Boss I Love to Hate: An Office Romance(28)

“Do you cook every day?” I asked, making small talk. Over conversation with the girls and watching Brad interact with his nieces, the tension in my shoulders eased up.

Mary chimed in, bouncing in her seat. “No, yesterday, we had McDonald’s, and the day before that, we had Taco Bell, and then we had mac and cheese yesterday, too.”

Brad continued to cut up some more of Mary’s chicken. “Mason is the stickler when it comes to everything organic and healthy. He called, and I promised I’d cook dinner tonight.”

Sarah laughed and then stuck some pasta in her mouth. “He’s the food Nazi. He wanted me to e-mail a breakdown of everything we had eaten over the weekend. He wanted pictures, too, for proof, but I told him we hadn’t taken any.”

Oddly enough, I could see that in Mason, him being the finance and numbers guy. He was meticulous in the office and picky about his lunch—from what his secretary had told me.

“I’m the cooler uncle, aren’t I?” He teasingly pushed at Mary’s side, his eyes playful.

“Yes, you are.” Mary's cheeks puffed out, her mouth full of food.

“He’s the one who hired the babysitter?” I asked.

“No. Charles and Becky did.” Brad stabbed his fork into the broccoli and fed Mary. “Here, you didn’t have enough broccoli.” He slipped more onto her plate. “They didn’t think Mason and I could handle the month they’d be gone on their honeymoon.” A devious grin crept up his mouth. “Mason will be pretty pissed that I fired her. But, hell, she was irresponsible and late, and I didn’t feel the kids were safe with her. She was always nose deep in her phone, and,” he added, just above a whisper, “everything Mary says goes, which can’t be good.”

“I heard you,” Mary said, mid-chew.

“You’re just as guilty.” Sarah outed him. “Mary gets whatever she wants from you.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Brad chuckled.

Mary reached into Brad’s pocket and plucked out a sugar packet. She opened it and poured it on top of her pasta. When Mary shrugged, the whole table laughed.

“It’s because you’re so cute. I can’t help it, now can I?” Brad picked up a broccoli floret and stuffed another one in Mary’s mouth.

“So, who’s going to watch them now?” I asked.

“Charles comes back in three weeks, and Mason comes back Wednesday.” He sighed heavily. “I’ll have to deal tomorrow and then work with Mason until Charles get back.” He reached for his wineglass and tipped it back. “We have Leilah, a teen who lives down the street. She can watch the girls until we get home. I’ll have to do pickup and drop-off for a bit.” He placed his glass down on the table, his tone turning serious. “I couldn’t stand Annie watching the kids when I didn’t have peace of mind. It had to be done.”

Knowing how much he loved his nieces and putting myself in his shoes, I would’ve done the same thing. With family, I’d rather not take chances. And, with Annie not doing her job, it was affecting Brad’s work schedule.

I sipped my water and crunched on the ice. “I can pick up Mary from school again if you’d like.”

I was doing this guy way too many favors, but I felt bad for him. He’d been strung out lately with the Titan deal. Picking up the girls wasn’t hard. It was a matter of principle, but I guess principle flew out the door when I’d made him make me a deal he still didn’t know about.

His eyes locked with mine, and his look made me shift in my seat. “I’d appreciate that, Sonia. Really.”

“Consider it done.” I tore my eyes away from his, lifting my glass to my lips, giving myself something to do.

The niceness between us was just plain bizarre. When you were used to bantering with someone a certain way and then, all of a sudden, the mood changed, it was plain odd. More than odd. Crazy twilight-zone odd.

Sarah and Mary were excused from the table to do their homework, and as I stood, Brad grabbed my plate and placed it on top of his.

“I can help do dishes,” I offered, aware that it was just the two of us left in the room. Again.

“It’s fine. We have a dishwasher.”

He moved with grace and confidence, even to the sink. Some people were born leaders. Brad was one of these men. I could tell from how he led his meetings and talked to his staff. When Brad walked into a room, there was no way he could be ignored. When he was present, people noticed. Even how he did the dishes was powerful.

I walked past him and grabbed the pans on the stove. “I actually love doing dishes.” I moved to the sink as he began to load the dishwasher.

“Of course you do. With five siblings, you must have done a lot of dishes.” He chuckled.

I held the pan up midair. “How do you know how many siblings I have? I never mentioned it.”

“You mentioned it to Charles one day.” He shrugged as though it was no big deal, but it was. A huge deal to me. He rarely paid attention. I never thought he cared to know about anyone else, except himself.

Goodness, he couldn’t even get the security guard’s name correct, and he had worked for him forever. Today had been an eye-opening, period-pad-buying, almost-deal-making experience.

“What?” He lifted an eyebrow.