Page 16 of Beat around the Bush
“Yeah, Outlaw’s Watering Hole. I’m sure you need a night out.”
“I’m not sure, I’m really busy-”
“You guys harassing my employee?” Lennon’s deep voice interrupted.
My employee.There was nothing sweet about it, but it made my face turn as red as a tomato anyway.
Would I ever stop blushing when it came to Lennon?
“Oh, please. We’re inviting her to hang out,” Brandy said.
Lennon raised an eyebrow, crossing his arms. “Hang out, huh? With the two of you? She’ll end up in jail on night one.”
Lettie rolled her eyes. “Don’t scare the poor girl.” She faced me. “We’re harmless, I swear.”
Brandy shrugged. “Can’t have fun without a little trouble.”
Lennon frowned as I spoke up. “I’d love to.”
Everyone’s gazes turned to me.
“What?” Lennon asked at the same time Lettie said, “Yay!”
“Here’s my number.” Lettie grabbed a piece of paper off the counter, scribbling down the digits. “Do you want us to pick you up?”
“Sure. Do you want to pick me up after my shift?”
“I can drive her,” Lennon offered.
I kept my gaze on the piece of paper with Lettie’s number on it. “You don’t have to do that. I’m sure Lettie is fine with picking me up here.”
His gaze burned into the side of my face. “I’ll already be here, so no point in making her go out of her way.”
The way he saidmaking her go out of her waymade me feellike I was a burden. Regret at saying yes to them crept in, making me second-guess my decision to go. Maybe I should have just declined the offer to pick me up and driven myself.
Lettie looked between her brother and me. “That’s fine with me. We’ll meet you there, then?”
Moving my gaze up, I nodded. “We’ll meet you there, I guess.”
Brandy was smiling as Lettie squealed again, and they walked off into the store to get what they needed.
Lennon was still staring at me, but I refused to look his way. I folded the paper as many times as I could, shoving it in the pocket of my jeans before walking behind him and over to the shelves to face a few of the bags.
He unfortunately followed me. “I’m sorry if that came off wrong.”
“It’s fine,” I clipped. I didn’t know why I was upset over it, but I wanted to push it away and enjoy the rest of my day.
“If you want to go with them, you can.”
My eyes finally met his, my head angling back to look up at him. “I don’t mind going with you.”
He looked like he was taken aback. “You don’t?”
“No.”
“Oh,” was all he said.
“You’re just my boss, Lennon. Nothing weird about getting a ride from you.”
