Page 32 of Love Off-Limits
Damage control. DAMAGE. CONTROL. NOW. OLIVIA.
“Just one more thing,” I said hastily, tucking my hands behind my back and taking yet another step away from him. Not that it mattered. His presence was so magnetic, I didn’t think I could escape it on the furthest corner of the farm.
“Okay,” he said again, his tone still husky and seductive.
Possibly I was hearing what I wanted to hear and his tone was perfectly normal. But how? How did he make that one word sound so sexy?
I cleared my throat. “We have a strict policy against staff fraternization here at the farm.”
His eyebrows went up.
“We’ve found it just makes it easier to avoid drama,” I continued. “With everyone living and sleeping on the farm, we’ve run into trouble with people sneaking off into barns or neglecting their work, plus jealousy and backstabbing and all of that—it’s led to fighting and picking sides and that’s more than we want to deal with. The season is only four months long. People can behave themselves for four months.”
Tyler narrowed his gaze, his expression playful. “Do they, though? A bunch of college students, secluded in the mountains, living and working together day in and day out...”
I rolled my eyes. “The rule at least makes them be more careful. I don’t so much care about what we don’tseethem do, as long as it doesn’t interfere with their work.”
“Understood.” He reached out and traced a single finger down the side of my hand, one finger finally hooking around my pinky. “Does that rule apply to the boss, too?”
I closed my eyes. It was the first intentional contact save our very professional handshake and it left me reeling. I turned my palm, lacing my fingers with his for a brief moment, and gave his hand a quick squeeze before letting him go.
“Especiallythe boss,” I said. “I have to set a good example. Plus, I told you how hard things are for my dad right now.” There was so much more I could tell him about that, and I suddenly longed to. To explain my fears and worries, my hurt. Something told me he’d be as sensitive and gentle as I needed him to be. But that was counterproductive if anything was. Especially if he washere,on the farm. My father had caught me fooling around with a farmhand exactly once when I was just shy of my eighteenth birthday, and it had been one time too many. If it happened now? When I wanted to be the one in charge? It wasn’t exactly the message I needed to send. “Tyler, there’s a lot on the line for me right now. I can’t afford to fool around this summer.”
His jaw tightened. “Because that’s what we were doing at the wedding? Fooling around?”
Fooling around was definitely how things had started. But I’d be lying if I said it hadn’t felt like it ended on an entirely different note. But that couldn’t matter.
“We both knew it wasn’t going anywhere that night.”
He shrugged unapologetically. “I didn’t. I’m not exactly a one-night-stand kind of guy, Liv.”
Ohhh,he couldn’t call me Liv. Not if I wanted to maintain any semblance of professionalism. But also, what was he saying about me? ThatIwas a one-night stand kind of woman?
“It wasn’texactlya one-night stand,” I said, folding my arms across my chest.
He shrugged. “Because we didn’t have sex? So it doesn’t matter that I told you things about my career, my dreams, my family, that I’ve never told anyone else?”
I closed my eyes. He wasn’t playing fair. We’d both gotten lost in the magic of that night. But our lives were very different. And I’d made it clear when I left that I wasn’t in a place to try for a relationship.
“I’m sorry if I gave you the wrong impression. But this can’t be about me, Tyler. I’m happy to have you stay, and I’ll help you with your career however I can, but you and me—it can’t happen.”
He pressed his lips together, his eyes shuttering the emotion—the yearning—that had been so obvious only moments before. “Understood. I’m glad to know where you stand.”
“Tyler—”
“Don’t, Olivia. It’s okay. I’m okay. I’m grateful for the job. I don’t have any expectations beyond that. You want to show me the way to HR?”
I nodded as he stepped to the side, making room for me to leave in front of him.
As I led him to our HR manager’s office, I couldn’t shake the feeling that I’d just setsomethinginto motion—something big.
I just couldn’t figure out if that something was good or bad.
Chapter Ten
Tyler
Bob from Human Resources was a nice guy. Warm and grandfatherly, with a contagious grin and a laugh that shook his midsection like he was Santa Claus. It was unsurprising to learn that during the Christmas season, when the farm brought Christmas trees in to sell at their farm store, he dressed up as Santa to add to the atmosphere.
