Page 5 of Stepping Up

“Carly Sanders, employee of the month,” she said proudly, as if that really was her full name. “And, might I add, for the past three months in a row,” she added, again balancing on a knife’s edge of a respectful tone. “Not that it’s your business what goes on in my personal life, Mr. McDonald, but I was four minutes late because I was dealing with a family… issue, which I consider more important than any job, no matter how dedicated I am to my work. And for the record, I’ve never been late before. Not once.”

“It’s true,” May squeaked, corroborating the sexy employee of the month’s story. I saw a faint twitch on the first woman’s tempting mouth, a flicker of near-laughter that suddenly made her look younger. A mischievous teenager, almost—though she was certainly older than that. Those full, rounded curves told me she was all woman. Younger than my thirty-five-going-on-sixty, though. That was for damn sure.

I took a long moment to consider this development. The beautiful server stood her ground, her shoulders back in a show of confidence that again marked her as someone mature, sure of herself. It was hard not to admire her strong will, her refusal to back down even under my apparently-intimidating stare. And once I let myself really consider what she’d said, I even admired her reasons. Family was always my first priority, too. Which was why I even gave a damn that my dad had made a potentially life-ruining decision without consulting me.

Fine, Carly Sanders, you fucking gorgeous pain in my ass, I wanted to say. You win this round. But I can’t be kept down for long.

And despite my practical side telling me none of this was important, was some part of me looking forward to going toe-to-toe with her again? No way. No, that must just be some residual weirdness from the shocking news Dad had shared on the phone. That must be what had gotten my guard down low enough for this thick firebrand of a woman to get past it.

“Fine,” I gritted out, struggling to hold that blue-gray gaze. “But don’t let it happen again. Now back to work, all of you.”

After the scene dispersed and my employee of the month walked away, leaving the view of her big, juicy ass squeezed into tight black jeans imprinted on the undersides of my eyelids, I found it hard to concentrate on my various tasks around the restaurant. Whenever that woman was in my line of sight, I found her instantly, like some oversexed game of I Spy.

Toward the end of the evening, I noticed her talking with Nate in the doorway to the kitchen. I caught a quick look at her laughing, smiling face, though I was too far away to hear how she sounded in joy. Since Nate worked in the kitchen, he got to know our employees a lot more closely than I did, and clearly, he and this gorgeous woman were friendly, if not full-fledged friends. It stirred up some acid-green jealousy in my throat.

Nate was always the charming one, even when we were kids, when he’d still been a little awkward-looking and I had a solid four inches of height on him. Now he was a towering string bean, too handsome for his own good, who looked down on my own substantial height, and he still lit up a room like the fourth of July. I didn’t begrudge my foster brother this, as he’d had a harder life than me in a lot of ways, and I loved him to death. But I’d never been able to shake the desire to have half of the charisma Nate had. Maybe then, I’d have more than a small handful of friends to call my own. Maybe I’d have more going for me than my work and my unconventional immediate family.

Maybe, a sick voice deep inside me said as I watched the pretty employee of the month laugh at another well-timed joke from my brother, If you were like him, you could have a snowball’s chance in hell of landing a girl like that someday.

3

CARLY

It was hard to believe I still had more to do when my shift at Forge drew to a close, but sure enough, even with an aching back and my hair smelling of garlic thanks to handing out many orders of tonight’s aromatic dinner special, I still had a late dinner with Mom and my new stepfather to look forward to.

Stepfather. Good Lord, what a weird thing to suddenly have after twenty-five years of content, perfectly-adequate single mother-dom. And Mom had implied that he’d be bringing his own family to the dinner, too, though I’d been too shellshocked to ask for specifics. He could be bringing the entire Von Trapp clan to our house, for all I knew.

There was no combating the dread that weighed down my bones in anticipation for this dinner. But at least my baby girl’s smiling face would greet me when I got home, and she’d be there to keep me sane and laughing through the clusterfuck of a first meeting I was expecting. Mom had even texted me that Ella took a late nap in the afternoon so she could stay up for our family dinner. It was a weekend, anyway, so I’d let Grammy spoil my child a little with an extra late bedtime tonight. It was her right.

As I was heading to the break room to grab my things and head out for the evening, I ran into Nate in the hallway. Like, actually ran into him, our chests colliding and both of us releasing a startled “oof” noise that turned into mutual laughter. Nate’s strong chef’s hands came up to grab me by the shoulders. He steadied me, and his skin’s warmth seemed to sear through my clothes.

“Whoa, Carl,” Nate laughed, calling me the nickname he’d mistaken my name for when we first met. At the time, I’d been mortified to be called that by someone as jaw-droppingly hot as Nate, but I’d gotten used to his disarming appearance since we’d become friends. It didn’t stop him from being absolutely delicious, but when he called me a dorky man’s name, I was able to take a step back and realize just friends was all either of us wanted. “Where’s the fire?”

“Sorry, sorry. Just headed out for the night,” I told him with an apologetic smile. “You getting out of here anytime soon?”

“Why, you tryin’ to take me somewhere special?” He asked it with a cheeky wink, and I rolled my eyes even as my heart fluttered at the sight.

“Yeah, because you’re so lacking in female company that you’d have to resort to me taking you out.” I laughed.

“Hey, I could be flush with options, but I’d still prefer the taste of a certain young MILF with curves for days,” he said with a wolfish grin. A short beat, and he tacked on, “I mean, professionally.”

My laugh bubbled out of me, half-jovial and half-flustered. Alright, so he didn’t always give off completely platonic vibes, and there was definitely nothing traditionally professional about our relationship, but I knew better than to take Nate Young’s flirting seriously. “Shut up,” I told him through giggles instead, and he threw me a lip-smacking air kiss over his shoulder as we parted ways.

Nate was the life of the party everywhere he went, and that was why I loved working with him. He never played the uptight boss even though he co-owned the business with his best friend, Logan, and was passionate about its success to the same degree. See, Logan? I thought spitefully. It’s possible to give a shit about your job without being a dick to everyone around you! Go figure.

Even after all this time working under them both at Forge, it was still baffling to me that the two of them were even friends, much less close enough to open a business together. They were total opposites in every way. Even their looks seemed to be in strong contrast. Logan was hulking and intimidatingly large in a way that said he worked out a lot despite some softness in his middle, and Nate was the sort of tall and lanky that must have looked awkward in his youth, though now his sexy tattoos just made him look sinewy and rough around the edges. Although they both had brown hair, Logan’s was almost black like his heart, and Nate’s was the golden shade that looked almost blond in the sunlight. Logan’s hazel eyes were almost golden in a way that somehow still felt cold, metallic, but Nate’s chocolate brown irises were nothing but gooey, sweet, lava-cake warmth.

Though both of them were plenty delicious, that was for sure. It was hard for me to even allow that thought about Logan after he was such a hard ass with me today, but I couldn’t deny the little sizzle of attraction I felt staring challengingly into his eyes, holding my ground. At least no one was asking me to admit that he was yummy out loud.

My favorite non-Nate coworker, Maya, met me in the break room with a mischievous grin on her face. Even as my cheeks were still tinged with pink from Nate’s flirting, I narrowed my eyes at her.

“What is it, Maya?” I asked with an aggrieved sigh, suspecting where this was going before she spoke.

“Don’t give me that woe-is-me shit. I was just having fun watching you and Nate flirt your little asses off.”

“Little?” I asked, raising one eyebrow as I turned back to look at my definitely-not-little ass. Maya snorted.

“Girl, you know what I’m saying. Don’t change the subject.”

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