Page 23 of Trouble Me
“I was just about to shut down for the day. I had to finish the inventory download. Tomorrow starts the cross-checking with the accounting system.”
Shane made a snorting sound. “Inventory. Accounting. Can you hear me snoring over here? By the way, if the guy you work for makes you stay so late, he might be a demanding prick. Do I need to kick his ass?”
Emma raised a brow and snickered. “So, Mr. Kavanaugh does have a funny side. Learn something new every day.”
“Hey, I can be a funny guy.” Mock hurt came through the line before he paused. “Um, I probably shouldn’t have said ‘prick’ or ‘ass’ to you. I apologize.”
“That’s not necessary—I’m not offended.”
“Maybe not, but HR would have my ass...butt if they knew.”
Emma smiled. “It’s all good. Thanks for the offer to kick his ass. But I can handle him.”
“I have no doubt that’s true.” His voice was low and rough. She closed her eyes against the storm of pure hormones racing in her blood. He sighed. “Okay, so what were you working on before I called and made an ass out of myself?”
She silently thanked him for bringing the subject back to the equivalent of a cold shower. “Inventory, accounting, you snoring.”
“Right. How does everything look?”
Emma paused before answering. “Fine. But...”
“But what?”
“The accounting software is outdated. It’s an old version and doesn’t run like it should.”
“What’s your recommendation? I know you have one.”
She tapped a finger on the desk. “Okay, but remember you asked for it.” With a deep breath, she dove in. “You need a complete system overhaul. And not just the accounting software.”
He groaned. “I was afraid you were going to say that. What else? Lay it all on me.”
“The computers here are slow and outside of their useful lives. You need cyber security for the local network here and a server upgrade.” He grunted on the other end of the line, but she kept going. “With more server space, we can get rid of all the paper around here and digitize—”
“Stop. My brain can’t take it right now. La la la.” She giggled at the image of him plugging his ears.
“Did you just giggle?” he asked.
Emma tried to stop but it just made her giggle more. “I am a girl after all and sometimes we giggle.”
“Hmmm...I like it.”
Her smile faded and she swallowed hard against the dry desert that set up camp in her throat. “Yeah, so if you want to go over this when you get back, let me know. I’ll have all my recommendations written up with quotes for new software and hardware.”
Shane cleared his throat. “Yeah, that’ll work. I’ll be back the day after tomorrow.” He paused. “Emma, you’ve done an amazing job already. I haven’t exactly been the best manager to you. You’ve been there more than a week and we’ve hardly spent a moment together. Shit, that didn’t come out right.” He sighed. “And I probably shouldn’t have said ‘shit’ just now. Ahhh...I’ll just shut up now.”
Emma laughed and shook her head. “Cut yourself some slack, Shane. Shit, fuck, damn, ass. Feel better? Now HR can write us both up.”
Shane joined her laughter and then sighed. “Thanks. I needed that.”
“I aim to please,” she replied and rubbed a brow. She tried not to be too friendly with him but Shane was easy to talk with. Note to self: tread lightly with the casual conversations.
“Hey, this is random. But you said the other day one of your cousins moved to California. Which one?”
Emma tilted her head. “Delaney. He moved out there a decade or so ago to work in television. Why?”
“I knew it. Your cousin is the host ofSave This House.”
She smirked. “I didn’t picture you as one who sat around watching home improvement shows.”
