Heartbreakers and Heroes

by Box Set

  "I'll give her my card for the parking garage," Clara said, lowering her hand. "She can't parallel-park to save her life."

  "It's a mistake," he repeated, and shoved his hand into his pocket.

  "Leave her alone, Travis." His sister's tone was an exact replica of what their mother's had been. Gentle but commanding. "She's a good girl, and I need a little goodness in my life right now."

  She turned from the window then back to him.

  "What?" he asked, moving away as Hailey got out of the tiny car. He wouldn't stand here and stare. He was the CEO of a major corporation, not an infatuated schoolboy. "I told you she's not my type."

  "I'm thinking that actually might be the point."

  Travis snorted. "Lay off the romance novels, Clara. This is real life." He moved toward the door because he did not want to be part of Hailey Moore's welcoming committee. "Text me when you get to Boise. And remember, it's only business."

  ***

  Hailey stood in the quiet hallway outside of Clara Jackson's loft the following evening, Kiwi cradled in her arms. She was staring at the door in front of her like it was a portal to hell, but she couldn't make herself move away.

  She hadn't seen Travis since her crazy interview yesterday morning. Not that she'd had a reason to see him. Or wanted to see him. She'd spent most of today in an informal orientation with the HR manager and the IT guy, learning the company's various systems and meeting the other employees who worked in the corporate office.

  Most of the people who worked for Mel's seemed to be the friendly, helpful sort she'd gotten used to during her short time in the Twin Cities. Granted, she had yet to endure a Minnesota winter, but she liked St. Paul, with its mix of Midwestern heritage and a hip, urban vibe. No one at Mel's questioned her qualifications for the assistant position--except Travis. Or her experience--except Travis. Or made her feel like her skin was constantly on the verge of catching fire--except Travis.

  Everyone had great things to say about Clara, her dedication to her grandfather's legacy and the innovation she'd brought the operations side of the company. But when Hailey asked about Travis, it was as if she'd mentioned Voldemort's name in the Hogwarts great hall. No one said anything outright negative, but there were several eye rolls and small head shakes.

  In fact, everyone at Mel's appeared to be one big, happy working family--except Travis. It made her think of his gaze in the coffee shop and the loneliness he couldn't quite hide.

  That was why she stood in the hallway. His loneliness and maybe a little bit her loneliness. She'd lived at her parents' house until she moved from Montana, silly for a woman of twenty-four, but she liked the comfort of having the people she loved around her. And she'd come to Minnesota with David, moved in with him despite her mother's warnings about cows and free milk. She should have paid more attention to--

  The door in front of her swung open and she took an instinctive step back. Kiwi growled softly.

  "Is hallway lurking a pattern I should come to expect?" Travis asked in his deep, gravelly voice. As he stared at her, his eyes shone with an intensity she barely understood.

  Her toes curled in response. Other parts of her body she was trying to ignore had a similar response.

  "I'm not lurking," she said, clearing her throat when it came out on a squeak. "I live here."

  "You're staying here," he corrected. "In Clara's apartment." He inclined his head. "Not the hallway."

  "How did you know I was in the hall?"

  He didn't answer, only looked her up and down. She fought the urge to squirm and instead took the opportunity to study him right back. He wore a navy blue t-shirt and a pair of loose basketball shorts. She could see the faint sheen of sweat on his brow, like maybe he'd been working out. Like maybe he was too hot and should probably take off his shirt. Right now.

  "What can I do for you, Hailey?"

  She swallowed before she blurted the request for him to strip. Why had this seemed like a good idea a few minutes ago?

  Lonely. They were both lonely. But Travis didn't look lonely right now. He looked handsome, sexy and a little exasperated.

  "I was wondering if you'd like to have dinner?"

  He continued to stare.

  "You've heard of dinner?" She scratched Kiwi under the chin and the dog quieted. "It's the meal at the end of the day."

  His face remained expressionless, but the whiskey flecks in his eyes flared. She liked that response in him because he couldn't control it. This was a man far too used to control.

  "I'm familiar with the concept of dinner," he answered slowly. "Normally when a woman makes the suggestion, it involves reservations and a healthy dent in my credit card."

  "You really do need better taste in women."

  He leaned against the doorjamb, and that casual move was just about the hottest thing she'd ever seen. "Are you offering to take me on?"

  Her mouth went dry but she managed to shake her head. "I'm offering chicken quesadillas."

  He blinked and straightened. "You made them?"

  "Yep. Clara told me to use the food in her fridge."

  "My sister has the fixings for quesadillas?"

  "I got inventive." She reached behind her for the door to Clara's loft because suddenly the hallway seemed too intimate. She'd just invited Travis Jackson, her boss's boss, to dinner at his own sister's apartment. Add desperate to the list right behind lonely. But she couldn't take back the invitation, nor did she want to. "Do you have plans?"

  "No."

  "Would you like to come over for dinner?"

  "Yes."

  He closed the door behind him with a soft click.

  "They'll keep for a few minutes if you want to change or..."

  Or take off your shirt.

  "I'm ready now."

  "Me too," she whispered, and he grinned.

  "Dinner, Hailey."

