Page 119 of Dear Grumpy Boss

“Elliot—” Luca started, but Elliot just shook his head and brushed by us toward the locker room.

Bending down, I grabbed my phone and stared at the email from the lawyers. It struck me I hadn’t questioned their need to meet first thing tomorrow. I was so used to handing over my schedule to others it hadn’t fucking dawned on me to do anything different.

I was an idiot.

“He’s right.”

Luca cleared his throat, looking away. “Yeah.”

My brow crinkled with incredulity. “You didn’t say.”

“You’re a grown man. I didn’t think I needed to tell you not to brush off your girlfriend.”

“I wasn’t brushing her off. I would never.” Heaving a sigh, I raked my fingers through my sweaty hair. “Shit.”

Then I fired off a text to Renata, telling her to shift my meetings forward so I could fly in and out in one day and would be here tonight.

I looked up at Luca. “Done.”

He cocked his head toward the locker room. “You might want to inform Elliot before he bursts a blood vessel.”

I wouldn’t call myself a changed man, but that conversation with Elliot had opened my eyes to how I was running my daily life. When I’d told him so, all he’d said was, “About time.” But he didn’t knock my teeth out that day, and since then, we’d shared a few meals together. Things were getting back to a semblance of normalcy between us.

I also hadn’t missed a cooking lesson with Elise yet. We were still shockingly incompetent cooks, but we were having fun screwing up.

Canceling lunch with Elise today had been a twist in my gut, but it had been a pipe dream in the first place. I’d warned her this morning it would have to be quick if it even happened, to which she’d assured me she could find another date if I stood her up.

Of course it was my brother.

I hadn’t spoken to him beyond a cursory greeting in the elevator since Elise’s birthday. Elise may have forgiven him, but I didn’t know I had it in me to do so.

My phone rang. “Yes?”

“Good morning, Mr. Aldrich. Nice weekend?” Renata asked.

I rubbed my forehead. It was a bad sign that my head was throbbing at nine in the morning.

“Great. What can I do for you?”

“Brian Lewis is on the line. He sounds pissy.”

No doubt he did. He must have heard we were in the process of negotiating with a new supplier. As soon as our contract ended with him, we’d be cutting ties.

In the past, I would have taken his call because of our history and some misguided sense of obligation. The truth was, in my position, there was no need for me to deal with the minutiae of all the Brian Lewises Andes worked with. These days, my time was far too precious for me to give it up to him.

“Please inform him Glenna will be handling West Coast operations from now on and put him through to her assistant if he’d like to make an appointment to talk to her.”

“I—” Renata paused. Papers shuffled. “Well, okay. I’ll do just that after I put in my earplugs. That man has a temper.”

“If he yells, hang up. You don’t have to handle that.”

I could almost hear her smirking. “Don’t worry, Mr. Aldrich. You pay me more than enough to handle a grown man’s temper tantrum. It’s the most entertaining part of my job.”

I was at the end of the longest conference call of my life when the door pushed open and Elise appeared, holding a small paper bag. My chest tightened at the sight of her in her swishy navy skirt and silky white button-down with a bow around the collar. She hadn’t given in to the Andes, Inc. culture of wearing active wear to the office, and I secretly hoped she wouldn’t. Seeing her in her sexy librarian attire never failed to make me sit up and pay attention. Both me and my cock.

She crossed the room and perched her plump ass on the edge of my desk, waiting for me to finish my call.

I half listened while slipping my hand up her leg, her skirt gathering on my arm as I ventured higher. She didn’t even try to stop me, her mouth curling and legs parting to let me stroke the velvet skin on her inner thighs.