Page 4 of Her Irish Boss

She rubbed the palms of her hands together. “I can't work at night, Mr. O'Keeley.”

Again, he wanted to tell her to call him Brogan, but he'd be no better than Lenny. “I know. Lenny will work at night if he wants this job.”

Lenny nodded. “Absolutely. Again. I'm sorry.”

Brogan shifted to leave, but Selena stood in his way.

“Thank you,” she murmured. Her body leaned a fractioncloser, enough, so he smelled a sweet scent that suited her. Sweet like the honey color of her hair. Eyes. Skin.

Back to being in charge and putting a barrier up, he crossed his arms, and his voice deepened. “You can thank me by being on time and ready to work tomorrow.” He took two steps toward Rian before stopping. “Oh, and if you want a pretty decent tip, there's a large party coming in at seven. It's yours if you want it.”

“Wow. Yeah. Let me see if I can make arrangements.” She began to move away but pulled up short. “Do you mind if I go make a few phone calls so I can be free tonight?” She pointed to her section. “No one is in my area yet.”

Brogan waved her off. Better she leaves his sight than look at him that way again.

Or move in closer, implying that if he did give her a kiss, she might kiss him back.

As he sat across from Rian, his younger brother smirked. “That was interesting.”

“I don't want to talk about it.” Because he couldn't explain it. Selena was the most unorganized woman he knew, and for some reason, she still attracted him without doing a damn thing. He didn't really blame Lenny for trying, but he wouldn't foot the bill in the end if things turned south.

He wouldn't risk his brothers' futures. If the three of them didn't raise the money to buy the property, Randy Simmons would come in and level the whole block, evicting them from their space and making them start from scratch somewhere else.

Another costly sexual harassment lawsuit and they'd never reach their goals. Everyone had to play by the rules. Careful and safe. Including himself. He couldn't enforce hisown rules while trying to lure the pretty Selena a little closer.

He'd suffer in silence. His brothers wouldn't understand. They knew the first lawsuit, the one Crissy filed against him, was fake. Made-up. And they'd supported him. The same way he'd supported both of them in the past.

He was the oldest. He'd helped take care of his family his entire life, and he'd continue to do so. And that meant no Selena now, or ever.

2

Selena slapped the alarm clock, silencing the overly cheerful radio advertisement for a summer clothing sale she couldn't afford anyway. Waking up at a quarter till six hurt her soul after going to bed at one in the morning. Her feet and back ached from working a twelve-hour shift yesterday. She needed the money, and she was glad Mr. O'Keeley had given her the opportunity, but it'd made for an even longer day. And heftier nurse's bill.

It was hard to tell if she enjoyed the night shift or merely a night off from watching Mimi. She remembered why she enjoyed working from lunch to happy hour most days. She didn't miss what came along with serving jackass men drinking liquor. A few of the men at the Simmons' party got O'Keeley's nice restaurant mixed up with the ones where you hit on the waitresses and called them “sugar” all night.

She walked to her bathroom to start the shower, stubbing her toe and letting as many curse words fly as possible. It usually took away some of the pain as she ended up laughing at her creativity, but after the late night, shecouldn't even bring herself to smile. It was going to be one hell of a day.

After a cold shower, because the water heater was out again, she wrapped her hair up in a towel and headed to the kitchen. Mimi would be awake in another hour, wanting her breakfast and maybe, if she was lucky, remembering the current year. Her memory jumped back and forth between the present day and 1946.

Apparently, Selena looked like her great-grandmother because the resemblance was enough to keep Mimi from overreacting when she did have an episode. That was a plus side to her living with Selena, although she couldn't give her the kind of care she really needed.

If the damn insurance company would send someone to spend more than ten minutes with her, maybe she could point it out. There were facilities out there that helped with memory problems. Each day Mimi spent in their cramped apartment was one more day she might lose her memory for good. It's not like she could afford a lawyer to help with her case or to figure out all the paperwork. She could barely afford the nurse.

She cracked eggs for Mimi's breakfast harder than necessary, doubling her frustration with the situation when she had to fish the tiny bits of shell out of the bowl. She didn't have time for this.

“Mama?” Mimi called.

Selena's head dropped. Back to 1946. The morning could get worse. Somehow. She was sure of it.

After getting breakfast made and cleaned, and Mimi changed into regular clothes, Selena headed to her own room to dress. With thirty minutes until she needed to leave, she pulled the laundry from the dryer and dumped it onto her bed. Selena rummaged through the pile before steppingback into the bathroom. On the floor lay her work shirt, right where she'd stripped out of it before falling into bed – not washed.

They'd given her two when she started, and she’d never bought another one, saving that money instead. She had to run laundry every night for Mimi anyway, might as well wash her work shirt along with it.

Too bad she left her other shirt in the locker at work in case she ever got hers dirty. Mr. O'Keeley dressed impeccably, and she didn't doubt that he wouldn't approve of a member of his staff running around with shepherd's pie spilled down the front of their shirt.

Waking up thinking about her boss was probably a warning sign that her infatuation had gone too far. No denying he was gorgeous. And cultured. Smart. Everything that she wasn't.

But Mr. O'Keeley didn't intimidate her. She refused to let herself be pushed around again. Not after her last, long-term boyfriend hid her away from his high society friends. But she'd been younger then. And she’d wanted to please Jacob.

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