When You're Back (Rosemary Beach 11)

“Thank you,” I replied, feeling my chest swell with pride. I had been so worried I wouldn’t be able to do this job correctly, but here she was telling me she was impressed with my work. I could do this. Mase was right. He believed in me, and I needed to start believing in me, too.

“Now that you’ve shown me you can handle the daily tasks, I need to add one more thing to your list. My husband has a guy working on building and expanding the menu to include seafood at his steakhouse here in Dallas, which he has already done successfully in Key West. River Kipling. He’s asked for some help filing his receipts and bills. Until the expansion is complete, Arthur needs to use my extra filing cabinet to organize all of that. We’ll need you to file the paperwork that River brings in, and he’ll occasionally ask you to make phone calls on his behalf while he’s on-site.”

Oh, no. How could I tell her I didn’t want to work with River? She’d just said I was doing a great job and wanted me around for a while. I couldn’t refuse to do this. Besides, he would just be dropping stuff off every once in a while. Not a big deal. I was making more out of this than I needed to.

“OK, sure,” I replied, not feeling sure at all.

She gave me an approving smile and took one last drink of her coffee before standing up. “He should be by sometime before lunch to go over things with you. I told him you’d be expecting him.”

Today? Already? I needed more time. I nodded. It was all I could do.

“Great. Well, back to work. I have a student arriving in about five. Enjoy your morning, Reese.”

I think I muttered something about her enjoying her morning, too, but I wasn’t sure. My mind was on dealing with River . . . or Captain. I needed to tell Mase about this. He needed to know that I’d be seeing River more often—but then what? He would be furious, and I’d probably lose this job.

I liked my job. I wouldn’t get a better one. Having this on my résumé was going to introduce me to more opportunities.

At some point, I was able to get my mind off of Captain long enough to focus on my calls and e-mails. I brushed down two horses for Piper and made another pot of coffee and brought her a cup. Just before I was ready to take my lunch and after Piper had left to eat with her husband, my office door opened. I knew without looking up who it would be.

Same messy hair in a ponytail, same smart-ass grin. I only gave him a glance before I looked back down at my computer screen and finished reading an e-mail. Or at least tried to.

“Are you mad about this arrangement?” he asked, walking over to set a bag on my desk.

I couldn’t ignore him; Piper had asked me to help him out. I forced myself to look at him. “What do you have for me?” I asked, inwardly cringing.

He smirked. “First, I have some of the best Mexican food in Dallas for you. Once we eat, we can get to the other stuff.”

He had brought me food again. This wasn’t just friendly—I knew that. He was trying to flirt with me. But I was Mase’s, and this wasn’t going to work. “I’ve already eaten,” I lied.

Captain shook his head as if he was disappointed in me. “I’m not a fan of liars.”

Ugh. This man pissed me off. “Let’s just get to business. What do you need me to file?” I wasn’t going to play this cat-and-mouse game or whatever it was he was trying to do with me.

He opened the bag and pulled out the most delicious-smelling taco in the world. He unwrapped it before taking a bite and sitting down in one of the chairs across from me. What was he doing, trying to torture me? “It’s my lunch break. Thought I’d share with you, but since you want to pretend like you’ve already eaten, I’m sure you won’t mind if I eat in front of you. I’m starving.”

Fantastic. I tried to breathe through my mouth so I couldn’t smell the delicious taco, but I could already taste it. And I wanted some. Swinging my gaze back to my computer screen, I reread the same sentence three times, and each time it said something different. He was making me feel flustered, and I didn’t like it.

“Could you toss me another taco?” he asked, and I jerked my gaze up to see him wadding up the empty wrapper.

“I wasn’t aware my new role included feeding you. Get it yourself,” I snapped.

This only made him laugh. I could see him out of the corner of my eye stand up and get another taco out of the bag. He stood there and unwrapped it, then placed it right in front of me before reaching in to get another and taking his seat across from me again. “Damn good tacos,” he said.

I tried not to look down at the taco. Why was he so determined to feed me? And why did he always bring good things to eat? Why couldn’t he bring something I didn’t like? Things would be much easier that way.

“Just eat it, Reese. It’s not a marriage proposal; it’s a motherfucking taco, for crying out loud.”

I shot him an angry glare, then gave in and picked up the taco to take a bite. I didn’t look at him, and he didn’t gloat in triumph. We sat there silently, and I finished off the taco, although I felt a tug of guilt with each bite.

“One more?” Captain asked.

I figured I’d already had one so I might as well have two. We didn’t talk. We didn’t argue. It was peaceful, and I was hoping the business side of our relationship would go just as smoothly.

He cleaned away our taco feast and then pulled out a large envelope and placed it in front of me. “This first batch is a mess, and there are a lot of receipts. I’ll try to get them to you every couple of days so this doesn’t happen again. Also, do you have a cell phone? I need to be able to text you when I have calls I need you to make for me.”

I did have a cell phone, but I wasn’t sure that having him text me was a good idea. I just stared up at him silently.

He sighed and raised his eyebrows while giving me that exasperated look. “Would you rather I text you or visit you every time I need you to make phone calls?”

I quickly gave him my number, which made him chuckle.

“I’ll be here on Monday to go over some other things I need filed and categorized separately.”

I nodded. Could he leave now?

Captain gave me a smirk, then turned to go. “Enjoyed lunch with you,” he said, just before he walked out of the office. He always got the last word. It was annoying.

Mase

“Friday night. Come on, man. Reese will enjoy a good honky-tonk. You haven’t been with me in ages. Let’s drink up, play some pool, and dance. It’ll be fun.” Major badgered me as he sat on the fence post while I worked on one of my new quarter horses, Bingo.