I Won’t Be In On Monday (The Annoying Hot Bosses Club #3)

Chapter 4

Chapter Four

R emington

There's a knock at my door at 7:59 a.m., and I smile wryly as I make my way there. Juniper is nothing if not punctual.

I open the door and see her standing there, a tired expression on her face. She holds up a white bag and yawns slightly. A subtle tug at my heartstrings hits me. She looks adorable standing there in her Snoopy T-shirt and leggings. So different from how she normally looks in the office. Her hair, which is normally in a tight bun, hangs in a long ponytail down her back, and I realize that it’s much longer than I thought. She tilts her head to the side and pushes her glasses up her nose, and my eyes are drawn to her pink lips for a few moments before she speaks.

“I got bagels. Plain with butter.” She yawns again and wrinkles her nose. “I am hoping you have coffee.” I usher her into the apartment as I nod. She walks past me, and I close the door before looking back at her slightly disheveled appearance and thinking how different she moves when not in the office.

"Not in a suit today?" I tease her as my eyes take in her rather shapely butt.

"No, Mr. Parker. I'm not coming to your house on a Saturday morning in a suit." She yawns again and folds her arms. "Coffee, please."

“Yes, ma’am.” I grin as I head toward my very expensive espresso machine and dismiss the thoughts crowding my brain. Juniper is not my type. I am not attracted to her. I’m just not used to seeing her in casual clothes.

I watch as she looks around, a small smile on her face.

"You like what you see?" I ask, and she shrugs nonchalantly.

"It's as I expected."

"What does that mean?"

"I mean, it's big. Lots of black leather and dark colors." She wrinkles her nose. "I mean, it's a bachelor pad, right? It works for you."

"You're saying you don't like it." I'm surprised at her comments. Every woman who's been to my penthouse has fallen in love with it immediately.

"I mean, there's nothing homey about it." She shakes her head. "And nothing warm. I mean, you obviously love it, so that's all that matters."

I nod slightly as we head toward the kitchen. "I have an espresso machine, a pretty fancy one, so I can make you almost anything you want. Do you know what you'd like?”

"I would love a macchiato, please." She gives me a warm smile. "Two sugars."

"Coming right up. You want to have a seat?" I nod towards the island and the tall bar stools next to it.

"Wow, thank you." She hurries over and takes a seat, giving me a surprised look.

"What's that look about?" I ask her.

"I thought you were going to have me get to work right away or something."

"I'm not that much of a slave driver, Juniper."

"Could have fooled me." She grins."Can you get two plates for the bagels please?”

“Is that all we’re eating?”

"Yes, sir. Unless you're going to make us something else."

I stare at her for a couple of minutes. "You're sure mouthy outside of the office, aren't you?"

"I mean, it's Saturday morning, way earlier than I like to wake up, and I'm in your apartment to help tidy up and get ready for your daughter. I think that I can be myself around you, don't you?"

"I guess so. So your boyfriend wasn't upset?" I ask her, as I grab two white plates and place them down in front of her.

She stares at me for a couple of seconds and then opens the bag and pulls out two bagels. "Knives, please," she asks.

I nod and head towards the cutlery drawer and take out two knives, then bring them back. "You didn't answer my question."

"I didn't think it needed an answer," she replies, as she cuts the bagels. "These aren't as toasted as I like. Can I toast them?"

"Sure." I nod toward the microwave. "There's a toaster right under there."

She stands up and carries the plate with the bagels towards the toaster and puts one bagel in and presses down the switch. She looks around the kitchen.

"This is nice."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, I like your kitchen." She shrugs as she looks over at me, a weird expression on her face that I can’t quite read. "So, what exactly is it that you want me to do?"

"I was just thinking we could get my bedrooms in..." I pause as she wrinkles her nose. "What?"

"Nothing," she says, shaking her head quickly.

"No. You were obviously thinking something, and I am curious to know what."

"It doesn't matter. You want us to do what?"

"I just want to make sure that my house is appropriate for a child," I clarify. "If you see anything that's inappropriate, get rid of it."

"You mean like dirty magazines?" She grins at me.

"I'm not that young." I wink at her. "I got rid of all my Playboys years ago."

"And what about the other dirty mags?"

