Boss's Accidental Baby: A Billionaire Small Town Second Chance Romance (Secret Love) Page 3

  Instead, I chuckled softly and held my hands up in surrender. “Fair enough. I know that my music tastes aren't for everyone. But I'm not all death metal anymore. I haven't listened to much lately.”

  Acacia leaned over the table and pressed her wrist to my forehead, pursed her lips for a moment, and then sat down. “Hmm, no fever so you must be healthy. But who are you and what have you done with the Kit that I know?”

  I rolled my eyes playfully. “I'm still a metalhead, don't get me wrong, but I am a man of many tastes. Except for country, that is still a huge no from me.”

  She crinkled her nose, pearly teeth peeking from her lips. “At least we can agree on that much.”

  We worked separately for half an hour, with Acacia cleaning the bar area and putting dishes away and me mostly just watching her work. She looked beautiful when she worked, the little crease between her eyebrows when she was focused or putting some elbow grease into cleaning. When she struggled to reach the top shelf for glasses, I came up behind her –careful not to press my body too tightly against hers– and helped her. She gave me a sheepish smile and a quiet ‘thank you’ before returning to her work. I didn't miss the way her cheeks went pink or the way she took a deep breath when my body was up against hers.

  Everything in her body language pointed toward her being open to the idea of going out with me, or at least I thought so. Flushed cheeks, smiles, the way she reacted when I touched her. And despite the tightness in my chest at the thought of rejection, I went for it when she came back into the dish area.

  “Hey, Acacia, can I ask you something?” I asked her, leaning against the doorway as she set the tub of glasses on the counter and began trying to reach the shelf.

  She turned toward me and smiled cheekily. “You just did.”

  I rolled my eyes while she giggled. “I'm just kidding. Of course you can.”

  “I would like to take you out to dinner and drinks, quite possibly tomorrow evening. And before you answer, I want to take you out as more than friends.” The words tumbled from my mouth before I could think twice about what I was saying, and once they were out I felt a hundred times better.

  Acacia, who had been attempting to put another glass up, turned toward me with wide eyes and the glass tumbled from her hand. It hit the tile floor hard and shattered around our feet. I watched her eyes fall to the ground and then back to mine a few times before she reacted.

  She dropped to her knees and began frantically picking up the pieces and apologizing. Her actions were careless and I held my breath for fear that she would cut herself as she fearlessly picked up the jagged pieces, holding them in one hand as the other continued collecting them.

  I sighed softly and walked around her to grab the broom and dustpan; in the second or two that it took I heard her curse. And when she came back into view again, I saw the blood trickling across her palm.

  “Drop the glass. Let me sweep it up, please. Go grab the first aid kit from the kitchen and sit down at the bar,” I ordered, grabbing her wrist and twisting the palm of her hand until she dropped it.

  “I'm sorry, Kit,” she murmured as she stood, offering me a sheepish smile when I looked up at her.

  I gave her a reassuring smile and waved my hand at her dismissively. “Don't worry about it, just get a towel and the first aid kit. When I'm finished cleaning up the glass, I'll get you patched up.”

  She nodded mutely and disappeared into the kitchen.

  As I swept the glass from the floor and dumped it into the trash can, I worried that I had misunderstood her body language and possibly messed up by asking her out so soon. I did not, however, regret it. Acacia was a woman that you took big leaps for and I was ready to start taking those leaps, even if I got burned in the process.

  “I'm sorry again,” Acacia told me when I sat down in the barstool next to hers.

  I shrugged as I picked up her hand. “Seriously, it's okay. You've always been a little clumsy, and I might have blindsided you a little. I'm more concerned with whether or not you're okay.”

  “I'm okay,” she whispered when our eyes met briefly.

  My lips curled into a soft smile and I brushed my hand across her cheek. “Then everything is okay, so stop feeling bad, okay?”

  We sat in silence for a while as I cleaned, applied Neosporin, and bandaged the minor cut across her palm. It felt warm in mine and I couldn't ignore the pleasure I felt as I looked at her hand in mine. But that pleasure quickly disappeared when she broke the silence with her answer to my question.

