“I’m here to see Lucy.” He forced himself to remain civil even if it wasn’t this guy’s business who the hell he was. Still…he was glad Lucy had neighbors who cared enough to look out for her.
The man crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against the railing of the front porch. “Don’t think she’s home.”
Before he could respond, Abram heard the click of the lock opening. Lucy jerked the door open, her expression unreadable as she watched him. She stepped out onto the porch and smiled at her neighbor. Some irrational part of Abram was jealous that the guy got to see her smile. He wanted all of that sweetness reserved for him, not some dick.
“Hey Leo, everything’s good over here. This is just a friend. I asked him to stop by to help me with my…computer.”
“You sure?” The neighbor’s gaze flicked to Abram, clearly not trusting him.
“Yeah, I promise. Tell Maria I’ll be bringing over that dish she left a little later this evening.”
The man nodded, still not moving from his sentry position.
Lucy grabbed Abram’s upper arm and practically dragged him inside, shutting and locking the door behind him. “What are you doing here?” She dropped her arm and placed both hands on her hips as she glared up at him.
“You’re not sick.” He swept his gaze over her, surprised to see her looking so casual, though he knew he shouldn’t be. She was at home, not work or a function. She had on skimpy beach shorts that showed a whole lot of skin, a tank top and the straps of a blue and white bikini tied behind her neck. She’d once told him that she had a small pool in her backyard so he guessed she’d been using it.
She crossed her arms over her chest. “So what? I needed a sick day, so I took it. And you showing up here to check on me is completely inappropriate.”
“As inappropriate as me eating your pussy at work?”
Her cheeks went bright pink. She opened her mouth but nothing came out as she stared up at him. Everything about her was adorable, right down to her painted cherry red toenails.
He was glad she wasn’t talking because there were some things he needed to say and if he didn’t get them out all at once he wasn’t sure he ever would. “We’re hiring someone new as soon as possible to be my assistant. You’ll work directly under Viktor when that happens. I don’t want there to be an imbalance of power between us and I can see how it could happen if I’m your boss—though to be fair, you boss me around a lot.”
She let out a shaky laugh and he could see some of the tension leaving her shoulders. That had to be a good thing so he barreled on.
“I want to be with you. I want…you to be my girlfriend.” Even saying that out loud was too strange. “Which is a dumb, fucking word. But I want to start something real with you and I know that can’t happen unless there’s a division between us at work.” When she watched him with those big dark eyes, not saying anything, he started to panic. “Say something,” he demanded—okay, snarled.
Instead of being taken off guard, like any one of his employees would have been, she rolled her eyes. “Jeez, Abram. You’ve just shown up and dropped a lot on me. Can we sit down and talk?” She motioned to the attached living room.
He didn’t want to fucking talk, but he did as she asked. When she sat on the long, white tufted couch he sat next to her, crowding her personal space. He’d been going crazy all day without seeing her, wondering if she was going to quit because of what happened between them.
Thankfully she didn’t seem to mind how close he was to her.
“I’m sorry I called in today. I felt really awkward about…what we did.” Her cheeks flushed again and he had to restrain himself from reaching out and touching her. “I know it was pretty weak, but I called in sick so I could think.”
“What’s there to think about?” He’d just laid himself on the line, made himself completely vulnerable. The very idea of doing that for anyone else made his skin crawl. Not that doing it for her was much easier. If she shot him down… He swallowed hard. He hadn’t thought that far ahead.
She clasped her hands together in her lap, her back ramrod straight. Even in her beach clothes she looked every inch the princess. “Well…us. I mean, you’re my boss and—”
“I won’t be your boss soon. And I’ve had HR and legal draw up papers so that no matter what happens between us, your job will never be affected. You will always have job security, no matter what.” He didn’t tell her that he wasn’t letting her go, that he planned on convincing her to take a chance on forever with him. Even he knew it was too soon to say that out loud.
Her pretty lips parted, her expression softening. “You did all that?”