AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“At five,” she parroted.
He stepped back so she had a clear escape path. Becka blinked at him one last time and nearly sprinted to the front door. It slammed behind her, and Aaron chuckled. That went well. The woman obviously had been taking care of herself for a very long time. From what he knew of both her and Lucy—and what she had and hadn’t said—he suspected Becka went without to ensure her big sister didn’t feel any unnecessary guilt about their parents being shitty. He respected the hell out of that, even if he wanted to go back in time and wrap her younger self up and protect her from the ugliness she’d lived through.
He couldn’t fix her past. He wouldn’t even know where to start.
But if he was careful, Aaron could maneuver around her thorns to take care of her in the future.
He cleaned up the kitchen, changed and headed out for work. Becka had him entirely too distracted, but work with his new client went over well enough. The client wanted an audit of their existing computer systems and a comprehensive risk-assessment report. It was a simpler job than he normally handled. Cameron much preferred the clients who wanted cybersecurity set up from the ground up, but this particular job was a referral and not one they could subcontract.
Even though it was something he could put together in his sleep, that didn’t mean he could get away without giving it all of his attention. They were paying him for the best, and that was what he needed to provide.
Cameron stood in the lobby, a scowl on his face, as Aaron walked through the door. He stopped short. “What’s wrong?”
“Kim Jones walked.” Cameron glared at the phone as if it was the sole responsible party. “I told her that cutting corners would undermine the integrity of our work and if she wanted a cheap option, she should have gone with one of our half-assed competitors.” He glared harder. “She said that’s exactly what she planned to do.”
“Fuck,” Aaron breathed. “I had her in the bag. Why the hell would you tell her that? We’d already agreed on the package she wanted. Our job is to give it to her—not rip her a new one because we think it’s the wrong choice. That’s not your call to make, Cameron.”
He strode past the lobby and into his office, Cameron hot on his heels. The man’s agitation rolled off him in waves. “I told you I can’t do this shit, Aaron. They ask me a question and I’m not going to pussyfoot around with the answer. Honesty is supposed to be an asset.”
He held on to his patience through sheer force of will. “Yes, but your brand of honesty has also driven off every single person we’ve hired to help manage the workload. I don’t have a problem being the client-facing part of the company, but I can’t do both. So, if we can’t find suitable admin support, we either need to hire another tech expert or we need someone who can work under me to consult with the clients. I don’t care which way we go on things, but something has to give.”
“We haven’t found someone qualified to fill either of those roles.” Cameron frowned. “I can’t even find someone qualified to man the damn front desk, and that’s a simple enough job.”
“You don’t think anyone is qualified.” Finding someone to work with them who could handle the job—and Cameron’s surliness—was an impossible task.
“I have exacting standards.”
“More like...” He caught a strange expression on Cameron’s face. “What?”
“What the hell is this?” Cameron stalked over and snatched the top baby book off the pile Aaron had placed on the far side of his desk when the box showed up. He flipped through it, the book looking tiny in his massive hands. “You planning on procreating?”
He hadn’t planned on sharing the information like this—or at all until strictly necessary. Aaron rubbed a hand over his face. “A girl I was, ah, seeing. She’s pregnant.”
“It’s yours?”
He gritted his teeth. “It’s mine.” Becka said it was, and he had no reason to doubt her. Going down that path lay madness and ensured that any relationship blossoming between them would be dead and gone.
“Huh.” Cameron set the book down. “Congrats, then, I guess. Or condolences?” He narrowed his eyes. “Which way do we fall on this?”
“I don’t know yet.” It was nothing more than the truth. The baby was unplanned and even with the surprise and shock wearing off, he had mixed feelings. He’d never planned on having a child with someone he wasn’t married to. The whole concept was old-fashioned and he should just set it aside, but it bothered him. Things with Becka weren’t buttoned up—and showed no signs of being buttoned up any time in the foreseeable future. They were making progress, but it was slow going. “We’re keeping it, and that’s enough for now.”
“Guess so.” Cameron scrubbed a hand over his shaved head. “Look, I’m sorry about Kim Jones. I didn’t know that offering my opinion would make her freak the fuck out like that. And then she was yelling and I was yelling and...” He shrugged. “I said we’ll hire someone and we will. I’ll set up another round of interviews this week.”
He opened his mouth, but there was no point of going round and round with this shit. He’d known who Cameron was when he went into business with the man. Aaron had made his peace with being client-facing, but he hadn’t expected it to chafe quite so much. If they could get a good third in here, it would smooth over a lot of their random little issues. It just had to be someone Cameron wouldn’t scare off inside of a week.
But his partner had said he’d handle it, and so he had to let it go. “Appreciate it.”
“Now, get to work. Sounds like you have more mouths to feed in the near future.” He grinned. “Any chance it’s twins?”
“Oh, fuck right off, Cameron.” He shook his head and sat behind his desk. There was plenty of work to be done, and he had to get it finished in time to pick Becka up after work. No matter what bullshit arose during the day, he wasn’t going to let anything endanger another date with her.
Not when he was actually starting to make progress.
11
BECKA RAN BACK to her apartment on her lunch break to grab more clothes. She stood in the middle of the living room and wrinkled her nose. Living surrounded by Aaron’s understated luxury made it hard to see this place as anything other than the shithole he’d labeled it. It was home, sure... Or at least it had been. It didn’t feel like much right now except for a letdown. She gave herself a shake and headed into her room to grab a bag to throw some dresses into. At some point soon she’d have to face the reality of maternity clothing, but she wasn’t ready to deal with it yet.
Great job, Becka. Just avoid anything and everything related to the baby until you absolutely have to face it. That sure won’t blow up in your face.
