Page 13 of One Bossy Date
6
ANDERS
The meeting had taken up almost three hours of my day, and I suspected it could’ve gone more efficiently. This was what memos and emails were for—to pass on information without wasting time. However, I realized that the managing directors liked to get the CEO’s “okay” for most decisions, so I had to grant them that at the very least.
During my years in this business, I’d learned a few things, not only through the business and construction dealings, but through working with different people. I didn’t like wasting time—it just wasn’t in my nature. Long meetings were naturally tiresome to me and only added to my stress. I preferred to work with people who wanted to get the job done, and done well, without dillydallying all day.
Before returning to my office, I decided to pop into the café for a quick sandwich. It was mostly empty, save for a few employees sitting and reading reports with their coffee or chatting quietly with colleagues. Chicken salad sandwich in hand, I was headed for the door when a flash of yellow caught my eye. Immediately stopping, I looked to my left. Under one of the tables lay a yellow hair clip. I reached down to pick it up and pinched it between my fingers.
Hmm. What was with all the yellow suddenly? It was seriously distracting, and I had to shake it off. I left the clip on the counter for someone else to find and headed to my office.
“Yo!” A loud, familiar voice pulled me from my thoughts.
Outside my office door, leaning against the glazed wall, stood Dax. He looked just like a younger, carefree version of me, with dark-brown hair and a tall build, but instead of brown eyes, he had green.
“Where the hell have you been?” he pressed. “I’ve been waiting here for like, what, ten whole minutes. Right, Caroline?”
My gaze slid to Caroline, who was sitting at her desk a few feet away, and noticed the tug of a smile at the corners of her mouth. She gave a slight shrug, seemingly lost for words, but she returned her attention to my brother, giving him a look that was kind of a mixture between “It didn’t seem that long to me, darling” and “You can wait here by my sideallday.” Dax had a way with women, even when he wasn’t actually trying.
Ignoring his taunts, I glanced at him with a stony expression before opening my office door. “Brother. To what do I owe this immense pleasure?”
He followed me in, closed the door, and took a seat, slowly. After stiffly sliding down in the chair and crossing one leg over the other, he met my gaze. “Please, don’t become overjoyed on my account.”
“Brother, you good?” I asked. His unagile movements seemed off somehow. “Did you just run a marathon?”
“Yeah, nah, don’t worry about it. Mom’s already on my ass about everything I do. I’m just here to see if you’re surviving.”
“Tell me about it,” I murmured, able to relate but uneager to explain. “Did you feed the boys for me this morning?” I left home at six a.m. every morning and got home pretty much twelve hours later. A dog sitter had to go in around ten a.m. every day to feed and walk them. I didn’t want them to go crazy cooped up in the apartment for that long. Dax adored Ares and Hades, so he was only too happy to help out while Caroline arranged a new sitter.
“Yep. Spent a solid hour in the hot tub.”
“Thanks, brother. They didn’t jump in with you, did they?”
His eyes widened. “They fucking did! What’s up with that? There was watereverywhere.”
I chuckled. “They worry you’ll drown, so they try to save you. But thanks, anyway. I’m sure they had a ball.”
“They really did, the idiots. But I never mind cleaning up after them when they look so happy.”
“Worked out well with you not having a job right now,” I said, knowing I was treading dangerously now.
Dax’s job situation had always been a sensitive topic, merely because he’d never stuck to one. There was always a new infatuation that he had to explore, running toward it like a leprechaun searching for gold. For the past six months, he’d been working as a guide for a river rafting company.
“Yeah.” His face turned sour. “It’s not my fucking fault that I got fired. The boss’s daughter wouldn’t leave me alone. When I politely asked her to please move along, she got offended and bad-mouthed me to Daddy.”
“She wasn’t your type?”
“Shedefinitelywas.Fantasticlegs—you know that’s my kryptonite—but I’m not messing with a chick I work with…especially not my boss’s daughter. I actually didn’t want to mess this up, but clearly, with a girl like her, you won’t win either way.”
I was impressed. Workplace romance was not a concept I approved of. “Sounds like you did the right thing, Dax. Kept it in your pants and avoided a troublesome chick.”
“A troublesome chick? Crazy pussy is what she was. Except I got in trouble, anyway.” His shoulder lifted as he ran a hand through his hair. “What can I say? When it comes to the female species…there’s no fucking rulebook.” It seemed a thought appeared behind his eyes, creasing his brow. “Say, how long has it been since you’ve had a chick in your bed, Anders?”
Frowning, I asked, “How’s that relevant?”
“Because I’m your brother, and I’m curious. No—I’m concerned—about your…well-being.” Grinning sneakily, he waited for an answer.
“My ‘well-being’ is perfectly fine, thanks.” I didn’t see my love life as a problem, but truth was, it had been a while. “I don’t date just anyone off the street.”