The Secretary and Her Boss

Chapter 17

"Dash, I can't even pretend to find another one of your cups of coffee to be a kind gesture today," I muttered walking past him as I came out of the elevator. Slumping down at my assistants desk, I dramatically layed my head down on the desk, tired.

A moment later, Dash's head came into view, head tilted at an angle so he was looking me eye to eye. "Rough night?" he asked amused. "Another bad date?"

It had been a week filled with bad dates—terrible dates. Nothing like the one I had with Jake, but they were all boring or somewhat leery. It made me wonder where all the normal conversationalists had disappeared to.

Is there an island filled with all the amazing single conversationalists? Is this some kind of prank?

"Dating sucks," I muttered. "Why do people do it Dash?"

He leaned his head against the desk, keeping his eye-line parallel to mine. "Because at some point you find someone worth going through all the terrible dates for." He offered a small smile. "You'll see. Someone will be worth all the bad dates for."

I leaned up, placing my chin on my crossed arms. "That's weirdly romantic of you."

Dash sat down on top of my desk, criss crossing his legs, looking down at me without missing a beat. "I can be romantic."

"Suuuure."

"Okay, Work Wife. What do you consider to be romantic?"

Shoving curls out of my face I smiled to myself. "A long term commitment. Someone who takes you for all your good and bad."

Dash sighed, running his fingers through his hair. "Well that's unfair. I can't do that."

I shot him an amused smile. "You can. You just haven't found your person yet. You'll see."

Dash looked away for a beat.

I sat up straight, gasping. "Wait... you have. Haven't you."

His face burned.

"Who!?!" I nearly screamed, excited.

"So, are you ready for Costa Rica?" he asked, changing the subject.

"Dash! Answer the question."

He turned to me, a warning on his face. "Not going to talk about it."

The sudden shift in his mood was surprising. "You okay?"

Sighing, Dash shrugged. "Yeah. Just... I don't want to talk about feelings stuff."

"And yet... you always want me to talk about feelings stuff," I pointed out.

"You are good with forever feelings stuff. I am.... not." He leaned forward, still sitting on my desk and booped me on the nose. "So please humor me and let me change the subject."

Ignoring his nose tap, I finally changed the subject. "I am nervous about the Costa Rica trip," I replied, letting him off the hook. "I'm worried I'm going to mess it up."

"You'll do great. The clothes are Allie's baby. She wouldn't just let anyone to babysit them."

"So I'm a glorified babysitter?"

Dash's eyes lit up, loving his own analogy. "Think about it! You make Boss Man and Boss Lady play nice, you have to keep everyone on task, like a teacher in a preschool classroom, and you have to teach the new guy who has zero coffee making skill to make coffee— like he's some toddler or something."

I groaned, throwing my hands over my mouth, eyes wide. "Oh my gosh... I am a glorified babysitter!"

Dash leaned toward me, eyes alight with mischief. "And with all the men you've been dating— who are apparently terrible, you can count that toward your babysitting hours too!"