Seduced By My Billionaire Boss (The Billionaire Boss Series, #1) (8 page)

He kept his eyes on the screen as he typed, but I could tell he was listening carefully. “Is it a rule of yours? Or just a convenience?”

“A convenience. I mean, I’d like to think that if I met the right guy, I could manage to keep it together—but my head’s not really in a good place for that right now.”

He nodded pensively. “And what would be the right kind of guy?”

I grinned and peeked at the screen. “Are you signing me up for a dating website or something?”

He chuckled. “I’m just curious. You come across as really standoffish, but ten minutes later, there are you dumping my shoes in the tub. I’m just trying to figure you out.”

“Well how about a little less trying and a little more typing, eh?”

He grinned. “Yes ma’am. I’d actually say that we’re about finished with this section.”

“Awesome,” I muttered as he placed the computer back on the table. “That only leaves about hundred more and then we’re done.”

“Hey,
you
can’t be the negative one about work,” he chided. “That leaves absolutely no room for my side of the dynamic.”

“You’re right, I’m sorry.” I took another sip of tea and leaned back against the cushions. “You know, I could really get used to this setup. You type—I drink and recline. Maybe I should get a penthouse of my own.”

The corners of his lips twitched as he glanced at the clock and saved the document. “The building across the street is renting out their top floor...”

I laughed. “Perfect. I can totally afford that. I’ll just get like, fifty roommates.”

He laughed as well, but there was a different edge to it. He looked almost...nervous. I was about to ask what was going on when the elevator dinged, and he leaned back with a sigh.

“Time’s up,” he muttered.

My head spun around to look. “What? Who’s that?”

“Hey—”

There was a shifting on the couch, and when I looked back, he was suddenly close. Very close.
Too
close. Just an inch or so away. I stared up into his handsome face in shock, and he gave me a small smile.

“Don’t hate me for this, okay?”

Then he kissed me.

“W
hat the hell is going on?!”

Surprisingly, it wasn’t me who spoke. Or even Michael. We turned around to see Thomas Larchwood framed in the elevator, staring at us in shock.

The next second I was on my feet.

“Jenna—”

There was a slap. I heard it before I even saw it happening, before I even realized that it was me. Michael jerked back, clutching his face, but he didn’t seem surprised. In fact, he rather seemed to expect it. I figured he couldn’t live the life he did without getting his fair share.

“I’m just—it’s fine,” I blurted, rushing clumsily around as I grabbed handfuls of papers from the coffee table and crammed them into my overflowing briefcase. I didn’t know why I was censoring myself. I certainly didn’t want to. Shoes in the bathtub weren’t the worst things I could do, and Michael certainly had it coming.

But then, there was Thomas to think about.

I carefully avoided his eyes as I snatched up the last of the documents and made a mad dash for my coat.

“Jenna, please,” Michael tried again softly, “let me explain—”

In my periphery, I saw Thomas make a furious, threatening gesture, and his brother fell silent.

“Miss Harks,” he went on automatic damage control, soothing in his low voice, “if you would please let me assist you, I’m sure we can come to some sort of—”

Some sort of arrangement? What was this—a table reading for the Godfather?! The words sounded scripted. Did he run around behind cleaning all of his little brother’s messes?

“That’s alright,” I cut him off, “I’m just going to head home.”

On any other day, I would rather literally shoot myself in the foot than interrupt Thomas Larchwood—but right now, I couldn’t bring myself to care. As I stuffed my arms through my designer coat sleeves and peered around at the dazzling penthouse and equally dazzling men staring imploringly back at me, I suddenly wanted to have nothing to do with the whole family.

“Miss Harks, you—”

But I was out the door, doing my very best not to slam it behind me. I tapped my foot impatiently as I waited for the elevator. On the other side of the door, there was a hushed argument followed by the shuffling of feet.

Please don’t let it be Michael, please don’t let it be Michael
, I silently prayed as the handle turned and it pushed open. It wasn’t. It was Thomas. But now that we were standing face to face, I was suddenly sure that wasn’t any better.

“You forgot your phone.”