  "I was talking about dinner."

  He followed her into the loft and shut the door behind them. "But you were thinking about dessert."

  Chapter 4

  "Where did you learn to cook like this?" Travis asked thirty minutes later, scooping up the final bit of guacamole with his last bite of quesadilla.

  Hailey chuckled, took a triangle of quesadilla off her plate and slid it onto his. This was the most food she'd had at one time in weeks, so she was already stuffed. "This isn't really cooking. It's throwing together dinner. My mom did it every night when we were growing up."

  "Do you have a big family?"

  "Three brothers and me."

  "I bet you were spoiled rotten."

  "Not at all," she protested, then stuck out her tongue. It was funny how easy it was to forget Travis was who he was. Everyone else in the office seemed totally intimidated by Travis the CEO, but there was a natural ease between the two of them, at least when she could ignore her attraction to him.

  He leveled a look at her. "Are you the baby of the family?"

  "I was the youngest," she admitted.

  "Then you were extra special, I'm sure."

  "No."

  The gravity with which she said the word seemed to surprise them both. She held up a hand before he could speak. "I'm not special. That was my problem. I thought I was."

  He took a long pull of the beer he'd grabbed from Clara's refrigerator. "If this is about your ex-boyfriend--"

  "It's not," she answered immediately. "Maybe it started that way. He did me a favor." She lifted her beer to her lips then set it on the stone counter again. "I grew up thinking I was a princess. I come from a small town, but I had big dreams. I knew I was meant for something more. I was naive enough to believe that some magical fairytale knight was going to come in and sweep me off my feet."

  "And your ex fit the bill?" he asked casually, pushing his plate toward the center of the island. His dark gaze captured hers as he leaned forward on his elbows. She'd glossed over the breakup when she'd told her family, embarrassment and a smidgen of battered pride making her spin the story in a positive
light.

  "He swept me, all right. He was a visiting professor at the local university, and I was working at my parents' store and waiting tables at a diner in town on the weekend. It was a whirlwind courtship, you know?"

  "I can imagine," he said gently, but his face was all hard lines and sharp edges.

  "He was coming back to Minneapolis after the semester and I didn't hesitate when he asked me to come with him." She gave a small laugh. "I should have hesitated. I thought he loved me." She pointed to Travis. "And he didn't say the actual words either, which I guess makes me more like your Monica than I care to admit."

  "She's not mine," Travis countered, "and you are nothing like her."

  Hailey tried not to take that as a diss, but his expression gave nothing away. "Anyway, the reality of a live-in girlfriend kind of cramped his style, so..."

  "Asshole," Travis muttered.

  "Pretty much," she agreed.

  "Why didn't you go home?"

  "Because then I would have had to admit that everyone in my family was right. I may not be a princess, but I want more from life than that small town. I want to prove I'm worth something." Her voice hitched on the last word and she clamped a hand over her mouth. "I talk too much," she whispered, and turned to the sink, heat flooding her cheeks. A half a beer and she was even chattier than usual, which was a real feat.

  "I didn't make dessert," she called over her shoulder, making her voice light. She flipped on the faucet and hoped the sound of the running water would drown out the way her heart was thundering in her ears. "Maybe Clara has something in the freezer."

  "She always has ice cream," Travis answered, his voice so close to her ear she startled. He reached over and shut off the water, then turned her to face him. "I should know. I eat most of it."

  "Typical older brother," she murmured.

  His big hands held her arms, his skin warm against hers. He was so close she could see the faint shadow of stubble darkening his jaw, making him look like a modern-day pirate. Not a white knight at all, which somehow made the sparks dancing across her skin break out into a full-blown Broadway number.

  "You are special, Hailey," he murmured, and she wondered how she'd ever had the nerve to argue with this man. His gaze was so intense and his voice so sure.

  She almost believed him.

  Almost.

  "You don't mean that," she answered. Not exactly an argument, but not an agreement either. She'd said something similar that morning in the coffee shop, but it was as much of a lie now as it had been then.

  The way she wanted him was an ache that felt as unfamiliar as it did exciting. She'd just left a relationship with a man who didn't treat her right and, from what she knew of Travis Jackson, she was climbing directly from the frying pan into the fire.

  "I know that you deserve to give your heart to a man who would never be fool enough to let you go."

  Really? Of all the things he could have said, those words were the last she would have guessed and the ones guaranteed to lance her heart. To pierce her ramshackle defenses enough that when he leaned in and brushed his mouth over hers, she didn't resist.

  The touch was feather-light yet still commanding, a dichotomy that suited Travis perfectly. It was also an exploration and an invitation, as if he was testing how much she would allow and daring her to give more.

  Hailey was happy to oblige. With Travis's arms trailing over her shoulders and then up to cup her face between his palms, everything else in the world melted away. She lost herself in the scent and taste of him, a mix of spice and man that wound around her senses and held her fast.

  She looped her arms around him and brushed her fingers through the soft hair at the nape of his neck. He nipped at her bottom lip and she moaned softly, arching into him. As her lips parted, his tongue slid between them, his hands cradling her face as he deepened the kiss.

