Page 51 of Challenged by the Single Dad

“I just keep hurting you.”

“Worth it,” he said, amusement in his tone. “Just wait here. I’ll be right back.” Then he pulled free of her, hiked his boxers and jeans back up, and took off to the bathroom.

Leaning back on the bar, essentially naked from the waist down, Chloe closed her eyes and tipped her face to the ceiling.

Don’t get wrapped up in your head. Stay in the moment. Stay in the joy. Stay in the light. Don’t let things get heavy again.

That was one hundred percent her vagina talking, because her brain was all about getting wrapped up in anxious thoughts and overanalyzing things until it made her sick.

The more she triednotto overthink things, the more she did—of course. She’d just had sex with her boss, at work.

Dom returned a moment later with a bunch of warm, damp, folded paper towels. He went to tidy up between her legs himself, but she stopped him. “I … I can do it.”

He nodded and stepped back. She showed him her back, cleaned herself up, and redressed. When she spun back around, he was standing there, his brown hair framing his face in an impossibly sexy way. But his gaze was guarded, unsure.

“You’re my boss,” she said … again.

He nodded. “I know.”

“This was …”

“I know.”

“Now what?”

Raking his fingers through his hair, he shook his head. “I don’t know.”

“Iwantthis job, Dom. I like it here. I’m finally finding some peace in this place. I like the pub. The island. The people. I don’t want to leave. But I also … I … I don’t want it to get weird or awkward or anything.”

“Me either.”

“So, then … what? We just pretend this didn’t happen?”

A sharp, feral reluctance filled his eyes, and she thought for sure he was going to say, “Hell no.” But he didn’t. He shoved his hands into his pockets, stared at the ground, and nodded. “I guess. If that’s what you want?”

It wasn’t.

It absolutely wasn’t. She was on a healing journey, and he was a single dad struggling to find a work-life balance that didn’t sacrifice his kid in the process. Adding a relationship to the mix just complicated things for both of them.

Add in the fact that, duh, HE WAS HER BOSS.

“I think it’s for the best. Don’t you?” she asked, each word a struggle to articulate.

His head bobbed. “Okay.”

She swallowed. “I should … I should finish up.”

He shook his head. “You go. I’ll lock up and finish.”

“I still need to cash out.”

“Right.”

Now things were awkward.

Shit!

“You go cash out and I’ll finish here,” he said.

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