Brazen Bossman: A Hero Club Novel, стр. 53

“It’s okay,” I simply say, staring at my phone, adding onions to the list.

“Hey.” He uses his hand on my jaw to turn my gaze to him. “I know that look. What’s the matter?”

Lay it all out, Piper. That’s what this weekend is for.

“Who is Gabrielle? I see her at the office a lot, obviously, and she seems pretty important in your life.”

He winds his hands around my waist, lifts me to sit on the kitchen island then makes a home standing between my knees.

“Gabrielle has been my best friend since we were little shits playing in the sandbox. She is also my business partner. We are 50-50 owners and co-CEOs of NCL Properties. She called because she needed to fill me in on some property we are looking to buy.”

Now I feel stupid. I drop my forehead onto his shoulder.

“That actually makes a lot of sense. Jesus, what a jealous lunatic I must seem like,” I giggle.

“Actually, I never thought that about you at all. We were having a pretty intimate moment, and I stopped it to answer a phone call. I would have been shocked if you didn’t question who I was talking to.” He slides his hand up and down my spine.

“Tell me more about what you do. I think I have an idea, but I want you to tell me.” I rise up from my spot on his shoulder so I can see his face.

“Well, my passion is architecture. I love seeing an empty lot and imagining what I can help put there.”

“But you also buy real estate, right?”

“Yes. If there is a property we are interested in, we make our offer, purchase it outright, knock down existing structures, or remodel, develop them up, and sell to the city, or private buyers.”

“No wonder you don’t enjoy working at Lennox.” I place my hands on his strong shoulders, softly massaging the knots.

“It’s not that I don’t enjoy it, because there are definite perks.” He turns his head to the right and gives my forearm a nibble. “But it’s just not where I want to be. Does that make sense?”

“Complete sense. It’s not like I aspired to be an assistant when I was a little girl.”

“What did you want to be when you grew up?”

I can’t stop the smile on my lips. “A gardener,” I giggle. “I was obsessed with flowers and plants when I was little. Obviously, they aren’t exactly in abundance in the city, so my dad had built me a little rooftop garden. I would grow herbs for my mom to cook with.”

“And what about college graduate Piper? What did she want to be?”

His hands haven’t stopped exploring my body the entire time we’ve been talking. It’s not sexual. It’s comfortable.

“Grown-up Piper wanted to work in publishing, which is how I ended up applying to Lennox in the first place. I love books and discovering new authors. Obviously my parents had hoped I’d take over the restaurant one day, but that’s clearly not an issue anymore.” I look down, but he lowers his head so he can still see my face. “And even if it was an issue, my brother’s really enjoy the work and are passionate about it, so they’d take it, I’m sure.”

“Your passion for the industry is clear every single day at the office, Piper.”

“It won’t matter if I’m out of a job soon.” I feel his body tense at my comment, so I slide my hands to cup his face in my hands. “No more work talk. Not now. Not while we are here.”

“Thank fuck,” he says, and we both laugh.

It’s too easy to fall back into the same routine, like bickering about work, but that’s not why we are here, and we shouldn’t let it in.

“I’ve made a small grocery list of things we’ll need for me to cook some meals while we stay here.” I flip my phone around and let him see the menu I came up with.

“Sweet Christ, I’m going to leave this place fifteen pounds heavier than when I arrived.”

“Nah, we’ll find a way to work it off,” I tease.

“Oh, will we?” He leans forward, aiming to kiss me.

“Of course. Yoga, Pilates, hell, maybe even a jog on the beach or two. HEY!” I screech when he lifts me up and tosses me over his shoulder like a caveman.

“Leave your phone on the counter. Wouldn’t want to ruin it.”

“What? What do you mean?” I hand him my phone so he can discard it. “Put me down.” I swat at his ass, but yelp when he gives me a return smack of the ass.

“Nope.” He pops the P like a little boy who is very proud of himself.

“Where are you taking me?” I ask, when he walks out the back door.

“You’re a bit of a tease, Ms. Kingston. Are you aware of that?”

I try to look around, but it’s hard to tell exactly where he’s going from my upside down angle, but I don’t have much time to contemplate or even ask any more questions before I’m launched into the air.

I screech out some version of his name right before my body lands in the cool waters of the swimming pool.

I emerge from the water, coughing and sputtering because I’m pretty sure I inhaled ten liters worth of chlorine.

“You asshole!!” I scream, pretending to be way more angry than I actually am. “You’re lucky I can swim!”

I wipe my face and push my now sopping wet braid behind my shoulder, and I can now see him laughing his ass off at the poolside.

“Come on. Don’t be mad. It was a joke,” he says through his laughter.

“Well, I didn’t think it was very funny.” I swim toward him on the side and reach my hand out to him. “Pull me up. I need to go change now that my clothes are ruined.”

“Jesus, Piper, are you really mad? I’m sorry. It was supposed to be funny.”

“What do you