Page 23 of The Guy Who Became My Grumpy Boss

“I called six places yesterday, and none of them can facilitate us even for just a few hours.” He licked his lips, which for the record upped his attractiveness. “This is not my specialty, and I was hoping you would agree to assist me with this assignment, Jessica.”

Danger Zone rarely used my name. He’d never asked me for anything like this before.

If I said yes, I knew I’d be putting myself on a path of stress and heartbreak.

If I said no, I’d feel like the biggest jerk on the planet.

I studied Danger Zone’s face, and…were those puppy dog eyes?

Uh-oh.

I was a sucker for someone in trouble.

Especially someone I cared about. Just because he might not like me because of my body type was no reason for me to ditch him in his hour of need. I used a stalling tactic. “What would this entail?”

Danger Zone shifted again. “We’d need to find an activity Amelia will approve, acquire a venue, seek out a catering service, organize everything, and communicate the plan to people.”

That wasn’t even the tip of the iceberg. I had fifteen other items on my list already.

“On top of that, I’d like your help running whatever activity we choose.” He gave me a pleading look.

Oh no. Danger Zone had just shown vulnerability. Now I literally couldn’t say no. I didn’t have it in me.

“You’re much more of a people person than I am.” He lookeddown.

In that moment, I realized that even though I’d been soft stalking the guy for almost a year, I didn’t know that much about him. He kept up an aloof air at work and preferred to have a set schedule that didn’t change the day of. Many people thought he was ornery, but I’d learned that this is how he was.

What if he actually needed help? Not just because it would take a lot of his time, but because he couldn’t handle it for some reason.

Was he missing Marissa?

I hadn’t pegged him as the sentimental type, but what did I really know? All I knew for sure was that he was an intensely private person who liked structure and professionalism.

“Are you willing to partner with me on this?” Danger Zone asked.

I almost dropped my tablet. The word partner—aimed at me—should never come out of his mouth. My vision blurred for a moment.

“There’s no obligation, obviously,” he said.

If I hadn’t been sitting in his office, I would have rolled my eyes or buried my face in my hands in frustration.

He opened his mouth to say something else, but I beat him to it.

“I can help.” I spit the words out in rapid fire.

Danger Zone breathed a sigh of relief. Something I’d never seen him do before. “Thank you, Jessica.” It looked like he wanted to continue our discussion, but I needed to process, and I had about a hundred things to research.

I jerked my thumb over my shoulder. “How much of your schedule today do you want me to push?”

“Everything concerning the retreat, just until we can figure it out,” he said. “And anything else that isn’t urgent.”

Normally, he would have more detailed instructions for me,but it felt like he needed some time to unwind. Or whatever he did. “Can you give me an hour or two to tidy up your schedule and come up with some ideas?”

“Of course.” Danger Zone furrowed his brow. One of his more attractive looks, in my opinion. “But we need to talk about this today.”

“Even bumping things, you’re pretty full,” I noted.

He frowned and for the first time looked at his computer screen. His eyes darted around until they settled on something I couldn’t see. “What about lunch?”

---