Page 155 of Stay With Me

He scrubbed his hands over his face and dropped them to his sides as he exhaled loudly, becoming fed up with her over the top ideas about acceptable behavior in the workplace—especially since it seemed she’d enjoyed the little accidental kiss as much as he had.

“Why not?”

“Because you’re my boss! I can’t go around kissing my boss!”

Soshewas the one who initiated it.

Good to know.

“Why? Because it’s in the handbook thatyouwrote?”

“Yes!”

He raised his eyebrows assertively. “Is that theonlyreason?”

Instead of answering his question, she folded her arms across her chest and began pacing furiously around the office. After a few moments, she began haranguing him, refusing to look at his face while she continued to stomp around the room.

“Do you know why things like that are not okay? Because when things like that happen, people can’t think…can’t concentrate…can’t function beyond a basic, primal level. They can’twork,Nick. And then everyone else finds out about it, and there’s gossip, and then those people can’t work, and the original people are constantly paranoid about what’s being said behind their backs. It disrupts the entire workplace and the success of the company eventually suffers.”

She halted and whipped around again to point at him. “And that’s why you are afoolto be saying it’s not a big deal!”

He stared at her, gobsmacked, at a total loss for words, as she turned sharply to step behind her desk and began aggressively pounding the keys of her laptop.

“Samantha,” he tried again, as he shook his head slightly and leaned against his desk. “I understand your concerns and while they’re completely valid, you didn’t answer my question.”

She ignored him as she continued to pound away so he asked again.

“Is all of that the only reason why you don’t—”

“Nick, if you want to be helpful right now, you can go get Kimberly,” she directed, not looking up from the screen.

His gaze darted from side to side in confusion. “Why?”

“We have a meeting with her.”

“Since when?”

“Since right now.”

Nick opted to not argue further, deciding that Sammie might have needed a moment alone to cool off, as well as a meeting with Kimberly to take her mind off the whole kissing thing. He had no idea what the meeting was about, but frankly, it was the last thing on his mind.

He took his time to meander up to the hostess stand, then casually knocked his knuckles on the side of it.

“Got a minute to meet with Samantha and me?”

“Of course.”

Kimberly flagged down a waiter to cover for her, and then followed Nick down the hallway.

Sammie sat at her desk so Nick leaned against the bookshelf behind her and let her take the lead. Kimberly placed herself daintily in a chair opposite the desk.

Sammie placed a stack of papers down on the desk, then folded her hands on top of it, and smiled at Kimberly.

“Kimberly,” she began. “You were hired to be a hostess, but in your time here, you’ve become the glue that holds this restaurant together.”

Kimberly clutched her chest as she grinned in delight. “Well, gee, thank you!”

“Nick says you’re long overdue for a promotion so I’d like to let you know that you’re being promoted.” She slid the papers across the desk. “Effective immediately.”