Sleeping With My Boss: A Standalone Novel (An Alpha Billionaire Romance Love Story) (A Dirty Office Romance) (64 page)
Authors: Adams,Claire
"So what
about you?" I asked. "What's your family's story?"
Ryan looked at me
for a long moment before he cleared his throat and said, "I'm going to
need another beer if I'm going to tell that tale of woe."
"Of
course!" I said as I popped up off the sofa and ran to the fridge. I
grabbed two beers, popped the tops and was back on the couch in a flash.
"You must
really want to hear this story," he laughed as he accepted the bottle and
then took a long drink from it. It took him almost as long as it had taken me
to tell the story of his family and by the end of it I was in tears. I looked
down and shrugged a little as he said, "Aw, don't get all worked up about
it. I miss her terribly, but I was glad she wasn't in pain. I think it was
harder for my father to lose her than it was for me, though. He was incredibly
lonely after she died."
"I can only
imagine," I said wiping my eyes and trying not to imagine how lonely Dr.
Powell must have been after his wife's death.
"He was a
good father," Ryan said. "He tried, and like my mother always said,
honest effort is the most important part of any endeavor."
I nodded thinking
about my own mother and how she'd spent years making an honest effort to try
and help my dad, and how, in the end, she'd given up and let him go.
"What about
your parents," he asked. "What are they doing now?"
"They're
dead," I said pushing down the emotion that was whirling around inside of
me.
"Oh, I'm
sorry," he replied looking worried.
"It's
okay," I said. "He went off the rails and hung himself the summer I
moved to New York and she died two years later. We didn't know it, but she'd
been diagnosed with liver cancer and had opted not to get treatment because she
knew the survival rate was so low."
"That's
awful," Ryan said. "There's always hope."
"No, I think
she knew that my dad was on his way out," I said. "And she didn't
want to live in a world where he wasn't."
"That's kind
of Romeo and Juliet tragic," Ryan said without a hint of humor.
"No, it's
foolish on every level," I countered. "They should have fought to
live, but they weren't able to. I have made peace with it."
Ryan nodded and
patted my foot again, only this time he left his hand resting on it. I could
feel the heat from his fingers radiating up through my leg and warming my
entire body, and what I really wanted was to be wrapped in those strong muscled
arms again. I tried not to look at him directly as I sat silently sipping my
beer. After a long silence, I looked up to find him watching me intently.
"You're an
interesting woman, Echo Frost," he said.
"Well, thank
you," I replied. "You're an interesting man, Lieutenant Ryan
Powell."
"And thank
you," he said pulling his hand back and finishing his beer.
"You must be
exhausted," I said standing up to gather the dishes and carry them back to
the kitchen.
"Here let me
help," he offered as he followed bringing an armload of plates and take
out containers to the counter. I could feel him standing right behind me as I
ran water in the sink and tried to focus on washing plates and silverware. I
wanted to step back and feel his chest pressed against me before I turned and
kissed him. It took a moment for me to realize he was speaking to me,
"Echo? Are you okay?"
"Oh, yeah,
fine," I nodded at the plates in the sink. "Just a little
tired."
"You sure you
don't want some help," he said from less than a foot behind me. I simply
shook my head and then shut off the water and dried my hands on the towel I had
slung over my shoulder.
"I'll get
them in the morning before work," I said as I moved to the dresser in the
living room that doubled as a television stand and storage for my extra
bedding. I pulled out sheets and a blanket and offered them to Ryan joking,
"You can make your own bed, right, sailor?"
"I can
indeed," he grinned.
"All right,
well, my bedroom is right up those stairs, so if you need anything, I'm just a
couple of words away," I said nodding towards the spiral staircase that
reached up toward the ceiling.
"I was
wondering where those led," he said. "Good to know."
"Sleep well,
Ryan," I said as I climbed the stairs. "I'll see you in the
morning."
"Thank you,
Echo," he said. "I really appreciate this."
