“Holy shit,” Duncan whispered eventually.
Alex looked up to find his older brother John standing over them. Marie and the new girl, Violet, stood alongside him. Two fingers were tucked between Violet’s shiny red lips.
“Wow,” said John, fingers still embedded in his ears.
“Uh, thanks, Vi.” Marie gave the woman a squinty, pained smile. “That’s impressive.”
Violet shrugged and put her hands by her sides, thankfully removing the threat of an immediate repeat of the noise. Her gaze stayed firmly off him and his brother. He couldn’t blame the girl. How bloody embarrassing, watching your bosses beat the shit out of each other on the floor. Damn it.
“Why don’t I just get back to work?” she said.
Yes, he and Duncan must look highly unprofessional.
From where he lay, Alex had an awesome view as she about-turned in her high-high heels and walked toward the door. He’d always made a point of not noticing members of staff, curves or no. Just then, however? Fucking impossible.
Holy shit, the girl had been made stacked in all the right places. The glory of an hourglass figure couldn’t really be underestimated. She didn’t fit his usual choice, but his hands would look perfect wrapped around her waist. And those spectacular tits would overflow his fingers for sure. Not that he would ever go there because she was staff. They had rules, standards, but damned if he could look away. A neat ponytail of shiny, improbably colored red hair slid across her back, and she stopped dead in place. As if she could read his mind and was giving him just a little longer to stare at her ass, bless her, but no.
“You did a flow chart of women’s breast sizes?” she asked. Because she’d stopped to stare at the whiteboard hanging on the wall, hadn’t she?
Oh, holy fucking shit.
Alex closed his eyes as his world crashed around him.
The board was covered in Duncan’s scribble, but still perfectly, horribly legible. The woman cocked her head and stepped closer. Of course she did. Alex could just feel the lawsuit creeping up on him like a sucker punch waiting to happen. All those years of hard work, undone in one stupid moment. He couldn’t bear to watch.
“Please don’t look at that,” he said softly.
“And a bar graph too,” she noted.
“Please. Violet…” What could he possibly say? He braved opening his eyes. Damn it, she was still looking.
“Huh,” she said. “That’s really detailed.”
“What?” Marie turned, taking in all of it, no doubt. “You idiots.”
Their restaurant manager of ten years gave them a sweeping, scalding glance. Marie had been with them so long, she’d become a part of the family, a sister almost. Well, to him and Duncan. How John felt about her, who knew? John often had all the emotional responses of a rock.
Marie swept out without further word. Violet, sadly, stayed in place, staring at all the damning evidence. “Well, at least my name’s not on there.”
“It’s kind of a funny story.” Duncan rolled to his feet, one hand covering his burgeoning black eye. “A-actually.”
“Don’t,” Alex warned, climbing back into the upright position a little more slowly. He hurt in more ways than one. His whole world had filled with pain. No hangover could compare.
“Fix this,” his brother John ground out, then left.
Duncan wandered out after him. “I’m gonna go get some ice.”
“Yeah, you do that,” Alex muttered, wandering over to stand beside the stunned woman. What the hell must she think? He cleared his throat and gathered his excuses. They didn’t come easy. “I’m so sorry about all this, Violet. You should never have been exposed to such unprofessional behavior, let alone this.”
He waved a hand at the whiteboard. Fuck. It got worse every time he saw it, especially considering how it must seem from her perspective. The jazzy little doodle of lacy lingerie Duncan had done in the corner just compounded the issue. His brother had quite the artistic streak. “Umm, listen, you’re new here so you don’t know us very well yet. But we would never—”
“It’s fine.” Green eyes stared back at him, wide and unblinking. She had the strangest expression on her face. He couldn’t read her at all. In her high heels they stood almost eye to eye, but it didn’t help one iota. It felt as if she looked right through him. “Really, Alex.”
“It is?” he asked.
“Yep.” Her smile had sharp edges. “Boys will be boys. Let’s pretend this never happened.”
“But—”
“I really should get to work. You should probably mop up your face. Your lip’s bleeding a little there, in the corner.” The woman started backing away as though she couldn’t get out of there fast enough. As if he were poison. “And we’ll just forget this ever happened. Okay? Great.”
“Great?”
“Great,” she confirmed with that uneasy smile. Then she left. Warp speed couldn’t compare.
For minutes he watched the doorway, waiting. Nothing happened. He was too stunned to be relieved. That and he hurt. His knuckles ached and his lip, as told, was indeed bleeding from one corner. But the major catastrophe had been diverted, somehow. Everything had turned out fine. Huh.
Excellent. Great.
Alex put his hands on his hips and took a deep breath, first one and then another, searching for some calm. Yep, a nice, big inhalation, straight through his nose…
It sent the faint floral scent rushing through him. Pouring in and filling every atom of his being, better than any drug.
His head shot up. “Fuck me.”
*
Violet limped to the staff room at the end of her shift, more Band-Aids than she’d ever imagined possible adhered to her feet. Damn those sexy, confidence-enhancing shoes. Kill them in a fire. Being sacked would have been preferable to spending ten hours standing up in them. Never, ever again.