Things I would like to know.

Saturday was not her favorite day of the week when it came to working at the office. Usually, her presence wasn’t required unless something last-minute had happened the day before, and that was exactly what had occurred. Naively, she had thought it might be an urgent meeting with a few executives or business partners, but when she checked the schedule, she realized that all the relevant meetings were still set for the following week.

Honestly, there wasn’t much more she could do than simply be there and stay alert in case anything came up. Besides, she had noticed a change in her boss over the past few days. She had no idea what had happened, but the normally calm and serious nature of CEO Tanner had shifted into something gruffer and almost silent. She had even received a growl that morning when she greeted him, which was incredibly out of character. Her boss wasn’t a talkative man, but he wasn’t rude either. And it felt wrong to justify his sour mood by the fact that he’d had the pleasant visit of his older brother just a few days earlier.

She had met Francis, her boss’s brother, a little over a year ago, and had found him to be a charming man with a hilarious sense of humor. She’d shared a brief conversation with Francis before he went into the office to ambush his younger brother. Ever since then, all she’d heard from her boss were complaints or vague remarks. Still, she found it rather sweet that Francis was so overprotective of his brother.

The phone rang, making her flinch slightly. She blinked several times, coming back to herself and pushing her thoughts aside.

“Tanner’s office—”

“Put me through to Tanner.” She frowned at the irritated tone of the voice. “I need to speak with him. Now.”

“I’m sorry, could you please give me your name?” she asked, keeping her voice polite.

“That’s none of your business. Put me through to Tanner.”

“Sir, Mr. Tanner is in a meeting at the moment,” she informed him, glancing toward her boss’s office door. It wasn’t a lie. In fact, her boss was in a video conference with several important figures in the automotive industry.

The voice on the other end of the line muttered something under his breath and then let out a rather sarcastic chuckle.

“Well, rest assured that I’ll call again, and you’d better put me through to your boss.”

“I can schedule an appointment if you’d like,” she replied sharply, opening the agenda and searching for an available slot. “Sir?”

“I don’t need an appointment. I need to talk to your boss now.”

“With all due respect, sir, I must repeat that—”

“You’ll repeat the same excuse. You know, I’m getting a bit tired of him avoiding me.” His tone was no longer angry; it sounded resigned instead. “I’m not upset about what happened the other night, and I want him to know that.”

“Sir, I’m not sure what you’re referring to, but as I said, I can schedule an appointment and—”

“No. It doesn’t matter. I’ll call again another time.”

And just like that, the call ended, leaving her without any idea who the man was or what he meant by saying he wasn’t angry with her boss.

“Well, Kitty, that was strange,” she murmured to the plush cat on her desk.

“Talking to Kitty during work hours?”

Her boss’s voice made her jump, and she let out a small yelp. He was standing just outside his office door, frowning as he looked at her.

“God, sir, you scared me,” she admitted, taking a deep breath.

“You didn’t answer my question.”

Once again, she felt unsettled by the strange mood that seemed to have taken over her boss. She wanted to ask what was going on, but she didn’t quite know how. Despite how comfortable they were with each other and how easily they could hold occasional conversations, there was still a gap between them.

“I was just making a comment. I wasn’t talking,” she replied, feeling confused and slightly nervous.

“Who called?”

“Oh. He didn’t give his name, but it was a man,” she answered, glancing at the phone nervously.

She didn’t know why she felt so nervous. Maybe it was her boss’s odd behavior toward her. Had she done something wrong? Had she forgotten to schedule an important meeting? She truly had no idea.

“And what did he want?”

“To speak with you.” She frowned again, a gesture she couldn’t help when something didn’t feel right. “I told him you were busy. I offered to schedule an appointment, but he refused. He mentioned something about the previous night and said he wasn’t angry with you.”

“Oh, yes. I’m sure that was Román.” She raised an eyebrow as her boss shook his head. “He’s a friend we both share with Francis.”

“Oh. Well, he said he would call again,” she informed him.

“I’ll talk to him another time and remind him that he has more important things to do than waste my time—and yours.”

She shifted in her chair, feeling a bit more at ease now that she knew who the caller had been, yet still uncomfortable with the irritation she could hear in her boss’s voice. It wasn’t like the handsome man to express something that sounded like resentment. One of the things she loved most about working for CEO Tanner, aside from the genuine care he showed for every single employee at Chrome Machine, was that he seemed to possess an endless well of patience. Seeing him irritable was… surreal.

“Mhm, sir?”

“Yes?”

“Is everything all right with you?” she asked, looking directly into the man’s eyes.

Her boss frowned, and truly, it was impossible for her not to narrow her own eyes in response.

“Yes, I’m fine. Why?”

“Because you don’t seem fine, sir.”

“Really?”

“Yes, really. I know we’ve shared small conversations, but there are things I don’t know about you.” Things I’d like to know, she thought. She let out a nervous laugh and almost looked away. “But I do know how you are day to day. And you seem… off. You’ve seemed off these past few days.”

Her boss blinked several times, surprise clearly written in his sky-blue eyes, and for a second, she thought her heart might burst out of her chest from the frantic beating caused by seeing the man so visibly unsettled.

God, she feared that one day she wouldn’t be able to control the hurricane of sensations that rose inside her whenever she looked at the handsome, virile man who was her boss.

“Oh. I apologize for that.”

“Sir, you don’t have to apologize,” she said, offering him a kind smile. “Is something wrong?”

Her boss shook his head, the surprise fading into a blank, unreadable expression.