Page 56 of Aydin

“Can I ask you a personal question?”

“Yeah.”

“Have you slept with Addison?”

I choked on my drink, spilling it on my shirt.

“Who told you that?”

“She basically said you belong to her.”

I know my face held a hard grimace. Addison’s manipulative and thought because she came from money, she could have anything she wanted. It was probably the first time ever that a man stood up to her and denied her advances. Honestly, she’s a beautiful woman. For me, it takes more than beauty to grab my attention, which was why the second Amelia spoke, it sparked my curiosity to keep her talking. I was a jerk the night I first ran into her. Since she worked alongside me, we’d gotten to know each other, and her laugh was something I looked forward to hearing every day.

“Addison’s delusional, and I’ve never slept with her.”

“Have you wanted to sleep with her?”

“No. Look at me, Amelia.” I reached over and palmed her hand.

“What if someone sees?”

“See’s what?”

“Us holding hands.”

“I don’t care about that.”

“You’re my boss.”

“I can fire you.”

We both broke out into laughter.

“First time I’ve heard you laugh.”

Stevie came to the table with our food, interrupting Amelia before she could finish.

“Cajun gumbo with shrimp and both drinks.”

“Thank you,” Amelia told her.

“You two enjoy and let me know if you need anything.”

“I’m starving.” Amelia lifted her napkin and placed it on her lap.

“Me too.” She caught my stare and might have thought I was talking about the food, but the remembrance of her kiss lingered in my mind.

AMELIA

Two weeks later.

After dinner, Aydin and I got along great and had a routine down where we would go in the office together and back home, then hang out with the guys and Dani on the weekend. I thought at first he would get tired of me being in his space so much, but I was wrong. I learned so much about him and vice versa with me. Today, we were going to my parents’ house for dinner, but right now, we stopped at the grocery store to pick up a few items. One thing I kept from him was my plans for after the Addison situation was resolved. After a talk with Molly, and her encouragement, I wanted to branch out on my own with a business that offered operations management for other businesses. I’d have a small staff to start out and put people in place at companies to keep the work simple for other businesses.

“Do you want steak or chicken?” We stopped at the frozen food aisle, and it was funny to have three big burly guys surround me at the store. The compromise for me to still do my normal routine was met with Nicco and Reggie, with Aydin right by my side.

“Whatever you want.”

“How about both?”

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