Slade

by Tee, Marian

  Kady's jaw dropped. She couldn't have heard him correctly. Could she? But when her boss only continued to gaze at her, she stammered, "I...I...I..."

  "You asked me what was wrong," Slade reminded her mockingly, "so I'm simply answering you with the truth---"

  "Mr. Wyndham!"

  He glanced at the tray she was holding. "That must be heavy." But instead of offering to help her with it, he simply stepped aside. "Come in, please."

  And just like that, she was trapped, like a lamb being led to slaughter as she reluctantly followed him inside his office. The last time she had been here was when he had Kady sign her employment contract, and she had been so nervous and overwhelmed that day to pay any attention to her surroundings.

  This time, however, she had enough presence of mind to look around as she placed the tray on the coffee table. His office was a lot larger than it appeared from the outside, and while the furniture and fixtures were the same mix of leather, copper, and old wood, what did surprise Kady were the fully stocked shelves, with coffee books printed in various languages. Russian, Japanese, Spanish, German...

  Slade's lips curved when he saw her staring at his books. "What if I told you all those were for show?" he asked slyly.

  She shook her head. "I know you'd be joking."

  He raised a brow. "How come?"

  "Because you don't seem the type," she answered honestly. Despite his rather wickedly offhand attitude to most things, Kady's guts told her that one flaw her boss would never be guilty of was being a fake. He simply didn't strike her as the type to be weak or shallow enough to change himself to suit other people's---

  What was he doing?

  Too late she saw the pair of glasses her boss had set next to the tray. Panicking at the thought of having to share even just a drink with him, she blurted out, "I think I should go---"

  "Too late, little chick. Just give in gracefully and have supper with me."

  Kady watched her boss take a seat on the couch.

  The billionaire's gaze turned thoughtful. "It's your choice," he said pleasantly. "Do you sit next to me---" He tapped the extra space on the couch. "Or on my lap---" He had barely finished talking when Kady hastily took her place next to him, and Slade grinned. "Thought so." He gestured to the selection of drinks he had taken out of the minibar. "Pick your poison."

  "Just apple juice, if that's okay?"

  He glanced at her oddly. "It's your drink."

  Kady avoided meeting Slade's curious blue eyes at his words, not wanting to tell him the countless times Margaux's boyfriends had made fun of her every time she refused to drink alcohol with them.

  Seeing Slade cut his sandwich into halves and realizing he was going to offer her one, Kady started shaking her head---

  "Your choice again," he reminded her. "Do I feed you or---"

  She practically snatched the halved sandwich from his hands. "Thank you very much," Kady said quickly.

  Seeing her hesitate, he said gently, "You can say grace."

  A small, shy smile flashed on her lips. "Thanks." As soon as she was done praying, he saw her take a huge bite right after, and the billionaire had to cough to hide his laugher, knowing that it was her way of giving him zero chances to change his mind.

  After taking a bite of the sandwich, he remarked casually, "Good, isn't it?"

  "Yes, sir."

  The billionaire grimaced. "Shouldn't you be calling me Slade by now?"

  Kady started squirming. "It's just..."

  "You like him more than you like me," he finished for her.

  Her eyes widened. "No, of course not---"

  "Then you like me?"

  "I don't---"

  His lips tightened. "I knew it. You were just lying earlier. You don't like me."

  "But I do---"

  "I thought so, too," her too-handsome boss purred, and Kady, seeing the wolfish gleam in Slade's eyes, almost groaned at the realization that he had set up the whole thing.

  "You're impossible," she burst out, sheer exasperation for once winning over the usual nervousness his proximity evoked.

  He tsk-tsked. "You mean irresistible."

  "No, I do not---"

  "Of course you do," he asserted silkily. "You're just having a hard time admitting the truth to yourself."

  Kady could only shake her head. "You're so hard to understand---"

  "That's fine, little chick. I won't hold it against you," he said generously. "As long as you're attracted to me, it's all good---"

  She almost choked. "Mr. Wyndham!"

