Page 39 of Waiting on Life
I wished I knew. I’d been working at No Angels for about six years, and I really did enjoy it most of the time. Having Kyle here for the three weeks? I looked forward to coming in, because I knew he’d be there with a smile on his face that would light up my day entirely. Now that I’d talked with Tammy, my heart wasn’t suffering the same crushing sensation that it had when I wasn’t sure what was going on in my head. I liked Kyle. A lot. He made me happy.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you smile like that,” Cary said, a grin on his face.
“I don’t think I’ve ever been happy like this,” I countered. “I… like him. I mean, like as in—”
“As in like. I get it.”
Why didn’t it surprise me that my revelation wasn’t a bigger shock to him? “You don’t seem freaked out.”
He chuckled. “Look at the guys you’ve hired. We’re young, cute, and pretty damn perky.”
“But I never looked at any of you like—”
“I know. You’ve been nothing but the perfect stalwart boss and defender. See, that’s the thing of it. You’ve stepped up for each of us, taking us under your wing. The guys in the bar? Because of you they accept us. Lemme ask you something. What happened with Scott?”
“I fired his ass.”
He gave me this “and?” look.
I sighed, because I knew where this was going. “And hired him back. He’d let himself fall under Donnie’s sway, and when he realized it, he was really sorry.”
“Not surprising. He wants to be loved more than anything else. I don’t think he’s had a lot of that in his life. When you hired him, he was walking on the clouds, he was so happy. The first shift he and I worked together, he marveled at how someone like him was hired to work in a place like this.”
An odd realization struck me in that moment. These were my boys. All of them. Not in a sexual way, but in a family-that-I-built kind of way. I was proud of each of them for their accomplishments, and I mourned their setbacks with them. It also dawned on me that I was pretty much a dick as a boss, because I rarely complimented any of the staff. If I was going to show Kyle my better side, maybe I needed to let it out for others too.
“You all do an incredible job. I’m sorry I don’t say it more often.”
Cary laughed so hard, he had to put a hand on the tabletop to catch his breath. “Don’t say it? You don’t have to. You show it in everything you do. You fired Scott, but you gave him another chance. You’re kind and patient with us, to a fault most times.”
That didn’t sound like me at all. “You guys never do anything that makes me have to yell.”
“Oh? What about when I made an entire round of drinks with the wrong liquor? That couldn’t have been cheap. Did you yell? Nope. You put a hand on my back, told me it could happen to anyone—anyone but you, you said adamantly—and that all we needed to do was make the drinks again and everything would be fine.”
“What good would it have done me to yell?” I insisted.
Cary shrugged. “Might have made you feel better. I could see how annoyed you were and hear how tight your voice was. Did you shout at me? No, even if I deserved it.”
“So you’re saying I’m not a shitty boss.”
“No, I’m saying you’re a great guy to work for. Hell, you’re a great guy in general. So, in my roundabout way, I’m saying if Kyle makes you happy, then I can’t wait to meet him.”
The door opened, cutting off my comment. I turned, ready to do my job, when the breath was sucked from my lungs as a vision of beauty lounged in the doorway, silhouetted by the late-afternoon sun. He wore tight pants stretched over his own taut ass, and a T-shirt that seemed to have been painted on. He had on shiny bangle earrings, and a pair of dark sunglasses. When he pulled the glasses off in a dramatic fashion, I could see evidence of the eyeliner and a bit of shading on his eyes. He looked even more breathtaking than I thought he could be, and every bit the diva that I knew he wasn’t.
“Hey, Tammy.”
She gave Cary a big smile. “How was your trip? I want to hear all about it.” She nodded in the direction of the back bar. “Somewhere over there.” She grabbed Cary’s hand and pulled him behind her to a couple of seats in the corner.
I, meanwhile, think I swallowed my tongue, because I couldn’t make out a coherent sentence to save my life as Kyle came to where I was standing.
“Toby.”
Even his voice vibrated through me. It was husky, smoldering, and sexy. I wanted to reach beneath the counter and grab a book out for him to read to me. Yeah, I was so gone on Kyle, it wasn’t even funny.
“Not talking?” He grinned. “Cat got your tongue?”
“No, not a cat. You look…wowdoesn’t even start to cover it.”
He shook his head, and two tiny bells on the earrings gave out a soft tinkle. “Do you like? Tammy took me shopping.”