The look on his
face made me want to run back down the stairs, throw my arms around his neck
and kiss him passionately, but the good girl in me that didn't do such weird,
wild impulsive things nodded and went up to climb into her bed — alone.
CHAPTER
NINE
I
was laying on my stomach in the sand looking out over a small compound where
dozens of men carrying assault rifles were gathered. They were speaking in a
language I didn't understand, but somehow I knew what they were saying. Two men
slowly walked toward the spot where I was hiding talking loudly and gesturing
with their rifles. I sunk lower trying to avoid being seen and whispered softly
to Opie that he should contact command and ask if we had backup.
When I didn't get
a response I turned and found Opie digging a hole in the dirt with his bare
hands. I looked back up and saw the men getting closer and closer. I signaled
to Opie to call command, but he ignored me and continued digging. I could feel
my heart racing as I yelled at Opie to call command to no avail.
Suddenly I was
standing in the doorway of the concrete building where the hostages had been
kept. I had no idea how I'd gotten here, but I could see Opie sitting next to
me holding the radio and trying to call command. The air was full of the sound
of bullets whizzing by our heads and I was firing my rifle toward the sound,
but I couldn't see anyone. It was as if the bullets were coming out of thin
air. I yelled at Opie to starting returning fire. When he didn't respond, I
looked down to my right and saw him lying in a pool of blood that was slowly
spreading out beneath him.
"Opie!"
I shouted. "Opie, get up, man! Get up! I need your help here!"
His eyes fluttered
and he raised his hand, then dropped it down on his chest and closed his eyes.
I dropped my weapon and fell to my knees as I grabbed him by the edges of his
flack jacket and shook him as I screamed for him to get up and fight.
Suddenly I felt
hands on my head and I let go of Opie and grabbed the stranger by the wrists.
He was screaming at me in a language I didn't understand as I yelled,
"Speak English! Speak English, you son of a bitch!" I shook him as I
yelled.
"Ryan! Ryan
Powell! Wake up, Ryan!" a voice yelled as I shook the stranger and I
emerged from my nightmare to find myself holding Echo by the wrists as she
yelled my name and tried to loosen my grip. "Ryan! Wake up! It's me,
Echo!"
"Huh? What
the—?" I said as I let go and quickly pushed her away from me. "Oh
God, Echo, I'm sorry."
"Ryan, what
happened?" she asked her eyes full of concern and worry.
"I'm sorry.
I'm sorry. I'm sorry." I chanted as I pulled my knees up and dropped my
head down between them as I tried to get my bearings. "Echo, I'm
sorry."
"Ryan, it's
okay," she said softly as she put a hand on my head. I pushed her away and
covered my head with my hands as I folded into myself trying to understand what
had just happened. "Are you okay? Can I get you something? Water?"
"I'm fine.
I'm fine. I'm fine," I repeated as if saying it would make it true. I was
terrified by the dream, but even more worried that I'd hurt her. It took a few
minutes of rocking to return my heart rate to a normal speed, and once I did, I
looked up at her. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine,
you're strong, but not that strong," she smiled as she reached out and
rested her hand on my cheek. I looked down, ashamed of my weakness. She
continued. "You didn't do anything wrong, Ryan. You had a nightmare, and
from what I can tell, it was a pretty rough one. Want to talk about it?"
"Not
really," I said shaking my head. I wanted to tell her what had happened,
but how do you explain watching your friend die after having been ripped in
half by enemy bullets to someone who has never been in a war zone? And why
should they have to live with the nightmare that is yours? "Just stuff
from a mission that I'd rather forget. Don't worry, I'll clear out in the
morning."
"Yeah, well,
I'm not so sure you can do that," she said as she sat down next to me on
the couch and held out her arms. "C'mere, put your head in my lap and
relax. I'll stand watch."
