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“Your boss? The Hollis guy?” He scraped his boots off his desk and sat up in his chair. “No problem.”
“Thanks. But actually, it’s not Hollis I want you to check out.”
“No?”
“No. His name is Benito. I met him online. He seems nice enough, but you know… He could be a serial killer.”
Soren picked up his reading glasses and shook his head. “What the hell are you meeting men online for? Meet them the old-fashioned way.”
I arched a brow. “You mean hire them to be my secretary and not tell them sucking my dick is part of the job until after they start?”
“You got some mouth on you.”
I tilted my head toward the door. “I noticed Bambi has been replaced. I’m guessing things didn’t turn out well. Again.”
He grumbled something under his breath.
In the two years I’d been with Soren, he’d had at least a dozen secretaries, most of whom he’d slept with.
“This Benito got a last name, or what?”
“Del Toro.”
“Benito Del Toro. Like the actor?”
“No, that’s Benicio. I know. The name is a little unfortunate. But he’s a few years older than me, so his mother named him before the actor became famous. Could be worse though. His name could be Jeffrey Dahmer.”
“He live in the boroughs?”
“Brooklyn Heights.”
“I’ll take care of it. Give me till morning.”
I smiled. “You’re the bestest boss…and since I’m here…why don’t we order from that Chinese place I love? I miss the food. And I miss you buying it for me even more.”
Soren shook his head. “You expect me to buy you dinner even after you quit on me?”
“You miss buying me food, and I know it.”
He opened his drawer, reached in, and tossed a menu at me. “Call it in. I’ll take my usual.”***“He was literally a fucking boy scout. Even has a credit score in the eight hundreds.” Soren called the next morning just as I walked up the stairs from the subway.
“Oh, wow. Okay. So no skeletons, then?”
“Nope. One car accident—ironically, while parking a few years ago. So you two should probably stick to public transportation. Owns his condo and his car outright. Same job for nine years. One sister—lives in bumfuck Nebraska. Mother died last year, and up until then, he’d been paying for her nursing home.”
I attempted to cross the street at a green light but had to stop abruptly when a cab made a sudden turn and nearly ran over my toes. The jerk blew the light only to get stuck in the crosswalk.
I banged on the trunk of his car. “Watch where you’re going, asshole!”
Soren chuckled. “Not sure why we bothered to check out this guy’s background. Pretty sure if he pisses you off, you’ll kick his ass.”
“Thanks for looking into him, Soren.”
“Anytime, kid. Better safe than sorry. And stop by more often, even if it’s just to bum a free meal. Office isn’t the same without you torturing me.”
I smiled. Such a softie behind the badass. “I will.”
I managed to navigate the two-block walk to work without getting into any more fights with cabs. While I waited for the elevator, my phone buzzed in my purse. I dug it out again and smiled seeing the name on the screen.Benito: Good morning. Might today be the day she says yes?There really was no reason not to go out with Benito anymore. Anyone Soren couldn’t find dirt on was squeaky clean. Plus, he was funny and handsome and seemed genuinely interested in getting to know me. Unlike a lot of guys, he asked me questions about myself, rather than telling me how great he was. Yet I still couldn’t bring myself to say yes to a date for some reason.
Though I didn’t want to say no anymore either. So I put off responding for now. I slipped my phone back into my purse and stepped onto the elevator.
Hollis’s apartment was quiet when I walked in, except for Huey’s greeting. Baaa! “Anna’s home!”
I still cracked up every time he made that sound. “Hi, Huey!”
He nodded his head rapidly. I swore he understood me, though no one else seemed to agree.
Hollis walked out of his bedroom and down the hall, taking long, rapid strides. At first, I assumed he was running late and in a rush. But the stony glare he flashed when he saw me made me second-guess that.
“Is…everything okay?”
“Why wouldn’t it be?” he snapped.
“Okey dokey, then.” I dropped my purse on the dining room table and went to the kitchen to get myself some coffee. I kept a discreet eye on Hollis through my peripheral vision.
He struggled to close the cuff on one arm of his dress shirt, and I could see he was getting angrier by the second. Eventually, he gave up and let out a string of curses. He grabbed his suit jacket off the back of a chair, swiped his wallet and keys from a bowl on the kitchen counter, and marched toward the front door without another glance in my direction.
