Lottie looked up at him and blinked several times when he got blurry because of the tears filling her eyes. She wiped both hands over her face in an effort to keep them from falling.
“I can’t go with you tonight. And I can’t see you this week. Not until next Sunday.”
She kept her voice soft though there was no one around to overhear their conversation.
“What’s going on, Lottie-love?”
Lottie shifted her gaze to his chin and then farther down to the center of his chest. “I can’t see you until next Sunday. It’shard to explain, but I can’t see you, text you, or call you. Not until Sunday. But please, don’t forget me or give up on me. Because I think I’m falling in love with you.”
Before he could respond, Lottie turned and ran. She shoved her way out of the building and did not stop until she climbed into the back seat of the SUV. Only then did she give in to the sadness and cry.
Though he had not heard what Lottie and her sisters had discussed, it was apparent that the three sisters agreed to all take a break from the men they’d met during the convention. He only wished he’d had a chance to give Lottie a long, strong, Daddy hug to get them both through the next week.
But she’d run too quickly, and he wasn’t sure following her out to the parking lot was the right thing to do.
At least this would give him a week to take care of a few things so when they were allowed to once again be together, he would be prepared to be her Daddy.
He left the building just in time to see the Smith sisters’ SUV leaving the parking lot. “I’ll see you in a week, my sweet Lottie-love,” he murmured.
Walking to his car, he decided it was time to stop floating and get serious about settling down and becoming the Daddy his Little girl needed.
Chapter Twelve
Lottie dragged herself into work Wednesday morning, wishing she could be anywhere but at the office. After two nights of sleeping curled up next to Travis, she’d not been able to sleep the past three nights. Her Little wanted to find Travis and take a nap with him. The rest of her wanted to find Travis and do more than just take a nap with him.
Too bad she needed to work another six months before she could quit and make her candy store a reality.
Stepping into her cubicle, she sighed when she found a tall stack of files in the center of her desk. Mr. Hagerty had struck once again.
Putting away her purse and lunch bag, she settled on her chair with another sigh. Frowning at the stack, she wondered for a moment what would happen if she just didn’t do his work. He’d threatened her job before, but she knew he had to have a good reason for HR to back him up. Her not doing his work to cover his ass wouldn’t fly, and might even cost him his job.
Maybe she should go to HR and complain about him.
Pushing the stack of files to the side of her desk so she wouldn’t have to look at them, Lottie turned on her computerand prepared for the day. She had her own accounts to deal with and refused to put Hagerty’s work ahead of her own.
In the middle of the morning, the intercom on her desk phone crackled to life. “Look sharp everyone, the new bosses are walking around the building.”
A few minutes later, she watched three men dressed in suits enter the bullpen where all the junior accountants’ cubicles were located. She smiled when she recognized them, even though she had only formally met the tall silver fox who followed the other two. She stared at Travis long enough that he must have felt it and looked her way. Her face grew warm when he winked and grinned at her.
Before she could decide whether to turn back to her computer or go say hello to her Daddy, a pudgy body stepped between them, blocking her view.
“Have you finished those files I left on your desk last night?”
“No.”
Taking a deep breath to keep from yelling at the man to get the fuck out of her way, she released it slowly before turning back to her computer. While she still needed this job for a few more months, she was tired of being Hagerty’s whipping post.
“No? What do you mean,no? I needed those files updated this morning. What have you been doing?” His tone was somewhere between anger and panic, but Lottie was past caring.
She had decided earlier to visit HR during her lunch break, but now it appeared she would be seeing them before then. In fact, she would be heading there as soon as Hagerty left her alone.
Standing up so her supervisor wasn’t towering over her, Lottie planted her hands on her hips and took a deep breath. “No, I did not touch those files, except to push them to the side of my desk. Since they are not on my assigned client list, and there was no note of explanation as to what needed to be done withthem, or how soon they needed to be finished, I decided they could wait until I finished my assigned work.”
Chuckles and clapping began in some of the other cubicles and someone said, “You go, girl,” just loud enough for her to hear. Someone else said, “It’s about time.”
At her coworkers’ response, Lottie felt her shoulders shift back and she was able to breathe. Then she watched as Travis and his two friends moved closer.
“Problem?” one of the new owners asked as he moved closer.
