One Night with the Boss Read online

  “Again—prying.”

  “Are you ashamed of him? Ichabod? Aristotle? Sven?” He tapped his lip thoughtfully. “Maybe it’s a girl name. Lindsay? Lynne? Carroll?”

  She almost laughed, almost succumbed to the charm. Instead, she decided to run for cover. She turned away and headed for the door. “You’re incorrigible and listening to this isn’t in my job description.”

  “Why can’t he move here to Blackwater Lake?”

  Because he doesn’t exist, she thought. “It’s just easier if I go there.” That was sort of true.

  “Easier on who?”

  “Me.”

  “So where are you moving?”

  “Again—prying. Look, I did what I had to do. You’ve got your two weeks’ notice. Now I’m going back to work. There are a lot of loose ends to tie up.”

  Behind her he said, “Most administrative assistants would be eager to give their boss all the juicy, gossipy details of a love affair.”

  “I’m not most assistants.”

  “Tell me about it.” He sounded like a petulant little boy, pouting about not getting his way.

  That should have reinforced her decision, but as always, she found the behavior oddly endearing.

  She stood in the doorway between their offices. “So, I’ll advertise my position and hopefully you can promote from within the company. I’ll also contact an employment agency and recruiters we’ve used in the past. I’ll work over the weekend and on Monday there will be a slate of candidates for you to interview.”

  “Whatever.”

  Olivia closed the door, then walked over to her desk and sat behind it. She let out a long breath and realized the last few minutes in Brady’s office were just a preview of what she could expect from him for the next two weeks. Giving him her resignation was a walk in the park compared to the prospect of actually working with him every day until she left.

  He wasn’t going to make this easy on her.

  * * *

  Three days after Olivia had given her notice, Brady leaned back in his desk chair and squeezed the orange ball. It was Monday and she’d kept her word about lining up people for her job. He’d just completed the second of two interviews she’d scheduled for today and she was seeing the applicant out.

  “Olivia must be really anxious to get out of here,” he said to himself, crushing the round foam rubber in his palm.

  Who was this guy she’d met?

  He’d never thought about her dating, let alone getting serious. And he wasn’t sure what bothered him more—losing the world’s best assistant, or the fact that she was leaving because she’d fallen in love. He hated change—and the thought of her with a guy made him want to rip what’s-his-name’s head off.

  The situation basically sucked.

  He swiveled in his chair and looked out the big arched window. No rain today. It was beautiful outside, with the sun turning the surface of Blackwater Lake to sparkling diamonds. The other window had a view of the mountains and he knew that from her desk just a few feet away Olivia could look at the same beautiful surroundings.

  Was there mind-blowing scenery where what’s-his-name lived?

  “So, what do you think about the interviews?”

  Brady knew Olivia’s voice, but he’d realized she was in his office before she’d said a word. The scent of her filled the room and always made him think of flowers. A garden. Serenity.

  But not anymore. Now she was going to turn his life upside down to move somewhere he didn’t know with a guy she wouldn’t name.

  He swiveled his chair around and looked at her. She was wearing a very businesslike, conservative navy pantsuit and matching pumps. Today her strawberry-blond hair was pulled away from her face in a ponytail, emphasizing her high cheekbones. Her big blue eyes filled with eager anticipation when she sat in one of the club chairs on the other side of his desk.

  She wasn’t tall and willowy or classically beautiful, but her smile always brightened the room on a cloudy day. And there was something about her voice, a huskiness that wasn’t quite a lisp but tapped into his devilish streak and made him bait her into saying S-words.

  She was staring at the rubber ball in his fist. “You’ve clearly been giving the interviews some thought.”

  “Sort of. In a manner of speaking. But only because you forced me into this.”

  She rolled her eyes, then looked at the yellow legal pad in her lap that she used for notes. “Okay, then. Let’s start with candidate number one. Shannen Dow.”

  The corners of his mouth curved up. “I like her name.”

  “That’s a good start. The recruiter says she’s one of their strongest applicants.”

  “Of course they would. Commission is their revenue stream.”

  Olivia ignored that. “I thought she was very bright, with a solid background in computers and business. That’s really important so she can hit the ground running. The sooner you hire someone, the more training I can do before my last day.”

  The last day part hit a nerve. “She was okay. But it has to be said—not a fashion plate.”

  Her blue eyes narrowed on him. “I didn’t list accessorizing as a qualification you were looking for. Since when do you care about that?”

  “Since always. She’ll have to meet clients and there will be meetings.”

  “Not often. When I interviewed, you told me that since your corporate office is in your home, I could wear jeans to work.”

  Because jeans look good on you, he thought. But Shannen Dow was skinny and her voice wasn’t the least bit gravelly or interesting.

  “But you never did go casual and that’s set a very high bar for your replacement.”

  “So take her to the mall.”

  Brady ignored the sarcasm. “Didn’t you find the tone of her voice to be like fingernails on a chalkboard?”

  Olivia’s expression was wry. “Not until you asked her to make a pot of coffee.”

  “Really? I thought the pitch was on the shrill side. Too much of that would give me a headache.”

  “No one wants to work for a male sexist pig,” she pointed out.

  “She needed to know I’m missing the sensitivity chip,” he defended.

  “Making coffee isn’t a skills requirement for this position.”

  “Says who? It’s important to me and I’m the one who signs the paycheck.”

  “Okay then. Moving on.” She made a note on the legal pad. “Let’s talk about candidate number two.”

  “What’s her name again?” he asked innocently.

  “Shelly Shows.” She met his gaze. “Did you approve of her outfit?”

  “It was lovely.” He added, “But I wasn’t wowed by her, even in plaid.”

  “Her letters of reference are glowing. At her current place of employment she’s very well-liked and efficient.”

  “Then why does she need this job?”

  “It’s closer to home. She’s been working as executive assistant to the administrator of the hospital, which, as you’re aware, is about seventy miles away. Currently she rents a room near work then comes home on the weekends.” Olivia met his gaze. “So, what are your thoughts?”

  He thought it would be possible to sympathize if the best assistant he’d ever had wasn’t leaving him. Instead of answering, he asked, “Speaking of distant towns, where are you moving?”

  She blinked at his rapid change of topic. “What?”

  “When you abandon me, where are you going to live?”

  “That’s not information you need in order to hire my replacement.”

  Why was she being so stingy with details? “The least you can do is tell me his name.”

  “You’re not going to let this go, are you?”

  He leaned back in his chair and grinn
ed. “See how well you know me?”

  “All right. It’s Leonard,” she finally said. “There, go ahead and make fun.”

  “Would I do that?”

  “In a heartbeat.”

  “That’s harsh.” But accurate. He’d almost said it was marginally better than Aloysius. “So, where did you meet Leonard?”

  “Out of town,” she said vaguely.

  “That goes without saying. If you were dating a guy from Blackwater Lake, it would be all over town.” For a to-the-point person, she was being uncharacteristically difficult. This was frustrating and Brady felt his curiosity picking up momentum. “Where specifically did you meet? On vacation?”

  “Vacation?” She laughed. “What’s that? When you’re in the office I am, too. And you’re always in the office. There’s no such thing as time off.”

  “Point taken. I’m a workaholic. Would you consider a leave of absence instead of resigning? I could spare you for that.”

  “No.” Primly she folded her hands in her lap. “Not everything is about you.”

  “So you keep reminding me. And now it’s about Leonard.”

  “Exactly.” She brushed imaginary lint from the leg of her slacks.

  “If you didn’t meet him on vacation, it must have been a trip for work.”

  “Remind me not to try and put anything over on you.”

  Sarcasm was one of his favorite things about her. “So, was it in Austin? L.A.? Chicago?”

  “I definitely went to those cities. You should know. We were there together.”

  She was right about that, but when business hours were over they’d gone their separate ways. He’d picked up women and if Olivia had met men she never said anything to him. Until now. He’d never thought to ask how she filled her time away from work. Clearly she’d found Leonard, and the sense of betrayal Brady felt was out of proportion to the situation. He was being unfair. Not to mention completely irrational.

  As crazy as he knew it was, he wanted to know everything. “Do you have a job lined up in Leonard’s neck of the woods?”

  “I have an offer.”

  “I’d be happy to give you a glowing recommendation.” Well, not happy, exactly, but he’d try not to be spiteful, what with his festering bitterness about her jumping ship.

  “But I’m planning to take some time off first.”

  “What are you going to do with yourself?”

  “Anything that strikes my fancy,” she said, a little defiantly. She stood and walked to the doorway of his office. “Any other questions?”

  Why are you leaving me?

  Brady didn’t say that out loud, even though the idea of it had preoccupied him way too much since she’d dropped her bombshell. Besides his mother, sister and niece, he had no personal attachments—yet somehow he’d become attached to Olivia. He wouldn’t be making that mistake with his next assistant.

  She looked over her shoulder on the way out the door. “Think about Shelly. And I’ll be lining up more candidates to interview. If you know what’s good for you, you’ll approach this process more seriously than you just did.”

  “I conducted those interviews very seriously.”

  She ignored that. “You need to ask yourself what’s wrong with the two women you saw today.”

  “I don’t need to ask myself anything. I already know what’s wrong.”

  “Care to share?” She put a hand on her hip.

  “Neither of them is you.”

  Chapter Two

  After work, her boss’s words sent Olivia to her best friend’s house. A friend who just happened to be Brady’s sister. Now she sat on Maggie Potter’s comfortable sofa in the cozy, spacious log cabin home where Maggie lived with her infant daughter, Danielle, after her husband was tragically killed in Afghanistan. Danny had built this place for her and it was where they’d planned to spend the rest of their lives and raise their family. That was before his Army National Guard unit had been called up and deployed to Afghanistan, where he was killed by a roadside bomb, leaving his pregnant wife a heartbroken widow.

