Page 9 of Boss Me Not

She pushed her chair back and stood. “Sure. Can’t be any worse than Bridezilla.”

“Try not to give away three thousand dollars this time.”

She rolled her eyes. “I’ll try.”

As she turned and followed Steven out of the restaurant, ass swaying, my gaze zeroed in on her and I held back the groan that rose up. Off-limits, I reminded myself.

Again.

Chapter Five

ANGIE

I triedto focus on the chicken and vegetables I had sautéing in the pan, but I found Wyatt’s eyes on me unnerving, and I had no clue why. Maybe it had to do with him basically admitting he’d been distracted by my breasts. I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. At the time, I hadn’t even noticed. I wouldn’t have even considered it a possibility. But now that I was aware it was not only a possibility but a reality, I couldn’t seem to stop thinking about it.

“That smells delicious.”

His voice pierced through my thoughts, and I glanced over my shoulder at where he leaned back on the kitchen island.

“It’s just chicken and vegetables.” I hadn’t even added seasoning to it yet, but the onions and peppers were giving off a fragrant smell. I’d gotten better at cooking fairly healthy meals in the last year rather than eating out all the time. So I’d decided to run to the store and get a small amount of groceries to get me through the weekend.

Thinking about food had the other thing I needed to discuss with him popping into my head, especially since I had less than a week to prepare. After grabbing the fajita seasoning packet and mixing it into the ingredients in the pan, I looked back at him. “What do you have planned for Employee Appreciation Day?”

He cocked an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

“You know, to show the staff your appreciation?”

“I pay them. Isn’t that appreciation enough?”

I rolled my eyes and turned my attention back to the stovetop. “You should do a brunch or luncheon.”

“Why?” He barked out a laugh. I didn’t even need to see him to know he was shaking his head. “Can they not feed themselves?”

Jesus. Was he always like this? “That’s not the point.” I clicked off the burner and spun to face him. “Employee Appreciation Day is when the owner or managers do something nice for the staff to show their appreciation above and beyond paying them to do a job.” I crossed my arms and narrowed my eyes at him. “It’s one of the things your grandmother talked about, and it seemed like it was important to her. Am I wrong?”

He sighed and pushed off the island before coming to stand in front of me. “No, you’re not wrong. She usually does some type of catered lunch, if I remember correctly.”

For a heartbeat, I swore his gaze lowered. It was so quick and subtle I might’ve missed it if I wasn’t paying attention. His eyesdarkened, the lighter shade of green almost nonexistent, and the air around us suddenly felt charged.

I froze. He was my boss, so it didn’t matter if the way he was looking at me sent tingles shooting down my spine. Again. I stepped around him, grabbing our plates with tortillas on them from the island.

“So, what do you have planned?” I asked as I turned back to him.

“Planned?” He blinked rapidly at me like my question had caught him off guard.

“Yeah, for Employee Appreciation Day.”

He shook his head as a seductive chuckle left his lips. “Oh. That. Right.”

What else did he think we were talking about?

He took the plates from me and shrugged. “I don’t have anything planned, and I’m not sure if Nana B did or not.”

“Can I ask… How’d she—” I snapped my mouth shut, seeing the immediate pain and anger in his eyes. He wasn’t ready to talk about it. I could totally respect that.

“Aneurysm.” The word came out clipped, like the sheer mention of it made him angry.

“I’m sorry.” I was decent at reading a room and wasn’t going to push. I stepped up to the stove, scooping the fajita mixture onto the first tortilla and needing to change the subject now that tension hung in the air. “I’ll ask around, see if there’s a place that usually caters the luncheon for Employee Appreciation Day. Weekends are usually busier times for catering, so we might not be able to get something for next Friday on such short notice, but we could do another day earlier in the week. Like Tuesday or Wednesday. Either way, I can take care of it.” Maybe that was overstepping. “I mean, if you want me to.”

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