“Hi Naomi, you look beautiful.”
See? He didn’t find me intimidating and I liked that he didn’t beat around the bush. I’d given him a look that told him my intentions, and he’d acted. I appreciated efficiency.
“Thanks. I’ll be ready to take these heels off soon, but they’re cute, aren’t they?”
I put a leg out to display the shoe, angling from side to side to show him that we were on the same page.
“Cute isn’t the first word that comes to mind,” he said, playing right along.
“No? What word comes to mind?” I dropped my leg only to lean a little closer. I was making this easy for him, and that was the point.
A shadow came into our space as Quentin opened his mouth to respond. “Don’t answer that, Quentin,” an all-too-familiar voice admonished.
My eyes snapped to Griffin, whom I’d been desperately trying to avoid ogling all night. With a casual dress policy at work, it wasn’t often I got to see him dressed up. He wasn’t wearing anything special, just a nice shirt with a Christmas tie and fitted slacks that did wonders for his butt. It didn’t matter though, the slightly different attire than what I was used to seeing him in made a little trickle of drool threaten to drop from the corner of my mouth.
Then I caught the dark look in his normally happy bright eyes and recalled what he’d just said. “Seriously, Griff?” I huffed. I was annoyed and maybe a little angry, but it was embarrassment I felt most acutely. Only I couldn’t decide if it was Griff’s intrusion or my flirting with Quentin I was embarrassed about.
“Uh, yeah, I won’t answer that,” Quentin agreed easily. “I’ll catch you later, Naomi.”
He was gone before I could respond.
“What was that about?” I snapped.
“You’ve been drinking. It’s not like you to flirt with coworkers. I don’t want you to make a mistake you’ll regret.” He sounded apologetic and maybe a little embarrassed himself. I supposed I could muster some sympathy. This new dynamic was difficult for him.
“Look, Griff, I know you’ve always seen me like a little sister. I know that if Summer worked here you’d probably act the same way toward her. But you also know that’s one of the reasons she doesn’t work for Brazen.” I was giving him a lecture, but it was necessary and probably overdue. “Summer and I are both adults now. We’ve been adults for a while, actually. You’ll always be family but you can drop some of the overbearing stuff, okay?”
As I spoke, I noticed Griff’s cheeks begin to turn the softest tint of red. I’d never seen him blush and I was confused by the reaction. Was he angry, or what? It wasn’t like Griff to feel uncomfortable or upset by my honesty. He had to know this kind of conversation would come at some point.
Unsure what else to do, I continued, “I’m your employee now, and I need you to treat me like other employees, especially in front of our colleagues. I want to be viewed as a professional at Brazen, not the boss’s little sister.” Maybe this wasn’t the best situation to make my point, me flirting with a colleague, but I had to do it anyway.
“You’re not my little sister,” he practically choked out.
What was with him tonight? “Best friend’s little sister. Little sister’s best friend. Whatever you want to call it.”
I took a long sip of the wine in my hand, wondering if I was overreacting, because Griff was right about one thing – I’d had a bit too much to drink.
He rubbed a hand over his mouth, eyeing me. “It’s hard for me to treat you like any other employee, Naomi,” he said. “You aren’t any other employee to me. I will always worry about you and keep an eye on you. I can’t help it.”
His words simultaneously warmed me and cut me. He loved me, he cared about me. Just not the way I did him.
Placing a gentle hand on his arm, I tried to be understanding, even as he broke my heart. It wasn’t the first time he’d done it and it wouldn’t be the last. “Can you at least try?”
I didn’t want to leave Brazen and work somewhere else. I didn’t want any distance between me and Griff. But I was beginning to wonder how much my heart could take from this man who loved me unconditionally, just not in the way I needed him to.
Griffin
I wish I could fire every punk who hit on Naomi. With mixed Italian and Mexican heritage, mesmerizing blue eyes, and a fit body from regular skateboarding and surfing, there was no denying she was a bombshell. But there were plenty of bombshells in southern California and quite a few who worked right at Brazen headquarters. That was only the first thing to get these punks’ attention. She was also sharp, intuitive, fiercely independent, and possessed the emotional perception of a ninety-year-old. You’d think this would intimidate most guys, and I guess the ones her age didn’t have the balls to approach her. But now that she worked in an environment with men who were five, ten, or fifteen years older than her, it seemed like there was always someone trying to get her attention.
We were at a restaurant in Jay Beach for the Brazen holiday party, and I was struggling like hell not to march over to Naomi, pick her up, and carry her away with me. I’d already made an ass of myself once, and I needed to chill the fuck out. Normally I was the definition of chill, but I didn’t know if I could go on like this. Watching Naomi giggle and laugh with another guy, touch his forearm and lean close to his chest… If I wasn’t careful, I’d break the pint glass in my grip.
We were both standing amongst a group of people, only she was actually engaged in conversation while I was staring at her and ignoring the people around me. I might have gotten Quentin out of the picture for the night, but now she was standing far too close to Nate from marketing. Nate was at least my age, if not older. Yet she was definitely returning his advances, and that made me feel all sorts of odd sensations.
Naomi threw her head back at something Nate said, her hand going to his chest. He placed a hand on her hip, and leaned down to say something in her ear. My breathing became unsteady and a hot ache pierced my chest until I found myself rubbing it, willing it to go away. She had asked me to try to treat her like any other colleague, but she also completely misunderstood how I felt about her.
For someone so perceptive, Naomi didn’t see me clearly. And maybe that was my own fault. Or maybe it was simply because we’d had a certain type of relationship for twenty-three years now and why would she question it?
Nate had a hand on the small of Naomi’s back and they were walking away from the group, toward the front door. A powerful spark lit inside of me and before I could question what the hell I was doing, my feet were moving. It was nearing midnight, and people had started trickling out over the past hour, many of them coupling off. I knew Naomi had just lectured me about boundaries, but the need to stop her was a visceral one, urgent and nearing panic. It was completely foreign to me, not at all in line with the rest of my personality.
I reached them as Nate was helping Naomi into her coat, and it was then I realized I had no plan, no clue what to say. Neither of them were facing me at first and when Naomi turned around, I froze. Our eyes locked and my mouth parted, but no words came out. I wanted to stop her, but she’d asked me not to.