The two of them were talking about going down to the warehouse and getting the prototype equipment out to play with it. Mia turned to April, who sat next to me, and said, “You want to come? We’ll show you how it works. You could use it for your project.”
April hesitated mid-chew, her eyes lighting up. “That would be—”
“I’m sure you’ve got work to do, right?” her dad interjected. As if he wanted me to confirm it, his dark blue eyes—which were eerily like hers—flicked to me. Screw that. As her boss, I’d be the judge of what work she needed to get done.
“She’s been working hard. She could use a break. Go for it if you want to, Weiss,” I said to her.
But April’s eyes were on her dad, her features clouding. She blinked and then turned back to Mia. “Maybe if you’re still there in an hour or so. I do have to finish up some stuff for Jordan.”
Mia nodded, getting up from the table. “Join us whenever you want, April. We’ll be there until I can pry this one away from his desk,” she said with a wave of her hand in Adam’s direction. “Hopefully before midnight.”
“Another hour,” he said, capturing her hand and kissing the back of it.
“I’ll believe it when I see it.” She stuck out her tongue at him.
“Care to make it interesting?” He raised his brows at her.
“I always make it interesting.” With a cheeky grin, she turned to leave.
David watched her and Kat go with a smile. “You’ve got a winner,” he said to Adam with a nod in Mia’s direction. “I like her.”
Adam smiled but didn’t say anything as he forked the last of his Spanish rice into his mouth.
“So when’s the happy day?”
“We haven’t set a date yet. She just started medical school.”
I glanced at April, who was watching her father and Adam with a strange intensity. I wondered what was going through her head at that moment. What was the dynamic of their parent-child relationship? They didn’t seem particularly close, but she seemed to desperately want his approval. She’d been about to get up and go play with the girls before her father’s comment had stopped her. I wondered what kind of baggage was involved.
Another woman with Daddy issues, like with Cyndi. I seemed to attract those.
Of course, I had my own damn Daddy issues. I guess we all did.
“Smart woman, knows what she wants. Successful. Beautiful, too. You’ve got the complete package. You need to make that official soon before she figures out she’s getting the raw end of the deal,” David joked.
Adam threw his head back and laughed. “You were always good at taking me down a few pegs when I was getting too full of myself.”
“I was the best boss you ever had, admit it.”
Adam stood and wiped his mouth with a napkin before tossing it on the table. “You were the only boss I’ve ever had.”
David and Adam wandered back to his office, still laughing, while April watched them, absently gathering the paper plates and debris from the table and tossing them. I helped her collect the leftovers and put them in the fridge.
“You okay?”
She shrugged. “Yeah.”
She looked particularly fetching today in a short black skirt—barely long enough to be called professional attire—that came a few inches above her knees, a white, button-down blouse that hugged her luscious breasts, and shiny black patent Mary Janes with enough of a heel to emphasize the swell of her gorgeous calves.
I tried not to look too closely these days. It was pure torture to stare at what I couldn’t have. I supposed I could have called one of my paramours for a night of fun, but to what end?
By default, I guess I was again observing Friar Jordan’s New Law even if I’d shattered that fucker all to pieces—and in various different positions and locations in between April’s extremely soft and supple thighs.
The hot memory of it had me sporting a semi as we made our way back to my office. It didn’t help that she walked ahead of me, giving me no choice but to study the sway of that pleated skirt against the back of her legs. It was so fucking unfair that I couldn’t have her again.
“You seem…upset,” I said, mostly to distract myself from my wayward thoughts.
She glanced in the direction of Adam’s office, where the door was open and Adam and her father were bent over a computer screen having some sort of intense discussion about the business plan.
“No. You’re just mistaking my sexual frustration for something else,” she quipped as she sauntered into my office. I almost swallowed my own tongue.