I felt the tears
welling up as I looked at her soft warm body and her earnest face offering me a
place to hide. I wanted so badly to curl up in her arms and let her watch over
me, but to want that felt weak. I was the protector. I was the soldier. How
could this small beautiful woman protect me from the memory of my dead friend?
"Ryan,"
she said again. "It's okay, I'll keep you safe. I promise. I know the
monsters."
Wearily, I lay
down and rested my head in her lap and closed my eyes as she smoothed my hair
and hummed a tune that I recognized but couldn't identify. She smelled like
fresh laundry and warm sheets, and the softness of her body both comforted and
aroused me. I turned on my side to hide the fact that her touch had made me
grow stiff. It was bad enough that she'd witnessed my nightmare. I didn't need
to expose myself any more than that.
"I'll pack up
in the morning and find somewhere else to crash," I mumbled.
"Nonsense,
you'll stay with me," she whispered as I thought I felt her bend forward
and kiss my forehead as I drifted into a restless sleep where the nightmares
were banished to the outer edges of my consciousness by a warm fire that burned
brightly all night long.
CHAPTER
TEN
I
spent the hours
just before dawn watching Ryan sleep, and when I was fairly sure that he wasn't
going to have another nightmare, I slid out from underneath him and pushed a
soft down pillow under his head. He stirred a little, but didn't wake up as I
climbed the stairs to my bedroom and caught the last hour of sleep before I had
to get up and get ready for work.
By the time I woke
an hour later, the apartment was filled with the smell of fresh coffee brewing
and I could hear Ryan moving around down in the kitchen. I grabbed my office
clothes and descended the stairs to find him standing in front of the stove
making pancakes as he sung to himself.
"Good
morning," I said quietly trying not to startle him.
"Well, good
morning, sleepyhead!" he replied as he flipped a pancake and set the pan
back on the stove. "Did you sleep okay?"
"Not bad, and
you?" I asked eyeing the stack of pancakes sitting on a plate next to the
stove.
"I did okay
the second time around," he said quietly, then added, "Thanks for the
assist, Echo."
"My
pleasure," I replied as I watched him flip the cooked pancake out of the
pan onto the top of the waiting stack next to it. "Do I have time to
shower and change?"
"Depends on
how long you're going to take," he grinned. "Do a SEAL spit bath and
you'll be good to go."
"Uh, no
thanks," I laughed. "I'm a civilized girl not a warrior. I need my
creature comforts."
"Yeah, go
ahead, I'll keep it all warm," he smiled as he scooped up another spoonful
of batter and spread it in the pan.
I quickly showered
and got ready for work, and when I emerged from the bathroom, Ryan let loose a
low wolf whistle that made me blush before he handed me a plate full of more
pancakes than I could ever hope to eat.
"I'm heading
to an office job, Powell," I laughed. "Not a dessert mission!"
"Oh, give me
a break," he grinned. "Who doesn't love pancakes?"
We sat down on the
couch and I tucked a napkin into the neck of my dress before tucking into the
plate. The pancakes were light and fluffy, and I ate with gusto finishing off
my plate before Ryan finished his.
"See, I told
you so," he said as he took my plate and headed to the kitchen. "More
coffee?"
"Yes,
please," I replied. He returned with the pot and filled my cup before
sitting back down. "So, I was thinking..."
"Uh
huh," he said as his face dropped and he looked at the floor. "I
know, I told you I'd find another place to crash today, and I will."
"Well, as a
mind reader, you suck, my friend," I said as I sipped the hot coffee.
"I was going to say that I was thinking that you should stay with me at
least until you can get things settled with your father's estate."
"But what
about last night?" he asked. The look on his face was heartbreakingly
vulnerable.
"What about
it?" I asked.
"I could have
really hurt you," he said looking down again.
"Yeah, but
you didn't," I replied. "Maybe you need to talk to your commander
about getting a therapist to talk to so you can let go of the nightmares. It's
just a thought. Anyway, I could use a roommate right now since things at work
are going to get dicey."
"How do you
know that?"
