Her Impossible Boss by Cathy Williams

He had been leaning against the wall. Now he pushed himself away, dumping the empty beer bottle on the counter
en route
to a chair, which he sat on, his big body indolent and relaxed under the influence of drink. Not too much, but certainly enough to paper over the sharp edges of his mood.
    ‘Well, that’s none of my business,’ Tess muttered. Of their own volition, her eyes flicked towards him, taking in all the details of his body, and she realised that there was a familiarity to what she was seeing that was scary.
    ‘Turns out—’ he laughed shortly, stretched out his legs and stuck his hand in his trouser pocket ‘—that I was on my own when it came to that misconception.’
    ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about. Have you been drinking?’
    ‘Now, what would give you that idea?’ His eyes locked with hers and there was a lazy amusement there that made her go hot and cold. Even when she hurriedly looked away, she could feel him
looking
at her in a way that he hadn’t looked at her before—looking at her in a slow, leisurely way that made her want to fidget. ‘I letthat relationship get out of hand,’ Matt mused. ‘I took my eye off the ball. While I was under the impression that we were having a casual fling, it turns out that Vicky was making all sorts of plans.’
    ‘What sort of plans?’ Tess was fascinated to hear more. Matt had never breathed a word about his personal life, but she wasn’t looking at the Matt she knew. She was tiptoeing on the very edge of seeing a side to him that hadn’t been in evidence before, and she was eaten up with curiosity.
    ‘Are you having fun?’ He laughed softly under his breath and Tess flushed.
    ‘Of course not!
You
came here, don’t forget! And if you want to talk, then that’s fine by me.’
    ‘I actually didn’t come here to talk about Vicky,’ he murmured. He shifted in the chair, leaned back into it. ‘You distract me.’ He enjoyed the way she blushed madly when he said that, and leaned forward as though not quite believing her ears. ‘You make me lose track of what I want to say.’
    ‘I’m
not making you lose track of anything,’ Tess said briskly, but there was slow burn inside her that felt good.
    ‘Oh, right. It’s the demon drink. I’ll stick to the agenda, in that case. My daughter has reverted to her old ways.’ He leaned forward abruptly, elbows on thighs, and pressed his thumbs against his eyes.
    His body language spoke a thousand words and Tess automatically moved towards him, hovered for a while, not quite knowing what to do, and eventually pulled her chair so that she was sitting right alongside him. Shouldshe reach out and try to comfort him? Confused and addled, she opted for sitting on her hands. ‘What do you mean?’
    ‘I mean…’ Matt looked directly at her and raked his hand through his hair. ‘We got back to the apartment and she promptly proceeded to shut herself in the bedroom.’
    ‘But didn’t you go in to try and talk to her?’
    ‘Of course I went in! She lay there with her back to me and her headphones stuck in her ears—and,
hell,
I can’t
force
her to have a conversation with me, can I?’
    ‘So what did you do?’
    ‘I had a couple of whiskies in rapid succession. It seemed like a good idea at the time.’ ‘And Vicky…?’
    ‘Dispatched. The point is, I’m back to square one.’ His smile was tight and bitter. ‘It seems that the ground I believed I’d covered was just a bit of wishful thinking.’
    ‘That’s not true!’
    ‘No? Then perhaps you’d like to explain my daughter’s lack of response?’
    ‘She’s ten years old! She’s not capable of thinking things through in an adult way. She’s had a disappointing day. I suppose she thought that she would have you to herself.’
    ‘You mean have
both of
us…’
    ‘No,’ Tess said firmly.
‘You.
She didn’t bank on your girlfriend showing up, and she really didn’t bank on her—I don’t know—being so