“Drinks and dancing. I want to let my hair down. It’ll be the first time in a long time, and since I have no reason not to, I thought we could make full use of our Saturday night together.”
“I’d love to go out with you tonight. I’m due to get my manuscript back on Monday morning so tonight would be great. And then tomorrow, we’ll lounge around and do absolutely nothing.”
“Perfect,” Talia said, leaning in and kissing Faye’s cheek. “So, I should head home and get some things sorted for this evening. Unless you wanted me to pick up some clothes and just come back here?”
“Whatever you want to do. I’m happy to have you here all day and night, but if you needed to go home for a few hours, get some space or whatever, that’s fine.”
“Space from you? Woman, you’re crazy!”
“Talia,” Faye paused, turning side on. She really wanted to get to the bottom of all of this before this evening. Because if Talia was letting her hair down for the first time in forever, there was no telling the state she could potentially be in later. “What happened at the club? Why did Paul fire you?”
Talia stared down at her knees, brushing a tear from her cheek. “He knows about you. He asked me to decide, so I did.”
“Decide what?”
“Between you and my career.”
Faye’s pulse whooshed in her ears. Paul had made Talia decide...and she’d chosen Faye. Surely not. “I…don’t want you to do that. If you’re here because you chose me, I don’t want you to do that. Dancing is your life, Talia.”
“You’re more important.”
“As beautiful as it sounds hearing you say that, you and I both know that you’ll be miserable without your career. And I’d love nothing more than for you to be here with me every night, but I knew what I was getting myself into when we met. Please, call him.”
“You don’t understand. He’s not saying I can have both; he’s telling me to pick you or the job. He hasn’t given me a few days to decide or anything else. He told me to end things with you, or I had to leave the club. So, I left the club.”
“Can he do that?” Faye wanted to believe it was unlawful, but she had no idea what was allowed. She recalled Talia telling her it was forbidden to date a client, but she hadn’t actually believed it.
“It’s in my contract. And even though you and I know you’re not a client, they don’t see it that way. You’re on the books.”
“So take me off them.” Faye scoffed, shaking her head. If it meant Talia could keep her job, she’d never step foot inside the club again. “Tell him I’m not a client anymore.”
“To be honest, he never should have given me the ultimatum. And I know he’s calling to ask me to change my mind, but I can’t do that, Faye. If I’ve realised anything recently, it’s how important you are to me. I couldn’t imagine a life without you in it, and I don’t even want to try.”
“We need to figure this out. You can’t lose your job simply for dating someone. I’m not even a regular. This is pathetic.” Faye got to her feet, pacing in front of the coffee table. “Can’t I sign something to say I won’t come by anymore?”
“It doesn’t work like that, babe. It’s my own fault for getting involved with someone who’d been to the club. Now I have to face the consequences.”
“Your own fault? Nobody is atfault. We fell in love Talia; you make it sound like a terrible mistake.”
“Shit, no. That’s not what I’m saying.” Talia followed Faye, wrapping her arms around her waist. “Loving you willneverbe a mistake. But thisismy fault. I knew what would happen, I just…didn’t think I’d get caught.”
“I feel like I’ve ruined your career. Everything you’ve worked hard for is gone because of me.”
“Hey,” Talia whispered, tipping Faye’s chin towards her. “You’re the breath of fresh air I needed in my life. You haven’t ruined a single thing. I love you.”
Faye nuzzled into Talia’s chest, sniffling. “I love you too.” But there wasn’t a single scenario where Talia lost her job because of Faye, and she was going to make sure of that. “I’m so sorry.”
“It is what it is, Faye. It’s not the end of the world. I still have you.”
“You deserve both. All of it. You deserve the world.”
Talia swayed them as they stood embraced, wrapped up in one another. “Got the world right here,” she said, pressing a kiss to Faye’s temple. “Now, I’m going home to grab some things for tonight, and then I’ll be back. Give me a few hours, okay?”
“Okay. It’s going to take me all day to make myself look beautiful, so you’d better get going.”
Talia cupped her face, tracing a thumb across Faye’s bottom lip. “Nonsense. You’re the most beautiful woman in this world.”
CHAPTERTWENTY-TWO