Page 79 of Galen's Redemption
“Excellent! Thank you for volunteering. But just know, as soon as your father gets out of your—our—lives, this job, and perks, are yours.”
Galen grinned. “Perks?”
His cheeks flushed, Robert stared into Galen’s eyes. “I hearthe boss is very good to those he works with.”
“Oh God. That’s cheesy.”
Robert groaned. “I’m tired and hungover, so that’s the best you’re going to get. Anyway, your first official act as our office manager will be to go home, take care of Mouse, and then get ready for me to come pick you up for the date I missed last night. And I am so very sorry about that. I was in an ugly place and let thebottle talk me into taking what I thought was the easy way out. I’ve told people over and over that the problems will still be there in the morning, but I didn’t listen.”
“You need to call your mom. She reached out to me last night and said she was worried about you. Andy and Marco were concerned too.”
Robert winced. “God, when I screw up, I tend to go overboard.”
“Don’t worry. I called themall to let them know I was here and taking care of you.”
He grinned. “Taking care of me? I like how that sounds.”
Once he had the papers filed away again, Galen got up and moved closer to Robert. “Do we have a date?”
“We do. I intend on buying you the biggest, spiciest bowl of chili they have there.”
“Will it come with bread?”
Robert gave a dramatic roll of his eyes. “You just want everything.”He nipped at Galen’s lips. “Tell you what. If you stay here Sunday night, there could be dessert too.”
“Let me check in with Andy. I think he and Marco were planning to get away for a few days, but that shouldn’t be a problem.”
Robert licked a strip along Galen’s neck, which sent shivers of delight coursing through his body.
“I should go….”
But he didn’t want to. He wanted to know what sexwith Robert was like. Was he forceful? Sweet? Demanding? No, Robert would be a considerate lover, Galen was certain. He would never leave Galen unfulfilled, like so many other guys had. Even if the sex got rough, Robert would still take care of Galen.
“I love you.”
The breathy words tickled Galen’s ear. “I love you too.”
God, how good did it feel to say it aloud? Galen never believed he’d hearthe words or say them to anyone. It filled him with fear but, at the same time, made him strong enough to stand against it.
Robert patted Galen on the ass. “Go take care of Mouse and we’ll pick this up later. I’m going to lock myself in here for a while and go through this paperwork.” He kissed Galen. “Thank you for this.”
Heat rushed through Galen. “Should a boss be kissing his employees? Whatwould the others say if…?”
Why had he never thought of this before? The whole scene unfolded in his head, and each step along the way solidified the vision Galen was having.
“Galen? What’s wrong? You’ve gone white as a sheet.”
It couldn’t be that simple… could it? Oh, holy shit. The answer had been staring Galen in the face the whole time, and he’d never really noticed it before. Or, maybe,he’d chosen to ignore it.
“I have to go.” He kissed Robert. “And thank you. I promise I won’t let you down. In fact, I think my life is going to start turning around for the better very soon.”
And before Robert could reply, Galen was out the door. He called for an Uber, then scrolled through his contact list. As soon as he found the number he needed, he dialed and waited for the one person whocould help him finally take back control of his life to answer.
“Galen? I’m surprised to hear from you.”
“I’m sorry, Olivia, I should have kept in touch. I’ve been spending a lot of time feeling sorry for myself, but if you heard a really loud pop today, that was me getting my head out of my ass.”
She chortled. “I didn’t hear it, but I’m glad to know the surgery was a success. What can I dofor you?”
