He used the arrow keys, the page up and page down buttons. He even highlighted certain text and figures with the word program with just one hand. Jennifer wondered if she should relinquish her seat too. This wasn’t exactly working together. Then again, she thought she rather liked the feel of him so close to her again.
After several more clicks and taps on the keyboard, Andrew glanced back at Jennifer. He looked twice, the second time, he just stared. Seconds before his gaze turned uncomfortable, he pushed up from the table and settled himself into the seat closest to her.
“How do you think we should do this?”
Jennifer blinked. Was he talking about the report or the business venture he mentioned earlier? What if he was talking about something else entirely?
“I’m pretty good at picking out key phrases from reports that we can transfer to figures for a presentation. If you don’t mind, I’d like to do that, unless, of course, that’s your thing, and you don’t really like presentations.”
“I love making presentations,” the words slid off her tongue a bit too easy, but they were every bit of truth. To her, the proper presentation was an art form that she learned to master years ago for James. When done correctly and presented with the right information and confident speaker, presentations could make or break a deal.
Andrew’s eyes lazily looked over the features of Jennifer’s face. That sexy smile was back. “Seems like we make a pretty good team.”
A smile tugged at her lips.
“I guess so.”
Chapter Sixteen
Confronting Suspicions
SHE WASN’T SURE how Andrew was able to concentrate, but within minutes, he had his laptop with the copied documents and was working silently at her side. They ordered a feast for breakfast. While they waited, Jennifer scoured the internet for photos, quotes, and inspiring templates for the presentation. In the end, Jennifer decided on creating her own, unique theme.
Room service arrived with breakfast, and it was completely ordinary. Andrew diligently worked while he ate, prompting Jennifer to do the same. She fought herself constantly to forget the kiss they shared. Whenever she succeeded, her mind would immediately switch to the conversation the men had about their date. Andrew didn’t seem the least bit concerned about whatever it was that happened or was happening between them at work. Jennifer didn’t understand how he could sit so comfortably next to her after the kiss they shared before leaving her room. Then again, maybe kisses didn’t mean much to millionaires. They probably had a dollar for every time they had ever kissed someone.
She groaned. Sometimes, she hated having a feminine heart. It seemed to create delusions and fantasies about people and places that only existed in her mind. The kiss was real though. That much she knew. She remembered his hands on her body like he had wanted to hold and caress her the very moment he had seen her. Then again, maybe that was just her girly tendencies searching for coincidences where none existed.
Jennifer sighed again and forced the words on her screen to focus. It was then that she saw Andrew looking at her. He wasn’t trying to hide his gaze. Their eyes met, and he looked at her face. His eyes lingered on her lips before he met her eyes again.
“You keep sighing,” he said flatly.
Jennifer wanted to ask him about the kiss, but that would make her too much of a little girl, she was certain of it. These men—men like Andrew—they liked a good fight, didn’t they? Someone playing a little hard to get to make them chase a bit? But didn’t Andrew say he was getting too old for games? Andrew turned to her completely and reached for her cheek. He stroked it quickly before bringing his hand down. Too many thoughts had elapsed for Jennifer to play off the frustration in her mind.
“Talk to me,” he said calmly.
Jennifer swallowed. It was a trap. Now she remembered why she didn’t date—she knew nothing about men. Every little thing they said only confounded her. She felt like they couldn’t be trusted. They spoke in some language only sex goddesses understood to keep their hearts from breaking while everyone else fell victim to the spells their words cast.
“I’m fine,” Jennifer knew her voice said she wasn’t, but it was her answer, her final answer, and she didn’t plan on changing it.
“You don’t look fine,” Andrew mused. He glanced at his wrist, and his smile grew wider. “You know, we’ve been working for almost two hours. I think we should take a break.”
Jennifer shifted in her seat, unable to meet Andrew’s eyes. “Has it really been two hours?”
“Almost,” he answered quickly, he swiveled in the chair. “Want to take a break?”
She swallowed. “To do what?”
“Relax.” She could feel his laughing grin burning her skin. It wouldn’t seem like anything that was possible, but it was happening right now.
Jennifer arched her back slowly, taking in a deep breath. At length, she gave Andrew her full attention and was surprised to find his smile gone and concern on his face instead.
“What’s wrong?” He reached for her cheek again, but she shrugged uncomfortably. “You don’t think you’d be up for a swim in the pool?”
“What?”
“The pool. There’s a nice pool here. I like to do laps. Thought you might like to come with.” He looked her over, confused.
Jennifer squawked out a weird laugh. The sound caused Andrew to laugh, although she could see the misunderstanding on his face.
“I thought you meant a different type of relaxing.”
Suddenly, his laugh became more genuine. They must have laughed for minutes straight before silence finally came to them. Even then, Andrew still chuckled abruptly every now and again. He wiped at his eye before meeting Jennifer’s gaze.
“That would make me a real douche, wouldn’t it?” He said with a sly grin.
Chuckling, Jennifer nodded. “Just a little bit.”
