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Carter
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I sit in my house, watching the NBA finals and drinking a Silver beer, but I’m too distracted to pay attention past an exciting turnover or a three-point basket. I glance at the clock: 6:32 p.m. I turn my cell phone around in my hand, debating on making the call.
Yes, of course, I’m going to hire Taryn.
Yes, I’m going to make her wait a few days.
But I want to talk to her now. I can’t get her out of my head. She looked the same, but different. First off, her tits were bigger—much bigger. She’d only been twenty-one when I saw her last. That’s not true, I saw her when I’d stalked her mom’s funeral but she’d been in a long, heavy wool peacoat. I couldn’t see anything about her body and frankly, it hadn’t been what I was looking at anyway. I was too damn sad to think about sex or her body. I was aching inside to go to her, to comfort her. But I hadn’t.
She didn’t look like she’d put on weight in all these years, just her boobs. I was dying to see what they looked like. I had to force myself to keep my eyes on her face the entire interview. Lisa was watching. She knew what a perv I could be. I’d gotten involved with my last secretary, Amie, and that hadn’t ended well. I was ten thousand dollars poorer after paying her off to not file a sexual harassment suit against me after we “broke up.” The relationship had been completely consensual, and we shared some damn hot nights together, but when she decided to move on and date someone else, I told her it was probably in her best interest to find another job, too. She accused me of firing her for not wanting to sleep with me (anymore), and I told her she was being ridiculous. Regardless, a few people in the office had sort of caught on to our relationship and Amie had threatened to go public if I didn’t give her a very large “severance” package.
Since then, Lisa is always very cautious about who I interview and hire. I knew once she saw Taryn, her radar would go off. So I insisted she be in on the interview herself, not send her HR assistant.
If I hire Taryn—she is more than qualified—it will be a very slippery slope. There’s no way they can know we have a past, that we’d slept together, and that I’ve known her since we were kids. It has to stay platonic.
Still, the look she’d given me when I told her it was nice meeting her was unmistakable. The incredulousness in her eyes flashed quickly before she put her professional mask back in place. I feel like I should explain.
Maybe leave out the part about Amie.
I find her contact in my phone. My finger hovers over the green icon, and I hit it before I lose my nerve.
“Hello?” she answers.
“Hi. It’s Carter.”
A pause.
“Oh, hi. How are you?”
She’s being professional. She really wants this job.
“Are you busy?” I ask.
“No, just cleaning the kitchen. I lead an exciting life, you know.”
I chuckle. “Sounds like it. Do you wanna meet for drinks?”
Another long, uncomfortable pause.
“Does me getting the job hinge on me having drinks with you?”
I shake my head. Always so fucking sassy. I love it.
“Absolutely not. We obviously didn’t get to catch up today and I wanted to explain some things.”
“Okay. We can do that. Where should I meet you?”
I was going to pretend I didn’t know where she lives, but I saw on her résumé that it’s the same condo she’s always had, so I choose a place near there. “How about Silver Park Brewery? Do you know the place?”
“Sure do.”
“See you at eight?” I suggest.
“Yep. See you then.” She ends the call.
Why am I nervous?
After getting ready, in my jeans and a black Denver Nuggets tee, I hop in my Bugatti and drive slowly to Silver Park. After parking, I wander inside and take a seat, getting here early to find a private-ish table.
A young server named Maria takes my order for a beer and water. After she walks off, my breath catches as the front door opens and Taryn walks in. She’s in some kind of red one-piece jumpsuit with spaghetti straps and some shiny flat sandals. Her light brown hair is down in soft waves over her bare shoulders. It had been up in a neat bun for the interview and it was definitely longer than the last time I’d seen her.
I wave her over, and she smiles as she sits down.
“Hi,” I say.
“Hi, yourself.” She sets her purse down and pierces me with those unique amber-colored eyes.
“How was your day?” I ask lamely.
She delivers a sexy smirk that surprises me. “Well, I had a job interview. I think it went well.”
“Oh, do you? How do you know?”
She lifts a shoulder and lets it fall. “The owner of the company couldn’t get his mind off me and invited me out for drinks.”
Bold, this one. Still full of sass. And she’s flirting for sure.
“Is that so? Maybe he wanted to talk business with you, and you’re just reading into it.”
“Well, I’m not talking about business until I get the job, so...”
I chuckle. “Of course you have the job. I was gonna wait a few days, you know. Make you sweat a little. So I guess this is me unplanned but formally offering you the job.”
Her eyes widen and a beautiful smile lights up her face. “Really?”
I chuckle. “Of course. You’re more than qualified and I know I can trust you.”
She claps her hands together. “Thank you!” She gets up and comes around the table to kiss me on the cheek.
It’s so unexpected, my face immediately heats and I laugh nervously. “Well, thank you for that. But I really called and asked you out here to clear the air.”
Just then, Maria sets my beer and water down, and then looks at Taryn. “Hi! What can I get you? Do you need to see a menu?”
She shakes her head. “No, I’ll just have whatever house red wine you have.”
“You got it. Be right back.”
Maria leaves and I look at Taryn.
“Clear the air about what?” she asks.
“Me pretending we just met. My HR manager is kind of a stickler for nepotism. I thought it best if we just act like we just met.”
She laughs a little and sets her hand on top of her cell phone that she’d placed on the table right after she sat down. “Aren’t you the owner? You can do what you want.”
