Page 9 of Falling for Her Grumpy Boss

Or if she even wants to.

The sharp ping of a message cuts through the quiet, snapping my attention to the screen. The sound feels louder than it should in the stillness, a brief spike of something different.

I open the text from Jeremy.

Can you please come to my office?

My fingers hover over the keyboard for a second before I push my chair back and stand. The motion feels heavier than it should, like I’m stepping into something I can’t quite see yet.

The walk down the hallway is short, familiar. Jeremy’s door is closed, the frosted glass catching the overhead light, his name etched cleanly across the surface.

I knock once.

“Come in.”

I push the door open and step inside; the air is cooler here, quieter. His office always feels a degree removed from the rest of the building, like the noise has to ask permission before it enters. Jeremy stands behind his desk when I walk in, but he moves around it immediately, closing the distance in a few long steps.

“Close the door,” he says.

The words aren’t sharp, but I still realize I’ve been holding my breath when I exhale and turn to do as he asks. The latch clicks behind me, louder now that the hallway noise is gone.

He gestures toward the seating area off to the side, a pair of chairs angled toward each other with a low table between them. Not the chair in front of his desk. Not the place people sit when they’re being evaluated or dismissed.

Something in my shoulders loosens a fraction.

I cross the room and take the seat he indicated, smoothing my skirt before settling back. The leather is cool against my legs. Jeremy takes the chair opposite me, not crowding the space, but close enough that the conversation doesn’t feel distant.

For a moment, he just looks at me.

Not assessing. Not critical. Just… looking.

“Clara’s not coming back anytime soon,” he says finally.

The words land without surprise, but they still shift something inside me. I nod once, slow, thinking of the way she held Lily, the way she didn’t look like she was missing anything here.

“I figured,” I say.

He studies my face for a second longer, then nods, as if that confirms something for him. “She wants to focus on Lily for a while. Maybe longer. We’re not putting a timeline on it.”

“That makes sense.”

It does. Saying it out loud feels easier than the quiet restlessness that’s been sitting under my skin all morning.

Jeremy leans back slightly, one arm draped along the back of the chair, his posture relaxed but his attention still fixed on me. “You’re not happy.”

I hold his gaze, not rushing to answer. “I’m… underused.”

His mouth curves faintly at one corner, like he expected that wording. “That’s one way to put it.”

I gesture lightly toward the door, toward the rest of the office beyond it. “Everything that needs doing is done. Your assistant has most of it handled before it even reaches me. I’m not complaining,” I add, though the edge in my voice says otherwise. “I just don’t like sitting still.”

“No,” he agrees, easily. “You don’t.”

Silence stretches for a moment, but it doesn’t feel uncomfortable. Just… deliberate.

“I’ve been thinking about that,” he continues, leaning forward slightly, his forearms resting on his thighs. “About where you fit right now, and where you’d be better used.”

Something in his tone sharpens my focus.