Chapter Five
“Hey,” Grant looked up as Sunny came into his office, smiling at the other man. It was easy to smile at Sunny.
For the first time in a long time, he felt as though he had his life under control. He’d only had Sunny around for three days, and he’d already changed Grant’s life. The fact that everyone at his level had a PA made a whole lot more sense now.
If nothing else, talking to Sunny made a welcome break from worrying about whether or not they were going to be short staffed over the holiday period. COO had sounded like a great job when he’d been offered it, but he hadn’t realized how many spreadsheets it would involve.
If he had, he might have thought twice.
He’d been promised a challenge, and he’d definitely gotten one. Which was nice. He’d been comfortable in his old job, but it had never pushed him.
This one pushed him a littletoomuch, but he had Sunny now. Sunny made everything feel possible.
“I was just coming to ask if you needed anything before I go to lunch,” Sunny asked.
“Uh, no, but… you wanna sit down for a moment?” Grant asked, nodding at the chair in front of his desk.
Sunny paused, looking at Grant nervously.
“You’re not in trouble,” Grant said, recognizing the look. “I just wanna talk to you for a second.”
Sunny wet his lips, but crossed the room and sat down in the chair across from Grant, smoothing down his tie nervously. Grant wasn’t exactly sure, but he got the impression that Sunny took the way he dressed very seriously. Everything was always neatly ironed, he never had so much as a crease in his tie, and Grant would have put money on his socks matching his shirts.
He couldn’t see, but he couldtell. Sunny was the most organized person he’d ever met. He was only twenty-seven, but he seemed to have his life all figured out.
“I want to thank you for everything you’ve done for me,” Grant said. He wasn’t sure how personal he should get with someone he’d only known three days, but Sunny made him feel comfortable. Like he could talk to him.
There weren’t many people like that in Grant’s life.
“You’re welcome,” Sunny said. “It’s my job.”
“I know, but… it wasn’t your job to sew the button back to my shirt, and you did it. And it wasn’t your job to figure out that you could just label my shirts, which is really handy, by the way. And you’re always one step ahead of me. I barely have to ask you to do things. You’re usually already doing them.”
Sunny smiled at that. “I like this job,” he said.
“Good, because I’d like to keep you around.” Grant wet his lips.
He could be honest with Sunny. Let him know how much thisreallymeant to him. “Listen, I haven’t felt as though I had my life under control since I moved up here, and you’ve made me feel like I can breathe again. You’re awesome. I don’t want you to doubt that for a second.”
A blush crept up Sunny’s cheeks, his pretty brown eyes shining.
Grant liked that he had brown eyes. He could see brown.
“Thank you,” Sunny said. “When did you move here?”
“A year ago in June. So almost eighteen months, now.”
“You mentioned a daughter,” Sunny said. “Did she move with you, or…?”
Grant glanced down at the desk, guilt over missing Thanksgiving welling up again.
“I’m sorry, that was too personal a question. Forget I asked.”
“No,” Grant said. “No, it’s fine, I was just… she stayed with her mom and her stepdad. Back in California. I’m actually from Arizona.”
“Your accent gives you away a little,” Sunny said, but not in a judgmental way. He said it like it was cute.
Grant wasn’t sure he was reading that right, exactly, but it felt nice all the same.