Their laughter driveled to giggles. Andrew reached for her face again. This time, she didn’t pull away.
“I already told you I don’t like to play games,” he said in a hushed whisper. His hands sought for her wrists next, and then he pulled her into his lap. Jennifer complied. Her body was still stiff in the human chair. Andrew ran his hands up and down her arms. “Relax,” he said softly.
She took a deep breath and looked down at him. She put a hand into his short hair. Their eyes locked and within seconds, they were engaged in another kiss. There wasn’t another shock that burst throughout her body, instead, there was just a deep longing and a desire within her that she had thought for so long had only existed for one other man.
Even then, Melone’s name was a flicker in her mind before it was washed away by the crashing tides of the ravenous craving for Andrew. He pulled away reluctantly at length. His hands were beneath her dress, for which he muttered an apology, but all she could manage was a breathless, “Why me?”
The question seemed to confuse him at first. After a moment, his face relaxed, and he grinned again.
“Because I’ve had my eye on you for quite some time,” he answered in a husky voice.
Jennifer was sure that if she had heard that answer from any other man’s mouth, she would have wanted to put a generous amount of space between them. She definitely wouldn’t have stayed on their lap. But with Andrew, his answer only softened her heart. She decided to tease him.
“You’ve been stalking me?”
He chuckled. “No. I just never introduced myself.”
“Why not?”
Andrew pressed his lips together, taking a moment before he answered. “I didn’t want to talk business with you.”
It might have seemed like a strange answer to anyone else riding by on horseback, but Jennifer knew what he meant. Melone wasn’t the type of man to beat around the bush just because she was a female. He had told her from the very beginning that her association with him as his executive assistant would put her at the forefront of many influential men—men with swag and money.
He told her that
many of them wouldn’t see her as the woman he worked with on a daily basis, just a face and legs. It was a good piece of advice that Jennifer was certain was only given out of respect for her skills. She saw how the men in her line of work treated women like her.
They used them. Chewed them up and spit them out when their flavor had gone stale, like your favorite piece of chewing gum. Sticking to business talk at special events was the one way that Jennifer could protect herself from the vultures. Still, a part of her ached at the thought of having missed Andrew due to the way she had chosen to protect herself. Jennifer looked down at him and stroked the side of his cheek.
“Do you really want to go swimming?”
He nodded. “I think we should have left already though. That’s okay. I enjoyed taking a break like this better.” She saw a flash of gorgeous teeth in a dashing smile.
The air between them began to settle into tension. His hands were around her waist and he squeezed her gently.
“We should probably get back to work though. I think we can have this completed by three. What do you think?”
Jennifer smiled. “It’s certainly worth striving for.”
Chapter Seventeen
Seeking Something More
JAMES MALONE MADE it back just in time for his 11:30 appointment with Rocket Panda. He had no time to debrief Andrew or his assistant on the outcome of his appoint with Carnal Magnal. Jennifer wasn’t too concerned because, on the way back, he had barked the newest set of orders involving Seogen. As both she and Andrew predicted, he wanted the reports due sooner than 8 pm. At present, it was looking like a reality within the next hour before lunch.
Andrew had finished picking out the highlights of the latest results with Rocket Panda and Jennifer was fine tuning the first half the presentation. She felt she would be able to finish it entirely within the next two hours.
After James had finished the telecom meeting with Rocket Panda, he and Andrew had an impromptu meeting to run everything down. Jennifer didn’t catch much, being too focused on adding data to the presentation; but, from what she could gather, it appeared they might have another contract in the works. That was something she was going to have to worry about the next week when they were back in Chicago.
She wasn’t exactly sure when she began to fulfill the extra duties for James, but at some point, she graduated from merely keeping track of his appointments and scheduling to creating reports, presentations, and correspondence between departments regarding the contracts they maintained with their clients.
After James had ended his meeting with Andrew, he retreated into his bedroom in order to shower and change. Andrew moved to sit beside Jennifer. She had roughly five more slides to go. Lunch was in 30 minutes. It would be was possible to complete, but it depended on Andrew, and judging by the way he was patiently waiting for her attention, she didn’t think she would even be able to finish one.
Jennifer shot Andrew a cursory glance. He seemed relaxed and leaned back in his chair with one leg crossed over another. He met Jennifer’s gaze after a moment.
“Hey, beautiful.”
Jennifer giggled. “It’s hard to concentrate, when you sit so close to me.”
Andrew frowned and then leaned forward, towards her. He placed a hand on her thigh. “Sorry about that.” They shared a laugh. “Were you listening to us?” He asked, referencing the small debriefing he had with James before he left the two of them alone.
Jennifer shook her head. “I have an incredible ability to ignore and block out all external stimuli while I work.” She smiled. “Except you.”
Andrew reached for her face, touching the side of her cheek. “Carnal’s interested in us. They’d like to have a meeting with the three of us before we head back to Chicago. Perhaps tomorrow at one or two.”
Jennifer’s brows furrowed. How could she have missed them talking about appointments? “Okay,” she gave a vigorous nod. “Do they need any facts and figures about the company?”
