Neanderthal Seeks Human(129)

He pushed my hair from my face, at this point I was straddling his lap and we were on the middle of the bed, and rested his forehead against mine.

“Oh, Quinn, I am so sorry.” I hugged him to me, my arms around his neck.

“Janie, there is nothing to be sorry about-”

“But I assumed the worst, I saw you with Jem and I assumed that you- that you and her-”

His arms tightened around me, “Were playing ‘hide the salami’?” he quoted Elizabeth’s words from earlier which, despite the evening’s events, made us both laugh.

When the short burst of laughter ended I nuzzled my head into the crook of his neck, careful to avoid his earlier injury, “Dan brought me here and told me what happened, with Jem. I am sorry she bit you.”

His hand rubbed circles over my back, with each pass his hand moved lower until he was stroking the base of my spine just above the curve of my bottom. “It’s ok. I don’t care about Jem.”

I pulled just far enough away from him so I could see his face. He looked tired, weary.

“I also-” I sighed, “You should know that I do trust you.”

He offered me a small smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes, “We can talk about it in the morning.”

“No- no, listen-” I shifted backwards and at first he didn’t let me go but then finally allowed me to stand from the bed. I reached into my pants pocket and pulled out the folded email, my voice was still thick with sleep, “Olivia- at least I think it was Olivia- left this on my desk yesterday and I was going to show it to you today.” I shoved the paper at him.

He looked from me to the paper then, with clear hesitation, took the sheet from my hand. I crossed to the bathroom and flipped on the light which gave him just enough illumination to read the contents. He pushed to the edge of the bed and stood, his long form unfolding, straightening, then stiffening as he read. A rush of breath escaped his lungs and his eyes flickered to me.

“I haven’t seen this but, Janie- I can tell you-”

I covered his hand holding the paper with mine, “No- it doesn’t matter. What I wanted to say was, what I want to say is that I saw this yesterday and- yes, admittedly, I had a momentary freakout but then I thought about it and I knew, I realized that I trust you. I knew there had to be a reasonable explanation and I was going to show it to you today, tonight, before everything went from Judd Apatow harmless to Quentin Tarantino horrifying.”

Quinn took a step towards me, shaking his head, “I asked them to-”

“You don’t have to explain. I just- I trust you, I trusted you. I just wanted you to know that I wasn’t worried. I- I- I have faith in you.”

This time his small smile did reach his eyes and he looked almost proud of himself, and a little mischievous. His gaze moved over my face in a slow sweep as he licked his lips, “Let me tell you what this is about, ok?”

I nodded, “You don’t have to-”

“I want to.” Quinn dipped his chin and leveled me with a measured stare. He glanced briefly at the email and handed it back to me, “After you and I talked on Tuesday, when you told me you didn’t want to take the plane back with everyone else, you felt uncomfortable leaving things undefined at work, I called Betty and tasked her with asking the lawyers to put a proposal together which would define work expectations in such a way that would allow you and I to continue our relationship outside of work.”

My attention moved back to the email as he continued and I tried to re-read it with this information in mind.

“Obviously they misinterpreted the request. I wanted them to set up something- tangible, legal- that you could feel good about, that would protect you in case our relationship… ever… ended.” One of his hands moved to the back of his neck and he began to rub the tendons.

“It reads like they interpreted your request, your main objective, to be protecting the company. They want me to resign so that you and I can date without putting the company at risk.”

“I’ll get it straightened out.” He shifted closer, running the back of his knuckles against the skin where my scoop-neck shirt met my chest.

I surveyed the email once more before stepping away from him to discard it on the dresser, “I know you will.” I couldn’t meet his eyes. Part of me wondered if it would just be better for everyone if I did quit. Then, I could date Quinn without making others uncomfortable about putting his company at risk.

“Hey-” he tilted my chin back until I met his gaze, “What are you thinking about? And don’t tell me robots.”

Despite myself, I gave him a brittle grin, “Maybe I should quit.”