They didn't speak until they reached the park across from the office. Adrian led her to a bench, his grip on her hand desperate.
"Why did you do that?" he demanded. "You could have denied everything. Protected yourself."
"And let them destroy you?" Nancy pulled her hand free, suddenly angry. "You'd do the same for me. You have done the same for me."
"That's different!"
"How? Because you're the man? Because you're the billionaire?" Nancy stood, pacing. "I'm so tired of being careful, Adrian. Of hiding and pretending and worrying about what people think. I love you. I love you. And I won't let Sonia or anyone else make that dirty."
Adrian stared at her. "You said it."
"Said what?"
"The L-word." He rose, catching her hands. "You've never said it before."
Nancy's anger dissolved into vulnerability. "I know. I was scared. I thought if I said it, if I made it real, I'd lose it."
"And now?"
"Now I realize I was losing it anyway. By hiding. By pretending we were just boss and assistant when we're..." She laughed, watery. "When we're something I don't even have words for."
Adrian pulled her close, his heart hammering against her ear. "Then let me give you words. I love you, Nancy Clark. I love your courage and your stubbornness and your ridiculous yellow scarf. I love that you stood up to a board of directors for me, and that you organize my coffee orders with military precision, and that you make me want to be the man you believe I am."
"You're already that man," Nancy whispered.
"With you, I can be better." He tilted her chin up. "No more hiding. No more distance. My mother knows, the board knows, soon the world will know. Are you ready for that?"
Nancy thought of the headlines, the judgment, the years of being "Adrian Thorne's girlfriend" instead of just Nancy. Then she looked at this impossible, wonderful man who'd chosen her, who'd fight for her, who'd burned his own rules to keep her warm.
"Ready," she said. And kissed him in the middle of Manhattan, with tourists staring and pigeons scattering and the whole world watching.
It was terrifying. It was perfect. It was love.