“I think your regular monthly milestone reports for our clients will be enough for Carnal. They’re also hoping for a referral to another client we have.” Andrew spoke slowly and stroked Jennifer’s face periodically with his finger and thumb. She struggled to hear everything he said. “Have you thought more about what I said in your room?”
Blinking, Jennifer cleared her throat. She heard that one loud and clear. She struggled to remember what they discussed. She remembered talking about his niece, about his dating, and then they kissed. She remembered the kiss very well. At some point, he said something about investing in her. Jennifer met Andrew’s eyes. He was probably asking about the investment. “You mean about the designer stuff?”
Andrew smiled kindly. “Yes. Your future business. Have you thought about it?”
She cleared her throat again. “I’ve been focused on work all day,” she stammered.
“Have you thought about it?” He repeated.
She began to cough this time and looked away as she covered her mouth. Andrew withdrew his hand from her. She had thought about it as little as she could. Every time her mind started to stray from the report at hand she remembered their kiss and his offer. She just didn’t know what to think about it. And on that note, she really didn’t know what to think of them—if indeed there was any them.
Jennifer looked to Andrew and gave a light nod, barely a movement that Andrew would have missed if he blinked or glanced away. “I’ve thought about it some.”
“What do you think?” He seemed eager. “Is it something you would like? I could be an angel investor for you.”
“What?” Jennifer had only heard angel come from Melone’s mouth, and only whenever he spoke about the ways she helped him out.
“An angel investor,” Andrew repeated. “You know, someone who usually provides a lot of upfront cash to business startups. It can sometimes be risky because the chance of success is low,” he paused after that last word. “Not that I think your chance is low.”
Smiling, Jennifer responded. “Oh. I guess the word just through me off.” She glanced down. “I would love it, actually,” she said with restraint. She couldn’t bring herself to meet Andrew’s eyes again. It did seem like a good thing, but every time she tried to imagine what that would look like, she saw blankness in her mind. It was the same when she tried to imagine a future with Andrew.
Was there really a future? Or did he just like to kiss her? “I already told you I don’t like to play games.” That was something he said to her; still, there was no talk of a future. Maybe she was just old fashioned, or maybe her heart had just been broken too many times. It just didn’t seem worth another heartbreak to get involved for “fun’s sake”. To her, she never ended up having fun and always ending up regretting it.
“Does the money bother you?” Andrew asked, looking intently towards Jennifer. She kept her eyes locked on something across the room. She refused to meet his gaze.
“Maybe.” She sniffed. “A little bit.”
“I’m not just doing it because I want to have something with you,” Andrew said at length. He reached for her and touched her arm gently. Jennifer looked towards his hand. “I’m doing it because I believe in you.”
She followed his arm to his body, and then laboriously brought her eyes to meet his. “You want to have something with me?”
Andrew smiled. “I would love us to be something.”
Jennifer laughed, but it was more like a choked giggle. “Something like what?”
Taking a deep breath, Andrew moved his hand to cover Jennifer’s completely. “Well, I’m thinking about a particular kind of something where we start off slow.”
“We might need to back off with the kissing if that’s the case.”
“If you could just tone down your body I’d love to oblige.”
She scoffed. “What?”
Andrew laughed. “You. You’re,” he struggled for words. “You’re hot—gorgeous. I look at you and I just—you’re incredible and you don’t even know
it,” he sighed heavily. “It’s really hard to control myself around you.”
A smile crept the corners of her lips. She had never been told that before. The idea seemed a bit awkward.
“You want to attack me?”
Andrew dropped his head into his hands, rubbing his face hard. He grumbled something Jennifer couldn’t make out. He lifted his head after some time with another sigh and met Jennifer’s eyes. She was too curious to look away.
“I don’t want to attack you,” he said with conviction. Jennifer smiled.
“That’s good because what you said would be creepy if that’s the case.” Her lips spread as her smile widened. “What do you want to do then?”
“I would like a relationship,” he said immediately.
A hand instinctively flew to her chest. She could feel her heart pounding, as if it had just woken up. Still, it was easy for any man to say they wanted a relationship. What exactly did that look like?
“What’s your idea of a relationship? Define it,” she responded.
Andrew’s brows pinched together. “What?”
“Do it. What does a relationship look like to you?” Her voice was hard and demanding. She immediately wanted to take it back but said nothing more, standing by the words that had already left her mouth.
Straightening his back, Andrew withdrew his hand from her and ran it through his hair. His eyes darted around the room as he thought. When he spoke again, it was slow. He held Jennifer’s gaze firmly.
“I’ve never had a successful relationship. Ever. I’ve tried, but,” he shook his head, glancing away for a moment, “but sometimes women would rather be seen with me rather than be with me. I want to be with a woman who wants me,” he paused and took a breath. “A woman who wants me for me, and whatever future we create together.”
Millionaire Romance: In Love With My Boss - A Contemporary Romance (Millionaire Romance, Contemporary Romance, Comedy Romance Book 1) Page 14