Page 1 of The Boss Problem

1

CHLOE

The name on the coffee cup—Chloe—was mine, but the check marks on the label were right next todecafandcappuccino. Under notes, someone had scribbleddry.

It had been sitting for the longest time on the counter of The Jumpy Bean—a café on my way to my fiancé, Bruce’s, house.

The problem was that while IwasChloe, it was not the drink that I’d ordered via the app. But then again, it was seven in the morning, and mistakes could be made at this ungodly hour.

I’d been here for fifteen minutes now, I realized after checking my phone for the time. Since I was planning on eloping with Bruce in two hours, I was in a bit of a hurry. I’d already gotten a flat white for Bruce.

If only my drink would show up.

Setting my phone and Bruce’s freshly dry-cleaned suit down on the counter, I grabbed the cup marked Chloe and walked up to the cashier, whose nametag read ‘Mia’.

It took two attempts to get Mia to look at me. When she did, she froze while I acknowledged that a woman in a white wedding dress at a café was bound to get some jaws dropping.

It wasn’t too expensive, I wanted to say about my wedding dress, realizing that anyone’s first concern would be about getting coffee on the dress. You could drop coffee on it and pop into a dry cleaner for a quick wash, and it would be as good as new.

Initially, I hadn’t been too happy about getting my dress from the clearance section of David’s Bridal, but now, I could agree that a cheap wedding dress had its perks.

But something else struck me.

Mia wasn’t staring at me.

What could be more astounding than a bride in white lace and frills, tempting fate by getting coffee first?

A quick check confirmed that there was a hulking man behind me, a man Mia was ogling. A man who seemed to fill out the space quite comfortably and whose physique quite justified the ogling.

The man didn’t look at us, but someone in the line behind him coughed, reminding Mia and me of our manners.

“Can I help you?” Mia asked finally, tearing her eyes away from the man behind me.

I had to resist looking over my shoulder at the man who seemed to command so much attention. When you were almost married, as I was, second looks at other men were not in the cards.

I forced myself to think about the problem at hand and held my drink out. “This cup has my name on it, but it isn’t the drink I ordered via the app. But because it’s been sitting there for over ten minutes now, I suspect it could be mine. But I asked for an Americano, not a cappuccino,” I said, placing the cup on the counter as I registered that Mia was now giving me a pointed glare while also trying to keep a smile on her face and look approachable.

“Sorry about that,” Mia said, reaching for a cup. “I’ll get the right drink going for you now.”

The man behind me cleared his throat, which I knew was an indication of me taking too much time, so I thanked Mia and turned around.

The man I saw had two fine eyebrows on a dimpled face with eyes that were deep brown. His gaze met mine, and I realized he was definitely irritated.

The dimple disappeared, and he spoke. “Excuse me, are you done?” he asked, sounding annoyed.

I had stepped aside and was not blocking his path to Mia or the counter, but he’d still insisted on asking me this question, which was something I’d seen irritable people do.

“Yes, of course,” I said. “I can’t spend more than twenty minutes here because I plan to get married to my fiancé this morning, and I need to be at court in under an hour. So, yes, I am done.”

There was a sudden silence as the man’s eyes lingered on my face for a moment longer than was necessary. His gaze rested on me, as though he actually saw me and saw something he liked.

“I was hoping the wedding dress you’re wearing was for a costume party instead.” His voice was wry as he continued to gaze at me, and his lips had a mocking smile.

I realized he was joking. Of course he knew I was headed to a wedding. Why was I announcing it to everyone when my dress was already doing it for me?

“No, it’s not,” I replied curtly, but he was already speaking to Mia and placing his order for an Americano.

I pressed my lips together, unsure what to make of him. Unfortunately, he was the kind of guy that women found attractive, so I bet he was the kind of guy who had success in flirting with other women. He had short brown hair that was cut very well, a kind of windswept look to him even if the lookimplied that he had just stepped out of a hair salon, which couldn’t be true really since it was only a little after seven in the morning.

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