"I just have
a feeling that Mr. Baines is up to something that is going to spell trouble for
me," I said. "I'm just not sure what that is yet."
"Yeah, Baines
is a wild card all right," he replied. "He's been part of my life
since I was small, but I've never felt like I really knew him. I'm not sure my
father did either."
"Ryan, I have
to ask you something, and I'm sorry if it sounds a little insensitive," I
said as I dove into the thoughts that had been twisting around in my brain
since Julian told me that Dr. Powell was dead. "Why did Baines not want
you in your father's office yesterday? Have you done something that would make
him suspect you were going to steal from the company? Did your father tell you
anything about what he was working on?"
"Not that I
know of," he said. "But then we weren't in very close contact the
past few years. We had a falling out after he married my stepmother, and we
didn't talk much. I can't think of any conversation we'd had that would have
crossed a line in terms of classified materials. Hell, you probably know far
more about what he was doing in the lab that I ever did."
"No,
actually, he never shared his lab work with me," I said. "I took care
of his office details, his schedule, his email and his mail, and I did some
programming for him when he needed certain computer functions for his research,
but I never input any data or worked on any files."
"I wonder
what Julian is hiding," Ryan said. "I suppose it's possible that he's
just a paranoid guy. My father told me Julian had had a rough upbringing, but
he'd never told me exactly what that entailed. I supposed he could be in shock
over my father's death and be freaking out about how he's going to manage the company
without him."
"Anything is
possible, I suppose," I said as I got up and dug my phone out of my purse.
"I'll try to dig up more information today and see what's going on. Give
me your cell number so we can keep in contact, okay?"
As we exchanged
numbers, I looked at the clock and realized I was going to be late if I didn't
get going. I gathered my purse and put on my shoes and headed for the door.
"Hey
Echo?" Ryan called as I opened the door.
"Yeah?"
"Be safe,
okay?" he said. The look on his face was so serious that I had to smile.
He shrugged, "I don't know, that's what my father always said to me every
time I headed out on a mission."
"It's all
going to be fine, I promise," I said, then added with a reassuring smile,
"My mission is a boring desk job at TriCorp, so there's no real danger
involved."
"You know
what I mean," he said.
"Hey, if I
leave my keys, can you get an extra set made for the apartment?" I called
before I headed out the door.
"I guess you
made the decision for me, then?" he grinned.
"Damn right,
sailor," I nodded as I slapped the keys down on the bar then headed out
the door and off to work.
On the subway, I
thought about how terrified Ryan had looked the night before and how scared I'd
been when he'd held my wrists as he wrestled with the enemy. I wondered if I'd
made the right call letting him stay, and then I thought about how warm and
comforting it had felt to let him fall asleep in my lap.
There was no doubt
about it, I was attracted to Lieutenant Ryan Powell, and that attraction might
be clouding my better judgment.
#
When
I walked through the front doors, I knew something was wrong. There were small
groups of people clustered around desks talking in hushed tones, but they
scattered when the saw me.
No one
actually spoke to me, so I knew something big was happening.
I walked into my
office and saw that someone had pulled apart my desk and left my things in
haphazard piles.
I shook my head as I
set my things down and before I started to clean up the mess, I opened the door
to Dr. Powell's office and found that whoever had rifled through my things had
done an even deeper search in his office. The space looked like a small tornado
had hit it overnight. Files had been removed from drawers, books had been
pulled off shelves and even the awards he'd had hanging on his walls had been
pulled apart. It was as if someone had been looking for something very specific
and had grown frustrated when they hadn't found it.
I called downstairs
and let Butch know that the office had been burglarized. He told me he'd be up
to take a report, and that I wasn't to touch anything before he got there. I
assured him that I would leave everything just as I'd found it, and hung up.
A few minutes later,
Ruth called and said that Mr. Baines wanted to see me in his office. I wrote a
note for Butch telling him where I'd gone, taped to the door and headed down
the hall. Ruth waved me into Mr. Baines's office with a grim smile.
