Page 45 of Beat around the Bush
“Yeah, I’m sure she’d love a home-cooked meal, and she knows everyone. Well, besides Mom and Dad.”
Oakleyhadseemed to be living off of noodles, so his statement about the food was true. “But should her boss really be asking her to his family’s home?” I asked him, leaning back against the couch.
He shrugged. “She called you when she was on the side of the road, didn’t she?”
“Yeah, but that was because I was the only number she had to call aside from Lettie.”
He sat forward. “You’re thinking too much into this, Len. Just ask her, and the worst she can say is no.”
I took another sip of my beer, already thinking of how I could ask her without coming off as creepy. I mean, she had already slept in my bed. What was wrong with a family dinner?
***
I’d avoided Oakley at all costs during my shift, but not because I didn’t want to see her. I still felt like a dick for the way I’d behaved at the rental place, like I had some right to be that protective over her.
She could hold her own, and she didn’t need me coming in like some alpha male trying to boss her around.
Even though Iwasher boss.
At work, it was getting harder and harder to remember that she was my employee, and today was proof of that. Anytime she walked by my office or called for backup at the front, I couldn’t stop myself from thinking of her legs tangled with mine in my bed. But shortly after, I’d remember the way I acted yesterday and hate myself for it.
I’d finished counting the money from the register and was bending to lock it in the safe when Oakley walked by my office, most likely on her way to clock out.
Ensuring the safe was locked, I stood and grabbed my coat, then headed for the break room to find her trying to type her pin into the screen. It kept flashing a denied code at her, and she cursed under her breath.
I came up behind her and reached over her shoulder to override the code as she froze, then I gestured for her to try again. “Sometimes it’s finicky.”
She tapped at the numbers and it accepted her clock out time. “I’ll say,” she muttered.
She turned, but I hadn’t given her much space, so she came face to face with my chest. She angled her head up, a skeptical look in her eyes. “You here to lecture me some more?”
I sighed, taking one step back to give her some room. “No,” I admitted, bringing my hand up to scratch at the back of my neck. “I actually wanted to apologize for how I acted yesterday.”
She raised an eyebrow, crossing her arms. “Really?” By the tone of her voice, she didn’t sound very convinced.
“Yeah, I was out of line, and I’m sorry for treating you like you can’t hold your own.”
“How do you know I can?” she asked.
I crossed my arms, mirroring her. “You drove to the middle of nowhere without a plan, you found a job within days of arriving, and you don’t ask anyone for anything.”
She scoffed. “I wouldn’t say not asking people for help is a trait to be admired.”
I shrugged. “I say it is. Does it make you stubborn? Yeah. But at least you know you’re strong enough to figure shit out on your own.”
Her eyes narrowed. “I thought this was an apology.”
I winced. I guess I did just call her stubborn. “Do I need to get on my knees and beg? Would that make you feel better?”
She shrugged, looking around the room with cool indifference. “I suppose that could help persuade me to accept your apology.”
I heaved a sigh, accepting that this was the way it had to go. I dropped to my knees, looking up at her. Her eyes shot to me, wide with shock. “I didn’t actually mean-”
“Oakley, please forgive me for the way I acted yesterday and come to dinner at my parents’ house tonight.”
If only Callan knew this was how the apology would go.
She looked like she was contemplating my offer, but she couldn’t seem to hold back the smile on her face as she stared down at me before her. God, I was so close to her, so close to a place her boss should never be. It took all I had in me not to glance at her thighs and what was between them.