"Who says I have more?"

"I don't know. Something just tells me that you do."

I grin at her. "All dirty magazines have been put into the trash as well as a couple of DVDs that I had."

"DVDs?" She raises her eyebrows. "You still have DVDs?"

"I mean, back in the day, I was an avid collector.”

“Of porno DVDs?”

“No, silly.” I grin. “Just an avid collector of movies. I love watching movies, and yes, okay, I may have had a couple of pornos, but they are long gone. Big butts are all gone." I wonder if that was too much information. I can see her eyes widening as she processes the fact that I’m obviously an ass man. Though, I love boobs just as much.

"You trashed them, as well?" she asks in surprise.

“I did. I figure that I don’t want my seven-year-old looking at naked women in Rio getting pounded from behind by extremely hung men.”

She gasps at my language, and I grimace.

"Sorry. Was that inappropriate?"

"Kind of," she says while nodding strenuously. I’m not sure why I even said those words. Maybe I wasn curious to see how she’d react. Which is weird. I never discuss sex or anything close to sex with my assistants. I always make sure that my boss-assistant relationship is as professional as possible. "Is my macchiato ready yet?"

I head back towards the espresso machine, grab a cup, and press a button. "It'll be ready in about ten seconds," I say, looking back at her. "Hey, I just want to apologize if I made you uncomfortable talking about Buttman Does Rio ."

" Buttman Does Rio ?" She giggles as she raises her eyebrows. The light in her eyes makes me relax, and I’m glad I haven’t upset her. "Really?"

"What can I say?" I shrug. "I'm a ass man."

"Okay," she says, looking anywhere but at me as her face goes bright red. "I can go and check out your daughter's bedroom if you want and make sure there are no big butts hiding out, though I think they might be hard to hide."

"Did I make you uncomfortable, Juniper?" I head towards her and stop in front of her so I can look into her eyes.

"I wouldn't say you made me super comfortable, but you didn't make me super un comfortable." She shrugs and looks at the ceiling.

"I didn't ask if I made you super uncomfortable. I'm just wondering if I made you the slightest bit uncomfortable."

She looks back at me and shakes her head. "Nah, I'm okay." She offers me a small smile. "I mean, I do think it's weird that you want me here to help you, seeing as I don't have kids, but..." She shrugs. "I guess I am your assistant."

"And you're a woman who was a little girl once, and I figure you know what little girls want."

"I guess," she says. "Which way to the room?"

"Just go down the hall, and it will be the first door on the right," I say. "I'll join you in a second. I'll bring your macchiato to you."

"Thanks," she says, with a nod.

I watch as she heads down the hallway and opens the door to what will soon become Canyon's bedroom. I stare at the dark liquid as it enters her coffee cup and grab two sugar cubes from the little container on the counter. As I stand there, my heart starts to race as the enormity of the situation hits me yet again.

“What am I doing?” I groan to myself.

I feel weirded out by the fact that I have a daughter who's going to be living with me. Who's going to want to do things with me. Who's going to ask me questions. A daughter that I didn't even know existed until recently. I could walk past her in the street and wouldn't recognize her. A tinge of sadness washes through me at the thought. I grab the cup and saucer and head towards the bedroom.

"Macchiato delivery," I say, as I step into the room.

Juniper looks at me with wide eyes as she steps forward to take the cup. She takes a long gulp and lets out a deep sigh as she gazes around the room.

"What?" I say. "What's wrong?"

"This room is a hot mess," she says, shaking her head. "I thought you had me here because you wanted to decorate it and wanted me to help you figure out what to put in here. But nothing can fit in here. It's a mess."

"I mean, there are a couple of random things," I say, looking around at the boxes and other pieces of junk that have been stored here for years.

"Really? Remington, this is not going to take just a couple of hours to clear out. Where's all this stuff going?"

I wrinkle my nose. "I mean, I figured we could take most of it to the trash, and what I'm keeping, we'll just store it in the corner until I figure out where it's going."

"That's not going to work," she says. "What little girl wants to walk into her room and see a bunch of boxes on one side? There's not even a bed in here for her. Nothing cute, nothing that's going to make her fall in love with this space."

