The Boss Project by Vi Keeland

Merrick shrugged. “I don’t know. Fifty…maybe sixty percent?”

“Nineteen.”

“Shit. I didn’t know it was that bad.”

“The average person gets five weeks of vacation and takes less than one.”

“What am I supposed to do? I can’t force them to take a trip.”

“No, you can’t. But you can force them to take their time off. You can institute a policy that all employees must utilize the majority of their time off. You could even cut their access to the company’s systems during that time.”

“I don’t know about cutting access. I think most of them would go ape shit if I did that. But maybe making vacation time mandatory could work.”

“I think that would be a great place to start. Though, like with most things, you should set the example. You can’t expect your staff to think it’s okay to disconnect for a week or two at a time if the boss isn’t doing it.”

Merrick nodded. “Point taken.”

“Can I ask you something else personal?”

He shook his head. “No, I’d rather you didn’t.”

“Oh…okay.”

“I’m just screwing with you. I wanted to see how you’d react.”

I narrowed my eyes. “Sort of like when you pretended not to know I was the woman from the fitting room for your own amusement?”

He smiled. “What’s your question?”

“Are you dating anyone?”

“Are you asking because you’re interested in filling that role if I say no?”

I felt heat in my cheeks. “Oh no... I wasn’t trying to insinuate…”

“Relax, I’m teasing. “You’re actually turning pink, Dr. Vaughn.”

I hated that my face always gave me away. Touching my warm cheek, I shook my head. “Well, it’s a little embarrassing if your boss thinks you’re hitting on him your second week on the job.” Merrick looked completely amused. “You really enjoy watching me squirm, don’t you?”

He seemed to take a moment to think about it before he answered. “Oddly, I do.”

“Is this a thing you do with all your employees?”

Merrick shook his head slowly. “Just you.”

“Why?”

He shrugged. “I have no damn idea. But to answer your question, not seriously, no.”

“Oh my God, I don’t even remember the question now.”

He grinned. “You asked if I was dating anyone.”

“That’s right.” I shook my head. “My question was related to the lack of vacation time being taken. You had said it was difficult to disconnect. But I feel like it shouldn’t be when you have someone who really captures your interest. I think we all need something that can distract us from our work.”

Merrick’s eyes flickered to my lips, causing a flutter low in my belly. He lifted his water to his mouth. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

Luckily our food arrived just then. I swapped out half my sandwich for half of his and quickly picked up the burger, feeling the need to distract myself from the way my boss made me feel. “You know, if you decide to take some time off, I know a great glamping Airbnb.”

He winked. “I think I’m more of a treehouse kind of guy.”

“Seriously, though, I know you’re exempt from the mandatory therapy, but we can all use some time off to decompress. How do you destress if you don’t even take time off?”

“There are plenty of ways to work the stress out that don’t require weeks off. Though I’m not sure HR would want me to tell you my personal favorites.”

“Ah. I guess I forget about those methods since it’s been so long.”

A little while later, we walked out of the restaurant together. I had to go left to the subway, but Merrick would be going right, back to the building where he both lived and worked.

“Thank you again for taking the time to answer all my questions—and for dinner,” I told him.

“No problem.”

“Well, have a safe trip.” I nodded toward my train. “I go that way.”

“No, you don’t.” Merrick lifted his chin. “You go that way.”

I wrinkled my nose but followed his line of sight. The dark Town Car he’d dropped me off in the other night was waiting at the curb. The driver stepped out and opened the back door.

“It’s after eight. My employees take a car service home if they work this late.”

“That’s very generous of you, but I’m fine on the subway.”

“I’m sure you are. Take the car anyway.”

I squinted. “Back to being bossy, I see.”

“Back to being a pain in my ass, I see.” He tried to keep his face stern, but he couldn’t hide the amusement in his eyes. “Goodnight, Ms. Vaughn.”

“Doctor Vaughn.”

His lip twitched, but he said nothing more. So I walked to the car. Before I climbed in, I looked back to say goodbye and caught Merrick’s eyes glued to my ass. I expected a sheepish look, or feigned embarrassment, at least—like I’d felt when I’d gotten caught checking him out the other day.

But there was not a morsel of either to be found.





CHAPTER 11