“No, Tyler, we don’t.”
“Oh. Okay.”
His tone is filled with disappointment that stabs me right in the gut. “I like you. You’re great, but I just don’t see this as something long-term. And without that, I don’t think it’s worth the risk of ruining our working relationship.”
“Holly—”
“You’re seriously the best boss, and I don’t want to switch teams. Or report to someone else. If you sucked as a manager, things might be different.”
I hope ending on a joke that’s meant to flatter will help soften the rejection. I really don’t want to hurt him, but I need to make sure we continue to work the way we have been.
The sex in a car with my boss does kind of change the dynamic a bit, but we seem to have worked past that. I hope. Maybe.
“It’s a new take on ‘just friends,’ huh?” Tyler says.
The disappointment only deepens, and I hate this. I shouldn’t have let things escalate as far as they did that night. I never should have gotten a drink from him. Let him toy with me under the table. Or let him inside me in the back of his car.
“Look at it this way,” I say, hoping to salvage something between us that will allow us to continue working together, “you got a rebound out of the way.”
“Excuse me?”
“When you get out of a long relationship, you’re supposed to have a rebound. That person you hook up with but don’t jump into a relationship with. It’s like a palette cleanser for your next relationship.”
A smile spreads across his face. “I suppose so. And our working relationship won’t be weird. I do appreciate all the work you do, and I was kind of dreading losing you as an employee. You make me look good.”
Mona knocks on the door, and Tyler waves her in. She beams, bouncing on the balls of her feet. “Sorry to interrupt, but you gotta get going if you want to meet your Fated Mate, Holly.”
Closing my eyes, I groan. “I hate you so much.”
“You love me,” she chirps. “Hey, Tyler.”
“Zimmerman.”
“Let’s go,” I say with a sigh. “Thanks, Tyler.”
He just nods. “Have fun on your creepy date.”
“What was that about?” Mona asks as we walk into the bar.
It’s barely five-thirty, and it’s already packed. I check my phone, expecting to hear from Ken, but he hasn’t texted me back. For someone who says he wants what women want in a relationship, he sure doesn’t act like it.
“It was—”
“Holly!”
We stop in the entrance of the bar as a large, attractive man jumps towards me. I stare with wide eyes as my back hits the wall beside the door.
“Aldo?” I ask.
He bends down to sniff me—an actual, long whiff—before smiling. Mona’s frozen in shock and absolutely no help to me right now.
“I knew you were mine the moment you walked in. I could smell you.”
Smell me? I subtly sniff myself, and I’m thankful to only get a whiff of the faint scent of deodorant.
“Or you recognized her from the profile picture,” Mona says, finding her voice.
He snarls at her, and I have to admit, he kind of resembles Beast fromBeauty and the Beast.Only creepy because he’s human. “No!”
