AllFreeNovel
Share Us
It made me wonder how I’d thought this guy was gonna stab me in the back. I gave him a smile. “I’ve got to give Shay some attention too. But I’ll keep this in mind. But I think next time I’ll call before I come over with tacos.”
“I am always good with eating tacos,” he said with a grin as he poured himself a cup of coffee. “I hate to tell you this. You’re gonna need to get dressed. As soon as he gets out of the shower, I need to get in it. And you . . . ” He paused, his gaze dropping to my ass. “You’re gonna make me late, and usually I wouldn’t care about that, but this job is still new.”
“Yeah, you have a point,” I said as I took another healthy sip of my coffee. I turned and gave him a brief kiss. “I’ll just have to look forward to Friday night.”
Adam hummed, leaning closer to me. “We’re gonna have to get Darius in on it so we can make it a hell of a weekend.”
“I’ll get on that,” I assured him as I pulled away. The bathroom opened, and I took that as a sign that I couldn’t stall any longer. “Let me go get dressed.” I went into the living room and found my jeans and underwear. I didn’t bother with my bra. I needed a shower, so I didn’t see the point of getting all of it back on.
I was trading my shirt for the white shirt I had on when Cameron came into the living room. He stopped short, fussing with a cuff, to watch me dress. “I like this,” he said easily, turning his attention from his cuffs to the dark blue tie he wore.
“Yeah, Adam said something similar,” I said as I pulled my tennis shoes on. “If you keep saying things like that, I might end up making this a habit.”
“I’m not gonna discourage it,” Cameron said easily. He pulled his suit jacket on and came to me. “But I only want it if it’s because you want to spend time with us. I don’t want it if you’re doing this because you’re just waiting for the other shoe to drop.” He looked down at me, adjusting his jacket. His hair was damp, and he had just slicked back the curls. It made him look professional and mature. Two words I wouldn’t have used to describe him before. “You come over because you want to be here, not because you need a distraction.” He raised an eyebrow. “You know?”
“You want me to come over because I want to be here,” I summarized. I nodded, taking a moment to straighten his tie. “Don’t worry. If I’m here, it’s not because I need a distraction or I’m afraid that this relationship isn’t obvious. I’m here because I want to be—because I want you.”
“Good,” he said, leaning down to give me a brief kiss. “Let’s go. I’ll stop for coffee.”
The trip was short after the side quest for coffee was done. He dropped me off just in front of my door. He stayed just long enough for me to get the apartment door open. I didn’t check to see if he was still there when Kyle opened the door.
“Didn’t we already do this song and dance?” I asked as he looked over my head into the parking lot.
“You didn’t bring one of them home with you this time?” he shot back.
“No, because adults have jobs they have to get to. They don’t have time to stop and pick a fight with a brat,” I said as I shoved past him to step into the apartment. “What are you still doing here?” I asked as I went down the hall to my bedroom.
The shower was on. Shay had already laid claim to the bathroom. That meant I was stuck waiting. But that didn’t explain why Kyle was still here. If she had been so quick to jump in the shower and hadn’t seen him out, that meant something had happened.
Ugh. I turned to glare at my brother. He still lingered at the door. It took an effort to not demand that he leave. This was something I was gonna have to get used to.
“I’m waiting on her,” Kyle said uneasily. “I was gonna take her to breakfast before I went home to get ready for work.”
“So you’re gonna be late?” I asked. “Considering the shit I got when I first started about being late or missing work, that hardly seems professional.”
“Fuck off, Grace. We both know that Dad isn’t gonna let me fire you,” he said, folding his arms over his chest. He leaned back against the door. “I mean, he might if he knew why I wanted to fire you. Do you want to find out?”
“Go for it,” I said without hesitation. “Let’s see how that works out for you too.” I wasn’t scared. Sure, I wasn’t eager to have that kind of judgment from my parents, but I was used to disappointing them. “I don’t know if you want to bring my private life into my job though, it might not work out well for you.”
“Are you fucking kidding me?”
“I noticed there’s not really an HR department,” I pointed out, “so you probably didn’t get that discussion about what’s appropriate and what’s inappropriate to say to your employees.”
“You mean like how you mentioned to Dad how I was with Shay?” he asked, raising his chin. “Talk about inappropriate stuff. That’s some inappropriate shit right there.”
“I wasn’t an employee at the time,” I said evenly. “But I’m not a lawyer. I could always call one and get their opinion on it.” I shrugged. “What do you think I should do?” I was bullshittinghim, and I could only hope that he didn’t call me on my bluff. Because I had no idea if I was right.
Kyle eyed me and I thought for a second he was gonna call me on it. But he just nodded. “Fair point.” He released a breath. “I want her. You’re gonna have to deal with me.”
“You want her, or are you using her just so you can stick it to me and Darius?” I asked. “I mean, you are an asshole.”
“Not a bigger asshole than you,” he said without hesitation. “You started all of this. Shay could’ve come onto me out of nowhere and there’s no telling where we would be if it weren’t for you.” He pushed off the door, getting into his gripe. “I wouldn’t have to worry about the fact that I scared her off. I could’ve handled telling her brother what we were doing with no ramifications happening to our relationship.” He stepped closer. “Every shitty thing that’s happened to me in the last month is your fault.”
I didn’t have an argument because he was right. I didn’t even try to ward him off when he got closer. I took a step back, toward my bedroom, so if I needed to run I had somewhere to go and a door between us. “And I don’t want to ruin it again,” I said at last.
That brought Kyle up short. “You’re so full of shit your eyes should be brown.”
I swallowed. “I’m all for keeping my nose out of your business from now on. I don’t want to ruin things between you and Shay, because I know she wants you. For some ungodly reason, she’s attracted to you.” I shook my head. “I can’t hold it against her. And I don’t want her to hate me. So if you leave me alone, I’ll leave you alone. Deal?”
