Senior Advisor to the Boss: Billionaire Obsession Dark Romance (Managing the Bosses Series Book 9) (9 page)

Erica didn’t come back after the fight.

Mark tried not to worry. She probably just needed time to cool off. Plus, she still had her own place, however rarely she slept there anymore.

He paced back and forth behind the couch, running his hand through his hair as he tried to decide what was the best tactic to take. He’d screwed up. He knew that. He also knew chasing after her or bugging her wasn’t going to score him any points. He plopped down on the couch and flipped the TV on to the Golf Channel.

An hour later he was done with constantly double-checking his phone, and hit the speed dial button to her cell.

He wasn’t surprised when the message came on and he wracked his brain as he waited for the beep. Her answering machine voice sounded sexier than usual and he groaned inwardly.
Now is not the time
. He forced himself to give her some space, and opted to keep the message short. “Erica, it’s me. Mark. Look, I’m sorry I was such an ass. I shouldn’t have yelled. I’d like to talk when you’re ready. You know where I’ll be.”

He ended the message and decided on a shower, making it quick in case she called. He dropped back in front of the TV for the rest of the evening.

Erica didn’t call him back. He went to bed alone, sleeping restlessly without the warmth of her body beside him, and sometime in the night he grew more determined to stop the fighting before it became any worse.

Morning came early and hit hard. He had to call for quotes on renovations to the golf course, and the financial paperwork had to be done before he started pulling in more investors. He didn’t see Erica until the afternoon.

His lunch breaks were short enough that Mark usually took them at the restaurant in the clubhouse. The day was nice, and he took his sandwich out to the terrace, where he could sit and watch the golfers play on the course. And watch the driving range, where Erica was teaching lessons.

He found her form easily, the slim figure moving gracefully over the green. And standing really close to a man that Mark couldn’t recognize from that distance. His jaw tightened. She was practically hanging all over him, and suddenly Mark found himself wondering if diffusing the fight was going to be possible. He looked down at his half-finished sandwich, and decided he didn’t want it after all. He knew he had a jealous streak. It was stupid. Damn Reids all had it.

Instead of eating, he tossed the sandwich into the trash and made his way down the slope toward the driving range, where Erica was getting far too familiar with a man in a sky blue polo shirt. As he strode closer, Mark realized that the man Erica was practically hanging all over was the one from the night before. Dale Richardson. Even from a hundred yards away he could recognize the gelled blond hair and self-important look.

His hands curled into fists at his sides. “Dale!” he said as he got closer, purposefully too cheerful, and too familiar.

Erica’s head came up in the same moment as Richardson’s, and while the other man looked like he would rather not have a discussion, Erica looked defiant. Like she’d been hanging around that stuffed shirt on purpose to annoy him. Which just pissed him off more.

“Mark,” Richardson said, polite and not at all enthusiastic. “How are you?”

“Oh, just fine,” Mark answered. “How about you?”

“Great. Just great. Really enjoying the course.”

“And my golf instructor, I see,” Mark said, trying to keep the edge out of his voice. He shot a glance at Erica and hoped his face was unreadable.

“We were just discussing technique,” Erica said, speaking for the first time. “It helps to sometimes look at things from a different direction. Not everyone learns in the same way.”

“Hey, you're a golf instructor. You're here to help our patrons. Whether those patrons are first-time golfers or pros.” Mark smiled at Erica, and he was sure that it didn't look real, but he couldn't make himself be genuinely happy. “I'm glad you're doing your job.”

He turned the smile on Richardson, who looked like he wasn't sure if he should be backing away or not.

Mark wasn't going to touch him. Beating a man up at his own business wasn't going to reflect badly on anyone but him, and if he wanted to have any chance of keeping Erica with him, he needed to actually behave himself. “And I'm glad that you're enjoying our amenities,” he said. That was maybe a step too far, judging by the look on Erica's face at the words, but Mark didn't give either of them time to answer. “Have a nice day, Dale. And Erica, I'll see you later this evening?”

“Sure, Mark,” Erica answered.

Mark nodded and turned and walked away.

He didn't feel at all triumphant as he walked back up the slope, resisting the urge to look over his shoulder. He didn't know what he had hoped for. That Erica would fall into his arms the second he got there? If she wanted Dale Richardson more than she wanted him, there was nothing that he could do about it. He was just going to have to suck it up and deal with it, no matter how much it made his chest ache. He was an idiot. It was stupid he’d even gone over. What the hell had he been thinking? He was embarrassed.
An embarrassed idiot
. Yeah, that was something to be proud of.

“Mark,” Erica's voice said behind him, and Mark paused, turning just enough to look over his shoulder at her.

“Yes?”

“Are you kidding me?” She hissed as she drew even. “You're going to talk to one of the biggest names in golf
like that
? Do you know the kinds of things he could do for this club? How much publicity he could get for you?”

“Is that what it's really about?” Mark asked unable to stop himself. “Because it didn't look exactly like business to me.”

Her jaw tightened. “How about you tell me what was going on with you last night, then, as long as we're talking about things that don't exactly look like business.”

Last night? What the hell was she talking about? Mark thought back over the night before. They'd fought, but he didn't know what that had to do with business. What else had he done that…? “Are you talking about
Christine
?”

Erica put her hands on her hips and looked across the small space between them at him. “You can't tell me that was all business.”

There were heads turning in their direction. No one close enough to be able to hear them, but that didn't mean that he was going to stand here and argue in front of his customers.

“Okay, Erica,” he said, forcing his voice to be calm. “This isn't the place we're going to talk about this. Because we've got a lot of things we need to address about the last couple of days, and we're not going to do that in front of half of the country club.”

