Dear Boss
A Single Dad Office Romance (Forbidden First Times Book 3)
Sofia T Summers
Copyright © 2020 by Sofia T Summers
All rights reserved.
The following story contains mature themes, strong language and sexual situations. It is intended for mature readers.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Contents
Description
1. Billie
2. Quentin
3. Billie
4. Quentin
5. Billie
6. Quentin
7. Billie
8. Quentin
9. Billie
10. Quentin
11. Billie
12. Quentin
13. Billie
14. Quentin
15. Billie
16. Quentin
17. Billie
18. Quentin
19. Billie
20. Quentin
21. Billie
22. Quentin
23. Billie
24. Quentin
25. Billie
26. Quentin
27. Billie
28. Quentin
29. Billie
30. Quentin
31. Billie
32. Quentin
33. Billie
34. Quentin
35. Billie
Epilogue - A Few Months Later
Fake Bride ( Sample)
Connect with Sofie
Description
I swore I’d never fall in love again.
And especially not with my new employee.
What am I even thinking?
I remember what happened last time.
My ex-wife cheated on me.
Women have seduced me for my bank account.
This time can’t be any different.
Billie comes from a small town.
Her curves beg for me to take her.
But she doesn’t know what she wants.
She’s young, innocent and sassy.
And I’m drawn to her like a magnet.
Even though I know what the future holds.
I see scandal as clear as day.
This story could only end in one of two ways.
Heartbreak.
Or an extremely unexpected happily ever after.
1
Billie
Around me, the wind was blowing gently and rustling the material of my knee-length chiffon skirt. Small pieces of my honey brown hair were tugging free from the confines of the messy bun I’d hastily thrown on my head and they were tickling my cheek. I reached up and tucked the deviant hair behind my ear with a sigh before looking up at the dreary, gray exterior of my apartment building.
Well, former apartment building, I corrected myself. I ran the back of my hand over my forehead that was covered in perspiration. Despite the light breeze, the sun hung high in the sky and illuminated my little hometown of Sausalito, California. This was going to be my very first time living anywhere else in my twenty-nine years on Earth and I was a little apprehensive, but I wouldn’t let that stop me. After all, I needed a fresh start. I need fun and excitement. I needed…
“Billie! I can’t get these damn boxes through the door. Can you come help me?” my mother, Rena Nichols, called from the doorway.
“Coming, Ma!” I replied before hurrying back up the steps to the entrance of the building and away from my rickety old Range Rover.
Standing in the doorway, my mom was holding two boxes balanced on top of one another. They were towering over one another in a way that meant I couldn’t even see her face. I tutted. I’d told her not to overdo herself and here she was clearly taking more than she could handle.
“One box at a time, Ma, I already told you that,” I scolded her with a shake of my head. “You’re going to hurt yourself otherwise.” I reached around the thick brown box on top and took it from her before turning and heading back to the car.
“You’re starting to sound more like a parent than me,” my mom said as she followed along behind me. We both laughed as we stuffed the last two boxes into the trunk of the car, and I was happy when I managed to slam it shut without any problem.
“Is that everything?” my mom questioned with a furrow of her eyebrows as she looked around the car. Her brown eyes that matched my own were narrowed as they assessed the boxes in the car. “There’s not a lot here, Billie. Are you sure you have everything you need?”
I understood my mom’s concern. After all, I’d never lived so much as five minutes away from her and now I was actually moving across the state to start my own life somewhere completely different. “It’s okay, Mom. I didn’t have much stuff here anyway,” I explained with a shrug. “And besides, like I’ve told you a thousand times before, the apartment I’m renting in Napa Valley is already furnished!”
My mom gave me a weary look and sighed. “I know, I know, but I’m your mom. It’s my job to worry.”
“I get it, but you did raise a smart daughter,” I insisted, taking her hands in mine. “I know what I’m doing, you can trust me.”
“I know.” My mom gave me a watery smile before squeezing my hands and then leaning in to give me a kiss on the cheek. “You’re my strong, brave girl. You always have been.”
Tears began to well in my own eyes at the praise and I had to reach up and swipe them away. For a moment, we cherished what was one of our last moments together before I went away for a very long time.
“Okay then, now that we’re all packed away, we should probably go get Lucky,” I finally said, breaking the silence between us.
Mom nodded. “I imagine she will have torn through that tug rope you gave her by now.”
“I’ll take her for a quick walk before we go too, so she can relieve herself before the journey,” I explained. “You can head on home now if you want. I can handle everything from here. I promise I’ll call you once I get to my new place.”
“You promise?”
“I promise, Mom. I love you.”
