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“I apologize, and understand,” Addy said, giving a pointed look to her cousin who huffed but turned on her heel and went out the front door.
As soon as we were alone, I unleashed my temper. “What part of work don’t you—”
Instead of shrinking at my tone, she stood up, fists clenched, and interrupted. “Stop.”
“What?”
“I said stop with the unnecessary scolding. First, I apologized, and second, I said I understood. It won’t happen again.”
“Why was she here?” My annoyance lingered.
“She showed up unannounced to supposedly see where I worked, but I think she really wanted to—”
I finished for her. “Meet the guys.”
She didn’t bother denying it. “Yeah. It won’t happen again. If it does, then I’m showing up at her spa and streaking naked all through the place.”
I did not need to picture her naked. At all. “Fine.”
Come Monday morning, I had convinced myself that out of sight, out of mind when it came to my sexy new office manager. Until I walked into the office kitchen to see her standing on a step stool, reaching for an upper cabinet, her shirt riding up to show a sliver of creamy skin.
“What are you doing?” Given her clumsy nature, having her up on a ladder was sure to end in disaster.
She turned with a smile, the action hitting me in the chest. “Oh, good, you’re here. I wanted to show you something.” She handed me a mug before bending down to pick up more and put them in the cabinet.
On the black coffee cup she’d handed me was my red security logo and stamped up top was “Delta Security” in red letters. The design was simple and crisp.
“Pretty cool, huh? We also ordered pens, mouse pads, and those cool hand sanitizers. They’re in the box on the corner. Dominic is also planning to order sweatshirts for everyone.”
“It’s Vegas, where it’s hot eighty percent of the time.” There were only a couple months one needed a sweatshirt.
She rolled her eyes. “Yeah, well, it gets cold at night in the winter.”
“What happens when the guys start taking this shit home with them?” I could see them pilfering coffee mugs already.
“Each person gets a mug to take home. Matter of fact, they’re in the warehouse now. And hey, it’s an advertisement to have your company name in people’s homes. Grandma comes over, asks for coffee, drinks from this cup, and says, ‘Hey, Junior, what’s Delta Security?’”
She was ridiculous, yet I found myself combating a smile. “I don’t understand why we needed any of this.”
Instead of being offended by my unfiltered comment, she chuckled. “You know, I’m thinking we should’ve gotten the stress balls, after all.”
Although I’d never admit it to her, I appreciated that she wasn’t intimidated by my gruffness. “You saying I stress you out?”
“Not for me, McGrumps. For you. Clearly change stresses you out.”
She wasn’t wrong. I preferred control and to be the one making the changes. I didn’t enjoy being caught off guard. “Dominic put you up to this, didn’t he?” It was just like him to torture me with shit like this.
“Nope, but he does have an enthusiasm which almost matches mine. Come on, work is work, but what if there’s a little bit of cheer involved?” She stepped down and put her mug under the new coffee dispenser. “We have two flavors now, and I’ll put signs out informing people which is which. I figure we’d always have a medium roast, then I’ll change up the other one: sometimes vanilla, other weeks pecan roasted, and who knows what next? It’ll be fun.”
The coffee did smell good. “What are you doing?”
She sprinkled something from a tin cup onto her coffee. “It’s cinnamon. Put it into your coffee or tea, and it’ll be like Christmas morning every day. Seriously, it’ll change your life.”
Doubtful.
“Oh, and creamers are in the fridge.”
“As in more than one?”
