Page 17 of Bargain With the Boss

I could picture the long grass swaying in the breeze. “Like the kind you see at the Cape?”

When we got to the bottom of the hill she looked up at me. “I’ve never been.”

“Then I guess we gotta change that.”

She took her hand back. “I’m not vacationing with you, Mr. Hastings.”

“X or Xavier.” I opened the passenger door.

She lowered herself into the car without another word.

Amused rather than annoyed, I rounded the car and tucked my laptop in my bag, then got inside. “You cool with the top down?”

She reached into her bag of fun and pulled out a slim elastic. Her long fingers quickly twined her glossy red hair into a braid. “Top down is fine.”

I revved the engine.

This afternoon definitely was far more interesting than how it began.

Chapter 5

Sydney

I grabbed onto the handle inside the car as he navigated the potholes in the parking lot.

Gavin’s truck was gone, and the dumpsters were overflowing with sun-damaged shingles. Guilt needled at me. I shouldn’t have let Xavier distract me with food.

Then again, I wasn’t truly here to help them with the demolition portion of the project.

I was supposed to be finding a way to kill it.

I laid a hand over my belly where the tacos suddenly felt like a boulder. Nerves always went right to my stomach. First to eat all the food, then to regret it mightily.

Then we got out to the main lake road everything evened out and the wind started up. It lightened my mood immediately. I’d never been in a convertible.

Living in Seattle, convertibles were close to useless.

But the warm day had me tipping my head back to enjoy it.

Xavier turned up the music and the driving beat of some band I didn’t know filled the speakers and swirled around us. When I opened my eyes Xavier was looking at me. I couldn’t see what was going on behind those mirrored glasses, but I could still feel the heat of it.

And I didn’t know what to do with that.

That wasn’t on my itinerary.

None of this was on my itinerary.

I should be finalizing—my phone buzzed in my bag. I pulled it out and the little bubble of joy popped. My fingers flew over my screen as I replied to a few messages from Leah.

Being left alone with the entire account was leaving my usually unflappable assistant a jittery mess. Then again, it was rare for any of my team to actually have to deal one-on-one with my mother. She was a difficult woman on a good day, but now with Jude and me out of the office, she was beyond demanding.

“Everything okay?”

I glanced over at Xavier. “Fine. Just something at my real job.”

“This isn’t your real job?”

I huffed out an annoyed breath and didn’t answer. It took the entire ride to calm Leah down and figure out how to put out a fire with the manufacturer. I usually dealt with them because my mother had no patience with the reality of logistics.