Reality officially sucked.
He didn’t buy her declaration for a second.
Lucy pulled her fake ring off and slipped it into his hand. Heart heavy, he closed his fingers around the cubic zirconia.
“This isn’t about me being your boss. What’s this about?” He pinned her back against her car, arms on either side of her head.
“Nothing.” She reached for the door handle behind her.
She was scared. Something was holding her back, and it wasn’t his takeover of Crestone. “Drive safe,” he said.
“Okee dokee.” Her smile was absolutely forced.
He dropped his head to kiss her. She pressed her lips together and turned to the side so his lips hit her cheek. “I have to go.”
“Right,” he muttered, deflated. He moved so she could climb inside.
She paused. Dropped her head to the steering wheel. Then she looked at him. “I’m scared, Will. Because of the way I’m feeling about us. What we have. How it’ll work now that we’re home.”
The fear in her eyes made his gut clench. “Let’s go slow then.”
She nodded and started the car. He waited there until she drove from the lot, her taillights fading until they disappeared. When he finally glanced back to his truck, Parker leaned against his tailgate.
“Tell me I didn’t see what I just saw.” Parker crossed his arms.
“Don’t know what you saw, so no comment.” William lugged the equipment cases from the truck bed and stacked them beside a tire.
“Despite the fact that I’ve known you for years, or maybebecauseI’ve known you for years, I have to put out a big ol’what the hell are you thinking?She’s staff. You can’t fool around with staff.”
“I care about her.” And it was none of Parker’s goddamned business.
Parker cursed under his breath. “Like all the women before her?”
“You’re not exactly one to talk with the daily rotation of women in and out of your bedroom.”
“Lucy doesn’t need your issues piled on top of everything else she’s dealing with at the station. She needs to focus. Do a good job. Not bang the boss.” Parker grabbed a box of equipment and added it to the growing pile.
“Do not talk about Lucy.”
“This is how you start. When you’re done, you toss them aside.”
“It’s not like that. We’re not like that.” William had never fought for a woman the way he was prepared to fight for Lucy. That meant something. He grabbed an armload of cases and moved to the building behind Parker.
“Don’t drag her through the chaos of your life,” Parker said.
“This time it’s different.” So different. On every level.
Parker caught the door to the building for them both. “This is a mistake.”
“My mistake to make.” William punched the elevator button.
At KDVX, the television in the control room buzzed low while the master control operator kept tabs on the daytime talk shows.
An extravagant bouquet of exotic flowers sat on the edge of Bridgett’s desk. The traditional romance shtick could be key to a relationship with Lucy. William would buy her flowers, take her to dinners, and go slow. They had gotten real serious, real fast. He’d never gone the slow route before. No one he’d ever dated was important enough for time-honored charm with dates and crap. Yeah, he could do it.
Parker began unloading the cameras onto the shelves in the small equipment closet. “I’m only watching your back—and hers. Don’t screw her around.”
“If you’re so worried about it, go rat me out to my dad.”
