Page 47 of Broken Boss Daddy

Standing up, I listened with half an ear while he was speaking. Nodding my head every few minutes to show him I was somewhat listening, I shifted on my feet and wondered how the hell I was going to get out of this conversation.

Once Derek got started, there was very little chance of anyone stopping him.

Again, it wasn’t like I was against the guy. Although, there were times when he made me uncomfortable with the way he always sought me out…Woah, I only just realized that he did that.

Watching him, I wondered if he had a crush on me. That would explain a lot about his behavior. It was definitely not reciprocated, though. The longer he spoke, the more convinced I was that he had a crush. A part of me felt bad for the guy.

There was a lull in the conversation, and I used the opportunity to step toward my car. I had hoped that the movement would give him the signal that I wanted to leave, but no such luck.

“Would you—” Derek looked around nervously. “Would you like to get dinner some time? With me?” he asked.

I tried to stop my pity from showing. But from his crestfallen expression, I knew he saw it. My sympathy for him and the hopeful look in his eyes nearly made me say yes. If anything just to get rid of that puppy dog look on his face.

Maybe in another life there could’ve been something like he hoped. But there just wasn’t.

Besides my heart already belonging to another, my life was a disastrous mess with Grant getting to know Abby. Saying yes to Derek would lead to a whole world of things that I didn’t want to deal with, even for a simple dinner date.

“Derek—” I started, unsure of what I was going to say.

Finally understanding his crush, I knew it was going to take more than a ‘no’ to allow him to move on.

Suddenly, I remembered something from a few weeks back and it was like a lightbulb turned on in my head.

Another colleague of ours, Emily, had feelings for Derek. She confessed it all to me when I caught her staring at him after one of our monthly meetings. If there was some way to turn him onto her, we could all be happy and I could focus solely on reuniting my family.

The most ridiculous thought came to me. So ridiculous that it could’ve worked.

“I can’t go out with you, Derek,” I said.

“Oh.” There were those puppy dog eyes again.

“You see,” I began. “I’m already in a relationship.”

Derek took a step back, the news obviously coming as a surprise to him. His crestfallen expression made me feel like absolute shit for lying to him, but it was the best thing for both of us.

Except, technically, it wasn’t a total lie. At least, I didn’t think it was.

“Who is it? How long have you guys been together?” Derek asked, searching for it to make some sense in his mind.

I froze.

I had the perfect response to his question, but they just wouldn’t come out. Rather, I scrambled for literally anything to say that would make my lie more believable.

Just then, a familiar muscular arm wrapped around my shoulders and pulled me into a warm body. His smell was enough to calm my guilty conscience, and I melted into his embrace.

“I’m Grant.” He held out a hand toward Derek. “Jess’s boyfriend.”

Hearing those words come out of his mouth sent shivers down my spine. They weren’t real, but everything in me wished it could be.

I watched on silently as Grant and Derek had a brief conversation; the latter looking highly uncomfortable. Grant was his normal confident self, and it did wonders to my state of my mind.

Spending time with him and Abby had me thinking of things that I promised myself I wouldn’t think of for the time being.

“I should get going,” Derek said, interrupting my train of thought.Thank goodness for that.

“Alright. Bye, Derek.”

“See you,” he said, disappointed.

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