I took a deep breath and nodded. “I’m just tired of dating people who think I’m insane for letting the slightest bit of who I am escape. I’m going to end up married to some boring alpha from the right kind of family if I’m not careful.”
“That much pressure, huh?” Austin’s expression softened.
“Yes, thankfully not the whole kids and family routine, but my father is convinced I’m lonely and miserable, and he’s going to fix the situation if I’m not on top of it.” And his version of fixing something was not always predictable.
“Did you talk to Shane about your father’s finances?” Austin closed the notebook and leaned forward.
“Not yet; that was on my list this morning, but there were so many other things to do it got pushed to the back burner.” I rolled my head around, trying to loosen the tension in my shoulders. “I’ll talk to him as soon as we’re done.”
Austin chuckled. “You look like you’re fifty instead of closer to thirty.”
I groaned. “I slept like hell last night. I woke up creaking.”
“Old man, are you sure you should be thinking about doing dirty things with alphas? You seem more ready for retirement.” Austin chuckled at his own wit as he crossed an ankle over his other leg.
“My massage therapist had to go out of town unexpectedly for a family emergency, so I’m stuck until she gets back.” Finding a competent massage therapist wasn’t hard, but finding one who I knew would keep their mouth shut and who would guarantee my privacy was insanely difficult. I just didn’t have the time to vet anyone at the moment.
“Let me know if you need to borrow my guy.” Austin shrugged and moved forward in his seat. “He’s this vanilla beta who has almost no personality, but he’s good.”
“I might take you up on that.” I stood, trying not to notice how tight my back was. “I just hate getting to know someone new.”
Austin rolled his eyes but didn’t point out that he thought I was insane, which I appreciated.
“Just let me know if you change your mind.” Austin stood and started for the door, so I followed, setting my notes next to the stack of papers for Shane.
“Thanks.” As we reached the door, I smiled. “Good luck with Bradley.”
He winked. “Not that I’m going to need it.”
Austin opened the door and then gave me a too innocent smile. “Let me know if you need a new tailor.”
Asshole.
“Goodbye, Austin.” I tried to keep a pleasant expression on my face because Shane’s office wasn’t far from my door, but judging by Shane’s cough, it wasn’t believable.
He grinned wickedly. “I’ll see you tonight. Don’t forget reservations.”
I sighed. The drama queen was going to milk the evening for all it was worth.
As he sashayed off toward the elevators, Shane rose and closed the distance between us quietly. For such a big man, he knew how to move without looking awkward or stomping through the space. “Reservations, sir?”
Nodding, I gestured vaguely toward the direction Austin went. “The drama queen requires dinner. Can you set up reservations at The Grill at six thirty? I wouldn’t ask, but Boyd will be here any minute.”
Shane’s time was too valuable to just make reservations and do ridiculous things like get me coffee, but he always said the same thing to me when he brought me a cup in the afternoon. So I tried to remind myself of that when I asked him to do little things.
I’d always had the system where the bigger of an asshole someone was to work with, the more menial tasks they got given, but not giving Shane any seemed to frustrate him. It was an odd system and initially had taken us a few months to get the bumps worked out.
“He called to say he’s running late.” Shane smiled and shook his head as I started to speak. “But you still don’t have time to make the call because he doesn’t just want to talk about the contracts, he wants to get them signed today.”
“What?” He was supposed to bicker and drag his feet. That was what the old geezer always did. “This is just to punish me for that half a percent he wanted last time, isn’t it?”
Shane chuckled. “No, but I’m sure he’ll make it sound that way if possible. From what I was able to gather, there’s something going on in his personal life that he needs to focus on, so playing games with you is having to go on the back burner.”
I wouldn’t ask how he knew; Shane would just smile. But it was probably one of his siblings. He seemed to have countless relatives and knew everyone in the city in one way or another. But while he could always find out information for me, I’d never heard even a hint from anyone that he talked about his job or me in any way.
That was another one of the reasons I refused to play along when the guys started talking about him. He was too good to lose because of my libido or their dirty jokes.
“It’s got to be big if he’s willing to just sign the contract without driving me insane.” Spending time with people like John Boyd was one of the biggest frustrations about my job. The constant need for attention and drama that some people in positions of power had was beyond my ability to grasp.
