Shane practically pushed Julian out of the way and grabbed me, continuing the dance I was in the middle of. We didn’t say much, only held each other awkwardly until the end of the song, like we were afraid we’d get caught doing something inappropriate. Then he thanked me for the dance and guided me back to my friends with his hand on my lower back, sending tingles all throughout my body.
Oh, there was also the time he caught me and Veronica Masters, my closest friend and old roommate, dancing together in a bit of a suggestive way. When I noticed him and all the other guys looking, I shouted his name. And instead of being a normal human who can start a perfectly normal conversation with the man who awakens every cell in her body, all I said was, “your hair”, because it was different than how I was used to seeing it.
Like I said,embarrassing.
But our last two interactions were different. Our first real conversation happened at the end of July, just four months ago while we were all gathered at Morgan Burkley’s house, another one of my close friends.
It was pretty late into the evening, and we were all hanging outside by the fire. Shane appeared at my side with a throw blanket and wrapped it around my body, saying he didn’t want me to catch a cold with the little cool breeze we were getting.
He then sat down beside me and asked if I was all right. At the time, we were going through a pretty scary situation withRonnie’s criminal ex stalking and threatening us, to the point where we each needed to have bodyguards following us around.
Shane had offered to let me stay at his home so I wouldn’t be alone in my condo. Of course, I didn’t have a choice but to refuse, even though every atom in my body was screaming for me to say yes.
That’s also the same night I found out the girls, specifically Ronnie and Emma, had sent Shane bathing suit pictures of me during our vacation in Fiji and that he kept them all in a separate folder called‘My Angel’. They were nice pictures, I’ll admit to that, but it was still humiliating to me because I would never have done such a thing.
It was also the first time his touch felt more intimate. When he got up and wished me goodnight, his fingers skimmed over my bare knee like he couldn’t help himself. It rattled my bones, boiled the blood streaming through my veins, and lit my skin on fire.
The last time I talked to Shane was last month, when we were all in the hospital waiting for news on Noah’s condition after an incident with Ronnie’s ex. He stayed by my side most of our time there and even went out to get me coffee without asking if I wanted one. It was a simple act of kindness, but it warmed my heart in the very best way. I saw him one more time a few days later, but we didn’t talk, so I don’t really count that in.
Now you’re probably wondering why I’m not dating the man who haunts my every fantasy, who seems as smitten with me as I am with him. Here’s the thing, our story is complicated. Want to know why? Remember I mentioned my older brother earlier? Well, Greyson’s a professional hockey player. And the team he plays for? The New York Griffins. Which only means one thing: Shane is his boss.
“You’re doing it again, boss.”
I snap out of my momentary daydream down memory lane, blinking a few times and looking over at Octavia who’s fixing the muffin display. “What?”
“You’re staring at your phone with that dreamy look in your eyes, and your cheeks are all flushed.” She turns to face me and rests her hip against the counter, crossing her arms with a knowing smirk lingering on her lips.
“No, I wasn’t,” I defend myself, even though I can feel my face heating up. I quickly turn off my phone screen and shove it into the back pocket of my jeans.
“You’ve been standing there for exactly…” Tavie looks at the time on the register. “Eleven minutes, not moving, not talking, just staring at your phone like it was the most fascinating thing.” She raises a brow, waiting for me to tell her she’s wrong again. “Were you thinking of him again?”
By now, Octavia knows all about Shane. I needed someone outside of my normal circle of friends to talk to about this situation I have with him, and despite her being eighteen, she’s become a dear friend of mine, and I love working with her.
It’s not that I can’t talk about him with Morgan, Cecilia, Emma, or Ronnie. It’s just that every time I do, they push me toward him. I know they’re just trying to help and want to see me happy, but it’s like they don’t see the damage it could have on my relationship with my brother if I did let myself go there with Shane.
So talking about it with Octavia gives me a fresh set of eyes, one that doesn’t know all the back stories and isn’t in any way emotionally involved in the situation. She’s just a bystander listening to a story being told and giving advice in return.
I blush harder at the mention of him. “He liked my latest post, the one with the gingerbread cupcakes. And by the way, I’m not your boss, just the manager. I told you to stop calling me that.” I narrow my eyes at her with a point of my finger in her direction.
She rolls her eyes at me. “Same thing. I see Clara maybe once a month. I see you five times a week. To me, you’re my boss.”
She’s right, almost all the employees here have started considering me their boss instead of Clara, the actual owner of the bakery. I guess, in a way, I kind of am since they come to me with every little problem they have and I’m expected to fix them.
When Clara asked me to become manager during the holiday season last year, I hadn’t expected her to give me such freedom. I thought she just wanted to spend a few extra days at home with her family instead of being at her store every day. But now she only comes in once or twice a month, and it’s only to check on things.
I do still give her weekly reports and ask for advice from time to time, but everything else is on me. Every new item we add to the menu, any changes we make—they’re all my choices, and I love it. My dream has always been to open my own bakery one day, and I feel like this is good practice before the real deal.
“So… When’s the next time you’re going to see him?” Octavia asks, stepping closer and bumping her hip into mine.
Getting back to work, I note down inventory that’s left for the night in my notebook. “I’m not sure, probably not before the wedding.”
My brother and Emma are getting married on the twenty-third of December, back in Toronto near my parents’ home. I’m excited about the wedding and having Em as my sister, but I’m also really excited to see my parents again. It feels like forever since I’ve last seen them, and that was in June.
“A whole other month?”
I look at the time; it’s five minutes to eleven, which means we should start wrapping some of these goods up for the day-old discount shelf tomorrow if we want to close by eleven-thirty.
“Well, I don’t really have the time to go to a game this month, and it’s not like I have a reason to see him outside of that.” Ipoint to the enclosed shelves with all the muffins. “Want to start wrapping up?”