  “Hey, I'm sorry but I don't think it is a good idea for us to go on a date. It's nothing personal, I swear! I just…don't want to ruin our friendship. If we date and things don't work out, how are we supposed to go back to being friends? I value you and our current relationship too much to risk it. I hope you understand…” Her words came out in a rush and she wouldn't meet my gaze when I looked at her.

  She's lying, I told myself as I studied her body language. Why would she avoid eye contact with me otherwise?

  I swallowed my pride and smiled at her softly. “I understand. No need to apologize to me. Just forget I asked, okay? Nothing could ever come between our friendship, I promise.”

  She looked up at me under thick eyelashes and forced a smile. “And you're…okay? I haven't offended you or anything, right?”

  Offended me? No. Am I okay? Also, no. I thought as I finished bandaging her hand and released it from my own.

  “Nope. I'm okay. Promise. Now, why don't you go home and get some sleep? And please, be safe getting home,” I told her and stood up, giving her the best fake smile I could muster.

  She stood and flexed her hand, wincing softly. “Well, if you're sure you're okay... Thank you for bandaging me up, Kit. I'll text you when I get home safely. See you on Monday?”

  I nodded. “You better. Good night.”

  “Good night. Be safe.”

  4

  Kit

  Ever since Acacia had turned down my advances, I found it incredibly difficult to spend any amount of time around her. I couldn't stand to be under her cat-like gaze, or witness the dimples in her cheeks when she smiled. And watching her laugh with the other cooks made me jealous in a way I'd never felt before. Intellectually, I knew she wasn't interested in any of them, but egotistically it felt like they were better than me and it made me angry. By the time dinner rush came to a close on the third day, I'd smoked through a pack and a half of cigarettes and I couldn't stand being at my restaurant anymore.

  “I'm making you acting manager for the rest of the evening,” I told Stephan as I took my apron off. “If there is a problem, write a report and I'll get to it tomorrow. I have to leave.”

  Stephan wiped his hands with a towel and touched my shoulder briefly. “You okay, boss? You're looking a little pale.”

  I bit my tongue and nodded. “Yeah, I'm fine. Just need to get some paperwork done and make a few phone calls. Make sure that you keep teaching Acacia about closing and tip her out. I'll be back tomorrow.”

  Of course I was lying; my leaving had nothing to do with work. I just needed to get out of there and blow off some steam. So I drove into the nearby city and hit up the closest nightclub I could find. I knew the drinks would be cheap and the people would be boring, but anything was better than stewing in my anger.

  I drank and watched people interacting with each other, badly in some cases. But there was this guy who kept hitting on all of the women sitting alone, and he was constantly getting rejected. That was until he approached a particularly shy-looking girl who I'd watched get ditched by her more extroverted friends. She was struggling to tell him no without being rude about it, but he wasn't taking the hint. It angered me and after swallowing the rest of my drink I approached them.

  “Hey, baby,” I greeted the woman, slinging my arm around her shoulders. “My boss was riding me all day and I had to stay late; you didn't wait too long for me, did you?”

  She looked up at me with wide green eyes and smiled so
ftly. “Not at all, baby. I just got here. I haven't even finished my first drink yet.”

  I turned my attention to the guy and gave my best fake-friendly smile. “Thanks for keeping my girl company, man. I can take it from here now.”

  He glared at me briefly and then shrugged. “Whatever, man.”

  We watched him walk away and then I removed my arm. “Sorry about approaching you like that. I didn't like the way that guy was hounding you and you looked like you could use some help.”

  She waved her hand dismissively. “Don't worry about it. I appreciate the help. He was starting to get a little handsy. Let me buy you a drink? As a thank you.”

  “Sure.” I shrugged.

