“Man, I haven’t done shit. Why do you always assume the worst?”
He was silent for a second. “Do you really want me to answer that?”
“No.”
“All right.” He laughed. “What’s going on? Are you checking up on the bar?”
“Not really,” I replied. “I am going to brag a little.”
“About?”
“I just gave the staff here at the tax firm the day off. With pay.”
He started coughing. “Who is this?” he joked. “Where’s the other guy?”
“Very funny. I told you, I’m bragging. I did a good thing. I rewarded them with a paid day. Half day. That was a good thing.”
“Are you giving me a paid day?” he asked.
“No.”
“What made you do that?” he questioned.
“I don’t know. I guess Saige is wearing off on me.”
He burst into laughter. “That explains it.”
“Explains what?”
“You were moved to do it because you are trying to impress her,” he said. “You are trying to prove you can be good.”
“I am good.”
“You know what I mean. You are trying to prove you aren’t the asshole she thinks you are.”
He was probably right. “She gave me some good advice. I’m taking it. I think it works. They seemed happy. And she invited me to lunch.”
“Wow, afternoon delight,” he joked.
“I don’t know, but I wouldn’t turn her down.”
He laughed. “Of course, you wouldn’t. You’re hung up on this one.”
“I am not hung up on her.”
“Yes, you are. Why deny it?”
“It’s not like that,” I said with a laugh. “You know that is not how I am.”
“Whatever. What are you going to do?”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“Are you going to give her the space or are you going to keep being in her face?”
“I’m not in her face,” I shot back. “I don’t know why I call you.”
“Because you are going to lunch with her and you’re afraid it’s getting serious,” he said.
“No. I’m not afraid of anything. I was only telling you about my good deed. Way to kill the mood.”
He laughed. “Sorry. I thought I was talking you out of something. Or into something. I don’t know. Good job. Enjoy your lunch. Wear protection.”
“Thanks,” I muttered. “Hey, make me some damn money. I just gave a bunch of people the day off with pay. I need the income.”
“You don’t need the income,” he scoffed. “And you better believe I’m coming to you for my paid day off.”
I ended the call and got busy working on the few things I had to get done. His words played through my head. I looked at Saige and I saw a woman I liked and really enjoyed having sex with. I didn’t look at her and think serious relationship. Did I? I wasn’t even sure what that looked like. I didn’t know how to do a relationship. She had a kid. That was way too much for me.
I was getting all worked up over a lunch date. Not even a lunch date. It was a casual thing between boss and employee. Last night had been a fluke. It was just a couple of people trying to take the edge off. It had been a stressful week and we were blowing off some steam. It wasn’t a big deal. I wasn’t going to read into it.
I finished up what I needed to get done while preparing to be gone the rest of the day if the situation presented itself. If she wanted to go back to my place, I wasn’t going to reject her. I was a man after all, and she was a beautiful woman.
I knocked on her open door. “Ready?” I asked her.
She looked up from her computer. “I am. I was just finishing up a few reports.”
“Do you plan on coming back after lunch?” I asked. It was direct, but that was the way I liked things.
“I don’t know,” she said. “Do I need to? Am I not part of the staff?”
“You are and I’m okay with you taking the rest of the day off,” I told her.
“Great, then I’m ready. The rest of this will be here tomorrow.”
Chapter 37
Saige
This was probably really stupid, but here I was, going to lunch with the object of my obsession. Not necessarily my obsession, but it felt like that. After last night, I didn’t know what I was doing with him. It was all wrong and yet I kept going back to him. I should have told him no last night, but I didn’t. I found myself practically jumping on him.
“We’ll take my car,” he said in his usual domineering way.
“What if I don’t come back to work?” I asked.
“Are you inviting me back to your place?” he teased.
“No.”
He laughed. “I had to try.”
“Did you?”
We stepped out of the building and he automatically assumed we were going to take his car. I didn’t fight it. I followed him like a good girl. We crawled into his tiny car and we were off. I gave him the address of the restaurant.
“Fancy,” he said.
“I figured we deserved a little treat.”
When we were seated at the table, he looked around. “This place is pretty swanky. How much am I paying you?”
I laughed and picked up my menu. “Not enough, but I’m not paying for lunch. This is a business lunch and therefore a tax write-off.”
His sexy smile damn near did me in. I was ready to drag him into the bathroom and get in a quickie. “I forget you’re an accountant sometimes.”
“Why do you forget that?”
“Because no CPA should ever look that sexy.”
His compliments were always out of the blue and genuine. It was hard not to feel flattered. It had been a long time since I felt sexy. He made me feel incredibly sexy. It was like I was a goddess whenever he looked at me. Being a boy’s mom with very little time to do any kind of self-pampering, I didn’t usually feel sexy.
“You’re a very smooth talker,” I told him. “I remember that about you.”
“What else do you remember about me?”
“I’m not telling you.”
“Aw, come on,” he said with that same flirty smile. “Do you think about that first time?”
I was going to end up blushing. “No.”
“Liar.”
“Do you?” I asked.
He slowly nodded while looking directly into my eyes. “I’ll admit I didn’t think about it a lot, but I do now. It’s hard not to think about it.”
“Why?” I pushed. I was enjoying making him squirm a little. It was nice to put the shoe on the other foot.
He leaned forward. “Because of things like last night. You wear those skirts that hug your body, and you look at me with that crazy hot look. How can I think of anything else?”
He was naughty, naughty, naughty. And I loved it. “I don’t wear tight skirts.”
“Tight enough,” he said with a laugh. “I have a very good memory.”
We ordered and I tried very hard to change the subject. He somehow turned everything into a sexual innuendo. Almost everything.