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She looked amazing. Beyond amazing. Her long blonde hair fell in soft waves around her face, and she wore a green dress and a long red coat. The very picture of Christmas cheer.
“You met my date and future boss,” Harley said, giving her friend a smile.
Taylor slid her gaze from me to Harley. “You two behave tonight.”
I did my best to look confident as I followed Harley out of the condo. I’d lucked into a parking spot just a few steps from the front door.
“Did I get your roommate’s stamp of approval?” I asked as I opened the car door for her.
She tossed me a smile as she got in. “We’ll see.”
I was still smiling to myself when I climbed in on the driver’s side a half minute or so later. I’d waited a week for this moment. Now all I wanted to do was kiss her…and more. But she deserved to be wined and dined before I started pawing at her.
“You have quite a reputation around town,” Harley commented as we pulled up to the traffic light at the end of her street.
I glanced over at her, my smile turning into a frown. No telling what people around here had said about me behind my back. I’d been single most of the past decade, although I’d had a few semi-relationships. The fit had never been quite right, which meant I’d left a few broken hearts behind. Some might say I was a womanizer because of it.
But I believed when it came to the woman you’re going to spend the rest of your life with—or even the rest of the year—a man had a right to be picky. So did a woman. Nobody should fault a person for that.
“When I mentioned coming to work for you, people had some things to say.” Harley paused a moment. “A lot of things to say.”
So she’d been talking about me?
“Pleasure Valley is a small town,” she said with a shrug.
“Touché.” He chuckled. “Yeah, I guess that’s how I heard you were dissatisfied with your dad’s company.”
“Not dissatisfied, just…” She hesitated, seeming to roll the thought around in her head for a while before finishing. “Restless. But don’t change the subject.”
Yeah, she wasn’t going to let me off that easily. I took a deep breath, trying to figure out how to put this.
“I can be an asshole,” I said. “Anyone who knows me will tell you that. It’s mostly about patience…and my lack of it.”
She was studying me now. I saw it out of the corner of my eye. But this wasn’t about selling her on the type of boss I’d be. This was about convincing her I’d be a good boyfriend. A good…everything to her.
“Work has become my life,” I continued. “I guess I expect that of other people. I brought Amy over from your dad’s company—”
“Poached her, my dad says.”
I shrugged. “She approached me. Tracked me down at Whiskey Dick and asked if I was in the market for an HR person.”
“Just like I did,” she said. “I reached out and asked about a position.”
I glanced over at her. “And why was that? Because you heard we have a great work culture?”
She nodded. “That’s what I heard. But my roommates say you have a reputation for being a bit of a grump.”
“An old crank bucket.” I laughed. “That’s what one of my salespeople calls me. I’ve been trying to work on it. Maybe all I need is a reason to get up in the morning.”
We pulled up to the curb in front of Graham Steakhouse and I hopped out while the valet went around and opened the door for Harley. I’d never been prouder than I was to enter that restaurant with my hand on the small of her back. She was the most beautiful woman in the world, as far as I was concerned, and I was the lucky guy who got to take her to dinner tonight. Hopefully, this was the first of many nights.
“Good evening, Mr. Brooks,” the maître d’ said as we entered. “Right this way.”
I stepped back and let Harley take the lead as we crossed the dining room to the table by the window I’d requested. I was wishing she wasn’t wearing that coat so I could check out her perfect round ass when she suddenly came to a stop. Since I, of course, was looking at her and not our surroundings, I had no idea why she was stopping.
The maitre d’ kept walking, but Harley was frozen, staring at something to her right. When I followed that stare, I saw we were just feet away from her father, who was seated not with some younger woman but Jonah McStay. Jonah was a pioneer in the field of virtual receptionist services.
The look in Reed Baxter’s eyes told me everything I needed to know about this situation. He was not happy to see his daughter with his biggest rival. And I needed to brace myself for the fallout.