I looked up in surprise to see him holding it out in the air between us.
That
had been what he was trying to tell me? My cheeks flushed pink, and I took it quickly, careful not to touch his skin. While the lines of propriety had already been thoroughly savaged today, that didn’t mean that I couldn’t try to salvage what was left of the aftermath.

“Thank you,” I murmured quietly, not meeting his eyes. I looked instead at the elevator, willing the numbers to move faster.

“Jenna?”

It was strange hearing my name come out of his mouth, however uncertainly, and I flashed him a look before I snapped, “It’s Miss Harks.”

He actually seemed to appreciate this. “Of course. Miss Harks, please allow me to apologize for any...transgressions on the part of my brother. If he crossed a line, I don’t—”

I whirled around. “You mean when he kissed me?”

It was impossible to keep the anger out of my voice. A very strange look passed across Thomas’s face and he studied me carefully before moving cautiously on.

“Yes, when he...” He paused again and considered me with that same curious expression.

I honestly didn’t understand it. What did he think I was going to do? Throw away my entire career and sue? I continued my anxious foot tapping, praying to the elevator gods to step it up a notch. What—was this thing broken?

“Yes, when he kissed you,” he finally repeated quietly. For a moment, he looked incredibly uncomfortable, shifting uneasily in his suit. “Miss Harks...if I interrupted something between you two, allow me to apologize—”

What?! My head jerked up in bewildered surprise.

“I would only advise you to be careful. I was very impressed with your presentation, and I would hate to see a mind like yours go to waste. The last of Michael’s conquests,” he caught himself quickly, “I mean,
relationships
...well, those women don’t work for us anymore.”

I didn’t know if it was a warning or a threat. First the little brother kisses me; now it seemed like the older one was somehow blaming me for the whole thing.

My eyes narrowed viciously. “Let me assure you,
Mr. Larchwood
, not only do I in no way reciprocate your brother’s feelings, but I spent almost the entire day openly rebuking his advances. Not that it made much difference in the end...”

The shock and dismay of what happened aside, I had to admit, I was a little stung. By the end, I’d actually been having a good time with Michael—I thought we were on the same page.

It was clear by now that the elevator was playing some sort of cosmic joke on me, so I tightened my grip on the briefcase and pulled open the door to the stairs.

“Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have an entire merger to write.”

This time, I did slam the door shut behind me, turning only long enough to get a single glimpse of Thomas’ surprised face.

I paused at the top of the unending stairwell and peered dubiously down. Okay...this could have been a bad idea. I wriggled my toes in my pricy, high-heeled shoes and wondered blandly how long they would last. I could always take them off...my eyes flickered doubtfully down the column...but who knew how many people trampled through this thing each day. For all I knew, this could be the unofficial sex stairwell. It was Michael’s building, after all.

I decided to keep them on, and had just made it down the first floor when I heard the door open and shut again above me. What had I done to deserve this?! I hurried on, but in only a few seconds, Thomas was standing by my side.

At first he didn’t say anything. His eyes simply swept over my flushed cheeks and angry, pursed lips. Then they drifted down to my quivering ankles, and the corner of his mouth twitched.

“Is there something wrong with the elevator?”

I couldn’t tell if he was teasing me, or just being polite. Either way, I wasn’t in the mood.

“It was taking too long,” I replied in clipped tones. “Now, if you’ll excuse me.”

“What are you going to do? Take fifty flights of stairs?”

Shit—there were fifty?
Oh well, better get going then. I continued my march.

“That’s not your concern, Mr. Larchwood. I’ll see you at the office on Mon—”

“Miss Harks,” he started after me, “there has to be a way we can come to some sort of resolution.”

I continued walking determinedly ahead. “As far as I’m concerned, the matter is resolved. It never happened. I spent the day working with my regional supervisor, completed only a fraction of what I had to do, and now I’m going home to do an entire month’s work in less than forty-eight hours. So forgive me, Mr. Larchwood, if I don’t have time to soothe your fears about your brother’s...indiscretions.”

