11
Billie
By the time Thursday rolled around, I was beyond mad. I was pissed. I’d only spoken to Quentin once this week and he’d practically blanked me. I really didn’t get it. During the tour on Saturday, it had really seemed like he was interested in me. He’d stared at me for so long that I thought he might ask me on a date or something, but clearly, I was wrong. A date seemed to be the last thing on his mind since he refused to even speak to me! I was seriously beginning to doubt Carla’s intuition too. After all, she’d been the one who insisted he wanted to sleep with me—maybe he’d actually been staring at me so hard because he wanted to murder me. That was the only logical reason I could come up with for his impolite behavior.
“It just isn’t fair at all,” I grumbled to myself as I crossed my arms over my chest. “What did I ever do to him?” It was a question that had been on my mind all week so far. No matter how I looked at it, I just couldn’t figure out why Quentin didn’t like me.
You see, ever since I’d started working at Wendall Winery, I’d been nothing but a stalwart employee. I’d made a good impression with every member of staff I’d come into contact with (at least, as far as I was aware) and I’d spent every moment working hard to improve the accounting system. Quentin should have been pleased with me. I wasn’t looking for a pat on the shoulder just for doing my job, but he was barely acknowledging me! If Wendall Winery really valued fairness, then the boss should be enforcing it and not making his staff feel insecure all the time for no reason.
After his weird behavior on Monday, every time I’d run into him, he immediately went in the opposite direction. He didn’t even greet me politely or explain why he was leaving. He would just vanish. It was downright rude and I may have been a new employee, but I didn’t like being treated that way. I needed to do something about it before it spiraled out of control and I ended up being the pariah of the office.
I began to tap my pen on my desk as I sat in my office that morning wondering what the best course of action was. I glanced at my computer screen and pursed my lips. I could send him an e-mail, I considered. No, too impersonal. I shook my head and sighed. Even if Quentin had elected to start sending me tasks and information exclusively by e-mail, I didn’t want to follow in his footsteps. I wanted to get a straight answer from him and I knew an e-mail wasn’t the way to do it.
It would have helped if I understood what I’d done wrong, I thought as I pursed my lips and thought back through my first few days at work. If I had offended him in any way, then I could apologize and maybe bake him some cookies to make up for it, but I honestly had no idea. I’d been nothing but polite and professional to him since I’d started except for the coffee spill, but I thought we’d cleared the air about that. Besides, for the first week, he’d seemed absolutely fine with me—friendly even. What had changed?
I let out a frustrated groan and pushed myself up from my chair. I started pacing around the office with a finger to my lips. He’d seemed nice enough during that first week and I’d met his dad who was kind, funny, and charming. I expected Quentin to take after his father and this behavior didn’t fit that profile at all. None of it made sense and the irrationality of it all was driving me mad. One thing was certain, however, I needed to get to the bottom of why he was snubbing me—and fast.
“Aha!” I cried out as I came up with the perfect way to confront him. I crossed back over to my computer and opened up the office calendar. There was a management meeting every Thursday with the quality technicians in the basement. I found it and nodded to myself. If I waited outside his office until he came back, he’d have no choice but to talk to me. And if he tried to avoid me again this time, I’d just follow him.
“I’m going to make you like me, Quentin Wendall. You just wait and see!” I vowed before snapping my fingers triumphantly.
The hand on my watch ticked toward two o’clock and I huffed. Quentin was supposed to arrive soon and I still wasn’t sure I was ready for the confrontation. I’d been fired up about it, but now that it was here, I was beginning to grow more nervous by the second. It was true that I didn’t like being treated unfairly, but this wasn’t just anyone we were talking about here. Quentin was my boss. He had the power to fire me or worse, make my life here so miserable that I end up quitting.
The thought made me gulp and I could feel my resolve breaking just a little. No, you’ve got this, Billie. You’re a strong woman. You can’t let him push you around, I reassured myself and nodded my head. It eased my nerves, but it did nothing to quell my impatience. Hurry up, Quentin, I thought as I crossed one leg over the other.
