I didn’t stop by to see Mia until near the end of her first day in the office. It was a dick move on my part and I knew it, but all day I kept thinking about how well we were getting along until she signed the employment contract. I couldn’t get the thought out of my head that hiring her had been a bad decision. I was too attracted to her and since I couldn’t do anything about it, avoidance seemed the best way to go.

My opinion on hiring her didn’t change very much seeing her sitting in an office that I owned. Yes, I decided. I’d fucked up and fucked up bad. Her back was to the door because she wasn’t sitting at her desk, but standing and facing a back wall. After a second or two, I realized that she was hanging pictures.

“Do you need help?” I asked, coming through the door.

Unfortunately, I startled her and she somehow managed to hit her finger with the hammer instead of the nail.

“Ow! Shit!” She shook her hand while glaring at me, and then she stuck her thumb in her mouth. “What?” She asked around her thumb.

Good lord, the sight of her thumb in her mouth and every thought in my head left until the only things I could think about were her mouth, my dick, and introducing the two of them. “I stopped by to see how you were doing, saw you and asked if you needed help.”

She pulled her thumb out of her mouth with a pop. Fucking hell. “As you can see,” she said with a wave of her hand. Everything about her was cold, even her voice was frosty. “I managed to hang three others without your help and was doing perfectly fine with the fourth until you came by.”

It had been wrong of me to not stop by earlier in the day to see and speak with her. Whatever camaraderie we had managed to achieve the day before, I’d shot straight to hell in less than twenty hours.

In some hard-to-imagine universe, I supposed it could be seen as a good thing. From the expression on her face, I couldn’t see her ever agreeing to dinner again. Flirting looked just about as improbable.

And yet…

I still felt the same. Whatever her feelings for me were, they had not changed mine for her. I wanted her. “I should have been by earlier and helped you with the other three,” I said.

“What?” She still held a hammer in her hand, I noted with a bit of unease. “Why would it ever occur to you to stop by and help me hang pictures? How could that thought cross your mind when you couldn’t even stop by my office to say good morning, so glad to have you here, or screw you, on the way to your own office? Which, I might add, is no more than ten steps from here.”

A quick glance at her desk showed Sara had given her our policy books to read. But yes, not stopping by earlier was clearly a mistake. That, at least, was now perfectly clear. It hit me at that moment, I could lie and make up a story about having a meeting. No doubt, she’d see straight through that since I’d already used it once before. Or, option two, I could tell her the truth.

But as I stood there looking at her, I couldn’t see her taking it well that I had feelings for her and that I was questioning my decision to bring her onboard. So, I went with option three, landing somewhere between options one and two.

“I agree I should have made it a point to stop by sooner. In fact, I’d planned to do that very thing. But as I walked into the building today, I also knew it’d be your first day working for someone else. I wasn’t sure you wanted to see me.” It wasn’t a complete lie. I had thought that as I entered the building, but it hadn’t been the deciding factor for me.

Regardless of that fact, her expression had lost some if its ire and she watched me with slightly less anger. Heavy emphasis on the slightly.

She placed the hammer on her desk. “What exactly are you saying?”

“Please forgive me for being completely clueless. I’d say it wouldn’t happen again, but I’m sure it will and I don’t want to lie.”

More of her anger fell away. “Okay,” she said. “You’re forgiven. But only this once. Don’t take this as precedence.”

“Duly noted.” I nodded toward the unhung picture, still on the floor where she’d left it after hitting her thumb with the hammer. “Now can I help you with the fourth?”

She took a deep breath and sighed. “I don’t know. Now I’m thinking maybe this space only needs three. Do you think it needs another one?”

“Seriously? You’re asking me for decorating advice?” Because I sucked at decorating.

“This place doesn’t look so bad.”

It didn’t and there was a reason why that was the case. ”I know what my strengths and weaknesses are. Trust me, decorating is one hundred percent weakness. I hired a decorator for the office, my place here in Boston, and my vacation home on Hawaii’s Big Island.” I added that last one just to get a reaction. Another dick move. Apparently, those were all I was capable of today.

Her eyes widened. “You have a vacation home in Hawaii?”

“Yes, and it’s beautiful.”

She didn’t say anything, rather, she stood there looking at me with her arms crossed and her head titled to one side. I felt as if I was a science experiment.

“What?” I finally asked.

Her lips lifted into somewhat of a smile and I relaxed a bit. “I just realized that whatever I was charging for my services before weren’t nearly enough. It never occurred to me that I might possibly be able to afford a vacation home one day. In Hawaii, no less.” She stopped and thought for a moment before asking, “You know what that means don’t you?”

“No.” Honestly, I had no idea since I was focused on her mouth.

“I should have made you pay me more.”

I loved how she could deliver a line like that so deadpan and I couldn’t tell if she was joking or not. “Now you know,” I told her.

She bent down to pick up the fourth picture and placed it on her desk. “I don’t think I’m going to hang this one. Three are good enough for now and I can always either add the fourth one later or rotate which ones I have up.”

“Works for me.” I shrugged. “Like I said, I don’t decorate.” I looked at my watch and it was well after time I left. Mia obviously thought the same because she started packing up her desk. “Did you park in the deck?” I asked her and at her nod, I continued. “Walk out with me?”

“Has everyone else gone home?”

“Usually by this time, there are only a few people still here.” I raised an eyebrow. “Are you worried about being seen with me?”

“I’m new and it’s bad enough I used to own a competing business. Don’t make it worse by making me look like the boss’s favorite.”

“And walking out with your boss, who just so happened to be leaving at the same time you were, will give people reason to think that?”

She picked up her purse.

“Mia,” I said as calmly as I could. “If I hear so much as a whisper about anyone talking about you, that person will be looking for a new job.”

“You can’t fire someone just because they were talking about me.”

“Watch me,” I told her as we walked out of the office. I nodded to Sara as we passed. “This is a private company. I don’t answer to shareholders. I can pretty much do anything I want and get away with it.” It sounded smug and prideful, but it was the truth.

I waited for her to say something else, but she was silent as we made it into the parking deck.

We parted ways at the elevator. I had to walk down a flight of stairs to get to my car and she’d parked on the fifth level. I waited for the elevator with her. I knew it was a safe place, but you could never be too careful.

“I hope you had a good first day, Mia,” I said as the doors closed behind her.