“There are federal laws... so she says... and it’s just easier this way. I don’t want to be accused of favoritism in the workplace.” I pause, measuring my next words carefully. “And I know you, Taryn. I know you can be professional. You’re smart and a hard worker. Jeff is going to absolutely love you.”
She grins. “I already like Jeff. He seems super sweet and easygoing. Most computer people are weird or high-strung.”
I chuckle. “Not us at Lockwood Tech. The only uptight person is Lisa. But I think that’s part of her job, and I don’t mind.”
“Here you are.” Maria sets her wine in front of her. “Sure you don’t want a food menu? We’ve got BOGO wings right now. Twenty for the price of ten.”
Damn, wings do sound good. I glance at one of the many televisions mounted on the wall and see the game still isn’t over. Nuggets are beating the Lakers by a lot. They’re for sure going to the playoffs.
“Yeah, let’s get some wings,” I say, answering for Taryn.
She smiles. “Wings do sound amazing.”
“What kind?” Maria asks. “We have buffalo, mild, spicy, parmesan...”
“Whatever’s most popular and not super spicy,” Taryn answers.
I can live with that.
Maria winks. “You got it, darlin’.”
I laugh. I’ve been here plenty but the only person I’ve heard call people darlin’ was the old manager who isn’t here anymore. She must have rubbed off on her.
“So when do you want me to start?” Taryn asks me with excitement dancing in her pretty eyes.
I shrug. “Whenever you want. How’s Monday?”
“That would be perfect. I’m still cleaning out my mom’s house. It’s been slow going with no help.” She makes a face I can’t quite decipher. Something between sadness and anger.
“That has to be tough,” I say honestly, feeling bad for her. “Can you hire help?”
I immediately realize my mistake at the suggestion, since she’s just lost her job and probably doesn’t have a lot of money.
She flops a hand. “Nah, I’d rather do it myself. I don’t need some careless junk hauler throwing away something by accident that I’d like to keep. I do plan to hire a junk removal company to get a lot of the stuff, but I’m packing it myself.”
I want to offer to help, but it feels like overstepping. I stare at the sadness in her eyes and feel like an asshole again.
I reach over and grab her hand. She looks up at me, staring at me with those eyes. “Look, Taryn, I’m sorry about your mom. She was like a second mother to me and I was devastated to hear she’d passed. I’m sorry I wasn’t there. I sent a card, I hope you got it.”
She nods but lets me hold her hand. “I did. Thanks.”
“Her death was sudden. Was it an accident?” I cringe internally. This is a heavy topic but my curiosity has been eating at me. I’d just heard she’d died when Eric sent me an email from prison. He didn’t go into specifics and I didn’t ask.
She looks at me a little stunned. “You don’t know?”
I shake my head. “I only found out from Eric. I didn’t want to pry, I just told him I was sorry when he called me after.”
“I...” She pauses. “I hadn’t heard from her in a few days. We usually talk or text daily. I grew concerned when my texts went unanswered. When her calls went straight to voicemail. I left work early and headed to her house. She was on the kitchen floor, and...” Her voice squeaks and tears spring to her eyes.
Dammit. I’m such an asshole.
I immediately leave my chair and go around to wrap her in a hug. “I’m sorry, Taryn. Fuck. I apologize for bringing this up.”
She welcomes my comfort and nods into my chest. “It’s okay. I need to talk about it.”
I pull away and look down at her. “You’re sure? I hate that I made you cry.” I can’t help but touch her. Reaching up, I grip her face and wipe her tears with my thumbs. “I’m so sorry.”
She gently untangles herself and I help her to sit back in her chair. I do the same, then pick up my beer so I have something to hold since I feel like an awkward fuck right now.
“I called 911... it was all a blur after that. I did weak-ass CPR on her... it didn’t help. She’d had a massive heart attack hours before I got there. Sometime in the wee hours of the morning, they said. I hadn’t gotten there until like three in the afternoon. Her eyes were open, and it was just...”
I squeeze her hand. “That’s enough. I get the gist. You don’t need to tell me any more.”
She nods and purses her lips. Then, she reaches up and grabs her wine, downing the whole glass in one sip.
“Well, this turned into something heavy, didn’t it?” I comment, forcing a smile to my lips.
Taryn also forces a smile. “It did, but it’s okay. I haven’t talked about it since... Well, I told Eric and Christa, but that’s it.”
“Is Christa a friend?” I inquire.
She nods. “Yeah, my BFF. Helped me with everything. She’s a paralegal at the law firm I work at. Used to work at.”
“You’re going to be much happier at Lockwood. We’re going to keep you challenged and busy. Updating software and replacing broken keyboards is a thing of the past for you. App development is very exciting.”
She laughs and I’m happy to see a smile that reaches her eyes. “God, you’re more of a nerd than I am. Exciting app development? Seriously?”
We both tumble into laughter right as Maria delivers a steaming pile of wings with a plateful of sauces—and plastic bibs with chickens on them that make me chuckle.
My face hurts from smiling. Same ol’ Taryn, just more mature. And breathtakingly more beautiful. How am I going to remain professional at the office, knowing she is there every day? I want nothing more at this moment—after I devour a few wings, of course—than to take her back to my place and fuck an apology and all the soothing I could into her.