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“He’s picking you up for work, Spitfire.”
“Really, it’s not necessary.” She gave him a big smile to ensure he knew she wasn’t actually arguing with him.
He leaned his hands down on the desk and she had to fight hard not to lean back.
“Yeah, he is.”
“I’m in charge of how I get into work, and I say he’s not.”
Shoot. What was she doing?
He’s your boss.
“You work for me?” he asked weirdly.
“Uh, yes.”
“Then you do what I say. If I say he picks you up, then he picks you up. Understand?”
“All right.” She gave in because he was her boss and she didn’t want to make him angry.
“All right?” he asked, looking surprised.
“Yes, all right,” she said.
But she wasn’t happy about it. So when Steele went to reach for another piece of brownie, she leaned over and snatched the container away from him.
He raised his eyebrows. “I don’t get more brownie?”
“Nope.”
Effie braced herself for anger because this wasn’t a very nice thing to do. And Effie was always pleasant. Always good. Always bright and happy and cheerful.
Just like Nan taught her.
Except, apparently, when Damon Steele grew bossy with her. Which seemed to happen every time she saw him.
“Because you didn’t get your way?”
All right. That made her sound slightly petty.
“Because you’re being unreasonable.”
“How’d you plan on getting to work if Raul didn’t pick you up, Spitfire?”
“Um, on the bus.”
“So you’d rather take the bus, walk in the cold from the bus stop to here, pay for a ticket, sit among strangers who could be anyone. One of them could have a weapon, a gun or a knife. They could be in a bad mood that day, see you and decide that you remind them of their ex-wife who has been jacking them around, and they’ll take their anger out on you. Is that what you want?”
“Well, no,” she said faintly. And now she was feeling somewhat terrified of the bus. Which was not good since it was her main mode of transport when she wasn’t at work.
“So you’re going to be mad at me for wanting to keep you safe from some knife-wielding madman with a vendetta against his ex-wife?”
“When you put it like that . . . although don’t you think that’s unlikely?”
“Always found it’s best to plan for the worst. Means there’s less chance of a nasty surprise.”
Wow. Really? That was kind of a sad way to live.