  "Slade," he reminded her.

  "If I call you Slade," Kady couldn't help muttering under her breath, "will you at least promise to stop this?"

  "This?"

  She made a face. "You know what I'm talking about."

  "Perhaps you should spell it out," he suggested, "just so I can be certain we're thinking about the same thing."

  Squirming once again, Kady found herself practically choking on the word. "F-Flirting."

  "Ah." Laughter flashed in his gaze, and Kady realized he had simply once again manipulated her into doing something she didn't want. Aaaaaargh!

  "So you think I'm flirting with you," Slade drawled.

  The words caught her off guard. "But...I...you..."

  "Are correct, of course," he cut in with a grin. “I am flirting with you."

  Kady had the craziest urge to slam her head on the coffee table. Repeatedly. "Please stop making fun of me. I really don't get it, especially after..."

  Slade's smile disappeared at the way Kady suddenly stopped speaking. "Especially after what?"

  "I know what happened to the other waitresses," she revealed in a small voice. "Farica---"

  Should've kept her mouth shut, he thought grimly.

  "She told me how all of them had done their best to hook up with you, and that at least one of them had even threatened to sue you for sexual harassment." The only reason the case hadn't even seen the light of day was how every square foot of the cafe was under CCTV surveillance, and the footage had proved very damning...against the women.

  "So you see..." Lowering her gaze to her lap, she mumbled, "I just don't get why---"

  "I'm different with you?" Slade asked.

  Kady slowly nodded.

  "To be honest...I'm not sure myself."

  The blunt tone of her boss' voice had Kady looking up, and his lips tilted in a mocking fashion as her gaze tentatively met his.

  "I've never been the jealous or possessive type," the billionaire shared pensively, "but there's just something about you that brings out the caveman in me. Having the ability to make you squirm and jump gives me unparalleled pleasure---"

  Kady's jaw dropped once more. Maybe she was reading him wrong, but wasn't he basically saying...

  "I especially enjoy seeing you blush and trip---"

  "Are you basically admitting to being a bully?" she blurted out.

  Slade's broad shoulders moved in a lazy shrug as he drawled, "I suppose I am, but..." Devilish amusement only served to turn her boss' eyes a more mesmerizing shade of blue. "I'm only like this with you, sweetheart."

  "Only with...me?" Kady couldn't tell if she was being complimented or insulted.

  "I'm afraid so."

  "Because I'm...different?"

  "Because you're different," he agreed.

  "So if I try...acting like one of the other waitresses..."

  The billionaire grinned, having no difficulty understanding the direction her thoughts had taken. "You could try," he acknowledged, "but you'll only be wasting your efforts. You'll be fantastically bad at playing the tart---"

  "You don't know that," Kady interrupted, just because she felt the need to defend herself.

  "Ah, but I do, little chick. And you know why?"

  She shot him a wary look. "Why?"

  "Because you're not the type to flirt with someone you don't want," he pointed out dryly. "And I can tell, you know. You don't want me that way---" And in the blink of an eye,
Slade suddenly leaned close, leaving her no chance to rear back as he whispered straight into her ear, "Yet."

  Kady nearly fell out of the couch, and the billionaire laughed at the way she practically gobbled down the rest of her sandwich and excused herself the moment he pulled back.

  "I...um...tables..."

  "What was that?"

  Kady gave up trying to be coherent. "Good night, Mr. Wyndham." She could barely hear her voice over the wild, hard thumping of her heartbeat and tripped twice in her rush to leave the office.

  Slade leaned back in his seat as the door slammed shut. As galling as the truth was to admit, he hadn't been lying earlier when he told Kady he knew she didn't want him that way yet. Even with the way her breath caught or how her body moved restlessly in his presence, the billionaire knew it all amounted to Kady simply being nervous.

  And the truth was damnably easy to tell, with her eyes never once begging him to kiss her every time their gazes met.