“When you want to talk about it, we're going to talk about it, but when I want to it 'isn't the place'?”

“I had no intention of starting an argument, Erica.” He tried to keep the exasperation of his voice. How had this gone so wrong—again? “I don't want to argue with you.”

“It sure seems like arguing with me is your goal lately.”

“It's not,” Mark said, and his voice was soft. “Please, Erica. Can we just talk about this after work? I really don't want to present the kind of unprofessional front that we're going to be if we keep fighting right here.”

She breathed out sharply through her nose. “Fine. I'll talk to you about it
after
work.”

“Thank you.” Mark smiled at her, genuinely. She didn't smile back. “I'll be ready any time once the club is closed.”

“Really? ‘Cause you’re hardly ever done with work.” Erica spun on her heel and walked away without another word.

Mark watched her go, admiring the lines of her legs and the firm set of her shoulders. He really shouldn't be thinking about how hot she was, but he couldn't help himself. He should be concerned with why she was upset.
Or maybe planning ways to make it up to her
. Mark grinned, his gaze running down her again. He could think of a few on the spot already.

***

By the time the work day was done and the club closed up, Mark was exhausted. There was more stuff to do, but he needed to call it quits for the day. He didn't want to have the discussion with Erica; he preferred just trying to make it up to her. In bed. But he had promised her that they would talk. So they would talk.

He went up to his place to wait for her, not sure when she would decide to come up. Since their minor tiff on the slope above the course he hadn't seen her at all, and part of him was afraid that she'd just gone home. Maybe she'd decided that she didn't want to talk after all. The thought made his stomach twist.

There was a knock on the door.

Erica never knocked on his door.

“Come in,” Mark called, clearing his throat. This wasn’t a good start.

It opened and Erica stepped in, her face set and cold. Mark didn't let the sigh building in his chest escape. It would probably only make her angrier. But he didn't like the expression she was wearing. She didn't look like she was ready to work through any issues they were having.

“Erica,” he said, “thanks for coming to talk to me.”
Lame
. He just didn’t know what else to say.

“Well, I'm going to be honest. I'm not really all that interested in talking to you right now.” She exhaled loudly through her nose, her cute little nostrils flaring as she did so. “But it's probably better to deal with this as quickly as possible. Which is why, by the way, I wanted to talk to you this afternoon before either of us had time to stew in our anger, but that didn't happen.”

“You can understand why I didn't want to have this talk then and there, right?” Mark asked. “I—”

“Sure I can,” Erica cut him off, still standing by the door. “But you could have just asked me to walk someplace private with you.”

“In the middle of work?” An eyebrow of his rose. “Erica, you know how busy I am.”

She glared at him, obviously upset he wasn’t clueing in to whatever she was trying to say. “There are some things that are more important than work. I thought you knew that better than your brother.”

What the heck had he done now? Mark stared at her. “You're seriously going to bring my brother into this, right now?” The anger that he’d been trying to hold back, for the sake of discussing their issues with her calmly, boiled up. “What does Alex have to do with this?
With us
?”

“Genetics, maybe,” Erica said, crossing her arms over her chest.

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.” Mark stood up from the back of the couch where he’d been leaning, not willing to look up at her any longer. He took two long strides and was right in front of her. He stared down at her and took a step back so their gaze was even. “Alex and my genetics aren’t the problem here. The problem is your fascination with Dale Richardson. Who, might I add, insulted my golf course and my brother to my face. A habit you seem to be picking up from him.”

“Oh. Right. My fascination. What about your fascination with your secretary?”

“You mean my
sister-in-law
?” Mark’s jaw tightened until he could feel his teeth grinding against each other. “In case you don’t remember, I’d kind of had a rough night. Christine happened to be at the bar, and we had a chat. She’s my sister-in-law, for bloody sake! Whatever else you think you saw there is the product of your own imagination.”

“The product of my own imagination,” Erica said flatly. “Just like the whatever you think you saw going on with Dale, then.”

“You were doing a little more than chatting,” Mark snapped.

“And so were you! You think that I didn’t see you two holding hands?” Erica demanded.

Mark spun away, then back toward her, resisting the urge to take another step in her direction. Despite his anger with Erica, intimidating or frightening her wasn’t something that he wanted to do. “We weren’t holding hands,” he said, his voice as tight as the rein he had on his temper. “I reached out and touched her because she was crying, Erica. She’s like a kid sister, for all intents and purposes. That’s all it was.”

“Your hot, single sister who isn’t actually related to you. People have hooked up with people related to their siblings’ partners before. It’s quite common. Step-siblings, in-law siblings. It’s like tasting the forbidden fruit that really isn’t forbidden. Just the same thrill.”

“You’re joking, right?” He couldn’t believe she’d just said that. About him! His voice dropped as he stared at her pretty face. “You really think that I’m trying to cheat on you?” He had wanted to be angry, but the words came out pained. Did she really think that he would do that?

Erica paused. For a moment she just looked at him, not saying anything at all. Then she sighed. “Do you really think I’d cheat on you?” she asked, and her voice was as soft as Mark’s had been.

“I don’t want to think that,” he said slowly. “And I guess I don’t think you are. But I can’t help but feel… You were hanging all over Dale Richardson today. And you’ve been flirting with him, and his friend, and there were those other guys back at the party.”

Erica’s eyebrows shot toward her hairline. “Are you serious, Mark? You’re going to bring that up again?” She shook her head. “You know what? I came here to try to talk to you, because you seemed like you wanted to talk, but you’ve hardly listened to anything I’ve said, and now you’re accusing me of slutting it up with every guy who walks into the place. I’m not going to stand here and take that. So fuck you.” She spun and walked out, the door slamming behind her before Mark could say a word.