“The amount of rain was kind of underestimated.”
“Tell me about it.” He sat down on the mattress and pulled off his boots, wiping them down with a remnant of towel before setting them aside. Then he picked up his coffee cup and scooted back to lean against the wall. She would have liked to face him, but she couldn’t fold her legs under her without hurting her ankle, so she shifted into position beside him, her legs stretched out alongside his, but with maybe ten inches separating them.
“I was going to get Harlan to lay this out for you,” he muttered.
“That bad, huh?”
“I actually think it would work for both of us. I want to expand the business, be able to bring in more clients, a wider variety, but I’m spread so thin I can’t handle it on my own.”
Angie’s lips thinned. He was spread so thin because he had most of her former clients. “Not scoring points here, Callahan,” she warned.
“I’m not trying to score points, Powell, I’m trying to offer you a fu—a … damn it, I can’t talk if I can’t cuss. I was in the army too long. I’m fucking offering you a deal, got it?”
Warily she eyed him. “Not yet.”
“I want to hire you,” he said impatiently. “With your place I’ll have more room for clients to stay, but I’m still just one person, so having more room won’t do me any good unless it’s one big party. It doesn’t make sense to expand my space but not my capability, right? I need someone else who can take out the additional hunting parties, someone I trust, who knows the area. You won’t have to leave, or even move, because I’ll need someone to look after the place.”
“Hire me.” Her tone was blank. She was so astonished she didn’t know whether to be flattered or insulted, upset or happy. She’d lose her home, but she wouldn’t lose it. She’d lose her business, but she’d still be doing what she loved. She wouldn’t be autonomous, but that wasn’t all it was cracked up to be anyway, because she was autonomous only as far as the constraints of responsibility would allow.
“I also need someone to take over the paperwork.”
“Ah, now we get to the real reason.” She said it with light sarcasm, but the truth was, now that her shock was fading she was a little grateful and a lot touched by the offer. After she had time to really think things over, she might be a lot grateful, but right now she was still trying to absorb the possibility of not being her own boss. She’d worked for others before, for longer than she’d had her own business, so it wasn’t as if she couldn’t do it. But she liked having her own business, liked doing the planning and preparation, liked answering to no one other than herself.
Right away she could see both pros and cons. One big pro was that she’d have the money from selling her place, money that she could invest for her future. She’d be out from under a mortgage—that would become Dare’s headache. The most immediate con would be giving up control of her working life. She liked doing things her way.
But if she took the job, she’d be home. And she’d be near Dare … but he’d be her boss. And that was a very, very big con. If he thought he’d get something going with her and employ her at the same time … no. Wasn’t going to happen. The bottom dropped out of her stomach in dismay.
She struggled to get her thoughts in better order. Why would that bother her, unless she’d already subconsciously decided to sleep with him?
Oh, God. He’d taken an already complicated situation and made it worse.
Chapter Twenty-five
“I have to think about it,” she finally said.
“Why? You either want to stay, or you don’t.”
Wasn’t that just like a man? Damn the torpedoes, full steam ahead. The situation was simple to him: He was offering her a deal, and she either liked it or didn’t. But she saw the torpedoes, and she didn’t want to blow herself out of the water. What she wanted … she didn’t know exactly what she wanted, because she hadn’t thought about all the nuances and possibilities yet.
She couldn’t just say, Because I won’t sleep with my boss because she was still at sea regarding their possible relationship, period. Everything except her brain seemed to be pulling her toward him, but until her brain got onboard with the idea, she wasn’t making that move. How could she make a definite decision about something that wasn’t definite? It didn’t make sense to decide to try having a relationship with him, both emotional and physical, and at the same time decide on a business deal that, if she refused it, would take her away from him, but if she took the deal it would make it impossible to have a relationship … she was confusing herself trying to think about it. The two couldn’t mix, but neither could they be separated.
“Well?” he demanded. “Do you want to stay?”
“Don’t rush me, okay? It isn’t as if you know for certain you’ll be able to get a bank loan, and”—she waved her hand around, indicating the cabin—“there’s nothing we can do right now, anyway. We’re stuck here, so there’s no rush.”
“But if you decide, then we could start working out details.”
“I don’t want to start working out details, I want to take my time so I don’t make any mistakes!” she said impatiently. “God, what rank did you have in the army, chief nagger?”
“The army doesn’t have chiefs. That’s the navy.” But his mouth quirked in a little smile, and he settled his shoulders more comfortably against the wall. “And I was an E-seven.”