  One drink turned into too many drinks and before I knew it, I blacked out. From my recollection of the night, the girl's name was Alisha and she was studying to be a dental hygienist; she was only in town for the weekend for her friend's wedding. I hadn't been interested in learning about her at all, but she kept spilling her life's story and I kept pretending to care. As bad as it made me feel to admit it, I only wanted one thing from her and when I woke up the next morning with her in my bed, I knew I'd gotten it. And if the hangover wasn't bad enough, the pain in my chest definitely was.

  I came into work later in the afternoon, still incredibly hungover and in no mood to deal with anyone's incompetence. For the most part, everything seemed to be running smoothly with the restaurant and nobody had any problems for me when I walked in the door. Nothing had gone wrong last night at close and Stephan left a positive report of the evening's earnings on my desk. It was looking like an easy day until I went into the kitchen and jumped on the line.

  “Take a shot of pickle juice and eat a pickle,” Acacia told me as she walked past with a freshly made order. “It helps with hangovers.”

  “Thanks,” I told her curtly on my way toward the walk-in.

  Please don't follow me and ask if I'm okay.

  I heard the walk-in door open after it closed behind me and cursed softly.

  “What's wrong with you?” she asked, leaning against the door with her arms crossed. “You've been acting cold for the past few days and that isn't like you at all. Is it something I did?”

  I sighed heavily. “Look, I didn't mean to hurt your feelings or anything. I'm just trying to be professional. Isn't that what you wanted?”

  “Yes, I wanted you to be professional. But that doesn't mean that you have to completely ice me out while we're working. We can be professional and still have a good time at work together. There is a middle ground, you know,” she defended.

  “Yeah,” I agreed, inhaling through my nose. “But that also doesn't mean that I don't have the right to distance myself for a while. I wouldn't want to give you the wrong idea or anything.”

  She tilted her head and scoffed. “You're upset with me. Just admit it already so we can move past this and get back to being friends again, please. I don't want to have this distance between us.”

  “Fine! I'm upset! But put yourself in my shoes for just a moment and understand that it really sucked to ask you out and be shut down. What if you'd asked me out and I'd given you some bullshit excuse about ruining out friendship? It'd hurt, right?” I countered, crossing my arms angrily.

  She threw her hands up exasperatedly. “Hey, it wasn't a bullshit excuse at all! Do you know how many people go from friends to dating and don't work out? Too many for me to feel comfortable risking it with you. You're too important to me, and losing you completely isn't worth it. I'd rather you be mad at me for a while.”

  Anger rose in my chest and I exhaled noisily. “Fine, then you have to back off and let me be mad. When I'm ready to talk again, I'll come to you. Right now, I think we should just be professional and keep our interactions to a minimum. Can you agree to that at least?”

  I watched her open her mouth, then close it, and inhale deeply before she spoke. “Okay. I will give you space and let you work through all of this on your own, but don't shut me out, please. Eventually, I would like to get back to how things used to be, when we'd laugh and joke around.”

  “Fine, whatever makes you happy. Now, can you please leave me alone?” I replied shortly and began going through inventory.

  “I can do that,” she agreed, turning toward the door. “But if you need me, don't hesitate to come find me, okay? I'll always be there for you.”

  I waited until the walk-in door shut before the anger took hold of me, kicking an empty box across the small space. I'll always be there for you, I thought mockingly, gripping the metal racks with white-hot rage.

  5

  Acacia

  I gave Kit the space he asked for, only giving him the time of day when he asked for it, but it weighed heavily on my chest. Before he asked me out, Kit and I were thick as thieves. Each work day was a blast and we always laughed our way through the rushes, and I'd be lying if I said I didn't miss him. It gave me the opportunity to get to know the other cooks and they were fun to work with, too. Especially Stephan who had become like a surrogate father to me in a way.

  “Acacia, a bunch of us are going out for drinks after work tonight, you in?” he'd asked me when I came into work, smiling hopefully.

  “Is Kit going to be there?” I asked, biting my cheek softly.

  He gave me a knowing look. “Do you want him to be?”