It turned out that I didn’t have long to wait. After just thirty more seconds, Quentin turned the corner with his head buried in his phone and I stood up, my fists clenched in indignation. He was just as handsome as always, but today his stubble had grown a little thick, as though he hadn’t had time for a shave this morning. It suited him and I bit down on my bottom lip as desire overwhelmed me.
Get a grip, Billie. You’re here to get answers, not get laid!
I cleared my throat and stepped forward. “Quentin, I’ve been meaning to speak to you…”
Before I could finish what I was saying, my boss looked up at me and his eyes darkened. The words turned to ash in my mouth and I lost my courage for a moment. I could barely make out the green of his eyes anymore and the sight worried me. I’d never seen someone look so murderous before and I honestly thought he was going to grab hold of me and drag me off to some dark corner. But that wasn’t what he did.
Instead of even saying anything back, Quentin breezed past me and pushed his way into his office. He didn’t even say a word I couldn’t believe the audacity of that man. It reignited the fire inside me and frustration began to fuel me once more.
I can’t let him get away with this, I told myself. After I’d waited all this time to get an answer, he was still willing to just completely ignore me. Not only was it rude, it was damn right unprofessional for a boss! I refused to take it any longer. I should have walked away back to my desk, but I’d never been the type to give up on something I believed in.
Instead, I marched into his office behind him and slammed the door shut. “What the hell do you think—”
I couldn’t finish my sentence. The second I’d closed the door behind me, Quentin was pushing me back against it and his lips were pressing furiously against my own. He tasted like sweet coffee and it surprised me how much I liked it, but I was in shock and I barely had time to register much more than that. My eyes had flown open wide and I couldn’t move. What the hell was I supposed to do? This was totally unchartered territory.
My own boss was kissing me! Kissing me! It was totally crazy. One minute, Quentin had been completely ice cold with me and the next, he was kissing me with a fire that I had no idea he possessed inside of him. His lips were soft but insistent against my own and I felt myself growing dizzier with every second that passed. My eyes closed as I succumbed to the pleasure of his tongue dancing with my own. A kiss had never felt so good before, but just as I was beginning to melt into it, he drew back.
My eyes were still closed for a second and I took in a deep, shaky breath before I finally opened them. Quentin stood there, still imprisoning me with his arms at my sides and his hands pressed against the door. He was looking at me intently and his face was flushed. He looked completely debauched already and I wanted to push further. I wanted to know what he looked like with his clothes hanging off him and his hair messy, but I didn’t get the chance.
“This is why I’ve been avoiding you, Billie,” he told me firmly, his voice rough and low as he spoke. “This is why I have to stay away from you. We can’t do this. I know better than anyone that we can’t do this and yet, it’s all I’ve been thinking about ever since you started here.”
I was speechless. I couldn’t believe Quentin really had a crush on me. I was flattered and I couldn’t say I wasn’t interested. After all, he was tall, handsome, and b
uff, plus he was a wonderful boss (to everyone else at least) and a loving father. He was the whole package. The fact that he was probably pretty well-off didn’t hurt either, but that was the least important thing to me.
My mind was off daydreaming about us going on our first date already when he said the words that cut through that fantasy like a knife.
“But this is wrong. We can’t take this any further. There are too many risks involved and it’s so unprofessional it’s unreal.” He paused to let out a bitter laugh and run a hand through his thick, silky hair. “So, until I get my damn libido under control, you’re going to have to put up with me being a bit short with you. I’m sorry.”
With those last words, Quentin pulled me away from the door and stormed out, leaving me alone with my thoughts.
What the hell just happened?! I asked myself as I tried to make sense of everything Quentin had just confessed. It was obvious he was attracted to me, but he clearly didn’t want to be with me. Just because you were attracted to someone didn’t mean you wanted to be with them. Maybe he only liked the way I looked and not anything else about me. The thought depressed me a little and I remembered that I still didn’t know whether he was married or not.
