“Kind of like you, Nell,” Sage said, gently prodding me with her elbow. “They really are a match made in heaven.”
“You’re both getting way ahead of yourselves.” I rolled my eyes.
“I know my cousin, and I can tell he’s very interested in you.” Tabitha smiled gently.
Chapter Fourteen
Noah
* * *
Keeping my distance from Nellie was a lot more challenging than I anticipated. Of course, I wasn’t expecting it to be easy by any means. With her being an employee of ours, I knew I’d see her at lunch and several times throughout the day. But I wasn’t counting on how much I gravitated to her, and how hard I’d have to fight myself to keep that distance.
Nellie had picked up on all the roles and tasks of her job with an ease that didn’t surprise me, but did disappoint me a little. It was like I’d been secretly hoping she’d struggle, and I’d have to be near her to help. But after the first few weeks, she didn’t need much guidance at all.
It was for the best, though. It was challenging being close to her. Every time I smelled her shampoo, rational thought seemed to vacate the premises, and I was inundated with inappropriate urges to reach out and touch her.
I was trying so hard to remain professional and not think about how badly I’d wanted to kiss her at the New Year’s party three weeks ago, when she called me boss and all but ran out on me.
After that night, I made sure to avoid her as much as possible without coming across as rude. I pushed my lunch until later, citing all the maintenance work as my reason for it. Damien and Easton could see right through that, but I didn’t care. It was more for my sake. I could feel my resolve weakening.
At the end of the day on Tuesday, my resolve was gone, and I found myself walking into the main office to give her a paycheck.
Cheques were dated biweekly on Wednesdays, and while most of our employees opted for direct deposit, I still hadn’t received Nellie’s banking information.
I could have left her paycheque in an envelope and pinned it to her timesheet, like I did with pay stubs for everyone else, but I couldn’t resist the pull of seeing her again, especially after spending the last day doing payroll in my office downstairs.
Plus…I was getting tired of keeping my distance.
“Oh, there you are! I was afraid I was going to have to come hunt you down before I left.” She let out a nervous laugh.
“Everything okay?” I asked, pausing by the counter.
“Yeah, everything’s fine,” she took a breath, as if bracing herself. Her brown eyes skirting away from me, then she quickly pulled them back. “I have a follow-up appointment on Friday, and I was wondering if I could head out early that day. I could come in Saturday morning to make up for it.”
“Of course, you can. There’s no need to come in on the Saturday,” I said, studying the subtle cues of her discomfort and anxiety. I wondered if these appointments had anything to do with the family emergency her old boss had asked about. “In the future, if you have to schedule any more appointments, Fridays are usually our busiest day for weekend check-ins, so the beginning of the week would be better.”
“Okay, that’s totally fair,” Nellie nodded, biting her lower lip. “I’ll make sure anything I schedule from here on out won’t be on a Friday.”
I smiled softly at her, hoping to ease her discomfort. “Here’s your paycheque.” I said, passing her the envelope. “Don’t forget to grab me a void cheque from the bank, so we can get you set up with direct deposit.”
“Right, thanks,” she took it, our fingertips briefly touching until she pulled her hand back.
I could leave. I’d done what I set out to do. But I found myself lingering, wanting to bask in her company a little longer.
“Any exciting plans this weekend?” I asked, leaning on the counter, and shooting her a flirtatious smile.
“Not really. I need to get caught up on laundry and do some grocery shopping.” She shrugged, her expression anticipative. “I might do a girls’ night with Sage.”
“Sounds like my weekend. Aside from brews with the boys Friday night, I’ll be doing all the mundane errands I’ve put off the last few months.”
“Fun, fun,” Nellie said.
“Maybe I’ll see you at the grocery store again,” I teased, referring to the last time we ran into each other there when she was new in town, and I had foolishly not recognized her.
“Yeah, maybe. It is a small town,” she smirked.
Before I could think of a witty retort, the phone rang, and Nellie set to answering it and booking another reservation for April.