"Good
morning, Miss Frost, so good of you to come," he said gesturing to a
chair. "Do have a seat."
"Good
morning, Mr. Baines," I said eyeing him warily as I sat down. He was
wearing a dark grey suit with a crisp white dress shirt that had been pressed
with in an inch of its life and a bright red tie that all combined to make him
look like the world's sleaziest car sales man. Even in an expensive suit,
Julian Baines looked cheap.
"Miss Frost,
it has come to my attention that you have been hiding information from the
company," he began as he watched to see how I would respond.
"I have no
idea what you're talking about," I said truly mystified as to what he
thought I could possibly be hiding.
"Oh, I'm
fairly certain you do," he said as he rested his elbows on the edge of his
desk and leaned forward. "Dr. Powell was working on some top secret
research in the lab on seventeen, and I'm sure that you had access to the
documents he worked with and that you've been hiding said documents from the
company."
"Mr. Baines,
I can assure you that Dr. Powell never gave me any research data from the lab
nor did he ask me to handle any top secret documents," I said suddenly
wondering what Baines was after. I hadn't had access to any of Dr. Powell's
research and he'd never involved me in anything beyond his general
correspondence regarding funding and grants or business related to TriCorp.
"Why don't you talk with the lab assistants? Certainly they would know
what he had been doing and where he kept his information."
"Ah, playing
coy, I see," he said leaning back as he ran his fingers through his hair.
"Well, this isn't going to help you at all."
"I'm not
doing anything wrong!" I protested. "I'm an office assistant who is
trying to clean up the last of the paperwork for my boss, who is dead."
"Miss Frost,
don't get emotional with me," he said in a bored tone. "It's tedious.
What I need from you are all of the files that Alan gave you in the past six
months."
"They are all
on the hard drive on my computer, and obviously someone has hacked into that
and recovered them," I said in a frustrated tone. I had no idea what he
thought I had, but the fact that he was insinuating that I did, made me wonder
whether I had something somewhere that I didn't know about.
"That
computer is company property so you have no right to be irritated about the
company recovering data from it," he snapped. His fingers were drumming a
rhythm on his desk and it was obvious that he was expecting me to break down
and confess.
"I'm not
irritated," I replied calmly. This seemed to irritate him and he increased
the tempo of his finger tapping. "I simply don't know what you're talking
about or what you want, Mr. Baines."
"So, you're
playing hardball with me, are you?" he said narrowing his eyes. He started
at me for a few seconds and then said, "Miss Frost, your services are no
longer required. You will pack up your things and be out of Dr. Powell's office
within the hour."
"What?"
I said stunned that he'd decided to fire me on the spot. "I didn't do
anything! Why are you firing me?"
"I'm not
firing you at all," he said with a smile that did not reach his cold eyes.
"Your position has been eliminated due to the death of your boss.
Therefore, your services are no longer needed. I will have HR prepare your
severance package and you will be escorted out of the building."
"Dr. Powell
would not have approved of this," I said shaking my head.
"Well, Dr.
Powell is not here anymore, is he?" Baines replied bitterly. "Please
go to your office and collect your things, and do not take any company property
off the premises."
"I wouldn't
dream of it," I said sarcastically.
"Sarcasm,
though probably satisfying, will not help you in this case, Miss Frost,"
he warned. "I'd be careful about what you do during the next hour."
"This is
completely unfair," I said as I got up and headed for the door.
"Yes, well,
life is not fair, Miss Frost," he said as he dismissed me.
I walked back to
my office and looked around. There was nothing here I wanted, but something was
nagging at me. I sat down at my computer and opened my email account. The inbox
had two new messages, so I clicked on it and found one from a colleague of Dr.
Powell's and one from Dr. Powell himself.
I shook my head to
make sure I wasn't imagining it, and then doubled clicked to open it. It was
addressed to me and there was a file attached. The message read:
