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Her shoulders sank in disappointment. “I’m sorry. I thought I got enough—”
“What you’ve given me so far is fantastic,” I assured her. “And now I have an idea of how we’re going to catch her in the act.”
“Really?”
“Absolutely. And it’s all because of you.” I jabbed my finger in her direction. “Don’t you dare ever quit on me, Penelope, or so help me, I’ll drag you back here and cuff you to a pipe.”
She let out a giggle, her cheeks flushing under my praise. “Don’t worry. I’m not quitting. Even though I can’t stand working with Kadence, this is the best job I’ve ever had, and you’re the best boss any of us could ask for. We talk about that all the time.”
Warmth bloomed in my chest at hearing that. I hated to admit it, but I’d let what my father said weigh on me, and I would have been lying if I said it didn’t make me question my ability from time to time, so hearing that he was wrong, that I really did have the respect of my staff, well, it went a long way in healing some of that hurt. “You do?”
“Oh, for sure! And don’t get me wrong, we all love Mr. and Mrs. Shields too, but we agree that sometimes how they treat you, and the decisions they make, aren’t totally fair to you. Just know, you have all of us, and we aren’t going anywhere.”
I had to clear my throat to dislodge the lump of emotion that had suddenly formed. “You don’t know how badly I needed to hear that, Pen. Thank you.”
She stood from her chair, all her earlier anxiety long gone as she smiled genuinely. “Any time, boss.” She started for the door, but stopped to address me from over her shoulder. “And remember what I said about being here when it goes down. I know it’s probably not fair to ask, but if you just so happen to find the proof you need to have Kadence’s ass locked up while I’m off, would you mind waiting until my next shift before pulling the trigger?”
My head fell back on a loud burst of laughter. “You know what?” I started once I was able to talk through the uncontrollable giggles. “I can make that promise.”
“Awesome,” she whispered. Then she skipped out of my office.
21
FORD
Isat on my stool, forearms resting on the counter in front of me, and was lost in watching Hardin in her element. God, she really was something else. It was clear to see how much she loved this place. Even when things weren’t going her way, she had a glow about her that couldn’t be snuffed out whenever she was in Junior’s doing her thing.
Unlike any other restaurant I’d been to, Hardin stretched herself thinner than she already was, just so she could be at the front of the house as often as possible and let her customers know how much they meant to her.
In the weeks we’d been seeing each other, she’d opened up to me about some of the things weighing on her, including how her parents still micromanaged everything that happened at Junior’s instead of officially handing the reins over to their daughter. She hadn’t gone into detail about how much that hurt her, but I was able to read between the lines well enough. For her, that was a wound that stayed fresh, no matter how much she treated it, and I hated to see her hurt like that. I wanted to make it better. I wanted to somehow open her mom’s and dad’s eyes and make them see what an amazing woman they’d raised.
I was lost in all things Hardin as she moved around the pizzeria, my eyes tracking her every move. When she stopped to say something to Penelope, her gorgeous face lighting up with a smile before her head tipped back on a beautiful laugh, I felt my dick stir to life. Over the past several weeks, there hadn’t been a day when she hadn’t traveled through my mind. It seemed the more time I spent with her, the more the want inside of me grew.
I’d hoped by giving in to my attraction for her, I would start to work her out from under my skin, but every time I buried myself deep inside her, every time she smiled or laughed at me, every time she joked as a way to lighten the mood, reading the tension on me and knowing exactly what I needed in order to pull myself out of it, she just burrowed herself deeper.
My craving had only gotten worse, to the point that it was a painful struggle to keep my hands off her any time she was around. More than once, I’d put us in a compromising position that nearly led to being caught, but I couldn’t seem to help myself. It washer. Whenever she was around, I just felt... better.
She stopped across the counter from me, her hands braced wide on the scarred surface, her hip cocked out casually. She was the picture of femininity, and I wanted to pull her across the counter and feast on those plump pink lips that always tasted like cherries.
“You know, you keep staring at me like that, people are going to start suspecting you like me.” She said it as a tease, but if she only knew how true those words were.
I lowered my voice so as not to be overheard. “I can’t help it. It’s your fault for being so goddamn sexy all that time.”
She let out a loud, indelicate snort, and even that sound managed to turn me on. Christ, something was seriously wrong with me. “Either you’re going blind or you’re a lot easier to please than I initially thought, because I’m a mess.”
As if to prove her point, she tucked a lock of dark hair behind her ear that had fallen out of the messy bun on top of her head. And from the looks of it, it wasn’t the stylish kind of messy either. It was the “I didn’t have time to brush my hair, so this is as good as it’s going to get” kind of messy. And still, she made it work.
“Don’t question my sanity, just accept that I want you all the fucking time,” I grunted. “If I thought no one would notice, I’d drag you back into your office right now and fuck you on your desk so you’d think of me every single time you sat down to work.”
She shifted across from me, and I didn’t need to see her lower half to know she was clenching her thighs together. I knew if I were to slip my fingers into her panties, I’d find her soaked. She was always so goddamn ready for me. Any time, day or night. I kept waiting for the sex to grow monotonous, but each time was even better than the time before. And it wasn’t because we were sneaking around.
It was just her.
She leaned over the counter, resting casually on her forearms. “I keep waiting for the day when I want you a little less than the day before, but so far, it hasn’t happened,” she whispered. “I’m starting to worry that I might be addicted.”
Oh, if she only knew how much I could relate.
“Good,” I said quietly. “I want you addicted. I want you so needy you can’t get enough, and I want to be the only man who can ease that ache inside you. I want to drive you just as crazy as you drive me every goddamn day.”