  I shrugged casually and busied myself with prep work. “I don't know, maybe. But he isn't really speaking to me right now so I don't know if that would be a good idea. I'm not trying to upset him.”

  Stephan clicked his tongue. “You're thinking too much about it, doll. Kit is a big boy and he will get over whatever is upsetting him. It isn't your responsibility to make sure that he's okay. If you want to come out with us, come. He probably won't come anyway; I already asked him and he said he'd think about it.”

  I forced a soft smile. “You're probably right. I'll think about it, okay?”

  “No pressure, kiddo,” he agreed, moving tubs into the cold top. “It would be nice to spend time with you outside of work; a lot of us enjoy working with you and I know a few of the servers would really like to get to know you.”

  For the next hour and a half, Stephan and I got into the swing of the day's work as we laughed and had a great time working together. The kitchen's energy was fun and lighthearted, an overall fun time, until the back door opened and closed behind us. Our heads turned to see who it was and a smiling Kit stood with a drink carrier in his hand. I immediately averted my gaze, in an attempt to honor his space, but my heart raced as he spoke to Stephan.

  “Good afternoon,” Kit greeted, his footsteps sounding behind me as he walked around and set the carrier on the racks. “I brought coffee and an extra pair of hands if you need them.”

  I heard Stephan laugh and the sound of a hand clapping against fabric. “My man! I don't know if I could've waited until my break to get some caffeine. It hasn't been too busy, though. So you can settle in for a bit.”

  A slick sweat had formed inside of my gloves as he walked around behind me, the sound of his steps and the heat from his proximity had the hairs on the back of my neck standing up. We hadn't been this close in a few days and it made me nervous and angry, angry because I hated feeling this anxious in his presence.

  “It's your favorite,” Kit whispered as he set a to-go cup next to my cutting board from behind me. “And an apology for being such a jerk the past couple of days.”

  I followed him with my eyes as he moved to lean against the counter next to me. “Don't worry about it. I understand why you were upset. Thank you for the coffee,” I told him softly, taking my gloves off and sipping the coffee gratefully. “Oh, wow! You remembered every detail.”

  He held his chest and feigned hurt. “I'm hurt! I have an amazing memory; it might even be a photographic memory or somethin'.”

  “Oh? Tell me something that I'd know from a long time ago, something that I might've forgotten,” I instructed playfully.

  Kit's eyebrow
s knit together for a moment as he thought about it and then he snapped his fingers together. “Okay, do you remember when our families went camping together and Alyssa got that fishhook caught in her lip? Because you two had been playing around with it, making silly faces, and what not?”

  “You mean when I ran away because I was scared and you found me?” I asked him, the memory of Kit's face that day sent my heart into overdrive.

  He nodded, his eyes bearing into mine fondly. “I told you that everything was going to be okay, that Alyssa was fine and nobody was mad at you. You argued with me, with that stubborn spirit of yours.”

  “But you were right. Our families were more worried about my safety than what had happened, and Alyssa came clean about it being her idea. We were rightly banned from touching the tackle box after that day.” I laughed and took another drink from my coffee.

  Kit's smile was warm as he tapped his temple. “See? Photographic memory. Especially when it comes to childhood memories with you and Patrick.”

  I rolled my eyes. “And so humble, too. But, hey, I should get back to work. Thank you for the apology coffee, Kit. What do I owe you? Like, five or six bucks?”

  He shook his head. “Nothing. It's a gift, not an I-owe-you.”

  “Well, okay. At least let me pay for the glass I broke the other night. I really don't mind. It was my fault, after all.”

  Kit patted my shoulder softly, chuckling. “Seriously, don't worry about a thing. You're genuinely okay. Before I let you get back to work, though… look at your cup, I left a little note for you.”

  Before I could ask him what he meant, he disappeared into the front of the restaurant. I turned the cup around in my hand until I saw the red marker on the side. Let me take you out for drinks, I promise you won't regret it. ~Kit ♥ My finger ran across the ink and at first, I smiled. But when I thought about having to turn him down again, it quickly disappeared.