Forever the Boss: Billionaire Romance ~ Hot and Steamy (Managing the Bosses Series Book 10) (13 page)

None of them spoke for a long moment, just standing there in silence, connected. Family.

“Thank you,” Christine said, finally lifting her head. She twisted to look at Mark, and then at Erica. “Both of you. I'm not sure I deserve what you're offering, but I think I'll take it anyway.”

“Good,” Mark said, “because I'm not going to stop being nice to you, so you're just going to have to get used to it, little sister.”

Her cheeks turned pink again, and she managed a smile. “I guess I'll have to do that, then.”

“It's not a bad thing to get used to,” Erica said. “Trust me.”

“I do.”

Whatever the mess was with Christine's mother, it probably wasn't over, but she had him and she had Erica. And Jamie. Even Alex. None of them were going to let her mother push her back to the place she'd been when she ended up in the hospital. Whatever her mother's issue was, she was going to have them to help her through it. She was going to be okay. Mark would make sure of it.

“My mother showed up at the country club yesterday,” Jamie said as she and Alex sat down to dinner. “Mark says that she really upset Christine, but Erica kind of chased her off.”

“Erica?” Alex's eyebrows lifted. “I actually wouldn't have expected that. I mean, Erica doesn’t let anyone walk all over her… but I was kind of under the impression she wasn’t too keen on your sister.”

“They've been spending a lot of time together recently. I mean, really, we both have. I wanted Erica to get to know Christine and me. To make her feel like part of the family.” She smiled. “I guess it worked, because Mark said she really went off on my mom about the way she was treating Christine, and told her she needed to leave the club.”

“How did your mom take that?” Alex asked, fork halfway to his mouth.

“About as well as you would imagine,” Jamie said. “She threw a fit, and Mark threw her out.”

Alex laughed, and took the bite he'd paused. “That must have been an interesting afternoon.”

“Interesting isn't exactly the word I would use,” Jamie said, scooping up some mashed potatoes and feeding them to Lilli. She looked up at her husband. “Speaking of interesting afternoons, I wanted to talk to you about Nate. I know you said he asked you for money, but what on earth made him think that you were going to give it to him?”

She'd wanted to ask that the night before, actually, but when she and Alex had gone to dinner he'd told her he didn't want to discuss it when they were supposed to be having a nice night out together, and she hadn't exactly been able to argue with that. Besides, when they'd come home they'd been a little too busy to be thinking about anything even remotely related to work. In fact, Jamie hadn't even remembered that work—or her mother's boyfriend—existed by the time Alex was done with her. She felt a little rush of heat at the pleasant memories, and had to drag her attention back to the matter at hand, which was her mother's boyfriend apparently trying to blackmail her husband. Like they hadn't had enough trouble with that already.

“Well,” Alex said, “he tried twice.”

“Twice?” Jamie demanded. “Why didn't you tell me the first time?”

Alex shrugged and fed Benton a bite of potatoes. “Because I didn't really think he was going to be that much of a problem, and you've had enough to deal with recently. His reasoning was ridiculous. It was more of a joke than anything else.”

“What was his reasoning?”

Alex grinned. “He wanted me to pay him to leave your mother. Straight out. He thought you wanted to see your parents back together, and that you'd be happy if I got him away from your mother so that she would think about going back to your father.”

Jamie, incredulous, stared at Alex. “That's really what he thought?”

“That's really what he thought.”

“He’s an idiot.” She laughed. “Wow. No wonder you didn't worry about telling me. I wouldn't have thought it was a serious threat either.”

“No,” Alex said, “I didn't. So I kicked him out and told him not to come back. That was a few weeks ago. Then, today, he shows up at my office again, to tell me that he's found a sex tape I was involved in and if I don't give him the money he's going to distribute it.”

Jamie suddenly wasn't quite as amused by the whole thing. “He said that?”

“I told him I'm sure it's already on the internet somewhere, and I really don't care.” Alex waved the concerns away. “It's really not a big deal, Jamie. Even if he does have access to it, and even if he does give it out to some tabloid, it's not going to do any harm to the business, or to us. If anything, it’ll probably have people cheering me on.”

“That's not the reaction I would get if someone put out a sex tape of me,” Jamie pointed out.

“No,” Alex agreed. “I know it isn't. But Stephen already tried that, and it didn't work out. I'm sure Nate Thompson's attempts aren't going to be any more successful than his were. Everything will work out okay.”

“I hope you're right.” Jamie fed another bite to Lilli, who made a happy little 'yum' sound, and for a moment she forgot what she was so worried about, just happy because her daughter was, and then she turned back to Alex. “I really am not in the mood for any more problems. Especially ones that involve the tabloids.”

“Nate Thompson is dealt with,” Alex said. “He's not going to be showing up at my office demanding things again.”

That didn't mean he wasn't going to hand things over to the press, but Jamie supposed she was just going to have to deal with that possibility. If Alex wasn't worried, then she shouldn't be either.

“Do you think we should warn my mother about him?”

“Do you want me to answer that question honestly?”

Jamie laughed. “I think that
is
an answer, baby.”

“I don't think your mother really deserves a warning. She didn't give any for any of the times she tried to ruin your life. But if you want to tell her what's going on, then that's your choice.” Alex met her eyes, and she was lost in the blue. “I'm not going to stop you.”

Pulling her gaze away from Alex's, Jamie shook herself out of the daze he could so easily put her into just by looking the way that he did. “There's a part of me that doesn't want to say anything and just let her marry him if he sticks around that long. Let her experience what she did to Dad. But there's another part of me that... I think she actually did love Dad. As much as she was capable of loving anyone. And she wasn't malicious to him on purpose. It's just the way she is. So I think deliberately letting her hook up with a guy who doesn't love her and just wants to use her to try to get money from her rich relatives is kind of cruel.”

“Do you think she's going to believe you if you tell her?” Alex asked. “Or will she just get mad and accuse you of trying to ruin her happiness?”

That was a good point. Jamie sighed. “Honestly, I don't know. She might listen if it came from Christine, though. Or maybe after today she wouldn't. Maybe it's better just not to try. I think she probably already knows it’s not going to work. She has to know he’s hustling her for money. He’s, like, half her age and has her asking the family she wants nothing to do with to give her some?”

“Whatever decision you make, you know I'll support you,” Alex said. “Always, Jamie.”

“Thank you.” Jamie leaned across the little distance of table that separated them and kissed Alex. It was meant to be quick, but it turned slower, more drawn-out, and when she pulled back she was smiling again.

Benton clapped his hands against his tray table, and Alex looked a little guilty, quickly giving him another bite of food.

Jamie offered Lilli one. “I think I'll tell Christine,” she said as Lilli cooed happily, “and see what she thinks we should do.”

“I think that's a good idea.”

***

The phone rang in Jamie's hand, and she tapped one foot against the floor a little impatiently while she waited for it to pick up.

There was always a part of her that was a touch nervous when Christine didn't answer at first. A part that was afraid one day her sister wouldn't answer her call and she'd go and find her the way she had that night, lying on the floor unconscious, in need of being rushed to the hospital.

“Hello?” Christine said, and Jamie relaxed.

“Hey, Christine. I wanted to talk to you about something, if you have a minute.”

“Sure. What's up?”

Jamie leaned back into the soft cushions of the couch and relayed the story that Alex had told her about their mother's boyfriend. Christine listened, occasionally making a surprised sort of sound, or demanding the answer to some minor detail.

“He tried to blackmail Alex into paying him?” she said when the story was over. “Seriously?”

“He really did,” Jamie said. “And tried to get Alex to give him money to leave Mom.” She took a breath and let it out again. “I'm trying to decide if we should tell her about it.”

“We should,” Christine said, not hesitating at all. “Just because she hasn't always been the best mom doesn't mean she deserves to be left to a guy who would leave her for a couple thousand.”

“I'm not sure she would listen, is the problem,” Jamie pointed out. “I mean, she's going to say we're just jealous and we're trying to break them up because we hate her or something. She wouldn't let us actually get a word in edgewise as soon as we said that he's not into her.”

Christine sighed. “Okay, that's probably true, but there's got to be something that we can tell her. We can't just leave her to him.”

“Maybe... I don't know. Honestly, Christine, sometimes I'm not sure I really want to bother dealing with her. She's always hated me.”

“I don't think she hates you,” Christine said. “I think she just doesn't know how to show how she feels and sort of defaults to... well, what she does. I think she’s jealous because you’ve always been sure of yourself and never had to impress people to make them want to like you. She’s just… well, she’s Mom.”

“That doesn't really make me feel much better about trying to talk to her.” Jamie shook her head, even though she knew her sister couldn't see it. “I think maybe it's best if I leave it to you. You know her better than I do. You know a way to tell her that will hopefully keep her from shooting the messenger.”

“I'm not sure I actually do,” Christine said. “But I'll try. I guess if she hates me afterward it won't really be any different from the way things have been for the last few months.”

“I'm sorry she started treating you this way, Christine,” Jamie said, and she meant it.

“No,” Christine answered. “I'm not. Not really. If she hadn't I never would have realized how hard things were for you. I might never have actually changed. I would have just gone back to what I was before, and I don't want to be that anymore.”

If Christine were there, Jamie could have pulled her into a hug, let her know that she wasn't that. But Christine was on the other side of a phone line, so Jamie had to resort to just saying it, and hope that her sister believed her. “I think what you’re doing is really brave,” she added. “I’m too scared to do it.”

Christine laughed a little. “Maybe I’m just reckless.”

“No,” Jamie said. “You’re brave. And you’re kind. After everything she’s done, I wasn’t even sure I wanted to tell her. And she was just at the club yesterday, yelling at you, but you still want to help her. That takes more than what a lot of people have.”

“Thank you, Jamie,” Christine said, and Jamie could hear the sincerity in her voice. “That really means a lot to me. More than you know. So thank you.”

“Of course.” Jamie smiled into the phone. “That’s what sisters are for.” She giggled. “I can hide in the closet for back-up if you need me.”

“So tell me where we are on this, Paul.”

Paul glanced down at the notes sitting in front of him. “We're making progress, although it could be faster,” he said. “I've gotten three new accounts in the last week, all of which add some really great options for our investors, including some really interesting new technologies. Investor accounts are coming in slower than we would have hoped for this quarter, but that's sped up in the last week or so, with thirty percent more new investors than in the week before that, so I’m hopeful that we're headed in the right direction.”

“Excellent. It's not what we were before the mess with Zander, but we're building ourselves back up to the standards I require.” Alex marked down a quick note on the file sitting on his desk and looked back up at Paul, ready to wrap up the meeting. “Anything else to report?”

He watched Paul consider, his expression thoughtful, and then the younger man shook his head. “None I can think of. We pretty much covered everything. The plans are in place for next quarter. All the reports are coming in on time. We've got people to replace the ones Zander took with him, and all of them seem to be doing well.”

It was a good summary of what they'd covered over the course of the last hour. Alex nodded, and relaxed a little in his chair. “In that case, let me ask you how you're doing.”

“How
I'm
doing, Mr. Reid?”

Alex smiled. “Yes, Paul. And you can call me Alex, you know. How you're doing. I've been pleased with your performance, but I want to make sure you're happy here with us. I’d rather not lose you again.”

“Oh. Thanks, Mr. Re—Alex. I'm actually doing great.” Paul smiled back at him, even if the expression was a little nervous. “I know last time when I left I was worried about a social life, but I think that's under control, and I'm very happy with the job.”

“Your social life does seem to be going well,” Alex said, chuckling.

Paul's eyebrows lifted. “Was that a comment on something other than work?” he asked. “I can't believe that. I wish I had gotten it on tape.”

“It was,” Alex said, chuckling. “Seeing as you seem to be dating my sister-in-law, I didn't think it was too far out of line.” He glanced down at his watch. “We're just about ready for the lunch hour anyway.”

The younger man dipped his head, hiding the fact that he was obviously slightly embarrassed by Alex's pointing out his relationship with Christine.

Alex wondered if he maybe shouldn't have said anything after all. He didn't want to make Paul uncomfortable. “If you'd rather not talk about those things with me, of course we can avoid them. I don't want you to feel that this is an unprofessional atmosphere, or that I'm going to be hounding you about your personal life. I’m glad you’re happy. Happy man means a good employee.”

“Oh. No. Of course not.” Paul shook his head. “I wouldn't ever see you as unprofessional, Mr. Re—Alex. I was a bit surprised, but I suppose if we're going to be seeing each other outside of work as well, I should get used to having conversations with you that don't revolve around investment portfolios.”

“It's not a bad idea,” Alex agreed.

He considered waiting on the question that he wanted to ask. Maybe it would be better to offer to buy Paul a drink and take him out of the office before he got into something so personal, but he'd promised Jamie he would be home on time and she was alone with the twins.

“Can I ask you,” he said, making up his mind. “With Christine. What exactly are your intentions?”

Paul, who was taking a drink of water, choked. “I'm sorry?” he said when he could breathe again. “I... Really?”

Alex hid a smile. “As you may have noticed, Christine is a little fragile. She's my wife's sister, and I want to make sure she doesn't get hurt.”

“Wow. I can't say that I thought this conversation would ever happen. I mean, I figured with her dad, maybe, but not with you.” Paul looked up at Alex, grinning. “I don't know that some of the employees would even believe you're capable of discussing emotions.”

“Some of my employees, I think, are convinced that I sleep in a drawer at the office instead of going home.”

That made Paul laugh. “I'd believe that. I know there was a theory going around for a while last time I was here that maybe you were an experimental robot. I don't think it was a serious theory, but it was definitely a rumor that went around for a while.”

“A robot?” Alex shook his head. “I haven't heard that one yet.”

“You did used to work kind of crazy hours,” Paul pointed out.

That was true enough. But it was also completely off the topic. “So,” Alex said. “Christine?”

“Right.” Paul looked down at his hands, then up at Alex again. “I can't tell you that I'm planning on marrying her, because I don't really know right now. It hasn't been long enough. But I can tell you I do really like her and I don't want her to get hurt. I would never do anything to harm her.”

Alex looked across the desk into earnest green eyes, holding it until Paul looked like he really wanted to look away, and then finally he nodded. “That's acceptable.”

Paul grinned suddenly. “Especially because I’m scared shitless of her brother-in-law.”

Alex chuckled. “With good reason.” The two of them both relaxed a notch.

“Are you doing this because Jamie asked you to?” Paul asked suddenly, like the thought had just occurred to him.

“Partly,” Alex said. “She did ask me. But I do care about her sister, especially after everything that happened last year.”

“I care about her, too,” Paul said. “I really do.”

“Then I trust you’ll take care of her.” Alex tapped the enter key to wake up his computer, done with the conversation.

There was a moment where he thought Paul might say something; he could feel his eyes on him. But then the younger man stood and gathered his notes, the office door shutting behind him.

***

“I asked Paul that question you wanted me to ask,” Alex said later as they left the twins sleeping in the nursery. “About Christine.”

“And?” Jamie turned around to look at him. “What did he say?”

“He said he's not sure yet if he wants to marry her, but he does care about her and doesn't want her to get hurt.”

Jamie sighed. “That's good enough, I guess.”

“You want him to be ready to marry your sister after a few weeks of dating?”

“I was ready to marry you after a few weeks of drooling,” Jamie pointed out.

“That's different, I think.” Alex let out a low chuckle as he wrapped his arms around her and drew her in close. “It took me forever to get my act together. By the time we were officially dating, we'd been sort of unofficially dating for quite a while. And I’d been drooling over you when you weren’t looking. I can’t even begin to tell you the wet dreams I had about you.”

“Seriously? Wet dreams? How old are you?”

“Day dreams—wet dreams? They were very nasty.” He nuzzled her neck. “Maybe one day you’ll act out a few of them.”

“If you’re lucky,” Jamie teased and then she sobered as she looked up at him. “Mark and Erica didn't date for all that long, though, before they got engaged.”

“Give it time,” Alex suggested. “Some people take things more slowly than others, and your sister has already been married once. To Stephen. If I'd been married to Stephen, I wouldn't be in a mad rush to marry anyone else.”

“Okay. That's also true.” Jamie looked like she was trying not to laugh. “I can be patient.”

“I could distract you.” Alex let his hands, that had been resting chastely on Jamie's waist, slide farther down, bending his head to nip gently at her throat. “I'm sure there are plenty of things interesting enough to capture your attention for a while. A wet dream, maybe?”

“Is that so?” Jamie purred, wrapping herself closer around him.

Alex abruptly swept her into his arms just to hear her laugh. “I think it is.”

Still carrying her, he headed up toward their bedroom. Jamie stopped him with a hand on his shoulder. “Let's do it somewhere not the bedroom,” she said, and Alex felt himself stirring.

“And where would that somewhere not the bedroom be?” he asked.

