Tempting The Boss

by Mallory Crowe

  She eyed him warily and he tried to decipher what she might be thinking. She was probably debating how likely he was to be lying his ass off to her. It would be easy enough to cash her check and still go running to the nearest news outlet with dirt on one of the hottest socialites in town.

  “Hold on a minute.” She pulled her phone off the clip that hooked onto her skirt. He hadn’t noticed it before. Every time he’’d looked at her skirt before, his eyes had focused on…other things. But he figured in something that form-fitting, there wouldn’t be pockets deep enough for a phone.

  “Gordon? No, you don’t need to come back. I had something I wanted to run by you.”

  Holy shit, she was taking his suggestion into consideration.

  “Mr. Carey has offered to join me on the trip to North Carolina. This would give you time to look into who attacked me instead of playing bodyguard. Yes, I’m aware he isn’t qualified, but if I don’t want the press to know what’s happening, I can’t have a military guy following me around for however long it will take to clear this up. If nothing else, you have a life outside of work. We need to arrange interviews for additional men. I’d like to have at least ten interviews scheduled for the Saturday I’d get back. While I’m gone, I expect you to send me their resumes and a write-up of what you know about them, as well as your own personal recommendations.”

  Dean raised a brow. So that was how one of the richest women in the city got things done. He had to admit, it was sexier than he expected it to be. Sure, Grace would boss him around all the time, but Victoria had a certain authority when she spoke. Grace always smiled and spoke in soothing, gentle tones because it wasn’t nice to scream at contractors in front of clients.

  Victoria wasn’t screwing around. “Thanks, Gordon. I’m going to iron out the details with Mr. Carey and I’ll fill you in.” She hung up the phone and looked back to Dean. “Let’s talk details.”

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Victoria eyed the street warily from the backseat of the town car. The small houses were pressed so close together, there was only a narrow strip of grass between each. And not every home appeared to be occupied. A few had overgrown yards and broken windows.

  She’d known Dean wasn’t exactly one of New York’s elite, but it was still a culture shock whenever she came to these types of neighborhoods. She swallowed a quick wave of shame. It hadn’t always bothered her. In school, she’d been involved in numerous community outreach programs and would regularly come to the harder hit areas to offer what help she could to various shelters and kitchens. It didn’t shock her then. She’d been happy to see the familiar faces and know she was making a difference.

  But that was years ago. Ever since she’d taken the reins from Terry, all of her time had gone to making Green’s profitable again. And now she was one of those rich people who stared out of their car windows at a neighborhood in shambles.

  The driver pulled the car to a stop and turned around to face Victoria. “I’ll get Mr. Carey, ma’am.”

  “No,” she said. “I’ll go.”” As her sneaker-clad feet hit the crumbling sidewalk, she was grateful her gray pumps were in her carry-on bag still. She wasn’t a fan of traveling through the airport in uncomfortable shoes, so sneakers were a staple of her traveling gear.

  Dean’s home definitely had its charm. It was the same red brick as the rest of the street, but the yard was exceptionally neat, with full bushes that were trimmed to stop right beneath the curtained front windows framed by white shutters.

  She made her way up to the newish looking front door and raised her hand to knock, but never had a chance.

  A blonde girl opened the door, wide smile on her face. “Victoria Green?” she asked.

  Victoria blinked a few times, not expecting so much cheer this early in the morning. “Yes, I’m Victoria. Katy, right?”

  The girl’s pale skin immediately turned bright red. “I can’t believe Victoria Green knows my name!” she gushed.

  Victoria pushed down her own desire to blush. She hadn’t quite gotten used to her fame. She’d never requested it, and none of the male CEOs of Green’s had ever garnered this much attention. Something about her takeover must’ve struck a chord in the media, because there always seemed to be one or two photographers around who would pop up out of the blue at the most inconvenient times.

  So what was she supposed to say to someone who admired her without knowing anything about her? “Dean says that you’re a great kid.” Victoria winced. This was a beautiful sixteen-year-old. Not a kid.

  But Katy didn’t seem fazed. Instead, she rolled her eyes. “He’s a bragger.”

  Victoria frowned. She’d never gotten the impression that Dean had been bragging about anything, but she didn’t correct Katy’s thoughts about her brother. ““Where is Dean? We have a flight to catch.” She shifted to glance over Katy’s shoulder.

  “He should be down soon,” assured Katy.

  Like the outside, the inside of the home was small. All Victoria could see was a narrow hallway that led to the kitchen and the stairs to the second story. Though tiny, the inside was well done. Everything was clean and updated. Not exactly what she expected from a bachelor’s home, little sister or not.

  One thing in particular stood out. “That’s not his suitcase, is it?” She pointed to the bright pink suitcase with white polka dots.

  Katy snorted. “No! That’s mine. I’m staying at a friend’s house while Dean’s gone.”

  Victoria grinned at the idea of Dean strolling through the airport with the bright pink bag rolling behind him. As amusing as the image was, she had a feeling it wouldn’t bother him. He was the most masculine man she’d ever met, and a feminine bag probably wouldn’’t faze him in the slightest.

  Creaking noises came from upstairs, and Victoria looked up as Dean headed down. Her breath caught in her throat in the annoying way it always seemed to do when she saw him. But she couldn’t help it. The man was beautiful. His shoulders were so wide, he practically filled the entire staircase.

  She cleared her throat as she stepped back, already anticipating how much room he’d need to fit out of the doorway. “Good morning,” she said, but his attention was fully on Katy.

  “I have Mrs. Beckett’s phone number, and I will be calling her tonight to make sure you’re there.”

  Katy’s face immediately fell as she blushed red again. “I got it,” she murmured.

  “There’s extra food for Rigby in the laundry room and the emergency vet number is on the fridge.”

  “I’ve done this before, okay? Now just go before you’re late.” She turned and disappeared behind a corner in the house.

  He sighed and squeezed out of the door, maneuvering his duffel bag to fit better. “Morning, Victoria,” he said in a less than pleased voice.

  She decided not to comment on his sister and followed him to the car. The driver already had the trunk open and was waiting for Dean’s luggage. Dean hesitated a second before he handed over the worn bag and then got into the backseat as the driver arranged the luggage.

  Victoria stood on the sidewalk for a brief second. This wasn’t a good idea. She was going to be stuck with Dean for days. What would they even talk about? In her mind, she’d imagined doing work or reading articles on the plane, without giving much thought to making conversation with the man. But now that he was there, sitting in the car and waiting for her, it all seemed too much.

  She shook her head at her own hesitation. Good grief, she’d spent time with people she didn’t know before. “You’re being ridiculous,” she muttered to herself as the driver opened the door for her.

  “Thank you, Ron.” She slid in. The car was roomy, but it wasn’t exactly a stretch limo.

  She leaned against the door, trying to give him as much space as possible, but even then she could feel the heat of his body fill the backseat. The driver took off and the silence that filled the car got to her. “So you don’t have a roller bag?”” She winced at the strange question, but couldn’t
think of any other safe topics besides the weather, which seemed much too cliché.

  He shrugged. “I don’t travel much.”

  More silence. She stared out the window, watching as they left Dean’s neighborhood and merged onto the freeway. “Who is Rigby?”

  He looked over to her. “Rigby is my dog. Well, he started as my dog. I think he’s mostly Katy’s dog at this point. She spends more time with him than me.””

  “Hmm...” Victoria had always enjoyed dogs, but never had one. Her father never had time to care for one and, if she were honest with herself, she didn’t have time for one either. ““So Katy is rather independent, I take it?”

  Dean grunted. “She’s a sixteen-year-old girl. What do you expect?”

  Victoria let out a huff. She didn’t need to put up with his bad mood all week. “Is there a problem?”

  He looked over, as though surprised she’d even ask.

  “I can get on the plane alone. You volunteered for this task, so if you can’t stand the idea of being in close quarters with me, speak now.”

  He tightened his lips. “No…this isn’t about you. It’s just……I always do this somehow. Things are going fine with Katy and then right as I’m about to leave, I give her reminders and she gets pissed. But what the hell am I supposed to do? I don’t know what she remembers.””

  Victoria felt bad for bringing it up and felt even worse that she’d assumed his bad mood had something to do with her. She was supposed to spend three days with this man and she was already being crazy. Which was especially strange because she was used to being the sane person in the room.

  She kept her mouth shut for most of the remaining ride, taking the chance to respond to a few emails on her phone and make sure the office wouldn’t fall apart when she was gone.

  Going through the busy airport with Dean at her side was definitely an experience. She’d forgotten the novelty of being excited by the airport and how intense security was for someone not used to it. As security patted him down because of the wallet and cell phone he never took out of his pocket, Victoria couldn’t knock the smile off her face.

  But the best of all was seeing his face as they were the first allowed to board the plane. He kept looking at his ticket and back to the tiny numbers over their row. “We’re in first class?” he asked incredulously.

  The corner of her mouth hooked up. “Well, the media thinks I’m snobbish if I take a private charter.”

  He shook his head as he tucked his bag in the overhead bin, followed by hers.

  Victoria glanced at the window seat and back to Dean. “Did you want the room with the view?”

  “Whatever you want.” He motioned her to make up her mind.

  “Are you still grumpy?” She slid into the window seat. If he was going to be surly, he’d have to take the aisle. She could enjoy the view all she wanted that way.

  He sat next to her and fumbled with the seatbelt, jamming it into place as quickly as possible.

  She let out another laugh and he glared at her. “Would you please stop enjoying this so much?”

  “What? It’s funny! You’re supposed to be my big, bad bodyguard and you’re afraid of flying.”

  He grunted and shifted in his seat as the rest of the passengers piled into the plane.

  Victoria patted his leg gently. “Just relax. It’s a short flight.” It was only then she realized that she’d never set the armrest down. She jerked her hand back and looked at it. If she put it down now, he’d know she felt strange touching him.

  Why the hell would she pat him on the leg? They were supposed to be in a business relationship. He was doing her a favor until the background checks came through on the true muscle. She wasn’t supposed to be touching him or laughing as if they were friends.

  She bit her lip and looked out the window to the boring runway. One of the perks of boarding first was that she got to sit on the plane the longest before takeoff. Everything in her wanted to turn back to Dean, but she refused.

