Chapter 4
Chapter Four
When we left the break room, the first person I saw was Sebastian.
“Hey, we need to get to ...” He trailed off when he saw who was with me and he stood up straighter. “Levi, hey.”
“I hear Amy here has an interview for a receptionist position, but I want to talk with her first. Will you speak with Sally for me and tell her to move the interview to this afternoon?”
Sebastian blinked. “I can do that.”
“Good. Come on, Amy.”
Levi walked ahead, but I looked at Sebastian with wide eyes. “He better not be a secret murderer,” I hissed.
“No, he’s not. At least, I don’t think he is.”
“Let’s hope not, because I’m going to lunch with him.” I threw up my hands.
“Amy,” Sebastian began, “he is the CEO . He’s like my boss’s boss’s boss. Be careful.”
“I’ll do my best. Which is ... mediocre at best. Wish me luck?”
“I don’t know if that’s gonna be enough.”
I blew out a long breath. “If I get murdered, tell Lily I love her.”
I ran to catch up to Levi before he could get too far ahead of me, and I found him waiting by the front desk.
“How do you know Sebastian?” he asked as we walked to the elevator.
“He’s my neighbor. And the friend who got me this interview. Why? Are you jealous?”
Levi didn’t answer, though I knew there was no reason for him to be. He didn’t feel anything for me. Only for my brother, and those were angry-murder feelings.
“Not quite. But I do know he’s married.”
“Yeah, married guys aren’t my taste. Neither are ones my best friend is into either. I’d rather fuck a frog.”
His eyebrow raised again. “Isn’t that what you told yourself not to say?”
Inwardly, I cursed. “Yep. But I feel very compelled to make it clear that I would never.”
He pressed the button to the elevator.
“So, where should I meet you at?” I asked.
“I figured I was driving.”
I shook my head. Be alone in a car with him? I might as well sign away my life if he were truly a killer. “You don’t have to do that.”
“I invited you out. It’s polite of me to. Besides, anywhere around here doesn’t have a lot of parking.”
I didn’t need to be reminded. Parking became impossible the closer one got to the city center. Anything free was either full or a tiny spot next to the road. And considering parallel parking was impossible for me to comprehend, I knew that wouldn’t be an option. When I’d gotten here, I’d won the lottery purely by finding a garage that was free to park in.
Where we were eating, I might not be as lucky.
“Okay, fine.” My survival skills must have been near zero. “You can drive. But that still doesn’t answer the question of where we’re going.”
“Wherever you want,” he said.
“I don’t think the places I frequent are the kinds of restaurants you’re used to.”
One corner of his mouth tugged into a smile. “Try me.”
If I got any joy out of the day, it would be seeing Levi struggle to deal with a busy mom-and-pop place that I loved.
“Mas Tacos Por Favor in East Nashville,” I said as we walked into the lobby.
“What you want is what you get,” he said.
I smiled to myself, wondering what he was going to do when he saw that this was a literal hole-in-the-wall and not a nice restaurant.
We entered the parking garage and he unlocked an Audi that was worth more than all of my previous cars combined.
“Nice car,” I remarked. I got in carefully and told myself to brush off after eating. I would never live it down if I ruined something so pretty. “How many souls did you steal to get it?”
“None. I bought it like other people do. With money.”
“Ah, yes. The thing we must have in order to live. How could I forget?” I looked out the window as he pulled into traffic, biting at my lip. It was easy to let my anger get the best of me, but I needed this job, no matter how much I was going to hate it. Sebastian was my only connection who worked full-time, unless I begged my favorite coffee shop for a barista gig.
It didn’t take long to get to the eastern side of Nashville. Since it was the middle of a workday, the restaurant was somewhat slower than I was used to seeing, which meant it was easy to park on one of the nearby roads.
Levi found a spot a block away and parallel parked with ease.
He was hot and could drive? It was unfair.
I thought he was done surprising me, but then he got out of the car and walked around to my side. His hand landed on the door handle and opened it for me.
“Uh, what?”
“Can I not be a gentleman?”
