Page 30 of Beat around the Bush
My lips thinned as I gave him a nod. “Yep. Hope your puppy likes the food.”
“I’ll keep you updated.” He grabbed the bag and exited the store, but instead of joining Lennon, I stayed put, inhaling a deep breath. I hadn’t realized I’d been taking such short breaths during the interaction with the guy, and my lungs ached with the need for more oxygen.
“You okay?” Lennon asked from where he stood, a deep line in between his brows.
“Yep,” I replied, pulling myself out of my thoughts and making my way over to him.
Lennon kept his eyes on me the entire short walk over to him. “That man say something to you?”
“Nope,” I squeaked. “You needed my help with price checks?”
He clipped his pen on the paper attached to his clipboard and dropped it to his side. “No.”
Confusion rolled through me as he turned and walked back to his office, where he disappeared to until the end of the day. Lennon baffled me with his back and forth, and it pissed me off that I wanted to be the one to crack his hard exterior.
13
Lennon
The desire to close my office door was overpowered by the need to listen for Oakley out on the sales floor. I’d heard the man say something about toys to her from my office and immediately stormed out to the floor with my price sheet in hand to make it look like I had a reason to be out there.
The moment Oakley came around the end of the aisle, I knew something was off. Her movements were stiff, her shoulders slightly slumped. Gone was the sunshine that radiated off her like the sunrise after a long winter's night. I didn’t know exactly what the guy said, but it took all I had in me not to kick him out of my store. I hadn’t gotten a good look at his face to know him the next time he came in, which pissed me off even more.
She hadn’t wanted to open up to me about what he said, which I didn’t expect her to, but it still made my blood boil. Not wanting to show how aggravated I was, I returned to my office, where I planned to get lost in payroll and schedules for my three employees.
Now that Oakley was here, I could give Jacey and Leo more days off, but that meant she’d be alone most of the day on the floor if she was scheduled with me. Though I didn’t want her being alone all day out there, I didn’t want to schedule her with the others. As much work as I had to get done, I savored the small glimpses of her.
I could look, but not touch, right?
To not raise any suspicion, I scheduled her a couple days with Jacey and Leo, and the rest with me. That was fair enough. The manager should be in the building with his new employee to make sure she didn’t screw anything up.
Yeah. That was it.
My computer pinged with an email and I moved the cursor on the screen to open it, seeing that it was from the rental company that owned this building.
Good morning,
I understand you’d like to close out the lease on the building you rent from us and purchase the property. As you still have two years left of the contract, it is in our best interest to see through the duration of the terms initially discussed. Atthis time,we are not looking to sell the building, but our prior discussion of the increased rate applies.
Best,
Alfred
“Best,my ass,” I muttered. There had to be a way to fight this with his company. I wasn’t going to pay increased rent on a building I could own and pay less on each month. If he wanted to stick to the initial duration in our original contract, then he’d have to stick with the agreed payments, not a penny more.
I shot back an email and almost broke my mouse clicking the send button. After I sent the email, I worked on finalizing next week's schedule, then printed it out on a piece of paper to post in the break room.
Grabbing the paper from the printer, I stood and headed for the break room, but before I could even take a step outside my office, my chest collided with a small, soft form.
The paper floated to the ground after I dropped it to steady the redhead in front of me.
“Shit, sorry,” Oakley mumbled, bending to pick up the paper.
With us just having collided, she was too close to me as she bent down. Her ponytail fell over her shoulder, the ends brushing my jeans as she stood with the schedule in her hand. I bit the inside of my cheek to keep any thoughts from rushing from one head to the other.
It should be illegal for a woman like Oakley to wear a ponytail like that, all high and perky, all of her hair swishing with every movement she made. A few of the strands had made their way loose throughout the day, framing her cheekbones and rosy cheeks.
I grabbed the paper from her and made no move to step back. I was the one leaving my office after all. If she wanted space between us, she could be the one to move.
