me, pulling off an olive from the garnish with his teeth.

“She’s terrific,” I tell him.

“Think she’s due for a raise at six months?”

“I think she’s due for a raise now. You do want her moving out, don’t you?”

He chuckles. “Actually, I think Diane loves that she’s back at home. And she adores Ty. They’ve both given her a new lease on life. You know for a while there she was even losing interest in the horses. She was just depressed. And it wasn’t the weather. Ever since Jackie and Ty came back, she’s glowing.” He sprawls back in his chair. “Just like this gorgeous weather. Hot damn.”

“I’m sure Jackie wants a place of her own.”

He shrugs. “Maybe. It’s not like she’s seeing anyone. Thank god. I hate to say it, but my daughter has horrible taste in men.”

I watch Ted carefully. He’s too glib about it, which means I doubt Jackie told him what really happened up north, though I know she will when she’s ready. At least she’s booked her first appointment for a therapist next week.

“Plenty of nice guys in the city. I’m sure she’ll see someone eventually,” I tell him. “She’s a beautiful woman.”

“You’ve said that a few times to me, Will,” Ted says, looking at me over his glasses.

I raise my palms as a mea culpa. “I call them as I see them.”

“And what about you?”

“What about me?”

“You’re not dating anyone. This worries me. I am nonplussed.”

“I’ve never seen you plussed, Teddy.”

“That’s true. Still, you need to get back in the game, Will. I know what Sasha did to you was the pits but you can’t stay a bachelor forever. You at least need to get your knob polished.”

“Are you sure you need another drink?” I ask him. “You’re cruder than normal after a few martinis. Maybe it’s heat stroke.”

He grins at me devilishly and snaps his fingers for the waitress. “More. Just bring us more,” he says to her, then looks back to me. “How about I set you up with someone?”

“How about no?”

“She’s beautiful. Maybe not as young as my daughter . . .”

“Careful, Ted,” I warn him, starting to feel uneasy.

“I’m just saying. She’s up your alley. Thirty-five, blonde, big rack, legs to the sky. Works in development at Omni.”

“Another film person? You know how small the world is.”

“Look, you don’t have to date her. You can just screw her.”

“What’s her name?”

“Mona.”

“Mona?”

“Maybe it was Moana.”

“Ted, I’m not interested.”

“Look, the film gala is tomorrow night, you need a date.”

“I thought you were my date.”

“I’m flying to LA in the morning.”

“Diane can be my date.”

“Diane has grabby hands and I know she likes you in a tux, so no way.”

“I’ll take Jackie.”

“You will not,” he says, sitting up straight.

I shrug. “Why not?”

He thinks that over, pursing his lips in a comical manner. “I don’t know. I guess why not?” Then he gives me the stink-eye. “But I don’t like how you’re trying to get out of this relationship set-up thing.”

“I thought it was just a knob-polishing screw.”

“Whatever it is, I’m going to call Moana, Mona, at some point, and I’m going to get her on a date with you and that’s all there is to it. Please Will, I will sleep easier at night, and you know all my success rides on how much sleep I get.”

“I’ll think about it. Okay?”

Luckily the waitress comes by with our drinks, so Ted is happily distracted once again. I’m off the hook on with this set-up.

And I get to ask Jackie to go to a gala with me.

Where there’s a will there’s a way.

* * *

I am completely overstepping my boundaries here.

After the meeting/drinking session with Ted (and the excess alcohol plus rare good weather may factor in here), I call Diane and ask if she’ll look after Ty tomorrow night. Then I fill her in and ask for Jackie’s dress and shoe size.

Diane is practically squealing over the fact that I’ll be inviting her daughter to the gala. It’s a nice change of pace from Ted, who was more or less indifferent. She keeps saying how good it will be for Jackie to get out and have a real man on her arm, even though I know she doesn’t mean it in any way other than platonic, friend of the family. That sort of thing.

At least, that’s what I assume Diane means and I’m not going to fuck it all up by asking.

I have to admit, it puts the pressure on me. I know I don’t have to do much to appear better than that fucking monster ex of hers, Jeff, but even so, I have to do things exactly right, behave exactly right.

Not that I haven’t been on my best behavior so far, but I feel like it’s coming to a close. I fear that the longer I’m around Jackie, the more likely I’ll be unable to control myself.

Which is something entirely new to me. I’ve always been in control, always had a handle on most situations, but the last few years have really thrown me for a loop. First there was Sasha, pulling the rug out from under me in the most humiliating way, now there’s Jackie, who is seeping under my skin, right into my veins, like some sort of drug. She’s invading my thoughts, my dreams, everything, until I find myself thinking of her, even craving her, more than anything else in my life.

Here’s hoping I manage to keep it together.

The next day at work I get there early, before even Tiffany arrives. I like the office at this time of day and make a mental note to try and do this more often. There’s no one here except for a few animators down the hall. You’ll occasionally see them heading into the breakroom for coffee, looking sleepy as hell after pulling all-nighters, but that’s about it.

I place a note on Jackie’s desk asking her to see me in my office. Then I go into my office and hang up the dress behind the door, still in the garment bag, then slide the shoebox underneath my desk.

Then I sit and wait for the office to get busy and for Jackie to come in, hoping Diane never mentioned anything to her.

Okay, I admit it’s a bit presumptuous, completely bold, and maybe even a bit creepy, that I’ve picked out a dress and shoes for her and she doesn’t even know about this event, but what I’ve learned about Jackie is that if you give her an inch, she’ll take a mile. Her stubbornness is legendary, as is her pride, and if she thinks at all that she’ll be a bother, she won’t go for it. If I had asked her, the first thing she’d say is that she doesn’t have a dress, and then if I offered to get her a dress, she’d flat-out turn me down, saying she didn’t deserve one, etc., etc.

