Page 11 of The Shy Waitress and Her Boss

Earth Angel

"Truth is a great flirt." ~ Frank Liszt

"Whatever it is," Sladesaid irritably when he heard the knock on the door, "I'm not in the fucking mood for it." Farica should really know whennotto push—-

"I'm sorry, Mr. Wyndham."

Shit.

The billionaire practically tripped over his own feet in his haste, and he got to the door in record time. He threw it open and saw his adorable little Kady, in the process of turning away, jerk in surprise as their gazes clashed.

"Sorry about that," he said right away. "I thought you were Farica." Seeing that she appeared seconds away from bolting, he swiftly searched for a way to keep her from leaving, and it was then his gaze fell on the tray she was holding. "Is that for me?" he asked in surprise.

"I was worried," Kady mumbled. "You...you hadn't eaten the whole day, and you s-seemed in a bad mood."

With embarrassment seemingly having gotten the best of her, Kady had started blushing mid-speech and by the time she finished speaking, her voice was barely audible over The Fleetwoods singingEarth Angelin the background. He normally hated Farica's choice of songs, but this time, his colleague had definitely gotten it right.

His little Kady was an earth angel indeed, with the way she couldn't help worrying over him despite still finding him as fearsome as the boogeyman from her childhood.

"Is there anything wrong, Mr. Wyndham?"

Sweet, sweet Kady, to have found the courage to ask such a thing even as the question now made her look close to fainting.

"Yeah," the billionaire said finally, "I suppose you could say that."

Kady's fears dissipated at her boss' words.Oh no.She had been right, after all, and she looked up at him worriedly, saying, "If there's anything I can do to help—-"

"There is," he said right away, and as her gaze turned hopeful, he said lazily, "Don't ever talk to another man but me. Don't smile or meet their gazes. Don't even think of any other guy exceptme."

Kady's jaw dropped.She couldn't have heard him correctly. Could she?But when her boss only continued to gaze at her, she stammered, "I...I...I..."

"You asked me what was wrong," Slade reminded her mockingly, "so I'm simply answering you with the truth—-"

"Mr. Wyndham!"

He glanced at the tray she was holding. "That must be heavy." But instead of offering to help her with it, he simply stepped aside. "Come in, please."

And just like that, she was trapped, like a lamb being led to slaughter as she reluctantly followed him inside his office. The last time she had been here was when he had Kady sign her employment contract, and she had been so nervous and overwhelmed that day to pay any attention to her surroundings.

This time, however, she had enough presence of mind to look around as she placed the tray on the coffee table. His office was a lot larger than it appeared from the outside, and while the furniture and fixtures were the same mix of leather, copper, and old wood, what did surprise Kady were the fully stocked shelves, with coffee books printed in various languages.Russian, Japanese, Spanish, German...

Slade's lips curved when he saw her staring at his books. "What if I told you all those were for show?" he asked slyly.

She shook her head. "I know you'd be joking."

He raised a brow. "How come?"

"Because you don't seem the type," she answered honestly. Despite his rather wickedly offhand attitude to most things, Kady's guts told her that one flaw her boss would never be guilty of was being a fake. He simply didn't strike her as the type to be weak or shallow enough to change himself to suit other people's—-

What was he doing?

Too late she saw the pair of glasses her boss had set next to the tray. Panicking at the thought of having to share even just a drink with him, she blurted out, "I think I should go—-"

"Too late, little chick. Just give in gracefully and have supper with me."

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