  After finishing the rest of his sandwich, the billionaire got to his feet and was about to clean up when he felt his phone vibrate inside his pocket. Pulling it out, he saw that a new text from an unidentified number had arrived at his inbox.

  I love you so much. I know you know who I am. And shouldn't that tell you something?

  Slade's jaw hardened.

  He did know, and it did tell him something.

  But it wasn't what she was hoping for.

  Chapter Six

  Jealous Guy

  * * *

  "Surprises are foolish things." ~ Jane Austen

  * * *

  Kady was able to breathe a little more easily over the weekend, with Slade having to fly out of town for another meeting. For a small cafe owner, the man seemed to have so much money to burn on airfare, and Kady wondered if perhaps he was some kind of in-demand barista that wealthy people all over the country wanted to work with.

  For Sunday brunch, Farica decided it was time to let Kady spread her wings a little and let the younger girl meet guests on her own. Seeing how shy Kady was, Farica had spent the past few days physically keeping her company every time a new guest came in. While their new waitress did extremely well entertaining women and kids, her tongue seemed to instantly tie itself in knots the moment any good-looking guy would come in.

  And unfortunately for Kady, the ratio of attractive and unattractive men in Hartland was...well...1:0.

  Farica flashed the girl a thumbs-up sign as she saw Kady literally exercising her jaw to move. "You can do this," she said encouragingly. "You just have to smile and be yourself. That's all. Okay?"

  "Okay."

  "You can do this."

  "I can do this."

  "Ready?"

  "Ready."

  "Then go get 'em."

  "I'll go get 'em."

  But when the other girl only stood there, Farica had to swallow back a laugh and point towards the cafe, saying meaningfully, "Like, um, now?"

  Kady turned red. Oops. She quickly turned and bumped into the counter right away. Double oops. But even as she felt her nerves starting to fray, she made herself move towards the first occupied table, telling herself all the while, I can do this. I can TOTALLY do this.

  Granted, Hartland's local community seemed populated by genetically blessed individuals, but so what?

  Farica had told her to smile and just be herself.

  She could do that, right?

  But the moment Kady arrived at the table where the Blackwood twins were seated, and she started forcing her lips to move, she could feel her mouth contorting into something else.

  A hush of silence gradually fell over the crowd as everyone saw the way Kady's face was slowly transforming.

  Oh my, Farica thought. She blinked, and then she blinked and blinked again. She'd really like to think that was a smile on the other girl's face, but it kinda...well...

  The other girl's lips stretched wider, and Farica gulped back a laugh.

  Oh my, she thought again.

  The only way to describe Kady's smile was to liken it to one of those creepy demonic faces in Lucy Hale's Truth or Dare.

  Kady's distress turned into concern when the Blackwood twins started coughing and a moment later, everyone else, Farica included, was coughing alongside them.

  "Are you guys alright?" she asked anxiously.

  Aidan and Thornton could only keep coughing, the only way for both men to keep themselves from laughing over the waitress' failed attempt at smiling.

  Kady started wringing her hands. "Should I call 911?"

  "It's, ah, fine now," the police chief finally managed to say. "Sorry about that."

  "Must be something in the air," his twin said gruffly.

  "But if it were the air," Kady ventured uncertainly, "isn't it weird that I was the only one who didn't seem affected?"

  "Guess that makes you healthy as a horse," Thornton said.

  "Must be the Coloradan in me," Kady joked.

  Aidan nearly winced. Unlike most of Hartland's residents, he and the twins, along with the town mayor, were third-generation Wyomingites, and it was galling to have to let the girl's words slide.

  "Are you guys sure you're really alright?" Kady was asking.

  But since this was the most relaxed he had seen Kady in their presence...

  "Just a bit of a headache," Aidan lied.

  "Oh no."

  There was not a single hint of Kady's usual panicky expression now, and as she fussed over the twins like a mother hen, the other men in the cafe made careful study of the scenario before them.

