Page 53 of Teasing Her Grumpy Boss

Quite where that was going to leave the question of her and Daniel, she didn’t know. She was cheerily telling herself the two weren’t related oh, no. Definitely not. She really ought to be moving out of his apartment and into a flat of her own. But she hadn’t had a chance to look at the paper or on the Internet. She’d been too busy. Sleeping.

Lucy was staring hard at the computer screen when she heard the key in the lock downstairs. Smiling, she finished the sentence she was on before closing up the laptop, expecting it to be Daniel, her body softening already. Weak, weak woman.

He must have figured she’d be at the club anyway, come to find her for some ‘coffee’. They hadn’t done middle-of-the-day sex and frankly she was up for it. Anticipation fluttered through her and she couldn’t keep it dampened. Whatever happened once Lara did come back, for now she was lost.

But it wasn’t Daniel who appeared at the door. It was a man in a suit, but not the one she’d discovered she loved to look at. ‘I’m sorry, can I help you?’

‘Oh. I was told there wouldn’t be anyone here at this time.’

‘Really? Well, there is. I’m Lucy, the manager.’ She waited to hear who this guy was and why he had a key to her club.

‘I’m Peter, the lawyer for Lara, the owner.’ He stressed the owner part. ‘I’m showing Julia around. She’s the agent who’ll be handling the sale.’

‘Sale?’

Po-faced Peter looked supercilious. ‘I thought Daniel would have mentioned it?’

Lucy managed a smile, the sharp-edged snaky sort. ‘Yes. I’m sorry, I forgot. I’ll hop out of your way.’

‘No, that’s okay, you might be able to answer a few questions for us. Daniel didn’t want you bothered, but if you don’t mind?’

‘Mind? Of course not.’ Why would she mind?

They’d have to chip the smile off her face with a chisel, it was so fixed. Daniel didn’t want her bothered? Why hadn’t he told her? Lara must have been in touch and told him to sell the club. She thought back to that morning’s conversation in bed. He’d been so keen for her to go for a swim. Not to come to the club until this afternoon. Now she knew why. He didn’t want her to know. Her mind frantically ate at the reasoning. He hadn’t wanted her here when the agent came. Why? Did he think she’d let him down? Not be a good representative for the club?

Usually she was the one to cut and run, but this time the ground had been sliced out from under her. For a split second she thought about heading to his place, packing her bags and hightailing it out of there a.s.a.p. Her gut instinct was to flee. But she pulled herself up sharp. Not. This. Time.

She was good at this job and she wanted to be better. She relished the challenge and loved the responsibility—amazing but true. She finally had a job she felt at home in. She was gutted it was being sold, but she’d show the new owner she was the one to keep on running it. Hell, why couldn’tshebe the new owner?

She scoffed at her own flight of fancy. As if she’d ever have the money for that. And if she approached a bank they’d laugh her out of town. Credit limit? Hers stood at about twenty dollars.

She’d go find Daniel and ask him what was going on and why he’d wanted her out of the way. For once in her life she was primed to fight, not take flight. She’d finally found something worth fighting for. She headed to the office to get her bag just as the phone rang. She answered crisply. Equally crisp tones responded.

‘This is Mona from Hospitality Heroes. I’m trying to track down Daniel Graydon. I’m afraid I’ve misplaced his number but as this is the bar he was recruiting for I wondered if you could pass on a message.’

Recruiting? ‘Sure I can. It was for another bartender, that right?’

‘Ah, manager, I believe. I have some very experienced candidates to talk through with Mr Graydon. I’m sure we’ll find just the person for him.’

‘I’m sure. Thank you, I’ll get him to call you, Mona.’

Lucy blinked and slowly replaced the handset. Her brain processed the conversation in slow motion, her heart hammered it home in triple time. Hurt hampered her vision while an invisible boa constrictor agonisingly squeezed breath and life from her heart and lungs.

No.

Experienced candidates...manager.

No.

He wanted to replace her?

No.

She pushed at the pain threatening to engulf her and felt her silly hopes plummet as the knowledge sank in. Dreams dashed to smithereens on the rocks of Daniel’s ambivalence. He wanted a new manager. So much for playing things by ear. She hadn’t even worked through her whole three weeks yet. Was she really doing such an awful job? Hadn’t he seen the effort she’d put in? For once she’d given something her all, but she’d still failed. He was a man who gave the best, who expected the best, who frankly was the best and who, damn him,deservedthe best. Her best wasn’t good enough—not for him.Shewasn’t good enough for him. Even though she’d known that all along, having it thrust on her like this still hurt.

Her decision to stay and fight faded in a flash. She took deep breaths to blow out the burning anguish inside. Summoned cold anger to replace it. Calm control.

Slowly, pride reared its ugly head. He didn’t want her to know? Fine. She wasn’t going to fuss or have a flaming piece of him—even though she really wanted to do. She wasn’t going to embarrass herself by revealing an overly emotional response to him.

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