Page 6 of His Vivacious Angel
Dad answers for him when he says, “Our new Senior Advisor, Forest Woods.”
Internally, a scream builds in my throat as I process that this man is now not only my neighbor but also my supervisor, and I try to cover it up with a snort. “This has to be a joke. No way your name is ‘Forest Woods’. Did your parents hate you or something?”
“It’s a family name,” Forest says, pressing his lips together in a thin line, his brow darkening. He keeps his voice low and neutral under Dad’s close watch. “I was named after my grandfather.”
“So your great-grandparents hated your grandfather too,” I say. “Got it.”
Barbara, who had been standing quietly to the side, puckers her lips as her shoulders shake with suppressed laughter.
Dad pinches the bridge of his nose when he sits heavily in his chair and grumbles, “If you weren’t my daughter, I’d have to send you to HR for that.”
“I know, Daddy,” I say, bending and kissing his cheek, playing up our relationship. If Forest thinks he can boss me around, well, he can think again.
Forest swallows hard, his prominent Adam’s apple bobbing above his tight, starched white collar. “About the whole stalking thing… We met at the grocery store last night. She thinks I followed her home, but it was a huge misunderstanding. I moved in across the street two days ago. That’s it.”
“Ah, so we’re neighbors. I’d wondered who’d bought the old Khatri place,” Dad says. “Small world.”
“Yes,” Forest says with relief, though he cuts me a nervous glance. “Too small sometimes,” he mumbles under his breath, adjusting his already pin-straight tie.
With a huff of laughter, Dad says, “Expect a knock on the door and an invitation to dinner soon from my wife.” Then he shoos me away. “I need to walk Mr. Woods through his new responsibilities.”
“Okay, Daddy,” I say sweetly, and he shoots me a sharp-eyed look. I rarely call him Daddy anymore, so he knows exactly what I’m up to.
I walk past Forest in my black stilettos with a sly grin and look back over my shoulder when I get to the door. We may have just met, but I’m already so good at predicting his lecherous behavior that I'm not surprised in the least to find him twisted slightly to watch me.
Dad catches him looking, too, and I hold back a cackle as Dad’s face goes stormy. God help Forest Woods.
Barbara follows me out of the office, closing the door. “You know the employee handbook says the firm highly discourages fraternizing with coworkers. That goes double for anyone in a position of authority.”
“Oh, please,” I tell Barbara, who stands half a foot taller than me, with wild red hair. “Was that implemented before or after Dad fell in love with his former intern?” That intern being my mother. The two haven’t been able to keep their hands off each other in their nearly thirty years of marriage. Their youngest of four, my brother Brady, came along when Dad was already in his early fifties. Yeesh.
Barbara chuckles. She’s been Dad’s assistant for even longer and saw my parents fall in love firsthand. “Before. Bless their hearts, it didn’t do much good.”
“Well, don’t you worry about me,” I tell her. “You won’t catch me dead sniffing anywhere near Forest. He’s repulsive.”
“Sure, he is,” Barbara says when she takes her seat at her desk outside of Dad’s office. “That’s why your cheeks are all pink, and you can’t stop smiling. It’s because that tall drink of water is ‘repulsive’,” she says sarcastically.
I drop the smile I hadn’t realized I’d been sporting and tsk, slowing my stride at the door of my office down the hall, which unfortunately, I now share with Forest. “If you’d seen him last night, you would agree.”
“I, for one, certainly wouldn’t have minded seeing him last night, if you know what I mean,” Barbara says with a chuckle, then slides her glasses up her nose, turning her attention to her computer.
I roll my eyes and close myself into my office, which is only slightly smaller than Dad’s—still too small for comfort—to sit at my desk on the left side of the room. Sunshine slants through the large picture window on the back wall, with a view of the lush greenbelt running parallel to the firm’s building. Since my fellow Associate Advisor, Jazlene, is on extended maternity leave, the desk beside mine is vacant, leaving Forest and me alone until she returns to work. Just my freaking luck.
While I was in school at the University of Texas, I was solely focused on my education so I could graduate early and move back home as quickly as possible. I couldn’t stand being away from my family for so long, especially my nieces and nephews, which is why I planned ahead for such a brutal course schedule. I didn’t have time for dating or boys while I was in my accelerated program, having entered UT as a junior after racking up college credits in high school, then graduating with my degree in Financial Planning at only twenty years old.
I wasn’t lying to Barbara about not being interested in Forest, no matter how handsome he is. I’m “sowing my wild oats,” as I relentlessly tease my dad before each date I go on. Ihaven’t slept with any of them since they’ve, for the most part, been boring and uninteresting, but Dad doesn’t know that.
Shayla and Bailey might have settled down with their husbands, James and Isaiah, at eighteen and twenty-one, respectively, but I don’t plan on following in their footsteps just yet—certainly not with a coworker I’d have to see every day once things fizzle out.
Ain’t no way.
That doesn’t mean it isn’t fun to tease him.
I brace myself when I hear heavy footsteps approaching the office.
Dad pokes his head in first, his expression narrowing with misgiving at the innocent smile I put on, and shoves his hands in the pockets of his black pinstripe slacks. “Autumn.”
I brighten. “Yes, Daddy?”