So, I figure this bypasses all the stress. It’s done. And Diane agreed that it was the best route because it’s one less decision for Jackie to have to make.

I just hope that Jackie feels the same way. If she doesn’t, this could backfire in a major way.

It’s nine a.m. on the dot when Jackie knocks at my door. She certainly wasted no time.

“Come in,” I call to her.

The door opens and she stands in the doorway.

“You wanted to see me?” she asks.

Even though I call her in to my office often, she always has this guilty look on her face, like she’s done something wrong and is about to get fired. Regardless, the sight of her works on me better than a cup of coffee. She warms me up from the inside out.

“We need to talk,” I tell her, trying not to gawk at her as usual. Her tits look spectacular in her shirt. “Close the door.”

A flash of fear goes through her gorgeous blues.

I decide to let her squirm for a bit.

“Listen, I have something important I have to run by you and hope you’ll make this process as painless as possible.”

I watch as she swallows, her fingers fiddling with the hem of her shirt. “Okay.”

“Tonight is the Vancouver Film Industry annual gala that your father usually attends, but this year I’m going. It’s at the Hotel Vancouver. And I need a date. I think that date should be you.”

Her eyes go wider. I didn’t think that was possible.

“Um . . . I don’t . . . your date?”

I nod, not breaking eye contact with her. “Purely professional, of course.”

She licks her lips, and I can’t tell if she’s relieved or not. “Of course. But I wouldn’t know anyone. And I’ve never been to a gala. And I don’t have a dress or shoes, and I would need to ask my mom to watch Ty, and I don’t want to add to all the shit I’m piling on her. I’m sorry. I’m sure you can find someone else.”

Ouch. I hope her resolve to give up this easily isn’t something I should take personally.

“There is no one else,” I tell her. “Only you, Just Jackie.”

She stares at me, her features softening.

I clear my throat. “Besides, all the arrangements have been made. Your mother has agreed to watch Ty-Rex. I’ve got a dress for you right there,” I nod at the door and then pull out the shoebox from Christian Louboutin, “and your Cinderella shoes right here.”

“Uh,” she says, staring at the garment bag and then the shoebox and then back to the bag again.

“As for your hair and makeup, I think you look beautiful just as you are, but I know you’re going to say something about how you don’t have the makeup or time to get your hair done or something like that. So I bypassed that as well. You have an appointment in my apartment at five-thirty. A Glamsquad girl is coming by to do your hair and makeup. Whatever you want.”

She’s blinking at me, utterly baffled. “I don’t know what to say.”

“You don’t need to say anything.”

Her head shakes as she reaches up and takes the garment bag off the hook, peering at the label. “Dolce and Gabbana?”

I shrug. “Your mom gave me your size. I told the salespeople at Holts that you have a body like Marilyn Monroe. They said this should fit and flatter you. I believe them. Besides, you can’t go wrong with black.”

“I’m a size 10,” she tells me, looking almost embarrassed. “On my good days. No way would a designer accommodate my size and have it look right.”

“I bet it looks just fine.”

“Will,” she says, licking those lips again. She has to stop that. “I really appreciate you taking the reins like this but this is like a borderline alpha male thing to do. This is like a Christian Grey thing to do.”

I raise my brow. “And that’s bad?”

She opens her mouth to speak but I go on, “Jackie, I’ve been around the block a few times now, and know how things work. I told you that when I see what I want, I go for it. And I want you to accompany me to the gala tonight.”

Her brows knit together in frustration. “But . . .why me?”

“Because it will be fun.” I edge the box toward her with my elbow. “Tell me you like the shoes.”

“Will,” she says again, not moving. “I can still say no to all of this.”

“You can. But I know you won’t.”

“Oh do you?”

I grin. “Go ahead and prove me wrong.” I pause. “On second thought, don’t. You’re stubborn enough to do it.”

And she seems to think about that. Fuck. I hope I didn’t speak too soon. I’m coming on strong and from a place that she can’t figure out. I’m still her boss, and so far that’s all I’ve been. This is edging it to another level. I might just scare her away.

But she’s edging closer to the desk and the shoe box.

She glances me as if to ask “is this okay?” and then takes the lid off the box.

She gasps. They aren’t glass slippers, but they are high heels made of teal suede with gold spikes, the classic red sole on the bottom looking slick as nail polish. I know many women in the LA office splurged on Louboutins so I figured I couldn’t go wrong, providing Jackie even knows who the designer is. But from the shocked look on her face, I think she does.

“I was looking at the five-inch heels,” I explain, “but decided I didn’t want to push my luck. These are three and a half inches, should be just fine for you to walk in.”

Jackie is turning them over in her hands, marveling at them. “You shouldn’t have. You really shouldn’t have.” Her face grows serious, a line appearing between her brows. “These shoes are almost a thousand dollars. That dress has to be about the same.”

“More like three thousand.”

She closes her eyes, raises her brows and shakes her head. “Will. I can’t let you just buy me this stuff.”

“Why not? It’s coming out of your paycheck.”

Her mouth drops and I let out a laugh. “Relax. Let me do it. You deserve it.”

“But—”

“You deserve it Jackie. Now do you want me to keep your stuff in here?”

She nods, still obviously overwhelmed.

“Hey,” I tell her softly, leaning across the desk. “This is supposed to be a fun thing, right? A gala. Don’t worry so much about it.” I pause. “As your boss, that’s an order. Got it?”

“Am I getting paid for it?” she asks with a small smile.

“Don’t push your luck, kid. Now get back to work.”

She rolls her eyes and then leaves me alone in my office, smiling to myself.