Page 80 of Tempt Me Forever

Chapter Twenty-Two

Kimberly

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The next few weekswent by in a whirlwind. As soon as Reese and Travis gave the green light for Aspen, I had my hands full. Since I was the business development director, it was up to me to see the project through. The general manager was mostly in charge of approving the course I was setting. Of course, that meant I spent a lot of time around a certain hottie, but I didn't mind. Not at all.

"Kimberly, I've heard through the grapevine that you have your hands full," Thomas said. "You're going to check the inventory too?"

"Tom, we argue about this every month. And I win every time,” I replied. "You know I like to be on top of things."

"You like to micromanage," Drake's voice boomed through the room.

I chuckled, turning around on my bar stool.

"I'm taking care of this," I informed him.

I had to work on my facial expression because I suspected that every time Drake stepped into the same room with me, I had a moony smile on my face, and that wouldn't do.

Thomas was more than a coworker. He was more of a father figure after having been so involved in my dating life. But still, I felt uncomfortable broadcasting to the team that Drake and I were seeing each other.

Luckily, we were on the same page... mostly. At the present moment, the man shamelessly undressed me with his gaze. Luckily, Thomas was busy unloading the dishwasher and probably couldn't pick up on the vibes.

"Hi, team." That was Jonathan, one of our best in the sales department. I glanced at him as Thomas straightened up.

"Hey. Looks like I don't need your help after all. Drake and Kimberly showed up."

"Jonathan," I said, "just the person I was hoping to see."

He jerked his head back. "Why?"

"Thomas here says you're being very helpful with all sorts of things that are not part of your job description."

He slid behind the bar. "So? Plenty of people here do things that aren't part of their tasks."

"I know, but you really don't have to." I put both palms on the counter, leaning slightly forward. Jonathan smiled. Good. He was relaxing. He'd seemed to be on the defensive minutes before. "I just don't want you to be overworked or overwhelmed."

Next to me, I heard Drake inhale. Oh, I knew this was blasphemy for him. If he had it his way, everyone would work around the clock.

But he wasn't having it his way.

"I'm going in the back," Thomas announced. "I need to unpack our newest gin delivery."

"Is that from the new supplier?" Drake asked.

"Yes."

"I'll come with you. I want to check if they included all the promised extras."

Oh yeah, he and I were definitely two peas in a pod.

Once we were alone, Jonathan asked, "Want me to help with the inventory?"

"No, I’ve got it." I looked at him a moment, then said, "Jonathan, I just don’t want you to get burned out doing too much. I feel like we’re taking advantage of you."

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