“I love you too.” She hugged me and I held her tight, wondering when I might get the chance to see her again. Probably not for a while with a brand-new job. When we parted, I headed for the door again, but as I glanced behind me, I realized my mom still hadn’t left.
“Is everything okay?” I asked her with worry etched across my features.
Mom gave me a half-hearted smile. “I worry, you know, Billie,” she confessed. “Especially since you’ve never even seen your new home in person. What if it was a false advertisement? What if the pictures were wrong? What if something bad happens to you?”
I turned and walked back over to her. This time, I grabbed her by the shoulders and held her gaze in mine. “Listen, Mom, everything is going to be fine. I told you already, the new job had an immediate start and I was under a time crunch to get a new place. That’s the only reason I haven’t had a chance to see it, but I assure you, I did all the research right and I’m renting it from a legitimate real estate agent. The landlady was really nice and accommodating. She even let me sign all the papers online. There’s absolutely nothing for you to be concerned about, all right?”
“All right,” Mom replied with a nod. “Just be safe, Billie, okay?”
“I will, I promise. Goodbye, Mom.”
“Goodbye, Billie.”
We shared one fina
l hug before my mom climbed back into her own car and drove off down the road after giving me a little wave through the window. I was thankful to be alone once more. As much as I loved my mom, she could be overbearing at times and she was part of the reason why I was still as shy and sheltered as I was even though I was almost thirty.
With a sigh, I climbed the steps back up to my first-floor apartment before entering for the very last time. The tiny apartment was bare and it should have upset me, but in all honesty, it wasn’t that much different. This place had never truly felt like my home. It had only been a stepping-stone to something greater and now, I was excited to get my life started for real.
I headed toward the kitchen door where I could hear a faint whimpering and the odd scratch of claws on wood. “Lucky? It’s okay, I’m here now,” I called out to my dog before turning the handle. As soon as the door was open just a crack, a black snout was pushing its way through and before I knew it, I had a lapful of yapping fur. She knocked me to the ground, and I giggled as she sniffed and licked at my face.
“Lucky, come on now,” I said through laughter as I pushed her away from me. “Let’s go for a quick walk before we get in the car, okay?”
My loyal rescue mutt looked up at me with a confused expression as I pushed myself up off the floor. I reached into my bag and produced her pink leash. As soon as she saw it, Lucky began jumping up at me on her three feet and barking happily. I attached the clip to her collar and then pet her head gently.
“Let’s get going, girl.”
Getting her outside was the easy part. Lucky, like most dogs, loved a good walk outside, however, as soon as I tried to get her into the car, she began to freak out. As soon as we went anywhere near the vehicle, Lucky began to pull against her lead and back away.
“Come on now, Lucky, I promise everything will be okay. We’re just going to our new home, okay? Nothing bad is going to happen,” I explained to her even though she couldn’t understand me. I kneeled down and stroked her patchy black and brown fur in the way she liked. “You can do this. You’re a brave girl, Lucky.”
In the end, I had to pick her up and carry her into the backseat. I couldn’t be mad at her for struggling with me. After all, she absolutely hated change. She’d been rescued by a local animal shelter after experiencing severe neglect by her last owner who used to leave her locked up outside all day and night in all weather conditions. That was how she’d ended up losing one of her back legs. She’d been hit by a car, and then she gnawed at her wound anxiously and it became infected. There had been no other choice but to amputate it.
The people at the shelter had explained that three-legged dogs were much harder to rehome, and the story had tugged on my heartstrings. I had a soft spot for underdogs, and I thought right away that I needed to take responsibility for this dog. That all changed once I actually caught sight of her. She was the most beautiful dog I’d ever seen and even though she was a little shy and timid, she reminded me of myself. I knew she just needed a little support and encouragement to get her out of her shell, and I wanted to be the one to give it to her.
No matter what the staff had told me about her history and what trauma she might suffer from after the ordeal she’d been through, nothing had put me off taking her on and now, she felt like my own baby. Even though I was moving an hour away and I knew Lucky might struggle with the trip, I’d never once considered leaving her behind. We belonged together.
Everything was finally ready for me to set off and so, I climbed into my old car and turned the ignition. It felt so good to get away from my crappy, low paying job for something better. I’d been working as an accountant for a small clothing store in my hometown for over six years now without any appreciation or any progression. Hell, they’d never even given me so much as a raise. So, when I saw the job posting for a hugely successful vineyard in Napa Valley seeking a new accountant, I’d jumped at the chance.
It hadn’t been easy. There had been many other candidates who were equally as qualified as me and with just as much to offer the company, but after three intense stages of interviewing, I had won! I couldn’t have been more shocked or happier when I found out. It really was going to be a great new opportunity for me.
