Page 19 of Boss Unavowed (Boss 2)

Sitting in a booth across from Raphe, Farren listened to a muted rendition of Bon Jovi crooning about giving love a bad name, the third in a succession of eighties music songs that had been playing since they’d arrived. Raphe was casually going on about strange customer encounters he’d experienced working at GameStop, but even with the light conversation and the seeming lack of expectations he had of her, she continued to feel uneasy about being there.

“So what’s your story?” Raphe asked after taking a sip from his cup. He licked his tongue across his top lip to remove the layer of foam that had collected there.

“My story?”

“Yeah, are you seeing anyone?”

He looked at her intently, already leaning forward in his seat.

A nervous laugh preceded her answer. “Well… yes, I guess you could say that.”

He raised an eyebrow. “That doesn’t sound too confident.”

She sighed and covered her face with her hands. Then she looked back up and gave it to him straight.

“I’ve been seeing someone for about a year now, kind of. Well, it’s been about a year since we first… um, got together. We kind of work together.”

“Ouch,” he said. “Dipping the pen in the company ink.” He nodded his head, but he still had a smile, so she continued.

“It gets better. He’s also my boss,” she admitted, making his eyes go wide.

“You’re dating your boss?” His smil

e remained, but disbelief was clear on his face.

She nodded. “Oh, that’s not even the best part.” She was almost getting a kick out of Raphe’s reaction, knowing how it would undoubtedly look to an outsider.

“I’m almost afraid to ask. What’s the best part?”

She could tell he was eager to find out, but she knew this would be the part that would probably send him running for the hills, which would probably be for the best if she was being honest.

Instead of telling him, she pulled out her cell phone and pulled up a picture of Harley. She slid it across the table for him to see and watched for his reaction.

He was quiet at first. Then he looked up at her. “You’re a mom?”

Farren nodded her affirmation.

“Wow,” he said. He was quiet for a few seconds. “So what’s his name?”

“Harley,” she beamed.

“Harley,” Raphe repeated. “I like that name. So… where’s your man tonight?”

Her gaze went down to where her fingers fidgeted in front of her on the table, and she felt the sinking feeling in her chest radiate in full force again. She sighed heavily.

“He’s in New York on business.”

“Is that a bad thing?” Raphe asked, dipping his head down to try to catch her eye contact once more.

She shook her head and then pursed her lips. “He didn’t go alone.”

She didn’t expand on that, and his look of realization and sympathy set in before he reached across the table and placed his hands on hers.

“I’m sorry,” he said with sincerity in his eyes. “Is there anything I can do?”

She pulled her hands away as gracefully as she could manage without offending him. Then she ran her fingers through her long strands, feigning a nervous gesture to play it off. Really, she just felt wrong on so many levels letting him touch her like that with such tenderness and concern. Even if Rogan was betraying her, retaliating in such a way just made her feel sick with herself.

Her phone rang, still lying on the table between them, and she welcomed the distraction. She couldn’t deny the hope that it would be Rogan finally calling. She reached to pick it up and saw Gramma’s number instead. That brought about a whole new wave of dread. Gramma wouldn’t normally bother her while she was out, unless…

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