Another pause. Another breath. He turns to look at me.
“I feel the same way about you,” he says. “You’re what I’m supposed to do with my life, Eliana.”
The city blurs even more behind a veil of my tears. “Bas—”
“I want you to come to the gala with me. Not as my employee, but as my date. My partner.” He stops himself, swallows, continues. “I want you there as mine, Eliana. In front of everyone.” He cups the back of my neck. “Not just for the gala, either. I know we signed a deal and that I’ve paid you a lot of money to stick around, but I’m asking you to stay past that. I want the real thing with you. Not ninety days of it. I want all of it.”
I pull back, though the barest outline of his face is all I can see in this much shadow. “What happened to lying to ourselves?”
“f**k lying.” He
