Page 131 of Stay With Me

He tilted his head slightly and gave her a look so she decided to back off and made amends by shooting him a small wink.

“McCombs dealt with business in general, accounting, strategy, marketing, consumer relations, macro and microeconomics, so on and so forth,” he explained. “I’ve had to just throw the rest of this stuff together. Which is why I need you.”

“I was teasing you, Nick,” she reassured him, closing the laptop. “Clearly, you’re doing well on your own. But having a little more structure internally will help make all of this easier for you, and for whomever comes in after me. So I’m going to help you create structure, as well as standard procedures for employee relations.”

He gave her a look of approval. “Thank you.”

“This week, I think I’ll start by observing and familiarizing myself with how things work around here, talk to the staff about their responsibilities, and I’ll put together a proposal for a handbook, policies, and guidelines, as well as define standards for procedures and positions. What do you say about sitting down with me again on Friday morning?”

“Sounds like a plan.”

They both stood, and he offered his good hand again and she shook it. “Thanks again, Samantha. I really appreciate you doing this.”

“Well.” She shrugged. “I needed a job. Thanks for giving me one.”

He stepped away from her. “Of course. I’m going to get to work. Go ahead and make yourself at home. The breakroom is behind the kitchen if you want coffee or something. Whenever you decide to take lunch, place an order at the bar. It’ll be on the house.”

She smiled politely. “Thank you.”

“No problem,” he said, turning to leave.

“Oh, I’ll need access to employee files if you have them,” she added. “And I need you to give me a budget for things like that software.”

He gestured at a large bookshelf against the wall behind the desk intended for her. “All the files are in there. The budget is whatever you think is reasonable for doing what you need to do.”

She raised her eyebrows at him as she gathered her things off his desk.

“Whatever I think is reasonable, huh? You must really trust me.”

He limped slightly as he headed toward the door, tossing a glance over his shoulder. “I do. More than you know.”

She couldn’t help smiling at that, knowing it clearly referred to things that had nothing to do with the budget. She also blatantly stared, as she took in the sight of him leaving, unable to ignore the fact that she was happy to see him up and moving around again without much trouble. She couldn’t ignore the fact that she was happy to see him in general.After seeing him every single day since August, and then not seeing him for a whole week was surprisingly hard—even though she was still quietly fuming over him leading her on.

She set up her laptop on the other desk and began to settle in, opening the document and going over her notes when her phone buzzed from inside the bag.

Soooo,Jenna’s message read.Are you there? What do you think? How does he seem?

He’s being very professional,she texted back, then glanced at the door to make sure nobody was approaching and sent a subsequent message.

God, Jenna. He looks so good. It would be a lot easier to stay mad if he wasn’t so freaking hot.

LOL!came Jenna’s reply.So stop being mad at him. Then quit and go get your man. LOL!

Samantha rolled her eyes and shook her head, then sent a simple reply.

No.

She put the phone away.

Absolutely not.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Nick

Sammie hummed quietly as she moved back and forth between the shelf, her desk, and the scanner repeatedly. Occasionally, she broke into delicate whistling, pausing only to sip from a cup of hot tea. And for the life of him, Nick couldn’t concentrate. Couldn’t concentrate to the point that, for the past four mornings, he usually gave up trying to work in the office and moved to the bar by ten a.m..

It wasn’t, however, the whistling, or the humming, that was distracting him.