Haley blinked. “They are.”
“They...what...what the hell?” Jason sputtered, pressing a hand against his chest in what Zoe was quickly beginning to recognize as a typical Bradford overreaction, even if it was cute to watch. It was funny how she never really thought of large, devastatingly handsome men as cute before, but after meeting the Bradford men, there was no other way to describe them, well, other than hot, that is.
“Can we get back to work now?” Haley asked, sounding innocent, but Zoe didn’t miss the way the woman’s lips twitched or the humor sparkling in her eyes. Something told her that this woman truly enjoyed torturing her husband.
“For God’s sake, my little grasshopper, you love the Yankees more than I do! What the hell is going on here?” He turned an accusing glare on Zoe. “How dare you brainwash my wife?” he hissed.
“Are you going to leave so that we can get some work done?” Haley demanded, returning her attention to the computer.
“No,” Jason said stubbornly, folding his arms over his chest as he glared at them.
“Buttercream frosting,” Haley said softly, never taking her eyes away from the computer screen.
Jason licked his lips as he looked his pregnant wife over hungrily. “Tonight?” he croaked out.
“If you’re good,” Haley said with a small shrug. “But you have to leave-”
“Bye,” Jason said quickly, cutting her off and rushing out of the trailer just as fast as he came.
“I’m really sorry about him,” Haley said, giving Zoe a sheepish smile.
“I thought you weren’t going to apologize for him,” Zoe reminded her, returning her smile. There was just something about Haley that made her relax, which was a little discomforting since she couldn’t remember the last time she’d felt relaxed at work.
“You’re absolutely right, but he does entertain me so,” Haley said on a dreamy sigh.
“A sign of a good husband,” Zoe agreed.
“Exactly,” Haley said, beaming.
As much as she was enjoying talking with Haley, she couldn’t help the nagging feeling that she should get back to work. At her old job, idle chitchat was not tolerated and since Zoe had been there for more than three years, the concept of solely focusing on work was well ingrained.
“What should we go over first?” Zoe asked, hoping the abrupt change didn’t dampen the easygoing comradely they seemed to be sharing. She hadn’t had many friends in the past couple of years and talking with someone as kind as Haley was a nice treat for her.
“I’ll show you everything, but it will, of course, be up to you how you want to handle everything from this point on,” Haley said, still smiling warmly, Zoe noted with relief. “I’ve only been filling in over the summer so that Dad had some help. I really haven’t been able to get a system going. So, however, you want to do this is totally up to you.”
“Okay, that sounds good,” Zoe said, practically jumping to the side as Haley stood up and waddled past her.
“Have a seat.”
“Are you sure?” Zoe asked, uncomfortable with the idea of taking a pregnant woman’s seat.
“Definitely,” Haley said, placing a hand on her stomach as she made her way around the desk. She walked over to the sitting area and proceeded to grab a chair and drag it towards the desk.
“Wait!” Zoe said, practically running around the desk to stop her. “Let me do that for you.”
“Thank you,” Haley said, smiling sweetly as she followed Zoe back around the desk. Zoe switched her comfortable office chair out for the sturdy waiting room chair. Haley looked like she was going to argue, but Zoe wasn’t having it. She gestured for Haley to sit down in the comfortable chair.
With a muttered, “slave driver” that startled a surprised laugh out of Zoe, Haley sat down. She couldn’t remember the last time that she laughed at work. Zoe had to admit it felt nice. She hoped it was a sign that things were about to get better.
“Haley, could you take a look at this printout? Something isn’t adding up. I just got off the phone with Robinson and that jerk is giving me the run around again. Could you look this over and see…” Jared’s words trailed off when he looked up from the large pile of ledgers and folders that he was carrying and spotted Haley curled up on the couch, sleeping.
Zoe cringed as she stood up, ready to defend the poor woman who’d struggled until ten minutes ago to keep her eyes open. Normally, she would have woken Haley up, but the poor woman was pregnant and exhausted, and Zoe hadn’t had the heart to wake her. Instead, she’d been keeping an ear out so that she could wake the poor woman before she got caught sleeping on the job.
Unfortunately, by the time she’d heard Jared’s approach, he’d already been in the room, speaking a mile a minute. She hadn’t been able to wake Haley without drawing attention to the fact that she was sleeping. She knew that Jared had a soft spot for his daughter-in-law, but that didn’t mean that he’d appreciate her wasting company time.
Her stomach coiled with dread as Jared placed the stack of books on the corner of her desk and approached Haley. She shifted nervously as she tried to decide what she should do. In her old job, she would have just kept working and minded her own business. She couldn’t do that here. Haley had been really nice to her and she just couldn’t stand by and let Haley get in trouble for this.
She opened her mouth to make an excuse for Haley when Jared shocked the hell out of her by leaning over and pressing a kiss to the top of Haley’s head. Zoe watched in shock as the large man gently removed Haley’s glasses and pushed an errant strand of hair out of her face.
