Plum shook her head and then realizing Gideon wasn’t looking at her to see, volunteered, “No, not really. More of a favor to one of my employees. His cousin just got out of jail and is having a hard time finding work. He asked me if I could offer him a few hours.”
“You must be a very trustworthy and kind boss for him to confide in you like that.”
Her chest filled with warmth—Gideon obviously meant it as a compliment.
“I like to think I’m fair, and Dustin’s a good kid and a great employee. I’d like to do this for him, but owning a business is all about making choices. I’d been hoping to use some of that money to replace a mixer that’s functional but is probably on its last year. Or put some better lighting around the windows at the front of the shop.”
Gideon was silent, scraping the tomatoes into the bowl, and then slicing off the top and bottom of a shallot and peeling the rest of the skin off the purple flesh before cutting it into slivers. Then he measured out a tablespoon of capers into the bowl—what was with this man and capers?—and pouring in some salt, what smelled like some kind of vinegar, and a couple different kinds of oil.
“You think I should hire him, don’t you?”
Gideon turned to her as he went to the stove and checked the salmon again before putting it on a baking sheet and sliding it into the oven.
“You made it clear you did not want me to interfere in your business. I shall keep my word.”
She rolled her eyes and he cocked a brow. Why was he so hot when he did that?
“I’m explicitly asking your opinion. I will take whatever you say under advisement and won’t consider it a breach of our agreement. Are you satisfied?”
“Not by a long shot,” he said, and she wanted to bite her fist. Or him. Or be bitten. Yep, have his sharp white teeth sink into her trapezius to hold her still while he mounted her from behind. Or whatever.
“But,” he continued, “if you’re really asking, then yes I do. It would be a good deed to help a person who it sounds like could use a second chance. The other things can wait. And you never know. Perhaps he’ll turn out to be as good an employee as his cousin, or even better. I understand needing to stay within your budget—being involved in the church finances is one of my very earthly duties—but if you have a chance to change a person’s life? That’s what I would choose.”
When he put it like that, she agreed. Suddenly a shiny new mixer when the old one still worked or a few extra lights paled in comparison to making a difference in Andy’s life, and doing a solid for one of her favorites.
So she dug into her bag for her phone and typed out a text for Dustin:
Can Andy come by Caffeinatrix tomorrow, preferably during one of the slower blocks? I’d like to meet him first, but if he’s anything like you then I’m thinking 20 hours per week. And I’m not taking any of your hours to do it—what would I do without you???
Not even five minutes later, her phone pinged with a reply from Dustin:
I told him to come by at 11am. Thank you so, so much. You should’ve seen his face when I told him, he’s so excited. You’re the best, boss. I owe you one. Or ten. Thank you.
And he’d included like six hug emojis. Adorable.
The more Plum thought about it, the better she thought this would go. She fucking hated doing dishes and taking out trash—um, hi, no one wanted to be hauling trash bags in stacked espadrilles, that was a recipe for a sprained ankle—and maybe it would mean her being done early for the day and possibly getting to spend more time with Gideon. Or more time to do her nails. Or get started on that social media campaign she’d been meaning to put together.
Gideon put a plate in front of her, the salmon and some angel hair pasta with pesto on it, all covered by a chunky sauce of the tomatoes and shallots and capers. It smelled amazing, and between dinner and the delicious way his shirt hugged his thick biceps and muscled chest, Plum was practically drooling.
“I did it.”
“Yeah?” he asked as he slid into the seat across from her.
“Mm-hmm.”
“And you feel good about it?”
“I do. Really good, actually.”
“Well, I have plans to make you feel even better, darling.”
And then the fucker winked at her. Not okay. Not if he wanted her to eat dinner instead of getting on her knees and sucking him off anyway. But there was protein in come, right? That probably wasn’t what he had in mind when he told her she should eat healthier.
“After you eat your dinner,” he scolded gently, perhaps reading her mind.
Plum squirmed on the solid wood seat of the chair and twirled her fork in the angel hair.
“Yes, Daddy.”