Page 31 of The German's Guilty Pleasure
“Water would be good, thank you,” I answered. I had every intention of holding the cold bottle on my lap until I got a grip on the situation.
The light in the kitchen went off, and she joined me in the living room, handing me the bottle of water. She had a wine cooler in one hand and a shot of something else in the other. She downed the shot and washed it back with the wine cooler. I guess I knew where she stood on the matter as well. She lowered herself to a chair and tucked her leg underneath her. The position gave me a view up her short sleep shorts that even the bottle of cold water couldn’t overcome. I grew harder still. She was phenomenal, and I could never have her. It took that thought to finally calm the roaring of my blood.
“It is dark in here.”
She lowered the bottle to her leg. “I like it dark sometimes.”
“You can hide in the dark.”
“Not always a bad thing,” she answered, taking another drink of the wine cooler.
I snapped the light on, and the scene came into focus. Her cheeks were red, and her eyes were bloodshot. She refused to look at me, and if she could make herself smaller in the chair, she would disappear. “You were crying.”
“Leave it alone, Lars.” She tipped the bottle back to her lips and finished it. She disappeared and left me to think about how I was the one to make her cry. I did not have to think hard about why. When she returned, she had another wine cooler. I noticed she drank only pop at the restaurant as though she did not trust herself around alcohol. Now I understood why.
I rubbed my hands on my pants and leaned forward. “I came over to apologize. I am sorry if I upset you.”
She tipped the bottle to her lips and drank half of it before she lowered it again. “You have a right to your opinion, Lars.”
“True, but it obviously upset you.”
She finished the bottle and set it down on the table. “What upset me had everything to do with the fact that you thought I was that person. I’m not. I don’t want your business. Besides, I signed your stupid sexual misconduct clause. You’re covered, remember?”
My lips thinned at her tone, and I understood that I did not upset her as much as I hurt her, and that hit me straight in the gut. “The clause only applies to the workplace. When we are here or at my penthouse, the clause does not apply.”
“Duh, Lars,” she said with palpable frustration. “This is our private space. We get to do what we want here without it applying to the business. If you can’t separate business and pleasure, then you have a bigger problem.”
“This is new for me, Serenity.”
She threw her arm out toward her bedroom. “If it’s so new, maybe you shouldn’t design sensual aids for women you employ!”
A small smile tipped the left side of my lips at her aggravation. “Maybe not, but I did, so …”
“You also should not suggest I give my review of said aid in front of your mother and her five closest adult entertainment friends. That’s not me, Lars. That’s not me at all.”
I leaned back on the couch and nodded, my gaze never leaving hers. “I need to apologize for that, too. I was pissy and it was wrong. I am sorry.”
“Apology accepted,” she whispered. “I’m sorry for getting angry, even if I had the right to be. I should have been more mature about it. I don’t know how to feel, act, or hold my own around you and Gretchen. I get flustered and overreact.”
I leaned forward and took her hand. “Mutterloves you. Do not worry about her. For some reason, she is a softie where you are concerned.”
“I like her a lot, and I don’t want to do anything to make her think less of me or that I’m unable to do my job.”
I shook my head immediately. “You are doing fine, Serenity. She likes what we are doing here. She told me as much last night.”
She tipped her head to the side. “Something was off between you two tonight. I couldn’t figure out what it was. Do you not like her friends? You barely said a word other than to throw me under the bus.”
“Which you did in return,” I said pointedly. “I would have preferred to keep Serenity between us.” I pointed to the bedroom and let my hand drop.
She held up her hands. “Truce? I don’t want to fight with you, Lars. I don’t like confrontation, and I don’t like being at odds with the person I have to work closely with.”
I patted the spot next to me on the couch. She stood and swung her bottom around to sit next to me. I put my arm around her and held her warm body to me. “Truce. I know we are both stressed right now, and havingMutterhere only makes it more so. I did not want to start the day out tomorrow still at odds. If I did not say so, thank you for going to dinner with us tonight. I was not aware we were going to have such colorful company, in case you thought I was.”
She shook her head. “No, it was easy to see they were Gretchen’s friends and not yours. Colorful they were, but they were also sweet and funny. I enjoyed dinner for the most part, even if I was confused about her choice in friends.”
I bit my lip to keep from telling her the truth. I could not let on thatMutterwas a lesbian. As much as I hated to admit it,Mutterwas right. Staying in the closet was important when running a business such as this one. I would have to do something to distract her, and I had just the thing.
“Did you get a chance to make your spreadsheet on the difference between the two aids?”
