Chapter Two
Ava
It’s my third day working for Mr. Bosshole, and I’m just about ready to throw his big ole coffee cup right at his handsome head. Every day, it’s getting harder to fight the pull between us, but I keep telling myself to “keep it professional.”
“Here’s your coffee.” Jerkwad. I smile ever so sweetly at him. I’m not sure what I want to do more: kiss him or smack the arrogant smirk right off his gorgeous face.
He glances up at me with a raised eyebrow, then looks over at the navy-blue mug I’m holding out to him. “Extra strong?”
My back teeth slam together, making it hard for me to utter my response, “Yes.” My grandmother’s reminder that you catch more flies with honey runs through my mind as I add, “Black, extra strong, with a dash of cream.” We go through the same routine every darn morning. He acts like it takes a freaking rocket scientist to remember his coffee preference, and I barely resist the urge to pour the hot liquid in his lap.
My boss may be the hottest human with XY chromosomes in town, but his biting personality ensures he doesn’t have women lining up around the block to catch the town’s most eligible bachelor.
“Thank you.” He plucks the mug from my hand and takes a huge swig of the steaming hot liquid. I mentally wince, wondering if he has any freaking skin left on the inside of his mouth as he groans, “I needed that.”
“You’re welcome.” That’s it, keep the conversation professional. It’s been my motto since my first morning at Aurora. “Do you need anything else before I go through my emails?”
“I need to know why I have a two-hour block marked off my schedule at two o’clock today.”
I was wondering how long it would take for him to notice that. “Your mother called and asked for me to arrange a time for her to meet with you. She said you’ve been avoiding her calls and texts.”
“She could’ve called me herself to arrange it.”
“Not if you don’t answer your phone,” slips out before I’m able to catch the words. Oops.
He sits back in his office chair and stares at me silently, and I suddenly know how a bug under a magnifying glass must feel. He’s rolled up his light blue dress shirt sleeves, and I bite my bottom lip as I stare at his muscular forearms.
I’m pretty sure his muscles have freaking muscles. There’s a tiny bit of ink peeking out from the edge of the material, taunting me. I’d give a day’s salary to know what the rest of the tattoo looks like.
Today, he’s wearing a dark gray business suit that appears to be spray-painted on his insanely tall, muscular body. When he kicks the chair back from the desk, the dark, expensive material stretches across his massive thighs. Oh boy. I need to pull myself together. Drooling over him for ten hours a day, and then spending the rest of the evening daydreaming about my boss is a bad freaking idea. The cherry on top of my sundae of bad ideas is dreaming about him all night long.
“You live to push my buttons, don’t you, Ms. Matthews?” The handsome smirk on his face causes my fingers to tingle with the urge to smack it right off, or I could kiss it off. I’m still debating which I want to do more.
Last night, my dreams were so vivid I woke up expecting to find beard burn on my inner thighs. As my face heats from my steamy inner thoughts, I take several deep breaths in an attempt to cool my jets.
“No, sir.” Darn. That sounded weak. I clear my throat and try again. “I was just reminding you that your mother was forced to contact me since you weren’t answering her calls.”
“Uh-huh.” He rubs his bottom lip, and schoolgirl fantasies of replacing his fingers with my lips blast through my mind. “Well, please reschedule today's appointment to a later date.”
“A later date, sir?”
“Yes. I should be able to fit her into my schedule sometime next month.”
“Ms. Nina thought you might refuse to meet with her, so she asked me to give you a message. Word for word.” I bite the inside of my cheek to keep from laughing as I relay her exact words. “Tell my son he will regret it if I’m forced to play dirty to get him to meet with me. Let him know I am prepared to take actions that will make the Great Bride Search of 2022 incident seem like a minor inconvenience.”
To my astonishment, my boss actually pales, and I suddenly want to know what happened two years ago.
“Fine,” he growls and takes another huge swig of his coffee. “Make me another one, please, but this time add a healthy dash of whiskey. You’ll find a bottle of my favorite stuff in the bottom drawer of your filing cabinet.” Now, I really want to know why he’s avoiding his mother. I grab his mug and head for the door, but he stops me as I turn the doorknob. “Actually, I’m sure my mother has cooked up some scheme that’s going to give me heartburn. Skip the coffee altogether and pour me a healthy glass of whiskey.”
