Boss I Love to Hate An Office Romance - Mia Kayla Page 0,79
with you, Brad?”
“What?” His eyes went to the road.
“You’re being too …” I tried to search for the perfect word. “… nice. It’s weird. Cut it out.”
He went quiet. No comebacks. No cutoffs. Just silence.
Then, he said, “Maybe I want to be the nice guy for once.”
I scoffed. “Since when?”
“Since recently.”
I sensed a tiny bit of hurt behind his tone.
“And why would that be?” I was completely thrown off by his demeanor.
“Because I don’t want to die a grumpy, old man. How about that?”
This man wasn’t making a lick of sense.
“Are you fatally ill, or is something up that you aren’t telling me?” I asked.
We were stopped at a red light, and he turned to look at me, really look at me. “You said something the other day that made me rethink a lot of things.”
I tried to jog my memory. “What things?”
“About being nice for once. About nice guys.”
I threw up both hands. “I was just kidding.” No, I hadn’t been, but still, this different Brad was a strange beast. I wasn’t used to this side of him.
He jerked back, almost looking offended. “Are you saying you want me to be an asshole? Because that makes absolutely no sense.”
“No. I don’t know.” I wanted this conversation over and done and shoved in the glove compartment.
I stared at the traffic forming in front of us as he swerved onto the highway. I just wanted things to be normal between us, which meant him being his dickish self and me giving it back to him.
Silent minutes ticked by, and I watched the clock, knees bouncing, like a kid waiting to get to their destination, asking, Are we there yet? Are we? Are we?
Brad was the first to break the silence. “Is there anything to be aware of, things that should be off topic for tonight?” He stared at the road straight ahead, never turning to me, as though he were talking to the windshield. “Strong political or religious views, for example?”
“Well, just that my family is too Catholic, for lack of a better word. They believe abortion should be illegal and all the other things far rights believe. We go to church almost every Sunday together. They are the over-the-top Italian family. Lots of hugging and kissing and talking over each other. My parents come from a big family. I come from a family of eight and that’s the average. And my extended family is insane. It’s like all my aunts were trying to top each other by procreating.”
“Interesting.” He turned to me then, almost smiling. “I want to know a little more about your immediate family before I’m thrown into the fire. Tell me about them.”
I eyed him. “Really? This is just dinner to placate my aunt.”
“Just answer the question,” he snapped.
And the bossy boss man was back. I’d take it.
“There’s Marco, Anna, Laura, Rosa, and Stella. I’m the oldest, and then my parents just kept popping out more kids. Marco is a nurse. Anna and Laura go to the University of Michigan so they won’t be there. Rosa and Stella are in high school and hormonal as hell.”
I gave him the lowdown on each of my aunts, Aunt Chelsey being the loudest and sweetest chick of the litter, and before I knew it, we were in front of the house.
“Anything else?” He turned off the engine, reached for the door handle, and pushed open the door. One foot was already out of the car.
“Oh, and my father hates you.” I shrank into myself. It was mostly my fault, being the child who shared almost every detail of her life to her parents.
Brad scoffed and then shut his door. “Why?”
I tried to shrug, though my face flushed pink. I could feel the warmth, as though a heating pad were placed on the apple of my cheeks. “Because I complain about you nonstop, and you’re kind of a dick to me.”
“Which is exactly why I’m trying to change,” he pointed out.
I sighed. Maybe it was a good thing he wanted to better himself. I just hoped it had nothing to do with me.
“Duly noted.” I opened my door and couldn’t jump out of the car fast enough.
We strolled to the front door, and his hand awkwardly fell to the small of my back as I rang the doorbell. The noise and commotion of people talking and laughing could be heard from outside.
I pushed his hand off my back and patted his shoulder. “Good luck. If you survive this, I’ll marry you,”