Page 26 of A Taste For Trouble
“How are you doing, Miss Aggie?” asked Rose, with a warm hug, and the old lady patted her on the cheek fondly.
“I’m doing very well, my dear. Thank you for asking. I’m so glad you came to your senses and dumped that no-good Joe Cheney,” she said, her shrewd eyes studying Rose carefully.
“That wasn’t serious, Miss Aggie,” she replied.
“Yeah, she was just making me jealous,” I added, with a wink at Miss Aggie.
By the delight on her face, I knew that little tidbit was going to spread around the town like wildfire.
“I’ll leave you to enjoy your lunch in peace,” she said. “And I hope to see the two of you in here a lot more now.”
“Of course,” I replied politely, and she left us alone after that. I was glad to see that she kept Adam busy on the other side of the diner, so he didn’t get to come around and flirt some more with Rose.
We finished our lunch and I drove her back home, well aware that our first outing together had been noticed by most of the town. And I had a feeling we were soon going to have a little paragraph dedicated to us in The Weekly Whisper.
Trevor was setting up for my daily check-in with my core team when we walked into the apartment, and Rose disappeared into her room while I went into my study to get on with my calls. I was about to sit down when I noticed my chair was already taken. A malevolent black ball of fur with eyes glared up at me, daring me to move him out of my chair.
“Trevor,” I yelled, and my assistant came running into my room. He gasped when he spotted Beelzebub in my chair, and tried to shoo him away, but the cat just hissed at him and swiped at his hands.
“I’ll be back,” he said hastily before he ran from the room.
He returned with a handful of treats and toys, but failed to lure the little demon out of my chair.
“Maybe you could use another chair,” he said weakly, and I snorted in anger.
“No, I’m not going to let the beast win. Do we have oven mitts?” I asked, and when he brought me a pair, I grabbed Sweetpea by the scruff of his neck and scooped him up before he could use his murder mittens on me.
He growled loudly and tried his best to wriggle out of my grip, but I set him down on another chair and claimed mine before he could reclaim it. His tail swished angrily as he glared at me from his perch.
“Don’t look at me like that,” I scolded him. “It’s a working day, and I have tons of meetings to get through. My ass needs this chair.”
He stalked out of the room in reply, and I heaved a sigh of relief. I didn’t want to ban him from the apartment because he had nowhere to go, but I couldn’t put up with being bullied by a cat. Hopefully, he had learnt that I was the boss around here.
“He’s so going to pee in your bed,” predicted Trevor, and I scowled at him.
“That animal is not allowed in my bedroom,” I said firmly. “Make sure the door is shut at all times.”
“I can try, but I have a feeling that cat is smarter than both of us, and he’s going to be running rings around us very soon. Here’s your schedule for the rest of the day, boss. Your last meeting is scheduled for five pm, and after it ends, you’re heading straight into the hot tub for your photo op with Rose.”
“Okay. And Trevor? Make sure she has everything she needs, including a work desk if she wants to write while she’s here.”
“On it, boss,” he replied, as he set up my video conference with my team that was scattered all over the world.
I raced through my day, wondering why I was in such a hurry to get my meetings over with, and it was only as I powered down the laptop that I realised that I was looking forward to some hot tub time with Rose. We had never spent any time alone as adults, since I went out of my way to avoid her ever since I recognised that my attraction to her was not just a passing fancy, but something that had the power to ruin me.
Maybe this was a bad idea, I thought, as I took a quick shower before I headed out to the balcony with the hot tub. It was already bubbling when I arrived there, and Trevor had set up a table with champagne in an ice bucket next to it.
“Are those…rose petals in the hot tub?” I asked irritably. “Get rid of them right now, Trevor. This looks far too romantic.”
“Umm, that’s the whole point, boss man,” he murmured, as he set up his camera.
I grumbled about the petals sticking to my ass as I stepped into the tub, and let out a loud groan as the hot water warmed my aching muscles.
“Okay, get ready,” he called out. “She’s here.”
My eyes flew open as Rosie stepped out onto the balcony, avoiding my gaze as she smiled at Trevor shyly. He wolf-whistled her, and she rolled her eyes as she walked towards the tub.
“If you make me look fat in any of the pictures, I’m going to post that video of you snoring like a water buffalo during our last sleepover,” she warned him.
