“You could have told me you needed these taken to the post office,” I told her.
“They needed tracking, and I didn't have enough time to order the pickup,” she explained. “Because I was distracted.” She shoved me playfully.
“Am I distracting?”
“Very.”
“I'll make a note to be less distracting.”
“But that’s how I like you,” she replied, licking her lips suggestively.
43
Holly
Though all I wanted to do was let Owen distract me for the rest of the afternoon, we had to finish decorating the lobby for the holiday party.
“Where is the tree?” Penny fretted while Morticia rearranged furniture. “We need the big tree. I was planning on uploading a tree-trimming video.”
Jazzy, poppy Christmas carols played over the sound system. Several of Owen's employees had come down, waiting to gawk at the giant tree that was supposed to be delivered. An impromptu party broke out, with a big bowl of Christmas punch and a tray of baked snacks that I had whipped up. I poured myself some punch.
“Man,” I wheezed, “someone spiked this.”
I sipped and contemplated my life. The situation with Owen was making me slightly anxious. Was it going to be a fuck and dump? What was his deal? The only time I'd interacted with billionaires like him was when I had been catering charity events. Then all I’d asked was, “Care to try a lobster popper?”
Now I was supposed to navigate a complicated—I didn't even know what we had. Was it a relationship? Casual fuck buddies? But we hadn't really actually had sex. Was this some sort of weird self-deprivation thing he was doing? Maybe he was secretly crazy.
A truck blared its horn outside, jerking me out of my spiral of doubt and paranoia.
“Are we going to have a big tree like this upstairs?” one of Owen's workers asked me.
“Not this big,” I told them. “We wouldn't be able to bring it up there.”
I wasn't even sure we were going to get this tree inside the building.
“Can we remove this glass?” the tree delivery guy asked me, pointing to the front doors.
“Uh, let's not,” I said.
Owen came down, Beck and Walker trailing him.
“Half of my employees are missing,” Owen said with a frown. “But it appears they're all here.” People had their cell phones out, recording.
“The tree won't fit through the opening—it's too big,” I told him. “Should have used lube, I guess, or given it a bit of a warm-up.”
Owen bit his lip slightly and bent down to whisper in my ear. “We could have tested how big it was earlier.” He straightened up. “Maybe take it back out and bring it in through the loading area?”
“Sure thing, chief.”
The workers tried to take the tree back out. There was a cracking sound, and all the onlookers oohed.
“Let's not do that!” Penny practically yelled.
The workers tried pushing the tree the other way. It was stuck.
“Call the fire department,” I suggested.
“We cannot call the fire department. It would be all over the news,” Owen said, horrified.
