Misadventures with the Boss (Page 9)

Hysterical laughter threatened to bubble from my lips, and I bit my bottom one, hard. Maybe if I didn’t make eye contact and just kept my trap shut, he wouldn’t notice me. After all, with my business suit and glasses, who knew? Superman seemed to get by playing Clark Kent without a problem.

He turned, though, and met my gaze with instant recognition. For a split second, I thought his face might have betrayed that same shock I knew had to be plainly displayed on mine, but then his features smoothed and he said coolly, “Piper, nice to see you. I didn’t realize you worked here.”

I shook my head. “I don’t. Or, you know, I didn’t. I’m just…” I swallowed, trying to regain my bearings. What was it about this guy that made all my words come out in fluent Idiot?

“Today is my first day,” I added lamely.

“Congratulations.” He nodded. “I’m sure you’ll like it here.”

“I’m sure,” I agreed.

For a long moment, neither of us said a word. Instead, we stared at each other, both apparently at a loss for what to say. In truth, I didn’t know if I ought to have apologized for leaving the way I had after our night together. And, if I was being even more painfully honest, deep, deep down, I was harboring a pathetic and ill-advised hope that he might want to ask me out again.

But no. He stood there, looking at me. Seeing through me and making me feel just as raw and exposed as he had that night in the bar…and later.

My cheeks burned, and I glanced at the floor as the elevator dinged and slowed to a stop. Five. I was going to fifteen. But then, if I got off here, I could catch the next elevator and be free of him.

“This is me,” I muttered and then clutched my purse a little tighter and scurried from the car as another woman took my place and nodded to Jackson.

“Mr. Dane,” she murmured, and my ears pricked up.

Eyes wide, I spun around, but the elevator doors were closing as my breath caught in my chest.

Mr. Dane?

As in the Mr. Dane?

The CEO and owner of this company?

Mr. Dane, who also happened to be my new boss?

There had to be some mistake. Maybe it was a family-run business and Jackson had a brother or father who was in charge. Yes, that had to be it.

Heart beating out of my chest, I pressed the elevator button again. When the next one arrived, I climbed in, joining a group of weary-eyed workers. Nobody bothered to greet me as I stepped on, and I followed their lead, too tied up into knots to speak anyway.

Still, as the elevator climbed floors and people stepped off to start their day, my knees weakened. I tried to convince myself that surely karma couldn’t be this cruel. Besides, a guy like Jackson couldn’t be the CEO of this company.

He had the cockiness for the job, for sure, but he wasn’t old enough. Guys like Mr. Dane—my boss—would have spent their entire lives building up an empire like this. A thirty-something guy could never manage such a feat. Not on this scale. No matter how cocky or good-looking he was.

The doors dinged, and I glanced at the numbers before stepping off and glancing around. The floor was filled with cubicles as far as the eye could see, and at the very end of the room was a huge office with wide, glass walls. The blinds of the room were closed, and I hitched my purse a little higher on my shoulder before starting for my destination.

As I walked, nobody in their cubicles turned to look at me. I focused on my mission, all the while doing my damnedest to convince myself that when I did knock on that door, Jackson would not be the man to answer it.

I inhaled deeply, lifted my hand, and knocked carefully, holding my breath as heavy footfalls sounded on the carpet. And then the door swung open to reveal him. My new boss. And the hottest fuck of my life.

Jackson Dane.

Just kill me now.

And he was staring at me in a way that left no doubt he was remembering every second of our night together.

Heat rose to my cheeks, and I glanced around him, hoping against hope that he’d merely been in the office talking to his superior. But I knew that wasn’t the case. Because in this office?

Jackson was the superior.

“I think there’s been a mistake,” I spluttered. “The HR department hired me and told me I’d be Mr. Dane’s new assistant, but I think they gave me the wrong person. Should I go to the office and—”

“There was no mistake,” he said with a clipped nod. “I’m in need of a new assistant, and it looks like the HR department picked you. What a coincidence.”

I shook my head. “The odds of that are—”

“Yes.” He looked so damn calm. In fact, he didn’t even seem surprised by this turn of events.

How could he do that? How could he pretend this wasn’t the weirdest, most off-putting thing that had ever happened in the history of time?

“I’m sorry. Umm, this is super awkward. I’ll just stop by HR and tell them to find someone else. This is clearly a bad idea.” I spun on my heel to head back toward the elevators, my heart still pounding.

Damn it all.

I’d needed this job. My savings were beginning to dwindle, and if I didn’t fix that soon, I was going to have to ask Hailey for money. And that would be a fate worse than death. If she thought she could boss me around now, she’d be insufferable if she also had me under her thumb financially.

Still, how could I work with a guy who looked at me the way Jackson did? Like I was the final course in the world’s most indulgent meal? How could I file and schedule and organize for a man when, every time I bent down, I knew he could imagine every last detail of what was happening beneath my slacks?

I couldn’t. It was wrong. But more than that—it was too tempting.

I took the first step of my walk of shame back to the elevator, when his deep voice rumbled.

“Piper, wait.” A large hand closed around my bicep and spun me around so fast I nearly stumbled.

Blinking, mouth agape as I struggled for air, I found myself staring into Jackson’s penetrating gaze. I shook my head. “Look, don’t feel bad. There is really no reason to drag this out and—”

“I’m not doing it because I feel bad.” He blew out a sigh and dragged a hand over his square jaw. “I looked at your résumé,” he said, preempting my question.

“Okay,” I said. “And?”

“I need you. You can’t go. I haven’t had a truly experienced assistant in months, and I desperately need one.” There wasn’t a hint of pleading in his voice, but I could tell he meant every word he said. “Look, the company is about to take on a major acquisition, and we’re going through a huge merger. I need help. I can’t wait for another assistant. Especially another one as qualified as you. If you can be professional, I can be professional. We’re two adults. I don’t see what happened between us being a problem.”

I blinked again.

Seriously? After all the panting and moaning and sweating and grinding and…everything else we’d done together? He wanted me to work side by side with him?

Even now, my throat was threatening to close at the thought.

Had it really meant so little to him…been so run-of-the-mill that he could see me and not be completely accosted by the memory of our time together, like I was?

Damn. Talk about a reality check.

“Please, Piper, I need the help and you need a job. Don’t walk away.”

I considered him for a long moment. The right decision was to leave, I’d known it from the second I’d seen him on the elevator. But instead my mouth made an executive decision because, just like the other night, I couldn’t seem to say no to this man.