After letting out a frustrated sigh, I left Quentin’s office and headed back to my own. I was totally out of my depth and I needed some advice about what to do. After all, I wasn’t sure how I was supposed to handle being in the same office as him now that I knew how wonderful his lips had felt on my own.
As soon as I was seated at my desk, I pulled out my phone and text Carla. ‘You were right about my boss’ was all I said. Even admitting it on a text made my heart flutter and despite all my fears and worries, I couldn’t help but smile.
I received Carla’s reply in a few seconds. It was just a full page of exclamation marks. I let out a howl of laughter in spite of the confusing situation before finally deciding to tackle the problem after work. For now, I would focus on being the professional I knew I could be. Even if my lips were still tingling with the memory of Quentin’s incredible kiss.
12
Quentin
My fingers were shaking as I pulled my phone out of my pocket. After completing messing up and kissing Billie, I’d run like a coward until I reached the tasting room. I don’t know how many members of staff I’d passed, I barely paid any attention. All I’d wanted in that moment was to get as far away from Billie as possible. I couldn’t risk staying in such close proximity with her. I knew I wouldn’t be able to stop myself from tearing her clothes off, not now that I knew what she tasted like.
Strawberries, I reminded myself and let the memory of her Chapstick grip me tight once again. A big part of me thought that the risk was totally worth it to know what it was like to kiss those beautiful, soft lips, while the other part of me began listing all the reasons why we shouldn’t be together.
She’s far too young for you, to start with, I told myself. You have a kid. What kind of young woman wants to take care of someone else’s kid? Besides, she’s your employee! You’re going to cause all sorts of trouble. You barely know her. It’s not worth it.
A tormented groan escaped my lips as I weighed everything up. I dropped my head to my hands and cursed myself for being so reckless. The tasting room was a place I didn’t often spend much time in, but I was glad that it provided some semblance of privacy.
“Right this way, ladies and gentlemen! Let the tasting begin!” a tour guide called out from the other side of the door. My heart began thumping in my chest and I knew I couldn’t put on a mask for anyone right then. So, not wanting to speak to anyone, I scurried off into the storage room and made myself a seat out of a footstool I found there.
‘Fucked up. Kissed her.’ I couldn’t think of any other way to break the news to Peter, so that’s all I sent in my text to him. As soon as the message was sent, my head fell back against the wine racks behind me and I let out a groan of frustration.
What a stupid, stupid idiot I am, I thought to myself as I shook my head. I’d been trying so damn hard to make things better and all I’d done was make everything infinitely worse. Now, I was hiding out in what was practically a closet in my own business! I couldn’t believe how badly I’d already fucked up with Billie. She’d barely been here two weeks and I couldn’t keep it in my pants. How was I going to cope for the next month? Year? It felt impossible.
My head fell into my hands and I sighed loudly. Just outside the storage room door, I could hear excited guests at the vineyard mumbling about wine over the soft mellow sound of classical music. I was going to be trapped in here for at least another twenty minutes which gave me plenty of time to mull over just how royally I’d screwed things up.
As if things could get any worse, not only did I kiss an employee, but I’d done it without her permission… The realization made me groan and I balled my hand into a fist before slamming it into the shelves behind me.
“Huh? What was that?” someone said from behind the door.
I stayed completely still for a long moment, fearful of being found hiding like a little lost puppy. Thankfully, no one came to check out the noise. My thoughts went back to Billie and guilt welled inside me as I recalled how soft her lips felt against mine. I couldn’t believe I had kissed her and then left her all alone to deal with it. It was not only a jerk move, but it was entirely unprofessional. If anyone in my staff had done that, I’d fire them on the spot, but I couldn’t exactly fire myself now, could I? And I definitely wasn’t going to fire her, so I needed to find some other method to handle this and I needed to do it quick.
