Page 15 of Brighter than the Boss
I chuckled. "You think I'm grumpy? I'm not grumpy. I'm realistic. I'm honest. When I feel angry, people know it. I didn't sign some contract with society saying I'd be a ray of fucking sunshine all the time, and neither did you. I'd rather you be honest with your feelings than cover them up and pretend to be okay."
She hopped up, hands on hips, glaring down at me. The dog at my feet growled at me, sensing shit was about to hit the fan. I ignored him.
"Iamhonest with my feelings! I'm a naturally happy person. What I want to know is why that bothers you so much. Why can't you accept the fact that I see the world as the glass half full?"
I stood up too, towering over her, my chest just inches away from her face. "That's bullshit and you know it. Your mom has cancer and you're smiling? Really? That's fucked up."
If those cartoons I'd watched as a kid had come true, steam would be blowing out of her ears at this point. Her cheeks looked like they'd been severely sunburned. "Don't you dare talk about my mother. You don't know anything about that situation. I have two choices, Cain: choose to worry and stress and cry over what may or may not happen down the road, or I can choose to remain positive and boost her spirits to help her get through this. Of course I'm going to choose to remain positive and if that includes smiling while I'm talking about her, then so be it! What's wrong with wanting to feel good and to motivate others and to enjoy life?!"
Her finger jabbed me repeatedly in the chest, her beautiful body brushing mine as she stood ramrod straight, nearly vibrating with suppressed fury.
My little Sunshine was pissed.
She'd never looked so goddamn beautiful.
So I did the thing. The thing you're never supposed to do with a pissed-off female. Especially one that's your employee.
I kissed her.
I shoved my hands in her super-short hair, fisting the strands hanging down on one side of her face and pulled her into me so I could feel every curve, every muscle this girl had on her. My body remembered in a flash what she'd felt like against me naked, my brain having memorized her in that insane moment in the locker room.
Lips collided, tested and tasted. My tongue flicked against her lip, addicted to her flavor. If happiness had a taste, this was it.
Her surprise melted almost immediately, her hands traveling across my chest to grab hold of my arms in a tight clench. I pulled back from the kiss just a fraction to gauge if this was okay, that kernel of guilt making me want to do the right thing even if I was dying to taste her again. I wasn't her boss right now and she didn't need to participate in this if she wasn't really with me. But damn, I hoped she felt what I did.
Her teeth, biting my bottom lip, brought me out of my thoughts and back into the kiss in a hurry. I popped the guilt kernel and dove back in. Our tongues met, each of us trying to get closer to the other one. I reached down and lifted her up, those beautiful thighs wrapping around my waist again, this time without an audience.
I couldn't get close enough, couldn't scratch the itch that I'd felt since the first day I'd met her. Her core rocked into my stomach and her breasts were squeezed between us, taunting me. I took a step forward, then another, then found us against a wall, all the better to get leverage to dive in further. And it still wasn't enough.
Sunny dug her nails into my shoulders, like she'd forgotten about everything except this kiss. We weren't coworkers, we weren't opposites, we weren't lobbing insults at each other in this moment. We were just two people completely into each other. This, I understood.
With her propped between the wall and my body, I reached down and ran my hand up her torso, beneath her shirt, needing to feel the weight of her breast in my hand. There were too many articles of clothes between us. I cupped her over her lacy bra, the back of my mind registering masculine satisfaction at her ample size, my thumb brushing across her nipple, when Rachel Platten's Fight Song blared into the silent room.
I wouldn't have cared and would have found a way to get my Sunshine out of her shirt if she hadn't frozen entirely, her lips no longer moving under mine, her body as rigid as the lower half of my body. My heart sank and I knew I'd have to do the right thing. I was an asshole, but I wasn't that big of an asshole.
"Do you need that?" I growled between labored breaths. I couldn't quite get myself to back away from her, holding out hope she'd ignore the call after all.
She pulled her head back, eyes wide and unfocused, lips wet. "Holy schnitzel. That's my mom."
Ice water.
The mood instantly changed, her probably remembering she was pissed at me, me remembering that I was her boss. I pulled my arm out of her shirt and my hand wept at the loss, as much as hands could weep. She dropped her legs and I let her slide down my body, which was pure torture at that point, given the parts of my body that hadn't gotten the message about the party being over and the fact that she had a long way to slide down before her feet were back on the floor.
She wasted no time darting away from me and grabbing her phone out of her bag by the front door. The song cut off and she stood back up, her back to me. I rubbed the heels of my hands into my eyes and tried to tamp down the animal inside me that just wanted to grab her and take. Take her physically. Take her stupid “ray of sunshine” attitude and drown it in my reality.
Which was wrong. So wrong. She didn't need me bringing her down when she was trying to hold it together for her mom and to start a new job with my lifeguards. Somehow, someway, Sunny meant more to me than a casual fling. Time to face the facts: I cared about her. And since that was the case, I needed to do the right thing and take a giant step back.
I pulled my hands down and took a deep breath. "I'm sorry, Sunny. I shouldn't have done that. Now or in the locker room. You're right. It wasn't your fault at all. It was mine."
She still gave me her back, my apology seeming to have bounced off a brick wall.
My heart dropped further at her inability to even look at me. I knew this was a mistake. I went to walk past her and leave her in peace, even her yappy little dog giving me a wide berth finally. Just as I grabbed the front door handle, she stopped me with her soft voice.
"I don't want your apology. I enjoyed both kisses so I don't think an apology is needed." Then she let out a huff of air. "Though I would take an apology for the silent treatment since, the insults, and the constant need to argue with me."
The clouds parted and the sun came out again. I turned back around, a smile tugging at my lips. "I regret the inconvenience, but I'm only capable of one apology per day."
"Ha!" she laughed. "I'd believe it. In fact, I'm surprised you're capable of any apologies at all."