  Good old Aidan, to always find the most peaceful way to resolve things, and in this case, their police chief appeared to have found the best way to stop Kady from fleeing like she usually did whenever any one of them was around.

  Having picked up on the twins' strategy, the rest of the guys had no qualms in deliberately adopting a meeker and graver personality when speaking with Kady, and with every 'yes, ma'am,' and 'no, ma'am,' uttered, they were treated with the delightful sight of Kady increasingly brimming with confidence.

  By the time Monday rolled in, and Farica had John Lennon's Jealous Guy (aptly, as it would turn out) playing in the background, Kady had finally relaxed enough in their presence to stop bumping into tables whenever any of the local guys popped in.

  In rare cases, such as with the incredibly charismatic duo of Ethan, the florist next door, and his close friend, Dr. Ronan Slater, Kady had even gained the ability to speak coherently and smile without looking psychotic, and it was this exact scene that greeted Slade when he arrived back from Laramie.

  Exhausted and already short-tempered, Slade could feel his mood turning violent when the first thing he saw upon entering the cafe was how well his Kady was suddenly getting along with other guys.

  He had not worked nonstop, nearly going without sleep the entire weekend, just to fucking see Kady fall for another man, goddammit.

  Stalking towards her and ignoring the interested looks he was getting from the other locals, Slade only came to a halt one small step away and waited.

  After thanking Ethan and Ronan for their orders, Kady turned around and bumped straight into her boss' hard chest.

  "Hello, little chick. Miss me?"

  A strangled sound escaped Kady, and after throwing him a look of fear, she scrambled away from the billionaire like he had fucking body odor.

  Fuck.

  Kady managed to trip four times - a goddamn record, the billionaire thought dourly - before finally making it to the kitchen. Even though not a single person in the cafe had spoken, Slade could feel everyone's gazes smirking at him...

  "I'm goddamn charging the lot of you double, motherfuckers."

  This time, everyone did laugh since, just like Slade, all of them had billions in their disposal, and so such threats meant nothing at all.

  Back in the kitchen, Kady made herself busy helping Elizabeth in prepping the insanely popular starters from the fall menu. At five-fifteen, Farica poked her hea
d in to order Kady to get her ass off to Laramie.

  "But it's just thirty minutes---"

  "No arguments," Farica cut in firmly. "It's the first day of the semester, and you're the new girl in school---"

  "Thanks for the reminder," Kady said with a wince.

  But the older girl only blew her a kiss. "You're welcome."

  After changing into a long-sleeved boyfriend shirt and leggings, Kady made her way out through the back door, and as always, the dreamy, feel-good sight of Elizabeth's herb garden made her smile and sigh. Colorful plant boxes, and peeking between the fresh green leaves was an assortment of cute little figures from Beatrix Potter's beloved series.

  I should do my own version outside my bedroom window, Kady thought to herself as she headed out. But instead of Peter Rabbit and company, she could---

  HONK!

  Kady jumped back in surprise.

  A dusty black truck rumbled in front of her, and seated behind its wheel was none other than her boss, whose expression would make the Grim Reaper look friendly.

  "Hop in."

  Chapter Seven

  Ue o Muite Aruko

  * * *

  "Only the unknown frightens men. But once a man has faced the unknown,

  that terror becomes the known." ~ Antoine de Saint Exupery

  * * *

  Shut up, man. The billionaire jabbed the power button to shut the radio off. Kyu Sakomoto normally didn't piss him off, but he just wasn't in the fucking mood right now, and his annoyance only grew when he saw how his abrupt movement had caused Kady to jerk in her seat.

  "You should've just told me to go to hell," he snapped, "if I'm scaring you that much." Having her make record-breaking jumps in his presence had only been fun when she had been almost as nervous around other men. In some ways, the billionaire had even considered it a matter of pride. When Aidan had told him Kady had stammered a lot the first time he met her, Slade had told the police chief that Kady was worse in his presence, barely coherent and looking close to fainting every damn time.