Page 17 of Knot My Boss

“Seriously,” he responds in an awed tone.

Silence fills the space, each of us lost in our thoughts.

“Look.” I break the building tension, rubbing a hand across the back of my neck. “I am sorry,” I say again, in my most sincere voice. “The last thing I intended was to upset your mate. Or mine, for that matter.” The moment he accepts my apology is evident as Kyle’s posture becomes more relaxed.

“Yeah, okay, just keep your stalking to a minimum, please?” Kyle asks, his lips twitching as he fights the building laughter. “You need to take these with you, though.” He points to the pile of items I had delivered to his house.

“Fuuucck,” I say on a groan.

“Dude,” Kyle says, now outright laughing at me. “Darby is going to be a tough nut to crack.” My bear rumbles in my chest, causing Kyle’s brows to rise toward his hairline.

“Ignore him,” I grumble.

“Is there anything else you bought, Darby, that I need to be prepared for?” Kyle asks, raising a single eyebrow in question.

Heat creeps up my neck and into my face, causing me to hesitate. After a brief moment of silence, I rush out my words, hoping that Kyle doesn’t understand them.

“Iboughtheranengagementring,” I say, running the entire sentence into one long word.

Kyle stares at me, blinking owlishly, as his mouth opens and closes with no words coming out. He tilts his head at an angle, staring at me. The gears in his head are turning at a high rate of speed as he sifts through my words. I can tell the exact moment he figures it out, right before his face shows surprise.

“You bought her an engagement ring?” he asks in bewilderment right before he starts laughing. The prick laughs so damn hard that he falls out of his chair with a loud thud. Cobi, Kyle’s sister and garage receptionist, rushes into the office to see what happened. Her eyes widen in shock when she spots her brother rolling on the floor, tears of laughter streaking down his cheeks.

Shaking her head in bewilderment, Cobi leaves the pair of us alone, muttering under her breath, too softly for me to understand over the volume of Kyle’s laughter. I wait him out, picking at my fingernails.

“Are you finished yet, asshole? I have to get back to the restaurant,” I say flatly.

A hand pops up, just over the top of the desk, dismissing me with a wave. “Don’t forget to take yourgifts,” Kyle adds from the floor, emphasizing the word gifts. It takes me two trips to collect all the rejected presents I sent to Darby. My mind is already spinning on how to win over my mate.

Tomorrow is Christmas Eve, and we’ve been busy all day with people stopping by to grab a bite to eat or pick up gift certificates as a last-minute gift. It’s a nice reprieve, keeping my mind away from thoughts of Darby and how to make things right.

“Declan,” I call to my cousin on my way to one of the kiosks where we enter orders. “Can you make a delivery for me?”

“Since when do we make deliveries?” he snarks in return.

My shoulders sag in defeat. I shouldn’t have to explain myself damn it. “It’s to go to Kyle Morris’s house,” I state flatly. A variety of emotions pass over Declan’s face, but thankfully, he keeps his trap shut.

“Yeah, I’ll take it,” he says before walking away.

The overwhelming need to provide for my mate threatens to pull me under. I know that there are at least four of them in the house, including Darby and Kali. Unsure if they have any other company, I decide to send over enough food for eight people. It’s overkill, I know, but if they have company, there will be enough to go around. If not, they have leftovers and won’t have to cook another meal.

Without knowing what Darby might like, I place an order for a variety of menu options, including the meal they had ordered the previous evening. I add on twice as many dessert options, hoping to smooth over any lingering hurt feelings.

Twenty minutes later, Declan is moving through the dining room with a massive box in his arms.

“Dude, is there anything on our menu that you didn’t have made for them?” Declan grumbles, feigning to struggle under the weight of the large box.

“Just deliver it,” I gripe back, turning away from him as he heads outside.

Darby

Headlights flash across the front of the house, as if someone just pulled into the driveway. I get up to investigate, looking out the front window, just in time to see Declan struggling under the weight of a large box he is pulling out of the backseat of his car.

Rushing to open the door, I make it just as he juggles his parcel in an attempt to knock.

“What the hell?” I ask, stepping out of the way, allowing him to enter. The smell of grilled meat precedes any response he may have had.

“Compliments of your mate,” Declan says as he walks past me. Reaching the kitchen counter, he sets the box down. As he begins to remove the multitude of takeout containers, Kyle, Kali, and Fiora converge on the mini-buffet laid out on the counter.

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