Page 30 of Royal Bosshole

“Great. I’ll text you, and I’ll pick you up. Send me your address. Tomorrow night at seven?”

“Yeah.” It seemed I was only able to do very short answers.

“Perfect.” He picked up my hand, and with his molten green eyes still on me, he kissed the back of it.

Shit. I was done for. Old-timey manners. And I thought I saw a hint of suspender underneath his waistcoat.

Fuckkkkk.

CHAPTER12

JAMES

When I walked away,I was taking deep breaths. I had shot at people before, been shot at, done hand-to-hand combat, ridden in warzones and landmine fields, but that felt like nothing compared to what I just did.

Peter’s smile faded a little as I approached. “Dude, you okay?” He reached out a put a hand on my shoulder. “PTSD?”

“No, no.” The whole thing was so stupid that I nearly laughed. “I just—” I sat back on the chair and ran my hand down my face, holding my beer in both hands. “I just did something I didn’t expect.”

“What?”

“I asked her out.”

“What?! James, that’s fantastic! Well done, you!” He cheersed my stationary glass and kept on chuckling. “I knew you had it in you. And she looks totally normal and not Sandy-material. Should I go introduce myself to her or her friends?”

Like lightning, I reached out a hand and grabbed at his shoulder to push him back into the chair. “Don’t you fucking move.”

“All right, all right.” Peter kept laughing. “So, what’s so bad about that?”

“Because she’s my employee, and we have that conflict of interest. Remember?”

“Yeah, but she’s probably a temporary employee, especially since you keep harping on the fact that she has to sell her business and give you her secret recipe thing. Besides, the boss-employee sex thing is super sexy. Like, have you ever seen porn?”

“Fuck. I don’t know if I can do this. I don’t know if I know how to be normal. And why am I even doing this? I’m supposed to get married once I find the girl.”

I leaned my head down until my forehead clonked on the bar top. I was drunk. I felt like I hadn’t been drunk in ages. Not since Sandy.

“So what? You’re going to get married, but you don’t even know if that girl exists, remember? You’re still looking for her. But right now, you’ve got a hot girl you like enough to accidentally ask out saying yes to you. Go for it! And like I said, she seems normal, and she fights against your bullshit, so that’s major points for this being the right thing.”

I knew I needed Peter as a friend for a reason. I lifted my head from the counter.

“You think so?”

“I know so, man. This is awesome. And it’s not like you made a marriage proposal. You just asked someone out for a casual dinner. People do that every day. Normal people, remember? You wanted to be normal, so I’m gathering?”

“Ha, ha,” I bit out. “Yes, fine. Good. I will take her out, and it’ll be fine. I’ve done lots of crazy shit before.”

“Hell yeah! You had my back when I thought we were goners out there on the field, man. You climbed your way up the ladder at Coffee on the Go. You tell people what’s what. You are a fucking prince,” he whispered, leaning a bit closer. “You can do this.”

I nodded. Slowly, my fears faded away as I sipped at my beer. Icoulddo this, and it would be just what I was hoping for. The chance to forget my current problems and enjoy myself.

“So, do you need help having normal people conversations?” Peter asked, and I shot him a dark look. “When’s this date anyway?”

“Tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow?! Man, we’d better brush up on your skills. Okay, so first of all, do not ask a woman how much money she makes, or brag about how much money you make.”

I frowned. “Why on earth would I do any of that?”

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