“You said Greta is on leave?”
“She had surgery, but she’s back to working part-time from home. I’ll leave her number in case you need her for anything. I can’t believe you remembered her name.”
Hayden laughs softly. “Greta may have shared a story or two about you that summer. I won’t be stepping on her toes, will I?”
That summer, huh? I almost forgot she’d come by a few times to see me while I’d been working.
“She won’t mind at all. She only handles payroll and the accounts. Providing, of course, I give her what she needs to pay the bills and send out invoices.” I offer a sheepish smile. “That’s where I’ve dropped the ball.”
“Are we talking months? Weeks?” Hayden eyes me skeptically.
“We’re not in trouble or anything, but we’re probably pushing those thirty-day deadlines.” Which I don’t like to do, given this is a small town, full of small businesses, and I know how important it is to get paid on time. “I’ll give Greta a call and let her know she might hear from you.”
“Somehow I feel like she’s going to want to kick your ass.”
“She is. One-hundred percent.”
“Because she offered to help and you told her you didn’t need it, right?”
Uh…
She sighs. “Oh, Jesse, what are we going to do with you?”
If she were anyone else, her pity would piss me off. But with Hayden, I’m only humbled with gratitude.
“I don’t like asking for help,” I confess, which elicits a small upturn of her pretty lips as she steps forward and wraps her hand around my forearm.
“Promise me something,” she says softly, looking up at me with those gorgeous dark eyes. “Promise that you’ll let me keep at this as long as it takes to get you back on track. No kicking me out after a day or two because your pride can’t handle the heat.”
“The heat?” With her standing so close, I’m a hell of a lot more worried about an altogether different kind of heat… the kind that has blood rushing straight to my cock.
“I take my work very seriously.” Her grip tightens ever so slightly, but her fingertips feel like they’re branding my skin… everywhere.
“Then I should probably show you what you’re up against.” I clear my throat and step back so I can turn away for obvious reasons.
“I’m ready for the challenge,” she says eagerly, and I bite back a groan.
This girl? She is my challenge. From day friggin’ one.
“So, you’ve seen all of this before.” I wave a hand around the front office. “We renovated a couple of years ago, though. Greta said it needed some lightening up and she wasn’t wrong.” The space is clean and simple now, if not a little boring with its white paint and blond wood furniture. “It’s a little blah for me, but I wasn’t about to piss off my best employee.”
Hayden laughs. “It’s cozy. Sorta farmhouse style.”
“Okay, whatever you say.” I chuckle, too, and tip my head toward the hall off of the big, open room. “The back of the building, including my office, hasn’t been touched. I apologize in advance for the depression it might put you into from spending any amount of time there.”
Her eyes swivel upward in a half eye roll. “So, no other office staff?”
“Nope. I used to have a receptionist, but she spent more time on her phone, reading romance novels than she did any actual work.”
“Those books can be very motivating.”
“Not in her case.” I glance over my shoulder as she smiles.
“Let me guess… when she left, you took on her work, too.”
I turn back toward the hall in front of me with a sniff and Hayden groans.
“Good Lord, you’re stubborn.”
“So, I’ve been told.” We reach my office and I flip on the light, revealing a big room that, unlike the front office, is all dark wood, rich leather, and old-school finishes, just like it’s been for decades.
“You still have that desk, huh?”
My gaze flicks to the monstrosity that used to belong to my granddad, and I stick my tongue in my cheek, knowing exactly what she’s thinking without her having to say more.
In fact, I can still see her bent over the side, her dress rucked up around her waist, as she offered herself to me for lunch.
I can see her on her knees in front of my chair, too, her pink lips wrapped around my dick as she sucked me off while Greta worked out front.
We’ve fucked in this room at least a half dozen times. Hell, there wasn’t a place we didn’t go at it that summer.
“I forgot how much I loved this room,” she says, setting down her coffee and letting her laptop bag slide down her bare arm and into the one of the guest chairs. She rounds the big desk, her fingers trailing appreciatively along the smooth mahogany.
Personally, I love this space, too, because I know the history that’s been made here. To everyone else, it’s outdated and gloomy, in dire need of a change, but to me, it’s a legacy.
“I can see them here,” she sighs. “Your dad and your granddad, I mean. Not to sound creepy, but it’s almost like they’re still here.”
I nod, thankful she’s facing away, because her voicing the same feelings I have—about something that means so much to me—is one of the many reasons I fell so hard for her. I’m pretty sure it’s written all over my face.
She pauses between my oversized leather chair and the desk and turns to me, her smile as sincere as the gleam in her eyes. “I am so proud of you.”
Oomph. Those six little words hit me like an arrow in the chest. But it’s the best kind of ache, because her approval means as much as to me as my dad and grandad’s. In some ways, it means more.
“Thank you.” I clear my throat as heat climbs up the back of my neck. “My brothers and Amelia think I need to expand. Beyond the region, maybe even go statewide.” I set my coffee on the desk and tuck my hands into my pockets. “I’m not sure, though. I mean, I’d love to grow someday, but changing the company to something other than what my grandad envisioned doesn’t feel quite right. Or maybe I’ve had so much on my plate that I can’t see it any other way.”
She gives me another sweet smile. “You were fifteen when he passed away, right?”
My eyebrows dart up. “You remember that?”
She nods. “The way you talked about him was hard to forget.”
And there isn’t a damn thing I’ve forgotten about her, either.
“Obviously, I didn’t know him,” she continues. “But from what you’ve told me, I know he’d be proud of you no matter what. As long as you keep the company going.”
I rock back on my heels. “Which I won’t be able to do if I don’t get my shit together.”
“Lucky for you, you have me to help with that.”
“For now.”
“Until you don’t need me anymore,” she corrects, but little does she know I’ve needed her for going on five years now. That’s not likely to change.
“I appreciate this, Hay. More than I can say.”
“I know.” She comes back around the desk, and some messed up part of me wants her to slide in for a hug like she did last night. She goes for her laptop bag for her phone instead. “Greta’s phone number?”