Against the Rules

“That sounds reasonable.”

“Doesn’t it, though?” She seems to be relaxing. I go on to explain about all the other perks even as half my lizard brain keeps undressing her and shoving her into a nearby corner so I can kiss her pink lipstick off.

“When you say that Monica’s in charge of me, what does that mean?”

“She assigns you tasks. You answer to her.”

“Not to you?”

“I mean, the tasks are to meet my needs.” Too bad I can’t have you do them in the nude. “But hiring and firing is done by committee only here at O’Hare.”

“What do you mean? You don’t get final say?”

“Only with the hirings, but not the firings. That’s up to the team.”

“Oh. So Monica and Cesar?”

“And a few others, yup. As long as you’re a good teammate, then most people will want you to stay.”

Her shoulders sag in relief. She likes this plan. I’d thought it up on the fly. An hour ago, the O’Hare policy was that I could fire anyone, but my limited human resource knowledge told me that would be a problem when it came to Lucia because I’m going to want to fuck her repeatedly both in the office and out of it. From the power of her slap, though, she doesn’t seem prepared to jump at my offer. She has to have the right to say no and not worry that the job is going to be imperiled, hence my new committee firing idea. Monica loved it and said it would go a long way toward team building. That was the one thing she liked in our impromptu personnel meeting. The rest of it—me telling her Lucia was going to be Mrs. Finn O’Hare by the end of the next quarter—she wasn’t keen on.

Monica said that to avoid a lawsuit, I’d have to keep my hands to myself during work hours, so I will. No touching. That doesn’t mean I can’t let Lucia seduce me.

Chapter 6

Lucia

“So? How is it going so far?” I can hear the sounds of the restaurant’s kitchen behind her. She must have gone in early today.

“Weird.” I lean up against the wall outside of the lunchroom.

“Well, you weren’t back before I left so I’m going to go out on a limb and say he didn’t fire you.”

“Nope. I thought he was going to but then he was all super nice. He even gave me a personal tour of the place.” As a matter of fact, he was overly nice. The day had gone off without a hitch.

“Hmm. That’s fishy.” I couldn’t agree more. He’d gone from a pig to a complete gentleman. “I guess he knows you won’t put up with shit.” That could be it or maybe he doesn’t remember the exact details from that night. Or maybe he sees me as a challenge now. That would actually explain why he is being so nice.

“He was more like that man I thought he’d be.” I shrug. I’m still off kilter and can’t place this feeling I’m having about him. I also can’t stop thinking about him. But now it’s not because I’m worried he’ll fire me, I’m more concerned that I’ll fall for him.

“You’re obsessing.” B.J. says.

“I am not.”

“You are.”

I grit my teeth. Sometimes it’s annoying when someone knows you so well. I can’t hide anything from B.J. I might as well fess up. “I know, okay? I don’t need you to tell me that.” It’s a problem of mine. I can be obsessive about things when I don’t understand them. Finn O’ Hare makes that easy. How could someone not obsess over those gorgeous green eyes and killer smile?

B.J. laughs. “Hey, leave me some of that special! I haven’t gotten to taste it yet.” I pull the phone away from my ear before she blows my eardrum.

“Do you have to yell into the phone?”

“Sorry. It’s crab. You know how I get when seafood is involved. What are you having?”

“There is a nice lunchroom here. I’m going to check out what they have. I forgot my lunch and I was too nervous to eat this morning.”

“Oh. I thought you packed that for me.”

I snort a laugh. “It’s all yours.”

“That’s good because I ate it already.” I shake my head. Kevin walks by, giving me a wave as he heads into the lunchroom. I wave back. I hear someone call B.J’s name. “Hold on.”

“What time are you out of there? I’m out early tonight.” That explains why she’s in so early.

“I’m not sure.”

“Well, hit me up when you leave. Sam’s been asking about you,” she adds. I roll my eyes.

“Keep Sam far away from me,” I tell her before ending the call. Sam is the owner of the restaurant B.J. works for. I bet Finn might actually know him. If Finn is really like the version of him I met last night, then he and Sam would likely get along great.