Bossman’s Baby Scandal (Kings of the Boardroom #1)(35)
Author: Catherine Mann

Not that it was any business of his. How could Jason manage a work environment that was so claustrophobic? Hell, so downright nosy? She considered blurting out how much she loved Jason.

Brock glanced back at Jason. “So Lauren’s staying?”

Jason hesitated a second too long. “She doesn’t have plane reservations.”

Brock cocked an eyebrow. “You’ll have to come up with better than that. Hell, I already know the police are involved and they locked in—what?—an hour ago?”

“My wife and I share finances. Her business is my business. What’s wrong with my investing in her company?”

“That’s not the way Prentice is seeing things. He’s not too hyped on trusting a guy who paid a woman to participate in a pretend marriage just to save an account.”

She bristled, prepared to tell Brock off, but held back for Jason’s sake. Besides, for once the gossips were right on the mark.

Jason’s shoulders braced with military bearing. “How do you intend to proceed?”

“It’s your account. You brought it in, so it’s yours to manage. I won’t lie—we’ve never needed an account like Prentice more than now. Competitors—Athos Koteas in particular—are breathing down our neck.”

“I understand that and want to do what’s best for MC.”

Brock glanced at Lauren, then back. “It’s obvious how far you’ll go, and while a part of me admires that, I also expect you to cover your ass better.” He scrubbed a hand over his jaw. “I’m kicking myself for not figuring this out sooner.”

Jason pinched the bridge of his nose. Lauren felt like a fool, a heartbroken fool who’d stupidly fallen in love with her relentlessly ambitious husband. Thank God she’d resisted the urge to blurt out her feelings for him.

Brock pulled out the keys to his car, jingling them in his hand. “That’s all for now. I just wanted to give you a heads-up in person, offer you time to come up with some way to pull your ass out of the fire. Prentice has called a meeting for tomorrow afternoon. But I’ll see you in my office first thing in the morning.” He nodded quickly to Lauren before sliding back in his car, all business.

Jason didn’t even look at her, his gaze fixed on Brock’s receding car. “I guess that’s it for us, then,” he said. “You won’t even need to wait until next week for that flight out.”

It was what she wanted. What she’d planned from the start. Her eyes shot back to the family down the street, her gaze lingering on the dad buckling the baby into a car seat.

If she had everything she wanted, why did it hurt this much to watch that little family down the street drive off together?

Twelve

T he next morning Jason left Brock’s office after a damage-control meeting to prep strategy for the Prentice powwow later today. His brain was too numb to do more than operate on autopilot to salvage what he could at work. He’d lost Lauren and would be relegated to parceled-out visits with his kid.

Last night he and Lauren had been back to sleeping separately, with him in the recliner and her in the bed. She’d made it clear it would best if he was gone before she woke up. She would keep in touch about the baby, but she didn’t want any big emotional goodbyes.He turned away from Brock’s door. Brock had pretty much given him a speech to memorize, a pack of convoluted lies about how things had shaken down, but well-constructed lies Prentice might well buy into. His job was all that was left. A bigger office with a better window view was all he had to look forward to.

Brock’s secretary sat outside in a waiting area at a modern acrylic desk like the rest of the floor—and Flynn leaned against a sleek filing cabinet built into the wall.

The Maddox VP shoved away and clapped an arm around Jason’s shoulders. “Walk with me. Let’s grab some food, then head back up to my office.”

Like he had a choice. Jason suspected that Flynn was about to play his role of good cop after his brother’s bad cop. Except he got the feeling it wasn’t a game so much as their natural personalities.

Jason walked with Flynn as he jabbed the elevator button for the fifth floor. That floor contained all the other departments: public relations, art, financial. The offices were smaller than on the sixth, but still modern with stark-white walls and acrylic desks. Flynn smiled and waved as he walked past the rows of cubicles, calling each person by name, stopping to speak briefly with a couple of employees.

Finally they reached the large lunchroom with its modern kitchen. Brock Maddox kept the fridge well stocked, realizing that creative types enjoyed snacks while brainstorming in one of the soundproofed breakout rooms.

Flynn opened the fridge and pulled out a sack of Chinese food. “There’s enough to share. Do you want water or soda?”

“Water, thanks.”

Flynn’s approach was definitely more laid-back than that of his brother, who didn’t so much as offer a chair, much less a causal walk around followed by food. They took a service elevator back up to the sixth floor, making tracks to Flynn’s office. The space used to be Brock’s from back when their father was alive, but Flynn had made it his own, much homier than Brock’s current digs. Airy with live plants, a glass desk and several cream-colored sofas for impromptu meetings.

Just the sort of place Lauren would like.

God, did all roads lead back to her now? Would it always be that way for him? He needed to get over it fast, because she would be gone when he returned home tonight.

Maybe he would stay at the office and sleep on his sofa rather than torment himself with the scent of her lingering on his sheets. He would throw himself into work and salvage his career.

Flynn sat behind his desk and gestured for Jason to sit across from him. He passed a carton of sweet-and-sour chicken and a pair of chopsticks. “How are you holding up after the ass chewing from my brother?”

“He has a right to be pissed. It’s going to take some masterful manipulation and a dash of luck to pull off the meeting with Walter Prentice this afternoon.”

Flynn stirred the wooden sticks through his food. “Brock can come off pretty harsh sometimes, but it’s because he lives for this place. He worshippped our father. He’s determined to keep his legacy alive through the business. MC is his life. I don’t agree with his way, but I understand.” Flynn swung his feet up on the desk, unwrapping an egg roll. “I have what he calls a lackadaisical attitude toward the company.”