Page 22 of Come A Little Closer

Tears stung the backs of my eyes and I swallowed hard. I was already embarrassed enough. The last thing I needed was for him to see me crying on top of everything else.

Why the hell did I have to go and do that? This job is the best thing that’s ever happened to me, and I almost ruined it by kissing my boss? Better yet, why did he kiss me back?

I’d known the guy was rich. The billionaire word had been slung around a few times since I’d met him, but somehow, it had been seeing the actual theater room in his house that had driven it home for me. As soon as I’d walked in there, I’d realized the implications of that word.

The amount of money he had could buy him everything. Anything.

And me?

I was just a lowly employee who, fine, wasn’t bordering on completely broke anymore, but I couldn’t even afford to buy a used car. Not yet anyway. Soon, I would be able to, but that was the level I was at. Having to save to be able to buy even a cheap used car.

Aside from the money, which was no small thing when the income gap was as big as it was between him and me, the man was gorgeous. When the genetic fairy had been handing out her blessings, her wand must’ve glitched while it’d been pointed at him, bestowing upon just one man so many of the very best qualities out there.

The sparkling blue eyes. The thick, luscious blond hair. The ability to develop such lean, strong muscles. Those high cheekbones and the regal bone structure. God, after all that, would it have killed the damn fairy to make him really short? Or just something that would’ve made him at least a little bit resistible?

At least to me.

Instead, she’d given him every last one of the physical traits I’d always only admired in men from afar. She’d even given him beautiful but masculine hands, with fingers that were long but not freakishly so.

The tears pressed past the backs of my eyes, welling on my lids. I fled through his foyer, checking my phone to see that my Uber driver was only a minute away. How could I have been so stupid? This man is way out of my league. What was I thinking?

To add the very worst kind of insult to injury, I’d also come to realize that beneath that prickly exterior, the mountains of money, and the pretty face, he was a real boy. He was nice. He had feelings. Emotions. He got scared. He got defensive.

And he cared.

That was a big one for me. He cared about shit like his new employee being alone in a haunted house during a storm on her first night there. Hell, he cared enough to offer a brand new, possibly temporary employee a house simply so she wouldn’t have to walk around a dodgy neighborhood at night.

“Tallulah, please wait,” he called from behind me when I yanked open his front door, but I simply threw my hand up in a wave instead of turning to face him.

“It’s really fine. Can’t stop right now. My driver is basically here. I’ll see you, Niall. Have a good night.” With that rush of tightly spoken words, I burst out of his house and took the few steps down to the street at double time, choking on a sob when I finally reached the sidewalk.

I couldn’t stand showing people any weakness or vulnerability. I knew just how damn strong I was to have made it through what I had and to have built a wonderful life for myself on the other side—and it was wonderful. I loved where I was right now.

A big part of that was working for the Morrison Group and all the promise this job held for the future.

I couldn’t mess it up by hooking up with my boss.

Even if he was the very best kisser ever and even if he had made me feel so very many things. I couldn’t allow this to happen again. I needed to get a damn grip on myself and I needed to get it right the hell now.

10

NIALL

On Monday afternoon, I was still finding it difficult to focus. My attention span had been shit all day, and even now, I was barely able to get from one task to the next without thinking about Tallulah.

I’d spent all of yesterday thinking about her too, wondering how I could make this right. During our unbelievably hot make-out session, I’d been absolutely certain she wanted it, and I’d been completely committed to it.

I hadn’t given a shit about lines being crossed or boundaries being ignored. I’d been ready to take it all the way and then some, and I would have if she hadn’t slammed on the brakes so abruptly. I hadn’t seen it coming.

For possibly the first time in my life, I seemed to have totally misread the situation—and I’d been feeling like a dick about it ever since.

I needed to apologize, sincerely this time, and I needed to do it soon. The fault had been mine and I had to accept responsibility for it—before she quit and left us in the lurch just as we were really starting to gear up for the festival.

I couldn’t allow for that to happen. Having signed off on a few of her new ideas this morning, I now knew that Jake had been right from the beginning. Under Tallulah’s leadership, this project would thrive. The festival would be the best it’d ever been and I simply couldn’t imagine doing it without her any longer.

As such, I’d made a mess of things personally and professionally, and I needed to make up for that. I’d never made a blunder of this nature and I didn’t like the feeling I had right now, of having taken advantage of a woman over whom I had a measure of authority.

Professionally, I was at risk of losing the project manager it’d taken me months to find. I already knew there was no one out there who was better for this job, and as an added incentive, I’d opened the company up to a potential lawsuit.