“You can, but ...” I trailed off. I had no idea what to do in the face of Levi being nice to me. It sent a warm feeling into my chest for all of one moment before the memories of why he was being nice hit me again.
I didn’t need to let my guard down like I had nine years ago. That much was for sure.
I had no idea where their little rivalry was these days, but Levi had pulled ahead with his company. If Calvin still cared, and I knew he probably did, then he would be trying to catch up as the new CEO. They weren’t in the exact same field, considering Levi worked in mental health and Calvin in hospital care, but it was under the same umbrella.
And that meant Levi would come for me again. He had the perfect opportunity to, considering I also needed something.
He’s not being nice to you for you. It’s who your brother is.
My little mantra made it easier for me to look him in the eye while I got out of the car.
A silence settled over us as we walked to the restaurant.
“So, what do you think about the place I picked?” I asked as we walked inside.
“It’s one of my favorite restaurants.”
“Seriously?”
“Dispel your assumptions, Amy. It’ll make this easier.”
I blinked in shock, but his answering smile told me he enjoyed my surprise. I immediately wiped it off my face.
“Thanks,” I said. “But you’re not allowed to say anything else to me until there’s an order in for at least three tacos.”
“Understood.” He gestured for me to go ahead, and I ordered everything I wanted. If he invited me out, he was footing the bill. After ordering the tacos and an elote, he paid, and I looked forward to eating my favorite foods without the guilt of spending money raining down on me.
Hopefully, by the end of this, I’d have a job, and I wouldn’t have to worry about my financial situation anymore.
We found a small table near the window and sat. Mas Tacos was the cozy kind of place where there wasn’t space between a person and their guest. If their food wasn’t so good, then I would have chosen somewhere else.
“Can I speak to you now?” he asked.
“It depends on what you have to say.”
I should have said not to talk to me until we got our food. I wasn’t fully in business mode, and I didn’t know how to turn on the side of me that could get this job. I’d already misstepped way too many times while talking to Levi. I didn’t need to do it again. If Mom and Dad were here, they would tell me this was exactly why I was fired.
“How did you find this place?” he asked.
“I used to come here during high school with my gram.”
“What was she like?”
My heart panged. “Isn’t this a little personal for an interview?”
“This isn’t an interview. This is lunch.”
“You’re my potential new boss. Of course this is an interview.”
His mouth formed a slanted smile. “How about we make an agreement. Everything said at this table is off-the-record. Deal?”
“Is this one of those interview manipulation tactics where you try to catch me off guard and then see what kind of person I truly am?”
“No.”
Did I believe him? Probably not.
But whatever filter I did have was hanging by a thread, and his welcome dismissal of it was easy to accept.
“Fine, but I’m hunting you down if I don’t get a job.”
“I assure you, I have nothing to do with the job hiring process. Except where I asked for your interview to be rescheduled.”
“You better not be lying.”
“I promise I’m not.”
I eyed him up and down, taking in all the ways he’d changed over the years. He had thick-rimmed glasses now, which only brought out how bright his eyes were. That, coupled with his dark hair, made him even more unfairly attractive.
“Since when did you decide to go for the Clark Kent look?”
He blinked. “What?”
“You’re now hot in a nerdy way. You used to just be hot.”
His eyebrows rose and I could have sworn I saw his neck turn red in the dim lighting. “You took ‘off-the-record’ seriously.”
“I absolutely did.”
“I sometimes wear contacts, but they get uncomfortable, especially since I spend a lot of my day looking at a screen.”
“Well, it works for you.”
“Am I allowed to be as unhinged as you, or is this just a one-way thing?”
I narrowed my eyes. “Say what you want, but you’re on thin ice.”
“Your curls are stunning these days. They were always alluring before, but now ...” He cleared his throat. “Now they’re perfect.”
A warm feeling spread through my body, concentrated in my cheeks. That was way nicer than I expected. “I eventually figured out how to take care of them. I just have to spend hours on it after I shower.”
And I’d gone all out for today. For good reason, apparently.
“It’s working for you.”
“It takes dedication ... which coincidentally, makes me a great employee.” Internally, I cringed at how thick I was laying this on. But hey, I was desperate.
