So that I could take his hand.
He was just trying to make up for being so ugly to me weeks ago. Maybe he’d gotten tired of having to get his own coffee. Maybe he’d overheard what I had told Mr. Cooper. Hadn’t I already learned that he was capable of feeling guilt?
“Come with me,” he said in that slow, soft voice, fingers still reaching for me.
Hurt tightened my chest, but I stood up anyway. And I took his hand. Maybe I wouldn’t have if I hadn’t just learned that Rip had issues with Mr. Cooper over his beloved mom who had died, over how he had remarried so soon after her death, but I would never know.
But what I did know from experience was what it was like to take a leap and have no one there to catch you. Or at least break your fall. And that was why I took it.
Because who knew when the last time he had reached out to anyone had been?
Gently, he tugged at my hand and led me toward the front door, closing the door behind us the second we were outside. I watched as he took a step forward, his free hand going up to the top of his head and smoothing down the back of it. He still hadn’t let go of my hand.
Crickets chirped in the evening grass on Mr. Cooper’s front lawn. I didn’t need to look around to know we were surrounded by shrubs and flower bushes. I also didn’t need to glance up to know Lucas Ripley was looking down at me when I tried to pull my hand out of his, and his grip tightened instead of loosening.
So I wasn’t surprised when he didn’t hesitate, his voice strong and sure, as this man said, “Don’t be fucking mad at me anymore.”
I bit the inside of my cheek and forced myself to look up into that face I had memorized. Dark brown hair shot through with strands of silver, deep-set eyes, broad, flat cheekbones, and that jaw that would have been a work of art if anyone were smart enough to recreate it, faced me. His eyes focused down on me, intent and unflinching.
Leave me alone, he had said.
“I didn’t mean all that shit I said, and you know it,” he told me, tugging at the hand he hadn’t let go of.
I took a deep breath and kept my voice even. “Mr. Ripley—”
He didn’t let me get further than that before he snapped, “Cut it out.”
“Cut what out?”
That throat of his bobbed as he dipped his chin in close. “You know what, Luna.”
I looked at him, keeping my face blank.
“That Mister Ripley bullshit,” he finally growled out.
“But that’s your name.”
He made a noise in his throat.
“You’re my boss,” I reminded him.
The fingers around mine jerked. “I’m more than your boss.”
That had me trying to pull my hand out of his. “No, Rip. That’s what you are, and I just happened to forget that.”
He cursed. Rip cursed under his breath, his fingers tightening. “No, baby girl, there was nothing for you to forget.”
Leave me alone.
I clung on to those words with both my hands and held on tight. He was my boss. Today, tomorrow, the day after that. He didn’t want what I had to offer, and I wasn’t going to be naïve enough to believe people changed.
Rip had lost his mind for a little while before deciding what it was that he wanted.
And that wasn’t me or my friendship or my problems.
He felt guilty and that was it.
I tipped my chin up, reminding myself I had been through worse and been through things more hurtful than words said out of anger. And I told him what he deep down wanted to make sure. “I’ve already told you I’m not going to quit, if that’s what you’re worried about.” I swallowed and fisted my free hand, keeping my voice calm. “I get offers every few months from other businesses, but I don’t think twice about them. I love working at CCC, even if you don’t like me—”
