gently. "Olivia, you don't need to do that. The staff will get it."
"I don't mind. Besides, I ate so much I need to get up and walk around a bit. This will do me some good." I smile down at her.
This isn't a complete lie, I am stuffed, but I also need a break. Everyone here is fantastic, but I am still well out of my league, and I feel more at home with the team members in the kitchen. This fish is out of her water and needs to take a dip in her usual pond and relax for a beat.
I drop off the dishes I gathered on my way to the kitchen and step outside to what is without a doubt my favorite spot in the house. Letting the cool San Francisco air wash over me and relieve the insecure anxiety that was plaguing me every time his warm voice filled the room. But most of all when that warmth was aimed in my direction.
Olivia, get ahold of yourself if you're going to work side by side with this man every day!
Besides, I'm not interested in him. Not remotely, but as I discover how incorrectly I may have labeled him, I am feeling a little guilty. He is so incredibly different than the man who had the audacity to interview me on a yacht. The man who so easily made me bristle over the phone when I accepted his job proposal. Who would have thought he was a man who worked so many hours he has to have living quarters at the office? A man who knows the names of all of the spouses of his management team and treats them all like family.
"There you are," he says, but is kind enough not to mention the way I startled when his deep voice shook me from my musings about none other than him. "It's pretty great out here, isn't it?"
I slowly turn in the direction of his silky-smooth voice to find him leaning casually against one of the columns on the patio with his hands in his pockets. As he often does, he takes my ability to speak from me for a brief moment in time, and as if he knows I need to adjust to his presence, he gives me the seconds I need to I find myself again.
"I think it's my favorite place in the house," I confess.
"Mine too.” He smiles. “So, Evelyn already gave you the tour?" he asks, pushing off of the column and taking two small steps in my direction.
"No, I've only seen the main floor, and I think it's the greatest kitchen I've ever seen, but there is something tranquil out here. It really is lovely."
"I'm glad you like it."
Silence.
Neither of us speaks or moves for that matter.
Well, this is awkward.
"Did you need my assistance, sir?" I ask him in the hopes of ending the hellacious moment that has me starting to sweat.
Does he have moments like this with Evelyn?
He claps his hands together. "Yes, thank you. I do that from time to time, don't I. Sorry about that." He smiles and tilts his head to the side ever so slightly, and this ridiculously handsome man who exudes such strength and masculinity is suddenly adorable. There is no other way to describe him at this moment.
I hear myself giggle, and there is no erasing the smile on my face. My reaction seems to amuse him, if the smile that grew from adorable to maybe a little cocky tells his story.
"Are you laughing at me, Olivia?"
"I wouldn't dream of it, sir," I say, trying to school my features, but he can hear the smile in my voice.
"You are a sassy little thing, aren't you?" he says nearly under his breath.
My body heats instantly, and I wonder if I've over-stepped. "I'm so sorry, sir. I...I...didn't mean..."
He lifts his hand, asking me to stop talking, but he doesn't look upset. "Don't be sorry. I like it. I find it, and you, refreshing. But we have something bigger than your sass to deal with at the moment. I have a surprise for Evelyn and was hoping you could help me distract her while I get things ready?"
He finds me refreshing?
He thinks I'm sassy, and he likes it?
"Of course, I can assist. That's what I'm here for."
Anything to distract me right now!
"Great, if you could pretend to have some sort of emergency in the kitchen and keep her out of sight for a couple of minutes so