Boss I Love to Hate: An Office Romance(100)

“No talking about work after work.” Brad slipped an arm around my waist and tucked me against him, my favorite spot in the whole world. “Or else I demand you give my girlfriend a raise for working after hours.”

“I should give her a raise for dealing with your dumba—ankle,” Mason said, throwing Mary a smile.

Right after I’d been fired, Mason had called me, apologized up and down for the Phala debacle, and offered me a secretary job since his secretary never came back from maternity leave. I wasn’t sure if I should take it, given that I was banging my former boss, who happened to be his brother, who happened to own the company.

But, after some persuasion on Charles and Mason and Brad’s part, I’d agreed, and I couldn’t be happier. Being a secretary was my calling. I was an organized freak, a match to Mason’s style, and I had enjoyed my job of playing Tetris with schedules and keeping everyone on task.

Mason was the opposite of Brad. He was organized, focused, and strictly business. Yes, he was neurotic and a complainer, especially about my boyfriend, whom I adored. I didn’t take his jabs so easily when he talked about Brad, but that was tame, and the rest of his craziness I could handle. Mason and I were a perfect match in secretary-boss heaven.

Dinner was set on the table, and once everyone was seated, Mary held Brad and my hands, leading the prayer of grace. She insisted on sitting in between us, her usual spot. And, when Mary slept over, she’d sleep in between us, too.

“Sarah, phone down.” Charles threw her that fatherly look, the one that brooked no arguments.

She huffed, teenager-style, sticking her fork in a potato wedge in front of her.

“Sarah has a boyfriend,” Mary cooed.

“Shut up.” Sarah glared.

“Sarah …” Becky began.

“You have a boyfriend?” Mason’s tone turned incredulous. “Is that even allowed?” His eyes made their way to Charles. “Didn’t you set rules for Sarah?”

“Can we just eat?” Charles asked, avoiding the topic.

This was the normal banter between the brothers. Mason overanalyzing, Charles serious and wanting to stick to the task, and then my boyfriend, who did everything to annoy Mason.

“I don’t have a boyfriend,” Sarah argued.

Mason’s shoulders relaxed. “Well then, there’s nothing to talk about.”

“She’s going to date. She’s a teenager,” Brad added, baiting his brother the only way he knew how.

“Not for a while. A long while.” Mason glared, his stare flickering between Brad and his teenage niece.

“Sarah, are you interested in a boy?” Brad asked.

“I’m not answering that question,” Sarah moaned, not looking up, but the blush on her cheeks answered for her.

“You are. Aren’t you?” Brad placed down his fork and rested his elbows on the table. “Come on, now. We’re family. There’s nothing to be embarrassed about.”

All eyes were on Sarah now.

Her eyebrows squeezed together. “Uh …” Her voice trailed off as though she were debating on what to say. She peered down at her uneaten food, tightly squeezed her eyes shut, and then blurted, “Yes. I’m kind of talking to someone right now.”

Brad leaned back on his chair, watching with too much amusement as Mason’s eyes went wide.

Funny how everyone, even Becky and Charles, was perfectly calm, but Mason … he paled.

“You’re too young.” His eyebrow twitched, and he stared at her as though she were a foreign object.

“I’ll be thirteen in a few months.”

“So?” Mason argued, dropping his fork, making it clatter against the china.

“All right. All right.” Charles raised a hand, defusing the escalating situation. “How about we just calm down and eat dinner?” He stared at his firstborn, dropped his gaze, and then stared at her some more.

“She’s talking to someone? What exactly does that mean?” Mason asked to no one in particular.

Oh boy, he was going to have issues with Sarah growing up. I bit my lip to hide my smile.

“Mason,” Charles said, exasperated. “Talking means talking. Not dating.”

The rest of dinner was uneventful, silent even. Not the normal, boisterous laughter that was usually the norm at the Brisken dinner table. Even Mary was silent.

“Can I be excused?” Sarah asked when her dinner plate was empty.

“One second.” Brad stood. “We have something we’ve got to announce. A surprise of sorts.”

Everyone automatically looked at my left finger, and for a moment, the tiniest of moments, my stomach dropped. Will he?

But then he plucked the tickets to the show from his pocket, and the whole table, Charles and Becky included, exhaled.

It wasn’t like I wasn’t ready. But it had only been a few months, and, yes, I’d thought of forever with Brad. I was a forever type of girl. I liked monogamy. Still, we were fairly new. Going from hating his guts to not being able to live without him was life-changing.

“Because I’m the best uncle and Sonia is the best auntie, we have a just-because surprise for our favorite nieces.” He grinned, loving every second of this.

“We’re your only nieces,” Mary said, making the table laugh.