“You know drinking this early in the morning is bad for you,” I can’t help but remind him.
“So is dealing with my mother’s shenanigans.”
Making an executive decision, I head straight for the little kitchenette area and make him another cup of coffee how he likes it. When I bring it to him, my boss takes a sip and glares at me the entire time but doesn’t complain. I barely resist the urge to pat myself on the back for the tiny bit of progress I’m making with him.
Olivia has been dealing with the grouchy bosshole on her own since he fired his last assistant and needed a few days to recover from the ordeal, so she took the rest of the week off. Which means I’m stuck here with my hot, grumpy boss all by myself.
I swear I can feel his eyes following me as I make my way back to my desk.
A while later, I’m sifting through all the emails when I accidentally overhear him on the phone.
“Mother, today isn’t a good day for us to have a meeting.” I roll my eyes, realizing my boss sounds like a pleading little boy when he talks to his mother. Gramma Erlene would have a stroke if she knew I was eavesdropping, but I can’t help myself. Just like I couldn’t stop myself from accepting Ms. Nina’s lunch invitation yesterday. Curiosity got the best of me.
“What the fuck…” Listening to one side of the conversation is a little frustrating. “I’m sorry, Mother. What the hell are you doing dealing with Leon Anderson on your own?”
There’s a pause, and I tell myself I should get back to work and let my boss have a private conversation with his mother, but the little devil on my left shoulder just won’t let me do it.
“Yes, I know you could’ve told me all about this two days ago if I had returned your calls.” I smile widely as the vision of Ms. Nina giving her son hell warms my heart. “But I’ve been busy. I have a business to run and a town to make happy, all while I do my best to keep you out of trouble.”
There’s another long pause, and I sit back and forget about even pretending to work. “Leon Anderson can kiss my ass…” My boss pauses, and I hear him grumbling something intelligible. “He can kiss my rear end. I’m not doing business with the shady motherfu… fricker and neither are you.”
I glance down at my watch and realize it’s getting late. I’ll never finish these emails if I don’t get my tail moving, but this conversation between Reese and his mother is too good to miss.
“Forward his email to me, and I’ll see you at two. We can figure out how we’re going to handle this shit.” Another long pause. “Don’t worry, Mother. I will take care of Leon Anderson’s bullshit.”
Knowing I need to get my work done, I force myself to ignore his deep, growly voice and turn to my computer.
At one-fifty, the five-foot-nothing ball of energy, also known as Ms. Nina, comes breezing in the office door. “Hello, doll.” When she rushes around the desk and drags me to my feet to receive her hug, I’m powerless against the little force of nature.
“Hello, Ms. Nina.” I smile at her. “You’re looking very beautiful today.” She seems to have a thing for vintage clothes, and not just vintage by a few years. She’s rocking a Little House on the Prairie look, but it works for her. Her long, flowing, pale blue dress even has the little white apron thing on the front of it.
“Aren’t you the sweetest.” She beams at me, and I notice the mischief flashing in her icy blue eyes. “And you look quite lovely today.”
“Thank you.” I’ve been struggling to dress professionally while also keeping true to my own style. In the end, I bought several boring “work” skirts and plain blouses, and I’ve been accessorizing to make the boring outfits work on my short, curvy frame. Today, I’m wearing my navy-blue pencil skirt and light blue silky blouse with my fuchsia and yellow plaid scarf and my four-inch fuchsia heels.
“Has my son been behaving himself and treating you nicely?”
I’m not sure his heated looks and tendency to stare at me counts as behaving, and his grumpy attitude definitely isn’t nice. “He has.” I cross my fingers behind my back and blurt out another whopper, “Reese is very easy to deal with as a boss.”
Her white eyebrows shoot straight up a split second before she throws back her head and laughs. “Did you know your left eye tends to twitch when you bend the truth?”
“Uh…” I’m not sure how to respond.
