Page 28 of Bossy Grump's Secret

"Someone would come knocking if we're here over five minutes," he huffs.

I agree. We put on our clothes and straighten each other to the best of our ability. He touches my hair, but I doubt he did it well enough. I'd finish it up in the mirror later. He scoops off the sheets. I join him and drag them from him, despite his insistence.

"Make yourself present now, but I don’t," I reason with him. "Go."

He nods and gives me a kiss before disappearing out the door. I follow him shortly with the sheets in my hands. It doesn't take long for the feeling of guilt to trickle in. Five steps in, I feel I've done all the right things wrong.

I should have waited till we were reasonably out of checking view. We should have done it in the staff quarters. What if someone saw us and heard us?

WE DIDN'T USE PROTECTION!

Birth control is simple, so I'm not too worried about that. The crucial question in my mind is the relationship. Should this even be happening? Dylan has already told me it shouldn't. I know enough about morality to understand that a boss and a staff member should have nothing to do with one another, especially if they work directly together.

There are reasons to see the official viewpoint as tenable. While I resonate with them, I find it impossible to keep a straight face…and underwear on with Dylan. I'm going to have to avoid him from now on.

For the next two days, it doesn't seem as hard. He's easy to spot. I see him and duck before getting the hell out of there. The rules help me keep him at bay... or myself in control. I do not know at this point. I think I crave him as severely as he does me, maybe even more.

The only time I don't bother avoiding him is when I'm working with my paired partner or at the end of our shifts when Lily is in the room with me. Then, we can't get into the situation we found ourselves in the last time.

On the third day, however, he catches on to my ploy and actively begins staking me out. What is supposed to be a peaceful day at work becomes a horrific nightmare. Every time I ran into his shadow, I turned in the other direction, but I lost him only once. The next time I ran into him, it was close. Too close. I know I should give up this time, but Ava has yet to learn the life lesson of knowing when to call it quits.

Even when he spots me and begins coming toward me, I blatantly dash for the nearest exit, praying that he just gives up. I have no idea how terribly wrong I am until a force seizes my arm tight. I know it's him, but that doesn't stop me from letting go of a wrangled yelp.

"Jesus, Dylan!" I hold my chest in relief.

"What?" he asks with furrowed brows

"You scared me, duh." I try to relax my pacing heart. Even though I had known I wasn't in any real danger, the thrill of having avoided him for so long and being this close to getting caught triggered a level of adrenal release tantamount to being chased by a tropical spider the size of a human hand.

"You're scaring me," he grunts.

It's my turn to say, "What?"

He looks around before looking into my eyes to mutter, "You've been avoiding me."

My face twinkles in confusion, and I scoff.

"Pftt, what!? I'm not avoiding you…you're not that scary."

"Yesterday, twelve fifty. You were in the hallway, and I saw you. You turned three corners and turned off the lights," he accuses steadily.

"The light wasn't me; come on. I know nothing about the switches here," I lie smoothly. "Besides, you probably caught me in a hurry."

"Yes, I did," he mutters dryly. "Then why were you running away from me just now?"

These are the questions that it sucks to answer because the answer, embarrassingly enough, is to remain silent and accept that you have been caught. Still, I won't give up!

"I thought you were coming to yell for not finishing the work on time," I defend myself.

"Huh." I can tell he doesn't buy it. I sigh. Better to get it out now.

"Listen. I think we may have crossed the line a little on Tuesday," I tell him with closed eyes, not wanting to see the disappointment on his face. "Do you know how many times they could have caught us? It just scares me, to be honest."

"You know, they say pleasures are best enjoyed when they're not supposed to be,” Dylan laughs.

I shake my head to say, “Finally, something fun coming out of your mouth.”

“Wait till you know me fully,” he chuckles.

---