“Any discussions about work are off the table.”
“Then I’m a great employee off the table too. And on it. You could put me on whatever table you want.”
Another eyebrow raised. “Did you mean for that to sound sexual?”
“No. Did it?”
“A little.”
“Okay, no more table talk. Or bed talk. Or sex talk.”
He laughed, and I wasn’t sure if it was at me or with me. “I thought you already had that rule.”
“Sometimes I forget them.”
I waited for his subtle jab that those kinds of things did not make me a good employee. Thankfully, that never came.
“How have you been, Amy?” he asked, folding his hands on the table.
My immediate answer would have been not great. My life was on the brink of falling apart in a way it never had before. I lost a lot of time curled in bed with debilitating pain, which was going to get worse now that my health insurance was going away, and my doctor wouldn’t refill my needed prescriptions without an appointment.
But even I knew that when people asked how I had been, they wanted a palatable answer.
“Good,” I replied. “I’d ask how you’ve been, but—” I gestured to his nice clothes and badge for his own company. “—I’d say you have it all figured out.”
“There are a few things I haven’t figured out,” he replied. “But thank you for the vote of confidence.”
“You definitely need it, I’m guessing.”
He laughed again. “Sometimes more than others. Now let’s get back to you. Good was the most basic answer you can give.”
“I don’t think you want the real one.”
“Try me.”
The food arrived, giving me blessed seconds to decide if I wanted to open this can of worms. Levi seemed so innocent across from me that it would be easy to open up again, just like it had been the first time.
Fuck it, I decided. It wasn’t like there was anything else for me to lose.
“My brother fired me recently from the family company. He might have had some valid reasons, but now I’m at risk of losing my house, and I’m honestly anxious about it.”
Levi had lifted one of the tacos and paused as I spoke. “Does your family usually do those kinds of things to each other?”
“Kinda. It started when I got the house in the first place. Technically, I stole it from him, but Calvin has everything , and I don’t know why Gram left it to him in her will.” I blew out a frustrated breath. I’d never know now that she was gone. “Anyway, I don’t want to lose the one thing I have of Gram, so I need a job. And technically, anything will pay me more than my last job did.”
“How much were you paid?” he asked. When I told him, his jaw dropped. “That’s criminally low.”
I shrugged. “My degree wasn’t in a useful field. Apparently, the English language is dead.”
“There are many people on my staff who have an English degree and make more than that.”
“Yeah, but it was easier to take the shit salary and do nothing all day.” My eyes widened as I realized what I said. “Not that I would do that at your company, I mean.”
“This lunch is still off-the-record.”
“And I’m still going to shoot my shot. Calvin treats every day like a business opportunity. Maybe I should ... be more like him.” I couldn’t help the grimace that escaped me at the thought of being more like my twin.
“You wear every emotion on your face.”
“Shut up,” I said, taking a bite of my avocado taco. I was distracted momentarily by the incredible flavor on my tongue. God, could I be a professional food taster and earn a living? Could I do anything else but be trapped in an office forever?
“Most people have that same reaction when eating here,” he said.
“I find that good food makes me forget my problems, even if only for a second.”
“Would you have problems if you got a job here?”
“I should say no, right?”
“You should say whatever you want.”
Another bite of taco gave me the bravery to say the truth. “Honestly? I hate working. It’s not for me. I’d rather be in the garden or reading all day, like a housewife with a super-hot husband. But considering my dating history is as abysmal as my bank account, I don’t see that happening anytime soon, so here I am.”
His chewing stilled again. “That’s what you truly want?”
“You asked for honesty, and you don’t get to judge me.”
He shook his head. “I’m not judging you. I’m only thinking.”
“About what?”
“About how to give you exactly what you want.”
“There’s no job in your office that’s like that, and it’s okay. I’m fine doing what I need to.”
“I wasn’t talking about a job ,” he said. “I had something very different in mind.”
“And what’s that?”
He put down his food and brushed off his hands—a casual move that didn’t match the shocking words he said next.
“Marry me, Amy. And I can make all of your problems go away.”