“Don’t worry, doll. I won’t give your little secret away.” She winks at me. “We girls have to stick together.”
This conversation has us on a very slippery slope, so I decide to turn things in a professional direction. “Would you like to have a seat, and I’ll let Reese know you’re here?”
“I already know.” We both spin around at the sound of Reese’s voice. Darn, he’s too freaking quiet. He needs a collar with a bell on it, just like I put on my cat. “Mother, come on in so we can figure this shit out.” Then he turns to me. “Why don’t you take the rest of the day off?”
His shocking offer causes my brain to misfire, and I end up standing there staring at him with my mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water.
“But…” I manage to croak out, “I still have a few things to do.”
“They’ll still be here tomorrow. You’ve stayed late every day since you started, and you deserve the time off.” Now, I know what my clever boss is doing. He’s trying to pull the wool over his mother’s eyes. Good luck with that.
“Thank you.” I smile at Reese while his mother looks back and forth between us with suspicion shining in her eyes. “I’ll see you tomorrow,” I call as Reese and Ms. Nina head to his office.
I don’t waste any time turning off my computer and grabbing my purse before rushing out the door like the hounds of hell are on my heels. There’s no way I’m wasting a second of my afternoon off.
On the way home, I stop by the Porter Downtown Market to grab a few things since my cupboards are bare, and Max will be rebelling if I don’t buy more of his favorite treats.
“Hello, Ava,” Mr. Nathaniel, the store owner and my third-grade teacher, calls to me as I grab a basket. “How are you today?”
“Hi. I’m great, Mr. Nathaniel. I’m on my way home from work and needed a few things.” I give him a wave and attempt to head straight to the produce aisle, but I only make it as far as the first checkout stand.
“How’s your new job going?” Beth Ann, the middle-aged cashier who’s a fixture at the small country grocery store, stops me.
“It’s great.” I’m not about to go into all the juicy details with the town grapevine’s director. “I’m sorry I don’t have time to talk right now, but I have to hurry up and grab a few things and get home.” Leave it vague, echoes around my mind.
“Oh.” Her eyes light up, and I realize my response was too vague. “Do you have plans tonight?”
I need to head this off quickly before the entire town hears about my imaginary plans from the Porter grapevine. “Nope. I’m meal prepping for the rest of the week and watching TV.” I give her a bright smile and head off to do my quick shopping.
An hour and a half later, I drag my three bags into my tiny duplex and drop them on the small table in my kitchen. “Max, I’m home,” I call out, wondering where my ornery old cat is hiding. “I bought you a treat.”
A white and black streak zips across the room and up onto the counter at the sound of the “T” word. “Were you a good boy today?” I attempt to give him a scratch under the chin, but my cat is laser-focused on my promise, so I grab the bag of cat treats and hand him two.
“I can’t believe I have to bribe you to let me give you pets,” I grumble to him as he runs off to enjoy his treats.
I’m putting away the rest of my groceries when my phone buzzes in my pocket. I hit the talk button without even checking who’s calling. “Hello.”
“Hello, Ava.” His deep voice sends chills down my spine, and I almost drop the half gallon of milk in my hand.
“Reese, is everything okay?” If he makes me work this evening after giving me the afternoon off, I’m going to be so mad.
“There’s a catastrophe brewing that I need to head off,” he sighs, “in Las Vegas.”
The thought of having him out of the office for a few days is freaking appealing. “When are you leaving?”
“We’re leaving first thing in the morning,” he corrects me, and my heart drops. Oh, no way. There’s no way I want to go out of town with my yummy, grouchy boss. It’s a recipe for disaster. “I need you to come to Las Vegas with me. We shouldn’t be gone more than two days.”
“Uh…” I’m thinking fast. “I can’t leave my cat alone that long.” That’s one lame ass excuse, but it’s all I could come up with last minute.
“We’ll only be gone a few days. Surely, you can find someone to check on your cat.” He’s right, my neighbor will gladly take care of Max for me if I ask.
“Why do you need me to come?” I need to know more about this trip so I can find a way to avoid going out of town with my smoking hot boss. Talk about a recipe for disaster.