Page 44 of Bad & Bossy

In truth, I wasn’t sure anything would unhook me from her.

Every time I touched her I wanted more. But we’d held off, and although she’d been receptive to every move I made with her since our talk, a part of me wondered if our schedules not aligning was more on her than it was on me. But again, I couldn’t focus on that. I’d take what I could get for now and deal with the stress of everything else going on. That’s what Emily, my sponsor, had suggested, and I wanted to take as much of her advice as I reasonably could.

Everything except not pursuing things with Dana. That was one I wouldn’t budge on.

My nerves started to get to me as I stepped into the open space in the center of the brew house. I still wasn’t accustomed to handling these types of talks with my staff without a drink, and every single time I had to, I’d found myself more and more tempted. It was the location—anywhere else not surrounded by massive vats of alcohol and I would have been fine.

“Thank you all for coming,” I said, my voice booming over the group. Waitresses and cooks from the restaurant stood to my left, the brewing gang in the center, and to the right, the tour guides and bar staff. Behind them were the office workers, the ones making everything run behind the scenes. Somewhere smushed between the tour guides and the office staff, Dana’s head of deep brown hair poked out, her hazel eyes fixed on me. “I appreciate that many of you who weren’t scheduled for today still took time out of your lives to come in.”

Grumbles and stares were the only reply.

“In celebration of all of the work you’ve done toward our new range and ahead of the upcoming chaos of the summer, including spending six months under different management and adjusting incredibly, I have a gift for you all.”

The grumbles and whispers stopped. Only stares remained.

“Three weeks from today, we’ll be shutting down all operations for ten days apart from the absolute necessities, for which I’ve hired in. All of you will continue to be paid your normal salary for those ten days we’ll be shut down,” I explained. I clicked a button on the tiny remote I’d been given by IT and directed the group’s attention to the projector behind me. “Those of you who wish to spend those days doing what I have planned are welcome to join me in Costa Rica.”

And just like that, all hell broke loose.

Questions and murmurs poured at me from every angle, stunned looks on every face. “A company retreat?” someone asked, and I nodded.

“Paid for?” another questioned. I nodded again.

“Flights and everything?”

Another nod.

“Anyone who wishes to join will be paid for and accommodated,” I explained. The stares were beginning to bore into my skin, making me feel like instead of being covered in gazes, I was covered in spiders. Resisting the temptation to scratch at the nonexistent arachnids, I cleared my throat instead. “I can’t help you if you don’t have a passport, though. You’ll need to sort that out yourselves.”

“What about meals?”

“We’ll be staying at an all-inclusive resort,” I replied, plastering a smile on my face that I hoped would sell my excitement. In truth, I was happy to be doing this for them—they’d worked incredibly hard and it was barely a dent to my bank account to cover it. But I was also overworked and overstressed, so it was something I greatly looked forward to as well.

I found myself searching for Dana’s face in the crowd only to come up empty.

————

“You’re coming, right?”

Dana’s lips pressed together as she pulled the previously cake-covered spoon from her mouth, her lipstick not even budging. I’d finally gotten her out for dinner but still hadn’t received confirmation from her on whether or not she was coming to Costa Rica.

She sighed. “I want to,” she admitted. “But I haven’t quite worked out the details.”

“Baby. We leave in a week.”

She winced whenever I called her that. I’d noticed it a handful of times now, maybe I should stop. “That, right there, is the problem.”

“What?”

“The baby. Drew. I can’t just leave him with my sister for ten days, Cole. And I don’t think I’d trust the nanny to watch him for that long, either. I mean, what if something happens?” she babbled, her words nearly running into each other as she tried to emphasize them by waving the spoon around. I tried not to crack a grin, tried not to laugh at what she was saying. “I’d be an almost nine-hour flight away, and that’s if I can get on the first one out without any layovers. Drew’s never been away from me for that long?—”

“Dana,” I interrupted, wrapping my fingers around her wrist to keep her from flinging her spoon more. My lips twitched up as her brows knitted, a hint of irritation playing on that beautiful fucking face. “Drew’s invited. I never said he couldn’t come.”

“What?”

“Do you think for one second that I didn’t consider how that would work for you?” I continued. I plucked the spoon from her hand and buried it into her slice of cake before holding out the bite for her. Suspicious, she opened her mouth, letting me feed her. “I assumed Drew would be coming.”

“But everyone else isn’t bringing their kids,” she said around the mouthful of cake.

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