How to Resist Prince Charming(14)
Tom paused, indecision clouding his features. Then he replied, “Communications.” As Braxton nodded to show he was listening. Tom went on. “She’s been out for seven months now, and the dad gum girl is still working at that stupid restaurant, The Rockford Lounge.”
Braxton’s eyebrows rose. Oh, did she now?
Even as he told himself he might need to head to the Lounge one of these evenings to order a meal, his conscience warned him to stay away. Forget about her, bud. She’s forbidden, remember.
“That’s a nice place.”
Tom sent him a dry look. “She’s a waitress. She didn’t just work her ass off through four years of college to wait tables six days a week.”
Wanting to defend the woman he remembered talking to at the Christmas party, Braxton said, “Finding the right career takes time, Tom.”
Davenport scowled, not looking too receptive to receive any kind of advice from his kid superior.
Braxton knew he should’ve just kept his mouth shut. But there was something about Tom’s daughter that made him protective. It was more than how good she looked in any outfit, too. He might have only spent fifteen minutes in her company at the party but, in that time, they’d connected as he couldn’t recall ever connecting with anyone.
They fit. He knew they would fit together like—
Ahh...He should just get it out of his head already. Nothing was ever going to happen between him and Lenna Davenport.
Red in the face, Tom quickly gathered his papers and muttered, “Excuse me.”
As he stalked from the office, Braxton slumped into an empty chair and closed his eyes.
“Smooth move, ex-lax,” he muttered. He should’ve kept his big mouth shut. What right did he have to tell Tom how to treat his own daughter? He needed to befriend Davenport, not irritate him by sticking his nose where it didn’t belong.
Groaning at his stupidity, Braxton collected his things and forced himself to focus on work. As soon as he returned to his office, he began to read through the ideas from the meeting.
He was scratching out his own notes in the margins and circling things he liked as well as marking out bad ideas when his phone rang.
“Farris,” he answered.
“God, you already sound like some hoity-toity president, don’t you?”
Greg Scanlon, his buddy who’d started ProTech, loved to harass him about his new position.
Braxton grinned. “Man, I’m just trying to keep up with you. If you think you need to run your own company, then so do I.”
“Shit, if you’d leave those stuffy old auto parts and come back to me, I’d make you my partner.”
Braxton ignored the leap in his pulse at the very idea. But how cool would it be to help Greg run ProTech? The very idea made him salivate—
But he had obligations he couldn’t ignore.
Though his buddy couldn’t see his face, Braxton forced a grin. “And leave my cushy office here? Sorry, bud, but this is where the money’s at.”
Not that he’d been making nickels and dimes at ProTech, but yeah, he did get a higher salary at Farris. It was too bad money had nothing to do with his reasons for filling his father’s shoes. If it did, he’d be a lot happier about the decision he’d made.
“You say that now,” Greg said in a cajoling voice, “but in another two months you’re going to start missing us over here.”
Braxton didn’t need another two months. He already missed them.
“And do you know what I’m going to say when you come crawling back to me?”
“Welcome back. It’s about time,” Braxton guessed.
Greg laughed. “Oh, hell. You know me too well.”
No, they’d merely repeated this same conversation one too many times.
“Anyway,” Greg went on. “That’s not why I called.”
“And here I thought that was the only reason you ever cared to talk to me anymore.”
He could almost see his friend roll his eyes. “Ha, ha. But seriously, I need a favor.”
“Yeah, I know. You need me to return to ProTech.”
“Besides that.”
Smile slipping, Braxton grew alert to the distressed sound in Greg’s voice. “Sure thing, pal. Name it.”
“Well, you see, there’s this girl,” Greg started.
Braxton paused. Greg needed help with a girl? That didn’t sound right. Greg never needed help with women. He was always bragging about his latest score. “Yeah?” he asked slowly.
“Okay, here’s the deal. We met. We clicked. And I asked her out. But—and this is the kicker—she never goes out with a guy for the first time without doubling with her best friend. It’s some kind of personal security thing they made up.” Seeing exactly where this was headed, Braxton instantly blurted out, “No.”