“Oh, Quentin, what have you done?” I lamented as I rubbed my temples in an attempt to ease my impending headache.
After a short wait hidden away in the storage room, I heard the departing footsteps of patrons leaving the tasting room. I pressed my ear to the door and listened out until the very last person had left before I emerged with a sigh of relief. Before I could head back to my office, however, my phone began ringing in my pocket.
“Hello?” I said as I answered it, too flustered to check the caller ID.
“Mr. Wendall, I’m terribly sorry to interrupt you while you’re at work,” Mandy, Lincoln’s nanny, began, “but I need to go home. My father has had a fall in his nursing home and he’s being sent to the hospital. I need to go see him.”
“Of course, of course,” I replied, nodding my head in spite of the fact that she couldn’t see me. “I understand, family comes first.”
“Thank you, sir. I really appreciate it,” she said in a hurried voice. “What should I do about Linc? I’ve just brought him back from kindergarten and he’s—”
“Just drop him at my office on your way to the hospital,” I told her. “I’ll come outside now so I can get him straight from you, okay?”
“Yes, that’s great. Thank you again.”
“No worries. I hope your father is okay.”
“Me too, Mr. Wendall.”
I hung up and headed straight for the lobby of the main building. To my surprise, Peter was standing at the reception desk chatting to a member of the kitchen staff. Knowing that it would take a short while for Mandy to arrive, I stepped close enough to Peter to listen in on their conversation.
“If you can get a hold of the champagne flutes for tonight’s VIP guests, I’d be grateful,” Peter was saying.
“Of course,” the waitress replied with a nod before scurrying back toward the kitchen.
Peter glanced up at me then, but before I could approach him, he sent me a murderous glare and turned away. Clearly, he didn’t approve of my actions toward Billie any more than I did. Before I could explain myself to him, however, he headed out of the front doors toward the fields. I sighed again and shook my head, feeling ashamed for how I’d acted. At least, seeing Lincoln would simultaneously cheer me up and take my mind off things.
With that in mind, I headed toward the door and I looked out of the glass for any sign of Mandy’s Prius so I could retrieve Lincol
n from her as quickly as possible. I’d been pacing up and down the length of the lobby for ten minutes by the time she showed up looking flustered. Without hesitation, I hurried outside to the side the car.
“I’m sorry again, Mr. Wendall,” Mandy said with a frown as she opened the door to let Lincoln out.
“It’s okay, Mandy. Let me know how things go with your father, okay?” I reassured her with a smile.
“Of course.” She nodded once before returning to the vehicle and heading off the way she came.
“Daddy, Daddy, Daddy!” Lincoln cried out as he closed the gap between us and leaped up into my arms. “I missed you so much, Daddy!”
“I missed you too, Linc,” I told him as I gave him a big cuddle. “Did you have a good time with Nanny Mandy?”
Lincoln thought about the question for a second as he wriggled free of my grasp and landed on the floor. “It was okay,” he answered with a shrug of his shoulders. “I want to run! Race you, Daddy!” He sprinted off in the direction of the fields. With a chuckle, I reached out and grabbed him by the t-shirt.
“Before you go running off, you little monster, Daddy needs to go get his things from inside,” I told him and guided him in the direction of the office.
“Oh,” he mumbled before looking up at me. “Then I want to see that pretty woman with the long name!”
Of course. Of fucking course, he wants to see Billie, I thought dejectedly. The one person I’d been trying to avoid would be the one person Lincoln wanted to see. Behind me, I heard a roar of laughter and I turned to see that Peter was standing there with one of the supervisors who worked in the fields. He was watching me and Lincoln with a big grin on his face and I cursed him silently. Peter might have been my best friend, but he always did enjoy watching me squirm a little.
Dear Boss: A Single Dad Office Romance (Forbidden First Times Book 3) Page 7