Jamie thought about it, her eyebrows drawing together. “Somewhere I can ride you,” she suggested when she’d decided, leaning up and dragging her lips over his neck. “I think I would like that. A twisted wet dream of my own?”

He groaned, unable to stop himself. There was no way he was going to complain about that particular decision. “You know you can ride me on the bed, though,” he pointed out.

“I could,” Jamie said, in a tone that indicated she had no intention of actually doing so, and Alex chuckled. “But I think I’d rather do it on the back patio.”

Alex looked down at her with surprise. “The back patio?”

She smiled. “It's a nice night.”

“I'm not sure what's gotten into you, woman,” Alex growled, “but I think I like it.”

Jamie nipped at his shoulder as he carried her toward the back door and let them both out onto the patio. He set her on her feet on the cool cement, tipping his head back to look up at the clear sky and the stars scattered across it. They were faint, burned out by the lights from the city, but Alex didn't mind that. There was a much better view closer to him.

“So,” he said, turning back to Jamie. “We're on—” The words caught in his mouth.

In the few seconds that he'd looked away, Jamie had stripped out of most of her clothes, and was standing in front of him in just a pair of red satin panties, the glow of the house lights outlining her form. Alex was pretty sure that he'd never seen anything quite so beautiful.

She walked toward him, hips swaying, and Alex hurried to get out of his own clothes, tossing them aside without much care for where they fell. He could always buy new ones. The sound of the water in the pool lapping against its edges was a faint backdrop.

“Sit,” Jamie said, pointing to one of the pool chairs behind him.

Alex didn't bother arguing. He sank down onto it, naked, and waited for her to get within arms' reach. As soon as she was, he caught her around the waist and pulled her in close to him, his cheek against her stomach.

“You're going to be the death of me, you know that?” he asked, looking up at her.

“But what a way to go, right?” She flashed him a wicked grin with the words.

“There are worse ways,” Alex agreed, dragging her down onto his lap and pulling her against him so that her breasts were pressed soft against his chest and her legs were spread over his lap. He rocked up against her still-clad sex, and both of them moaned with the pleasure of it.

Jamie rolled her hips, practically writhing on top of him, the sleek fabric of her underwear soft against his skin. Warm with the heat of her. Alex groaned.

“I love you,” Jamie said, leaning in for a kiss, nipping at his lower lip as she pulled back. She looked up at him with dark, shining eyes, and he thought he felt his heart stutter in his chest.

“You're so unbelievably sexy,” he said, hands sliding down to cup the curves of her backside, rocking her harder against him. “I don't know how I got lucky enough to have you, but I'm grateful every day that I did.”

“Maybe because you tell me things like that,” Jamie said, and she smiled at him in a way that, for a moment, had nothing to do with the sex they were about to have. It was sweet, and intimate, like feeling her arms wrapped around him. Like she just wanted to drink in the sight of his face. And maybe she did. Alex had felt that way about her before. Watching her face because he couldn't get enough of her.

“Every word of it is true,” he said, and leaned up to kiss her again. And then again. “Get these off,” he breathed into her mouth, tugging at the edge of her underwear and then letting it snap back against her skin with just a tiny sting.

Jamie lifted up on her knees so she could wiggle out of the panties, and then settled herself back onto him. There was nothing but skin between them then, and she rubbed herself against his length, her hands on his shoulders for something to hold onto.

“I love you, too,” he said, voice rough with wanting. “Fuck, Jamie.”

She reached down, her hand curling around him, stroking the length of his cock, and Alex let a shuddering breath escape, hips hitching up into the touch. Another stroke, and then she was guiding him into her, sinking down on him until her thighs met his.

“You feel so good.” Her voice was a little shaky. “Love the way you fill me up, Alex.”

His hands wrapped around her hips as she lifted herself again, guiding her. She lowered herself down, slowly, and then picked up the pace. Alex let his head fall back against the chair he was sitting in with a grunt.

“Can't believe how hot you are,” he forced out past a tight throat, the words almost a moan. “How do you manage to be hotter every time we do this?”

She smiled down at him, bouncing on his cock. “I guess it's true what they say about practice making perfect.”

There were no more words after that, just the sounds of their bodies moving together, gasps and sighs and groans of pleasure. Jamie worked herself up and down on Alex's cock, angling herself so that he hit her sweet spot every time she took him in. Alex's hands tightened around her hips and his body rocked up to meet hers.