Dear god, was it enough.
She bent over to look for her work bag and her robe pulled upward, mirroring a glimpse of polka-dotted panties. Brightpinkpolka-dotted panties.
“I don’t know,” she said, sarcasm dripping from each word. “Maybe to apologize?”
“There isn’t a need for an apology.”
She scoffed, the sound traveling crisply through the small cottage.
“That’s where you and I differ,” she said. “When you dismiss an employee who’s worked for you tirelessly for three years without so much as athank you for your service, I think an apology is in order.”
“Need I remind you that you resigned?”
I wondered if it would be prudent to say nothing rather than enrage her, but I had never been one to keep my thoughts to myself.
“I am respecting your wishes, Ms. Nayak.”
She appeared in the doorway to her room with curls in a voluminous halo around her head. The little flyaways around her temple were slightly damp.
“I wouldn’t have had to resign if my boss wasn’t a cold, unfeeling asshole.”
“Mind your manners.”
“Thatwasme being mindful,Ms. Burns.” She tugged at the belt to her robe, knotting it even tighter.
“I am not unfeeling,” I found myself saying.
“Oh, really?” Her voice turned snarky. “You are such a liar. If you aren’t the unfeeling asshole you are, you’d be spending your solstice with family and friends. Or a mate. Instead, you choose to keep everyone in your employ trapped in the factory because you don’t have anywhere else to go.”
Each word turned my shoulders a little more rigid.
“The documents, Ms. Nayak,” I reminded her.
“I’m looking for them, aren’t I?” she snapped.
“How could you possibly lose something as important as client files?”
“I didn’tlosethem,” she retorted, disappearing into another room. “I simply don’t remember the last place I put them.”
It was a challenge not to roll my eyes, but I decided to shut the front door behind me to keep the heat from leeching out. Or, perhaps, I had another reason in mind. One that was difficult to admit even to myself.
I wanted to be trapped in here with her scent.
I would go no closer. I would stand here in her entryway and enjoy the lovely notes of her skin and sweet peaches, trailing her with nothing more than my eyes.
Even though she had quit, I was still her boss. I was still in charge. I would take those documents and leave her here in this cocoon of sweetness that made everything inside me feel so tight…
She emerged from what I assumed was her study, her lips pursed in frustration.
“Look,” she said, blowing a damp curl out of her eyes. “What if I drop the files at the office? I need some time to find them.”
“Unacceptable, Ms. Nayak.” I crossed my arms over my chest. “They are confidential files that shouldn’t have left with you in the first place.”
Her hands turned into little fists.
“Fine,” she huffed. “But you’re making me nervous standing there like the freaking grim reaper. Sit down or something.”
I eyed her overstuffed pink couch. “I don’t see any room from my scythe.”
