“Um,” she said. “I mean, my car has been having this–”
“Just send me the bills. I’ll have it taken care of. But I need you two to stay here and keep an eye on Lola for me while I run to the tower. I need to handle a few things in person, but I don’t want Lola on her own while she’s unwell.”
They shared another look.
“She’s been running a fever. If it gets over a hundred and two, make sure she takes the pills by her bedside. She needs to keep drinking, but don’t wake her if she’s resting. And make sure to let that animal of hers out to relieve itself occasionally.”
Paisley grinned. “It’s called a dog.”
“Can you two handle this?”
“Am I going to get in trouble with Griff for not finishing the report he asked for this morning?” Cassie asked.
“I’ll speak to him. Until I return, this is the only work I want you to think about.”
I left the two women with Lola while I headed to the tower. I could remotely handle most of my tasks, but I needed to check on Max. I’d sent a few texts and hadn’t heard back from her and was beginning to worry she’d done something stupid.
I found her in the penthouse with a tub of ice cream and a movie playing.
“I texted,” I said.
“Yeah? I figured if you could just disappear without letting me know, then I could ignore your annoying texts for a few hours.”
“I didn’t mean to disappear,” I said.
Max paused her movie and turned to face me. “Wait, are you about to apologize? I was expecting you to somehow yell at me for this and make it my fault.”
“Lola is sick and I went to check on her. I accidentally fell asleep while I was waiting for her to wake so she could take more medicine.”
“You like… never sleep, though.”
“I’m aware. But this time I slept straight through the night.”
Max set down her ice cream. I really had her attention now. “Is that why you look a little less scary than usual? You even sound a little less… I don’t know, like a time bomb that could explode at any moment.”
I rummaged through the fridge for a bottle of water and took a long sip. I’d been so caught up in keeping an eye on Lola that I was just realizing I hadn’t eaten or drank anything since I showed up at her apartment yesterday. I was thirsty as hell and my stomach was rumbling. “I do feel much better,” I admitted. “It has been a long time since I slept like that.”
“So are you going to try to claim you’re only such an asshole because you were sleep deprived? Because that feels like a cop out.”
“No,” I said. “I’m still an asshole, don’t worry.”
Max looked horrified when I grinned at her. “Are you grinning?” she asked.
I self-consciously wiped the amusement from my face.
“Uncle Stones, please don’t tell me I’m going to have to start actually liking you again. Because I’ve already got pretty comfortable with the idea that you’re the devil.”
“I’ll try to make sure you don’t need to resort to liking me. But I should really get back to Lola’s place. She might be waking soon.”
“And you think she’s going to worry if her boss isn’t in her bedroom when she wakes up?”
I paused with the bottle still in my hands. When I heard it aloud, I was painfully aware of how unprofessional my behavior was. “She just moved here, Max,” I said, unable to stop from sounding defensive. “She doesn’t have anyone to keep an eye on her. She didn’t even have medicine in her house.”
“Is she alone right now?” Max asked.
“No. I had two of her co-workers come to keep an eye on her while I came here to check on you.”
“Then she’s fine, Uncle Stones. If you go back there, it’s going to look like you have a thing for her. Do you?” she added in a suspicious voice.
“No,” I snapped. “I’ve got the board of directors breathing down my neck, waiting for any excuse to remove me. The last thing I need is for anyone to believe I’ve entered into a relationship with an employee–my executive assistant, no less.”
“Entered into a relationship,” Max repeated, followed by a laugh. “You seriously need to loosen up. You realize it’s okay to be human, right? Can they really remove you because you have feelings for a woman?”
“If Lola was just any woman, maybe. But she’s my employee, Max. There’s a reason almost every business in the country has policies against employees dating.”
“What’s the big deal?”
“I’m her boss, for starters. Imagine if she wanted to break things off. How would she do that without fearing for the security of her job? And what sort of relationship can function healthily when one person holds the other’s job security in their hands?”