He came round to stand in front of me, casually blocking my way. I gave him a withering look, but he stared back steadily as if willing the problem out of existence. (In his defense, it was hard to remember why I was so angry when I was staring into those blue eyes.) After a moment, he cocked his head to the side with an adorable little smile.

“A month’s worth of work, you say?”

In a flash, he was the boss again. All first names were forgotten, all kisses in the penthouse long since passed. He held out his hand expectantly for my briefcase.

“Well, let’s take a look, shall we?”

*   *   *

T
wenty minutes later, we were sitting in the top floor of a coffee shop. A floor I never knew existed, despite having frequented the same shop since I moved to the city. The second we walked inside, a series of whispers spread from behind the counter, and a moment later, the manager came out and started manning the machines.

“Is it just the usual today, Mr. Larchwood?”

Thomas took off his coat, and a barista appeared from nowhere to hang it on a rack behind the counter. I blinked in disbelief. It was just like when Michael snapped his fingers at the gym and got us those drinks. I was pretty sure the gym didn’t have waiters, just as sure as I was that the Starbucks didn’t have coat service. And yet, there we were.

“Actually, Billy, I need a quiet place to work today.”

“Of course, sir. Alicia will show you up, and your drink will be there momentarily.”

Thomas nodded before turning deliberately to me. All at once, my coat was lifted off my shoulders as well as a sweet-faced girl asked, “And something for you, miss?”

I tried to play it cool while simultaneously grabbing my phone from my jacket pocket as it was whisked away. “Um...just a house coffee, please.”

“French or Italian?”

I blanched. There wasn’t just...
house
coffee? That wasn’t a brand?

“Italian,” Thomas answered for me, gesturing me to follow the girl named Alicia. I hesitated and reached into my purse for my wallet, but he just put a guiding hand on my back and led me to the door. “We don’t pay here.”

I kept this revelation to myself as we headed up a row of quartered off stairs, and through a door on the next story. The second it opened, I stopped dead in my tracks.

It was a miniature office. Wall to ceiling windows, desk in the corner, conference table in the middle. It even had the obligatory shriveled plant in the corner. I stood there in amazement as Thomas loosened his tie and took a seat at the table. A moment later, two coffees were set in front of him. Not coffees in the typical Starbucks cups, mind you. No paper and straws here. Both of these had been meticulously poured and garnished in heavy, thick-bottomed mugs. As I got closer, I saw that mine had a little flower design on top, sprinkled in cinnamon.

Thomas gestured me forward, and I took a seat by his side, taking the cup tentatively in my hand. “We don’t pay here?” I repeated it as a question.

“I own the Starbucks,” he said simply.

Despite the tension, I couldn’t help but laugh. “For that reason alone, my roommate would insist that I marry you.”

I had obviously said it as a joke, but the second the words left my mouth, I regretted them. An incriminating flush heated my skin and I dropped my eyes quickly to my briefcase, unloading the documents Michael and I had been working on before.

Thomas looked amused. “Is that right? Big coffee drinker, is he?”

“She,” I corrected automatically, wondering suddenly if the ‘he’ had been intentionally inserted. “And yes, we come here almost every day. It’s been prioritized above rent. Just smelling coffee makes me less stressed.”

He chuckled. “I love my coffee.”

While this lighthearted banter would have been relished by Michael and carried on for hours, Thomas got straight to work.

“So tell me, what are we looking at?”

I pulled out my computer and opened the file with the merger thus far. Although it had taken Michael and me several hours to write it, Thomas read through in only about ten minutes, frowning to himself and taking occasional sips of coffee. I waited on pins and needles for the verdict. Although I’d drafted mergers before, it was obviously nothing on this scale and I was suddenly worried as to the level of quality. Faint strains of early Christmas music floated softly from the speakers, and I had nearly ground my nails to a pulp by the time Jingle Bells started a second time around.

After what felt like an eternity, he finally leaned back in his chair.

“This...is good.”

I half-collapsed in my seat with a silent sigh of relief. Thank God.

“You started with Hong Kong?”

I nodded quickly, pulling out my notes. “That was actually Michael’s idea.”

“Michael?” He looked up in surprise, then shook his head. “That kid drives me crazy.”