“Yes, sir?” she asked softly.
My eyes danced around her face. “Is this going to be a regular thing with your father?”
She looked up at me, and her doe eyes stopped my heart in my chest. “No, sir. I can promise you that.”
I narrowed my eyes. “You’re sure that’s a promise you can make?”
Her eye twitched. “My father, he’s—”
I threaded my hands together and settled them against my thigh. “Take your time. Part of being employed here is understanding that we’re all a family. You don’t have to tell me anything you’re not prepared to, but if I know more about the situation, I can better help you handle it if it does happen again.”
She drew in a deep breath through her nose. “Back when I was little, my father was a massive rodeo racer. He tried just about all of it before he found his niche in steer wrestling. And when I was young—maybe ten or so—my father was in this parade they had scheduled for the little kids to watch.”
Holy shit, no wonder the man looked familiar. “I know them. The ones where the racers come out and wave to the crowd and stuff.”
“Exactly. One of those. Mom and I were right down there in the thick of it, and I was waving at him. Then, all of a sudden, Dad was on the ground underneath his horse. It happened so quickly that I didn’t even catch what happened. In one moment, he was waving and smiling, and the next moment, Mom was hopping the fence to go help Dad, while everyone else trotted around him like nothing had happened.”
“I’m sorry for what happened to him.”
She leaned back in the chair. “He wasn’t the same after that. The force of the fall broke all of his ribs at once. He needed extensive surgery on his back. He’s in chronic pain, hence the drinking. And of course, it took away the one thing he did for a living.”
“Which would be hard on anyone, much less a man who provides for his family.”
She nodded slowly. “It’s been a hard road for all of us. My going off to college was rough, especially on Mom. My father is why she can’t work. Every time she took a job, he’d pull this same kind of shit—I mean stuff—and he’d get her fired.”
I chuckled. “No need to edit ourselves when it’s just us. Out at your desk? Yes. But, in my office? You can let them fly.”
She smiled, and it gripped my blackened soul. “I appreciate that.”
“So, now you’re working a job you probably didn’t see for your future because you need to take care of your family.”
“Correct, and I promise you I’m going to do whatever it takes, so there isn’t another episode like that.”
I leaned forward. “Well, allow me to be the first to say that if it does happen again, you aren’t going to get fired.”
What I didn’t think was appropriate to tell her was the fact that I understood. I knew what she was going through. I remembered that day so vividly in my mind that I didn’t think I’d ever get rid of the memory. All of us were at that same rodeo. Dad and the rest of the competitors, trotting around on their horses and waving at the crowd. Shooting T-shirts into the stadium and helping to raffle off free drinks and shit like that.
What Bella didn’t know was that I knew what took her father down. I knew why her father had hit the ground and had his horse topple on top of him. I knew who was responsible, too.
I just didn’t know if it was my place to tell her because the story she remembers wasn’t the reality of what had happened.
Bella’s voice tore me from the recesses of my mind. “From the bottom of my heart, thank you so much for being so understanding about this. Honestly.”
I stood to my feet. “Now that we have that nasty business out of the way, I can speak on something a bit more uplifting.”
“Oh? What about?”
I grinned. “It’s commonplace for new employees to be taken out to dinner after their first day. So, I’ll stop by your desk promptly at five to pick you up.”
Bella blinked. “Pick me up… for dinner?”
I walked back around behind my desk. “Yes. It’s the least you deserve for being such a strong crux for your family, and then we get to go out somewhere nice on behalf of the company’s credit card.”
“Wait, I’m sorry. Did you just ask me out to dinner?”
I smirked. “Yes but a business dinner. It’s simply something we do here, but if it makes you uncomfortable, we don’t have t—”
She stood to her feet. “No, no, no! It’s fine.”
I smiled at her hastiness before she cleared her throat.
“I mean, I was just—a bit caught off guard. That’s all.”
I sat down in my chair. “Understood. People have told me I pivot a bit too quick sometimes.”
She giggled. “I can see why.”
The sound made my cock stiffen. “I’ll see you at five then, Miss Bella.”
She thumbed over her shoulder. “So, I’m dismissed?”
My eyes locked with my computer screen. “Yes, ma’am. You are dismissed.”
I was lying through my teeth, of course. I wanted to be around her, no matter the means I had to go to in order to make it happen. But, part of me also felt guilty. That rodeo accident fifteen years ago didn’t just take out her father. It took out my father, too. He hadn’t so much as mounted a horse ever since that day but not because he had gotten injured. But because his guilt was too great.
I’m sorry for what my father did to yours, Bella.
And I hoped this dinner was the first step in mending fences between our families that had been broken for far too long.
A quick knock came at my door. “I’m sorry, Wyatt, but the elevator isn’t working, I don’t think?”
I looked up at the sound of Bella’s voice. “Ah, it must be jammed again. We’ve been having some trouble with it. Here, I’ll come out and see what I can do.”
She shook her head. “No, no, that’s totally okay. I just can’t find the stai—”
I stood from my desk and ignored her plea as I slid past her at the door. I waited in the hallway and held out my hand, escorting her back toward the elevator. I placed my hand on the small of her back, gauging her response as my palm touched her clothing.
And when we stopped, I could’ve sworn I felt her lean into my touch. I grinned as I balled up my free fist. “All right, let’s give this a go.”
I slammed my fist against the button, and it lit up before the doors slid open. Bella giggled as she shook her head, and I grinned down at her as she walked into the elevator.
“I guess I’ll see you soon then, Fonz.”
A genuine smile crossed my face. “I’m looking forward to it.”
I waited for the doors to close, then counted to ten just to make sure she didn’t have yet another reason to backtrack. And once I knew she wasn’t coming back up here for something else, I slid my hand into my pants.
“Fucking penis won’t go down,” I murmured to myself.
I situated my half-erect cock against my body before breathing a sigh of relief. I didn’t know what kind of hold this woman had over me, but I hoped to figure it out over dinner. I walked back into my office and closed the door, and dammit if her fucking perfume wasn’t still lingering at the entrance. I leaned against the door and closed my eyes. I inhaled the glorious scent and felt the heat of the small of her back still etching itself against my palm.