Chapter 8
CHAPTER 8
PARKER
Parker
You are on my shit list.
Paisley
Why?
Parker
Because I sorta, kinda, maybe have a little crush on one of my bosses.
Paisley
How is that my fault?
Parker
First, because you were the one who went off on the grumpy-sunshine workplace romance, and got me thinking about it at all. Second, can we talk about the dozens of unicorn heroes you’ve written that give women expectations of the men in their life?
Paisley
:GIF of Lady Bridgerton exclaiming Tell me everything!:
I checked my watch. Twenty minutes left of my lunch break. I’d parked myself on a bench in a little patch of sunshine to eat the sandwich I’d grabbed at the bakery. There was time to tell her and make it back.
Parker
I mean, there’s nothing to tell. Nothing’s happened.
Paisley
So why are you crushing on tall, dark, and broody?
Parker
How do you know it’s tall, dark, and broody?
Paisley
Opposites attract is a thing for a reason.
I huffed out a breath and began to text again.
Parker
We went kayaking on Saturday. It wasn’t a date. Just the adventure I had booked.
The whole experience had been lovely. The loch was absolutely gorgeous, and watching Callum’s broad shoulders flex as he demonstrated proper paddling technique had been… educational. Getting out on the water, out in the middle of nature, had felt so soothing. Less soothing had been that moment I’d nearly fallen getting out of the kayak. But he’d been right there, catching me before I could fall, as I’d always known he would.
I’d been extra grateful I had two days off after the trip, because while kayaking had been amazing, that much activity had been hard on my body. I’d slept most of the last forty-eight hours, other than surfacing for food. I was a still bit achy and sore today, but functional, which I was counting as a win.
Paisley
And was that a bonding experience?
I considered the question. We hadn’t talked. Not much. Yet I felt closer to Callum after the trip. Over the course of the day, I’d watched the tension sort of drain off him. I wasn’t sure how much of that was just being out in nature in general, being away from people, and how much might have been due to the fact that—just maybe—he enjoyed my company.
Parker
I don’t know. Maybe? He’s just… so much like a lion with a thorn in his paw. All big and snarly and strong.
Paisley
And you want to help heal the lion. I get that. I felt the same way about Ty.
Paisley’s second-chance romance with her high school boyfriend, who’d broken her heart when he chose duty over her, was the stuff of one of her own books. They’d found their way back to each other again after nearly twenty years, and she’d been the one to help heal him. She didn’t put it that way, but I’d heard Ty himself say she’d saved him.
Did I want to do that for Callum? I could see his pain, both physical and emotional, and I wanted to help him. But without making him feel broken or less, because, God knew, I understood what that was like. It was one of the reasons I didn’t easily share my own condition with others. But this was more than feeling a bit of a kindred spirit. I was attracted to Callum, something I’d become overwhelmingly aware of when he’d saved me from toppling into the loch. I’d had such a rush of heat through my system, I wondered I hadn’t started steaming right there on the shore. Even now, I could feel the warmth of his grip and the pressure of his arms around me, the press of that magnificent chest against mine, even though the life jacket.
Parker
He’s not Ty, and we don’t have y’all’s history.
Paisley
Doesn’t mean there couldn’t be something there.
Parker
If ever there was a poster boy for Not Open To Relationships, it’s him.
Paisley
I mean, nobody said it had to be an outright relationship. You could just have a hot, sexy Scottish fling.
Parker
I am absolutely not flinging with one of my bosses. That would be messy in the extreme. I like this job.
Paisley
Fine, no flinging with your boss. Which is just a crying shame. But I make no apologies for writing books that give women expectations of their partners. Men need to be held to a higher standard!
Parker
I can’t argue with that. And now I have to get back to work before you go off on one of your feminist rants. Plus, you have words to write.
Paisley
True story. At least you entertained me during my coffee. Duke sends wags.
She followed that up with a video clip of her pup wagging so hard it shook his whole butt.
I grinned.
Parker
Give him snuggles from his Auntie Parker.