“Hold on tight, Lucky!” I called out behind me as I merged onto the highway. Thankfully when I checked my rearview mirror, I noticed that Lucky had already settled down onto her blanket on the backseat. I was glad she’d managed to calm down enough for the ride.
Before I knew it, I was already pulling into the short driveway of my new building. The house was a lot older than the more modern ones I was used to in Sausalito, but it wasn’t to its detriment. In fact, the older building had a character to it that was inimitable and had clearly been well-maintained. It was made of red and brown bricks and had an old sprout of ivy crawling up the side. As I pulled the handbrake on, I let out a long sigh and glanced up at the apartment built over the garage which would be my new dwelling.
“We’re home,” I told Lucky with a smile.
“Billie Nichols?” a voice called from in front of me as I stepped out of the car.
I looked around for a moment before I realized there was a tall, tanned, and beautiful woman stood at the front door of the house. She was holding a large bottle of red wine in one hand and two glasses in the other. With a smile, I stepped forward to meet the other woman.
“You must be Carla, right? My new landlady?” I asked.
She nodded and offered me a glass. “It’s nice to meet you, Billie.”
Oh yeah, I thought, things are going to be good here.
2
Quentin
Waking up on a Monday morning was difficult no matter what place on the career ladder you found yourself. For me, I was the acting manager of my parents’ vineyard, the Wendall Winery, in Napa Valley which was just one cog in their billion-dollar winemaking business. Despite how much I loved my job, some days I wasn’t sure I wanted to face it. It wasn’t the work necessarily that was the issue. I knew it was me. It was just how empty the rest of my life felt after one too many bad decisions in my love life. It had left me tired, worn out, and bitter. Socializing was difficult and meeting new people was even harder.
That’s why I couldn’t get out of bed that morning because today the new hire was starting.
As a forty-one-year-old man, I was used to pulling the strings of my own life and being in control, so why exactly had I let someone else conduct the job interviews? I rubbed my tired eyes and rolled over in bed, trying to ignore the sound of my alarm clock ticking on my nightstand. The minute I arrived at work, I knew I would have to help some fresh-faced new recruit to settle in and I wasn’t sure it was going to go well at all, but what could I do? If I was a lesser man, I’d stay in bed all day and ignore my problems, but I wasn’t a lesser man. I kept telling myself over and over again that I could do this.
You’re the boss, Quentin. You make millions a year. You’re the man every guy wants to be when they grow up. You’re smart, you’re attractive, and most importantly, you’re in charge. So, go into work and act like it already.
In spite of my little pep talk, my body didn’t move an inch. With a groan, I pulled the comforter back over my face and prayed for the day to be over already. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t like I had anything against new staff, it was just that I’d had some serious bad luck in the past and I wasn’t sure I knew how to trust my instincts anymore. Luckily, this time, I wasn’t relying on my own instincts.
“That’s right,” I whispered to myself. “My parents did the hiring this time…”
It was simultaneously a blessing and a curse. It meant that I didn’t have to conduct long, boring interviews and that the two people I trusted most in the world would be ensuring I had a great new employee. After all, they’d been working in the industry for a long time. Both of them literally had almost three decades more experience than me at this kind of thing. They’d undoubtedly make the right choice. At the same time, however, relying o
n them meant that I had no idea who would be sitting in the office with me at work today.
Still, it wasn’t a good enough reason to avoid work. After all, I’d never even had a sick day—I was dedicated to my work and I wasn’t going to let anything stop me. Not a new staff member, not a bad past, nothing.
Eventually, I forced myself up and into my morning routine. I got myself freshly showered and I dressed in one of my sharpest suits. Once I’d adjusted my navy blue tie a few times in the mirror, I deemed myself ready to start the day. My green eyes were framed by faint purple bags where I’d struggled to sleep, but my golden blonde hair was combed back and held with gel in the sleek style I liked. Even though I was well past the age of frantically worrying about my appearance, I still liked to look my best.
As I was heading for the door of my bedroom, I glanced down at my watch and jumped in shock. “Seven-thirty?” I said with a gasp. “But…” I hurried out of the room and looked around my apartment, but there was no one to be seen. It was clear that my son, Lincoln, wasn’t up yet which meant his nanny hadn’t arrived yet.
“God damn it, do I have to do everything myself?” I cursed in irritation as I headed toward my son’s bedroom. At this rate, he was going to be late for kindergarten. It frustrated me that this nanny had only been working for me for a week and she was already showing signs of being a bad choice. I groaned. It was just more salt in the wound.
Dear Boss: A Single Dad Office Romance (Forbidden First Times Book 3) Page 1