Page 24 of Between Takes
“I’m offering an olive branch. Meet me half-way, at least?” His eyes latched onto mine like a lifeline.
Barging into my flat on my day off and dragging me out of bed was a pretty shitty olive branch. Still, if Sherry wouldn’t accept my resignation, it would be nice to not have to worry about Shaun growling at me.
“Where are we going?” I asked with caution, trying to keep the possibility of backing out on the table.
“Smoothies.”
The hope in his eyes stilled me. It would be nice to not hate my boss.
“Okay, I’ll be right back.”
Before I could retreat farther, his hand shot out, grasping my arm. It felt like I’d touched a live wire. The shock reverberated through my body in delicious ways. He snatched his hand back, and had I not been fixated on the sensation, I’d have laughed at the colour staining his cheeks.
“Something you can work out in,” he added. “We’re running first.”
I nodded. It was all I could manage in that moment.
Why hadn’t I pitched a fit? Me, running? Not bloody likely.
Yet I went along with it. I blamed the tiredness. Clearly, I’d still been half asleep when agreeing to this.
Half an hour, forty-five minutes, an hour – hell, I didn’t know how long he tortured me. It felt like an age. But sometime later, we finally slowed to a walk outside a little smoothie hut in Cardiff Bay. Sweat dripped down my face. My t-shirt had moulded itself to my torso. I was very glad for my ponytail, but it just wasn’t cutting it. While he ordered our smoothies, I ripped the bobble out of my hair and scraped it back into a very messy bun. I couldn’t deal with the hair sticking to the back of my neck any longer. I didn’t care how it looked.
When he returned, my berry smoothie in hand, he took in the change but chose not to comment.
He’d also lost his t-shirt.
It was tucked into the waistband of his shorts and his bare skin glistened in the early morning sunlight. Sweat trickled down his neck and my gaze dipped, tracking it as it slid down his defined chest. My mouth went dry while he sipped his bright-green smoothie. Heat flooded me and I tensed.
He’s your boss and, tragic past or not, he’s a dick.
Hoping he hadn’t noticed, I peeked at him from beneath my lashes. He was staring out at the sea before us, a small smirk tugging at his lips. His eyes shifted, catching mine. My stomach dropped at the amusement there, and I turned away, tugging on my straw, trying to control the warmth engulfing my face.
“Now do you want to tell me why you really dragged me out of bed?” I asked after swallowing a good mouthful of smoothie, pretending I wasn’t checking him out. Considering we had another four days of 4AM call times, I was sour about the whole thing. “If you say it was to watch me suffer, I might have to pour this delicious smoothie over your head.”
“Hey, you did well. You kept pace with me.”
“Don’t lie to me.”
He laughed, but the sound tapered off when the scowl didn’t fall from my lips. He took my arm and guided me to the steps of Roald Dahl Plass. It was a wide-open concrete area that stepped down to the jetty, surrounded by thirty-foot pillars and a mixture of old and modern architecture. It also had a direct line of view out to sea and very few places to take shelter from the breeze.
“I wasn’t lying. You were great.” He sat down on the cold stone, gesturing for me to follow suit.
“I’ve had some very detailed phone calls and emails from your personal trainer in the last two weeks. I know how much you work out, pal. Don’t lie to me.”
He placed his smoothie aside and leaned back, the picture of ease. His discomfort was clear in the pinch of his eyes. “We didn’t get off to the best start.”
“Stating the obvious much?”
At his sharp look, I wisely shut my mouth and leant back on the stone to bask in the morning light. The area was almost deserted, but then it was a Sunday morning and most people were sensible enough to still be in their beds.
“When Sherry called last night to lay me out, I was surprised. You’re the first person to try and relate to my situation. I know what I said, but talking to you helped, and something clicked yesterday. For me, at least.” He eyed me like I was a puzzle and he couldn’t find the missing piece. “You’re more than my latest babysitter.”
Latest? There had been more assistants? Lovely how Sherry failed to disclose that.
“Did you run the rest of them off too?”
“Yes. Most of them quit on the first day. I expected you to run for the hills with tears in your eyes after I nearly took your nose off with the trailer door.”