"I haven't had time to hire someone to paint a mural on the wall or buy a princess bed or whatever else little girls like." I run my fingers through my hair and groan. "Shit. What am I going to do?"

"It's okay," she says softly, stepping forward and touching me on the arm. “I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said what I said."

I stare into her eyes for a couple of seconds and shake my head. "It's not your fault. It's the truth. I'm not ready to be a dad. I'm not ready to take on this responsibility. I'm not even ready for her to come and live with me. What am I going to do?"

"We'll figure it out. I mean, we can..." She looks around the room and sips more of her macchiato. "I don't even know what to say, but we can figure something out." She blinks. "Hold on. Let me check something."

"Okay," I say, as she heads out of the room. I follow behind her as she walks into the living room.

"Is that a couch that turns into a bed?" She looks back at me, and I nod.

"Yeah. Why?"

"Maybe Canyon can sleep there."

"Sleep on the couch?" I stare at her.

"Yeah, you can tell her you didn't get her a bed because you wanted her to choose one she really liked."

"I mean, I was thinking she might like to choose her own bed, but I don't want her to feel like I don't even have a room prepared for her. I don't want her to feel like she has to sleep on the couch."

"But the fact is that you don't have a bed for her, and I hate to say this Remington, but we're not going to get a bed within the next couple of hours and sheets and pack up this stuff and go to the grocery store and..." She bites down on her lower lip. "You have to be in the office in a few hours to pick her up, right?"

"Yeah." I nod and let out a deep sigh. "My life is spinning out of control, Juniper. I have to figure out how to take care of a little girl in a few hours. How am I going to do that? I've never even been around kids before."

"I think you have."

"No, I haven't." I shake my head.

"Well, you were around kids when you were a kid, right?"

"That was many many years ago."

"I mean sure, it was a while ago.” She giggles. “What was it like living with the dinosaurs?”

"What do you mean, sure it was a while ago ?" I grin at her. "I'm not that old."

"You're the one who said it." She giggles. "Anyway, we need to stop bickering and come up with a plan of action. Do you have a pen and paper?"

"I do. But what's that going to do?"

"We are going to create a list of everything we need to do."

She blinks as she gazes up at me. I watch as she gathers her hair and ties it in a bun on the top of her head. She gives me a stern look and heads back to the spare room.

"First things first, you need to move all this stuff to your room."

"What?" I stare at her.

"I mean, unless you want us to just chuck it out without seeing what it is."

"No, I mean I don't want to trash it yet. I just don't..."

"So then you need to move it to your room. Do you have one or two bathrooms here?"

"It's a one-and-a-half bath," I say. "I didn't really think I would need another full bathroom because it's only me and I'm a confirmed bachelor and..."

"What about when women stay? What do your girlfriends think about that?" she asks softly.

"If a woman's lucky enough to stay the night, she usually enjoys using my bathroom." I wink at her. "If you know what I mean."

She rolls her eyes in disgust. "Anyway. Can you get that pen and paper? We've got a lot of work to do and not much time to do it in."

"Yes, ma'am," I say. "I think you kind of like bossing me around."

"I mean, it is nice to take charge sometimes," she says. "But trust me, I won't forget that I'm your assistant."

"So, you generally like to be dominant, huh?" I ask her, licking my lips.

"That's not what I said." She blushes. "I said I like to be in charge."

"As far as I'm concerned, that's another word for dominant. Are you the librarian by day and dominatrix by night sort of gal?" I ask her, and she blushes bright red again. For a few moments, I see just how pretty she is, and I want her to take off those glasses and let her hair down again. I want to pull her into my arms and study her, really see what she looks like behind the mask.

"What's going on?" she asks, staring at me and blinking rapidly. "You've got a weird look on your face."

"I was just thinking," I say, taking a step toward her.

"Thinking about what?" she asks abruptly, turning her face to the side. "We need to stop thinking and start acting. You've got a little girl coming in a couple of hours. You need to focus, Mr. Parker." Her voice catches, and I wonder if she knows that I was thinking about pulling her glasses off and studying her face and eyes.

Get it together , I lecture myself. This is not the time to finally notice my dutiful, mousey assistant and the vibrant blue eyes that I’ve suddenly realized have an almost azure glow about them.