He stood up, lining himself up so close to me that if one of us breathed too hard, we would be touching.
“You’re right.I’m not the boss of you.But I told you that I love you and that I will always take care of you.This is me taking care of you.Now stop being so stubborn and accept that you’ll be off for a few days.If you’re worried about your hours, I’ll take care of it.You don’t need to worry about money right now.”
“Actually, one of our employee benefits includes a paid day off for your birthday,” Capshaw said.“I can adjust your schedule next week to make up the other day off, but other than that, you’re not missing any hours.”
“Well, I guess I don’t have a choice, now do I?”I narrowed my eyes at the guys again and looked away before I gave in and smiled.I hated how cute they looked when I wanted to be mad.
“Enjoy your time off, Violet.Happy birthday,” Capshaw said before walking off and heading back to the kitchen.
I shifted my purse on my shoulder and shook my head before walking out the front door and leaving the guys to follow.Asher's hand pressed against my lower back as he caught up to walk beside me, guiding me to the truck.Once I was inside and buckled up, I let go of the frustration that I had been feeling when I looked at the two men sitting in front of me, grinning like little boys in a candy shop.
“Please don’t be mad at us.I promise, we only have fun things planned for you.You can still decide whether or not any of them count as a birthday celebration.”Asher pressed his hands together and batted his eyes.
“I’m notmad,” I corrected with a sigh.“But I don’t like you going behind my back and convincing my boss to let me have time off.It doesn’t bother me to work on my birthday because it’s just another day.”
“It bothers us,” Enzo said softly.“But you should know that we didn’t say anything to Capshaw about giving you time off.We honestly weren’t talking about that.”
“What were you talking about then?”
“Umm...yeah...We can’t tell you,” Asher replied, pressing his lips together.
“Why not?”
“Because we were told not to.”
I frowned as I stared at them, trying to figure out what was going on.
“Let’s just say thatweare not the only ones who were aware that your birthday is coming up.Nor werewethe only ones who wanted to do something to celebrate it.”
My head hurt from how hard my brow furrowed, but none of that made sense.
“Seriously, just tell me what he told you guys.I promise I won’t say anything or tell him that you told me.”
“We have strict ordersnotto tell you anything.”Asher smiled, but it did nothing to disarm me.
Just then, my phone vibrated in my pocket.I pulled it out to see a new text message from Kensy in the group chat.
Kensy: Stop trying to get it out of them.They have firm orders not to tell you anything.
I looked from my phone to the guys, watching as they both grinned harder.
“Let’s get you home so we can get the fun started,” Enzo said as he turned around and started the truck.
“I don’t get it,” I murmured, more to myself than to them.
I hadn’t told anyone that my birthday was coming up, so I had no idea how they knew.Sure, I followed all of the girls on social media, but I didn’t have anything on my profile that said when my birthday was.
“Stop overthinking it, you’re going to get wrinkles from frowning that much,” Asher teased as he turned and faced forward while Enzo drove us home.
I stared at my phone, then sent a text back to the group chat.
Me: What is going on?I am so confused.
I waited a few minutes and then felt the vibration as a new text message came through.
Bella: It’s going to be amazing!Please just trust us!
Kensy: She’s right, it will be amazing.Stop beating up the poor guys; they don’t know much, and Lia threatened to kick their asses if they said anything to you.