On the walk back to the office, my brain put those moments I’d fallen into Callum’s arms on repeat. Again.
Not helpful, brain. No flinging. Friends only.
Alex looked up from a folder as I stepped into the lobby. “You’re a genius.”
“Am I?”
“I mean, it’s a wee bit of a pain to fill all this out on clients on the front end, but having all this information on them will make it so much easier for repeat bookings.”
Feeling a little smug, I stowed my purse in the drawer. “It’ll also make it easier for you to target them when you run specials to encourage those repeat bookings. Your mailing list is my next frontier. But I want to finish the project management stuff first.”
“That sounds brilliant. I look forward to hearing your ideas.”
I checked the schedule. “Aren’t you due out for another mountain biking excursion in half an hour?”
“Shite. Aye, I am. Thanks.” He disappeared into the back, and I basked in the sense of a job well done.
I’d busted my ass at this job, and it was paying off. Everything was running smoother—anecdotally anyway—and bookings were up. I’d already been thinking about other ways to improve their process and means of reaching potential new customers, but I was sitting on those until I knew I really had the job. I still had four days to go before the end of my trial period. But it definitely seemed like the guys were happy with the work I’d done. They certainly weren’t talking as if I wouldn’t be back next week. But there were no guarantees in life but death and taxes, so I’d keep doing the job to the best of my ability and see what happened. To that end, I dove into inputting more of that client data to the database I’d set up.
The work moved steadily between client calls and forwarding booking queries to the guys. Alex headed out for his ride. Finn wouldn’t be back until tomorrow. He was out on a backcountry guided hike, which I’d already learned was his favorite. I wasn’t entirely sure where Callum was. He didn’t have a booking on the schedule, so I wasn’t sure if he was here.
A spate of swearing from the back answered my unasked question.
Rather than steer clear, I wandered back to find him in his office, rubbing his eyes. I could see the lines of strain and fatigue in his face. This didn’t usually hit until the end of the day, but I knew he’d been trying to do the stuff I needed him to do for the project management side of things. I’d hated to put it on him, but I’d also known that he’d feel weird if I’d done his and didn’t do Finn’s or Alex’s.
I leaned against the doorjamb. “Can I help you with something?”
“I need to respond to these emails.” I could hear the frustration and simmering resentment that he still had to deal with people at all. That, at least, was something I could mitigate.
“Well, I can take dictation. You tell me what you’d like to say—unfiltered—and I can translate it into more professional, acceptable business speak.” It might at least get him away from that monitor long enough to rest his eyes.
“I can write some damned emails,” he growled.
I knew better than to rise to that bait. “Of course you can. But by your own admission, you don’t enjoy peopling. This would minimize your having to think about ways to do it politely, and it would reduce the eye strain you’re getting from staring at that screen for too long without a break.”
It was the wrong thing to say. A muscle jumped in his scruffy jaw, and his hands fisted on the desk. “I can manage my own fucking eye. I dinna need you coming in here babying me!” He was all but roaring by the end. The lion indeed.
I absolutely understood that he was lashing out because he was in pain, but I had a line. Him using me as a ready target because he was frustrated was it. So I let the stiffness and upper-crust formality that had been trained into me practically since birth bleed into my tone. “I don’t believe I’m babying you at all. Y’all hired me to streamline your business, and this is an area I can do that. It’s your choice to be a horse’s ass and hang onto something you hate on principle. I have other work. If you change your mind, you know where to find me.”
Turning my back on him, I stalked back out front. For all my generally sunshiny nature, I absolutely had a temper. It just took a great deal to make me lose it.
Lowering myself carefully into my chair, I wondered if all my good intentions were worth it. I liked this job. I wanted to stay. But could I deal with Callum long term if he stayed like this? It was entirely possible that this angry, short-tempered state was his default and no amount of my attempting to help would change a damned thing. The depressing reality was he wouldn’t change unless he wanted to change.
The phone rang, putting an end to my brooding. Shoving away my own irritation, I blew out a breath and put on my professional hat. It was time to get back to work.