  Travis seemed content to go slow, but his touch ignited something inside her she hadn't even realized was there. Her breasts pressed into his chest, and this time he groaned. A strange sort of giddiness shot through Hailey at the thought that she could have this type of effect on a man like Travis.

  Kiwi barked and nudged at Hailey's ankles, effectively bursting the odd little bubble of lust that encapsulated her.

  She pulled away, covering her swollen lips with her fingers. She was standing in her boss's kitchen, kissing the hell out of her boss's brother, who also happened to run the company she now worked for. Hailey might only have had two days on the job, but she'd loved them both and didn't want to jeopardize her position because of her feelings for Travis.

  Feelings. It was more than lust, as strange as that sounded for the short time they'd known each other. She liked Travis--flirting with him, challenging him, learning more about who he was outside his corporate image.

  "That was..." he began, running a hand through his already rumpled hair.

  She waited for him to say "a mistake," even though it wasn't what she wanted to hear.

  "Amazing," he finished.

  Amazing was way better than a mistake.

  Hailey grinned. "You kiss like that all the time and I can understand why your blond brigade has trouble letting you go." She meant the words as a tease and as a reminder to both of them that this wasn't real.

  His gaze went flat. "I don't have a brigade, and if I did you definitely wouldn't be part of it."

  Ouch.

  She forced a laugh and pulled at the ends of her hair. "I don't fit the mold, huh?"

  He crouched low so they were at eye level. "In the best way possible," he answered, and tucked her hair behind her ears, arranging the strands over her shoulders. He kissed her lightly. "Is this going to make things at the office weird for you? Because I'm going to walk away tonight, Hailey, but I can't promise I'll leave you alone."

  She liked the thought of not being left alone by him. But she also appreciated that she had a job, a good one, and she'd learned her lesson about depending on anyone else to make sure she was okay.

  "Is Clara going to fire me if things go south between us?"

  "We haven't even started," he said, one corner of his mouth curving, "and already you're planning our demise?"

  "I'm turning over a new leaf as a realist," she told him.

  His gaze narrowed slightly. "Clara won't fire you. Hell, she'll probably want to give you a raise with all the trouble you're bound to cause me."

  She sniffed. "I don't cause trouble."

  "I don't believe that for a moment." He kissed her again. "So it's a good thing I like trouble. Goodnight, Hailey," he whispered before moving away. "Sweet dreams."

  ***

  "You're going to make me fat."

  Travis looked up from his computer three days later to find Hailey standing in the doorway of his office.

  She held up a small paper bag. "A blueberry muffin?"

  "They were out of cinnamon rolls," he answered with a shrug.

  "You don't have to bring me coffee and breakfast every morning."

  He chuckled. "Sweetheart, those froofy drinks you like are caffeinated sugar water, not coffee."

  She glanced over her shoulder and then shut the door to his office behind her.

  "People will start to talk if you keep leaving these on my desk."

  "Do you want me to stop?"

  She sighed and took a sip from the paper cup she held. "Not exactly."

  "I'm careful, Hailey," he told her. "No one sees me leave them."

  "I don't even see you," she agreed. "You're more than careful. You're downright sneaky." She stepped further into his space and he gripped the edge of the desk. "I told your secretary that Clara wanted me to run a few things by you. I think she was impressed I was willing to brave the inner sanctum of your office."

  "Not many employees do." He watched her move around the perimeter of his office. The same office his father had occupied for many years, until a major heart attack and subsequent bypass surgery had forced Dominic Jackson into early retirement two
years ago.

  "Why is that?" She turned to him and pierced him with her wide hazel gaze. "Everyone around here whispers when they say your name."

  "It's respect," he answered immediately, but she shook her head.

  "I don't think so." Her expression gentled as she placed the paper bag on the edge of his desk. "You're a nice guy, Travis."

  He barked out a laugh. "Hardly."

  "I mean it." She took out the muffin, unwrapped it from its paper and divided it in two. Then she picked up one half and pushed the other one toward him. "You're thoughtful and funny when you want to be. At least with me."

  "You're different." He busied himself with the muffin when she raised her eyebrows. Maybe he'd said too much, but that was what Hailey Moore did to him. The past several evenings had been different from any he'd had in ages. He'd spent each of them with Hailey and Kiwi, either in Clara's apartment or his. They'd ordered carryout the first two then made pasta last night. It was simple, routine, and before Hailey he would have guessed three evenings in a row at home to be a total snoozefest. But now he couldn't wait for the workday to end so he could do nothing with this woman.

  Although he knew it couldn't end well for either of them, he also couldn't walk away. He loved listening to her talk about her home in Montana. It reminded him of those summers at Saddle Creek and nights under the stars and that big Montana sky. She made him remember that there were people in the world who hadn't expected him to be anyone but himself. Who believed he was enough just as he was.

  "Besides I know you don't like being alone," he said lightly, not willing to reveal too much. Afraid he already had.

  "It's not that I don't like it," she told him. "I'm just not used to it." She leaned over the desk, giving him the barest glimpse of cleavage under the collar of her demure yellow blouse. Just that tiny bit of skin made his blood boil. "And I like being with you more," she said with a cheeky grin. "You're a good listener."