  Maggie was a petite brunette with big brown eyes that now always seemed a little sad. After Danny’s death Olivia had tried to be there for her friend as much as possible and had insisted on a weekly girls’ night out. After baby Danielle was born, Olivia brought dinner to the house so the little girl wasn’t left out of the female ritual. But tonight the toddler had gone to bed early, worn out from a play date.

  Olivia scooted forward and took her glass of Merlot from the coffee table where it sat by the pizza box. “I have something to tell you,” she said.

  “Gossip?” Maggie’s brown eyes gleamed with undisguised feminine interest. “Please tell me it’s juicy. There hasn’t been any good buzz since Emma Robbins came to town, got a job as nanny to Justin Flint’s little boy, then announced she was the long-lost daughter of Michelle and Alan Crawford.”

  Olivia grinned, remembering the sensational events. “Don’t forget the part where she and Justin fell in love and are now engaged to be married.”

  “I couldn’t have said it better.” Maggie put her paper plate with the half-eaten slice of pizza on the ottoman in front of her. “So, what’s the scoop?”

  “This isn’t gossip or even buzz. If you haven’t heard about it already, you will soon and this news should come from me.”

  “You’re not sick, are you?”

  “No.” She hadn’t meant to be so melodramatic. This woman had lost the love of her life and didn’t need another scare. “I’ve never felt better. Have you talked to your brother?”

  “Not for a few days.” The frown eased, but only a little. “Just spit it out. What’s going on and how is Brady involved?”

  “I gave him my notice. I’m quitting and moving away from Blackwater Lake.”

  Maggie looked shocked, but not alarmed. “Where are you going?”

  “California. A friend from college is going to start a tech business and offered me an upper management job.”

  “I see.” Maggie smiled sadly. “So you’re really going to quit this time?”

  “Third time is the charm.” Olivia wasn’t sure she could pull off a this-is-good-news face, so she took a sip of wine instead.

  “What makes you think Brady can’t talk you into staying? Just saying...past history and all.”

  Cradling her wineglass in her hands, Olivia said, “That’s the thing. I didn’t plan to say it. The words just slipped out.”

  “What words?”

  “He was so smug. So confident that I didn’t mean what I said.”

  Maggie’s full lips curved up. “So, my brother’s management style remains exactly the same and he’s taking you for granted.”

  Maybe it was guilt about the lie, but Olivia felt compelled to defend him. “He’s a really good boss. Generous compensation and a comprehensive benefits package for his employees. Bonuses. Working conditions are good.”

  “And yet you’re determined to leave,” her friend pointed out, looking puzzled.

  “I have to.”

  Olivia shared everything with Maggie—except about Brady. Once after a night out with Sydney McKnight she’d had her friend drop her at Brady’s house and had every intention of confessing that she cared for him. Two glasses of wine later, she’d fallen asleep on his couch without spilling the beans. Later, she’d realized that was for the best. If he couldn’t return her feelings honestly, she didn’t want him to know how she felt.

  Maggie sat forward in the chair. “So, what were the words that just slipped out?”

  Olivia met the other woman’s gaze. “I told Brady I met a man, fell in love and I’m quitting. That I have to move away to be with him.”

  “Wow, that’s a pretty big lie. I hope it wasn’t National Honesty Day or anything.
”

  “Me, too. That would probably send me deeper into the pit of hell than I already am.” Olivia took another sip of wine. “I feel awful about it, Mags, but like you said, he has this way about him. Some kind of powerful charisma that completely obliterates a person’s will even when they’d made up their mind about the best thing to do.”

  “A person.” Maggie slid back and tucked her legs up beside her in the chair. “Hmm...”

  “What does that mean?”

  Instead of answering the question, Maggie said, “Did you notice that I never asked why you’re leaving Brady?”

  It must be a sibling thing, she thought, remembering his all-about-me response to her two weeks’ notice. “I’m not leaving him. I just won’t be working for his company any more.”

  “Okay.” Maggie used her exaggeratedly patient voice. “I didn’t ask before, but I am now. Why did you quit?”

  “It’s time. This job offer came up...” She shrugged.

  “Maybe it’s because you have feelings for him.”

  “Of course I do,” she said, trying to make light of it. “He’s a terrific boss. And sort of like an honorary brother, through my association with you.”

  “That’s not what I meant and you know it,” Maggie scolded. “You think I don’t see the way you look at him when you think no one’s watching? A woman who’s known that feeling can easily see it in someone else.”

  Olivia recognized the knowing expression in her friend’s eyes. “You never said a word.”

  She lifted a shoulder. “It’s your business. As your good friend, I stood ready to help if and when you wanted to talk about it.”

  “I wanted to tell you.” She reached over and squeezed her friend’s hand. “But I was afraid it would put you in the middle and didn’t want to chance that Brady would find out. You wouldn’t mean to say anything, but stuff has a way of slipping out. Then things get awkward. If you didn’t know, everyone is protected.”

  “Everyone but you, Liv.”

  “So you and I are okay?”

  “Of course. Pinkie swear.”