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Despite the haze of the past month, the memory of this man’s face—and his build, his profile, his demeanor—suddenly stood out from the blur of everything else. I had seen him before.
When I finally found my voice again, it was faint, almost like a whisper.
“And you’re Brady.”
Henry’s son was the sexiest man I had ever seen… and absolutely thelastone I should be thinking that about, given that he was also my new boss and quite literally held my future happiness in his hands.
His big, strong, calloused hands that feltamazingon mine.
Chapter Six - Brady
Joe’s a woman?!
I knew that I might be holding onto Joe’s hand a little longer than was absolutely necessary for a business handshake, but I couldn’t help it. When I’d seen the look, theheatin her eyes—and that sexy little nervous grin—it had taken every ounce of self-control I possessed not to let my mind wander in directions that were definitely unprofessional.
Before walking through the door, I hadn’t put much thought into who my dad’s employees were—I hadn’t put any thought at all into it, actually.
I’d known from a few brief conversations with my dad’s old accountant that there were a couple of people who worked at the flower shop. And even though I thought I might have met them briefly at the funeral, for the most part, they’d just been a couple of names that popped up on the reports I’d skimmed. Faceless entities, as far as I had been concerned.
And it wasn’t that I didn’tcare, necessarily. It was just that I had about as much interest in who was running my dad’s shop as I had in any other aspect of it. In other words, none.
Now, though?
Yeah, I was definitely interested. Very interested.
Joe wasn’t faceless anymore. She was bright and sunny and sexy, and she took my breath away.
She was…beautiful.
Absolutely beautiful.
Reluctantly, I let her hand go, even though the part of me that wanted to say “fuck being professional” noted the fact that she hadn’t seemed in much of a hurry to end the handshake, either.
But thiswasabout business, and as my eyes tracked every little movement the woman made, I couldn’t help but think of how different the vibrant girl was, compared to what I would have expected if I’d given it any thought.
An employee like Joe, so vibrant and happy and obviously female, flew in the face of everything I remembered about my stern, no-nonsense father.
It had been Henry’s rough, gruff, seemingly uncaring demeanor that had kept me from ever opening up and talking about my life or the girls I dated.
While never overtly a misogynist, Henry Davis was literally the last person I could’ve imagined working so closely with someone who seemed so completely my father’s opposite in every way.
Yet here Joe was—with her bright, wide smile that made even the sunflowers I had just been looking at seem pale by comparison—living proof that maybe my teenage perception and understanding of my father might have missed the mark a little.
The woman put her hand in her pocket and looked down a little. “Actually, it’s Jo. Short for Joanne.”
And… maybe I had missed the mark in other ways, too.
I’d been prepared for the shop to feel like an extension of my dad—dark and gloomy, oppressive and stuffy. But instead, it was light and airy, bright, and cheerful—a real tribute to my mother in more ways than just the name above the door.
Mom was easy to talk to. And she also would’ve approved of Joanne, I had no doubt. The way she had immediately come out from behind the counter and tried to make conversation, tried to put me—a complete stranger, as far as she’d known—at ease… that was pure Patty.
The thought made my throat close up for a moment, and I wondered if my dad had seen those same qualities in Joanne… and if he’d appreciated them.
It was a lot to process, even now, and it definitely wasn’t the time to try and sort out all of my feelings—not while this beautiful woman was still standing just a few inches away, nibbling at her lip as she looked up at me expectantly.
“It’s nice to meet you,” Jo finally said after several moments of prolonged silence.
We’d both been perfectly still, but the moment she spoke, it was like a spell had been broken. I started breathing again.