  So what if he was big and attractive and, okay, she’d admit it: he was sexy as hell and sitting right next to her with no armrest between them. This was a bad idea. It was one thing to have a completely inexperienced bodyguard. But he seemed to need the money, it was easy to explain his presence, and, in the extremely slight chance that someone tried to kill her two times in one week, he was definitely an intimidating presence.

  And here she was, putting her hand on him. Maybe she should just put him on the next plane back to New York as soon as they landed. Tell him thanks, but no thanks.

  She finally gave in and glanced over to Dean, who was scrolling through his phone. A quick glance and she could see that he was texting Katy, but couldn’t read what they were texting about.

  Everything about him was strong: His hands. His arms. His thighs that seemed to take up the entire first class seat.

  And she knew from the few times she’d touched him that that mass was from muscle. Had she ever been with someone like that? Her past lovers had been scholars. The closest to a “jock”” that she’d been with had been a runner with a long, lean build. If she could have just a night alone with Dean…

  But she would. She and Dean would be sleeping just a wall away from each other for the next two nights. If there was ever a good time for an affair, this was it.

  Out of town, away from Terry and her sick father. She smiled at the strange turn of her thoughts. What was she even thinking? It was fantastic that she’d decided to screw the bodyguard, but he’d never once implied he was interested in her. For all she knew, he had a girlfriend.

  Dean set his phone down as the flight attendant went through the pre-flight safety measures and announced takeoff was soon.

  Victoria bit her lip as she waited for the woman to stop acting out how to use the breathing mask. She’d seen this speech enough to have it memorized, so she tried to think of the best way to seduce Dean. She hadn’t brought any particularly sexy clothes, and Dean was going wherever she went, so she wouldn’t have time to stop at any lingerie stores. So she’d just have to rely on her own charm and the plain white bra she was wearing.

  Her chances of getting laid weren’t looking great. She wasn’t known for her charm. She was known for being a hard ass who liked to make it known when she was the smartest person in the room.

  The poor guy had his hands fisted tightly in his lap, and Victoria felt as if she needed to stop thinking about her (lack of) seduction skills and try to distract him. “So what was Katy saying?” she asked as the plane started to move.

  He jerked at her question. “Huh?”

  She gave him a comforting smile. “I peeked at your phone. I saw it was your sister. Is she mad?”

  “Oh, no. She was just sending me a picture she thought was funny.”

  “Yeah? Was it your dog?”

  He snorted. Some of the tension left his body. “No. She knows I’m not a fan of planes so she sent me her ‘fear of flying cure.’’”

  Victoria raised a brow. “Oh really?”

  “Bottle of Jack Daniels.”

  “Smart sixteen-year-old. Let’s hope she’s not talking from experience.”

  Dean shook his head. “Nah. She’s a good kid. Mean sense of humor, but I got lucky with her.”

  “And you did it all on your own, right? That’s pretty admirable.”

  He shrugged. “We both had to make the best of a bad situation. I learned as I went.”

  “How old were you?” He took a deep breath and she backpedaled. “It’s a personal question. You don’t have to—”

  “It’s fine,” he interjected. “Katy was six and I was eighteen.”” There was a note of wistfulness in his voice, but it seemed as if he’d told the story enough times before to not get too worked up over it.

  “I’m so sorry. It’s hard enough to think about losing Dad now. I can’t imagine going through that with both parents when you were so young.”

  His jaw clenched as his eyes went to the seat in front of him. V
ictoria rested her forehead in her palm. Good grief. She was trying to seduce the man, and the first thing she did was bring up his dead parents. At this rate, not only would she never get Dean into bed, she’d probably never have sex again.

  “Obviously I never thought I’d have to raise a kid at that age, but to be honest, I don’t know if I would’ve gotten through it without her. I was strong for her. She was strong for me. And that’s kind of how it’s been ever since.”

  “That’s really sweet,” she said honestly. Even though she was sure she was turning him off more and more by the second, she couldn’’t help but appreciate the love he had for his sister. No matter how great he said Katy was, Victoria knew that her success was greatly attributable to what Dean had done.

  “I was raised by a strong man too, so I’m sure Katy is going to kick ass once she’s out of college,” said Victoria.

  Dean’s brow creased. “Your mom wasn’t in the picture?”

  She shook her head. “Nope. She divorced my dad when Terry and I were still in elementary school. Part of the settlement was that she’d never see us again.”

  His eyes widened. “What? Who agrees to that?”

  She was glad he was shocked, because she’d never been too happy about that little detail either. “It’s true. I broke into my dad’’s safe when I was a senior in high school to read over the papers myself. I know exactly what you have to pay someone to never have anything to do with me again. Funny enough, that was how I met Mr. Jack Daniels.”

  “Well, you turned out okay,” he assured her, giving her a once-over.

  Victoria felt heat rush through her but refused to turn away. Instead, she met his eyes. “I’m glad you approve.”

  Just like that, it happened. His friendly look turned deeper, hotter, as his eyes briefly fell to her lips. But as quick as it started, it was over and he sat back in his seat, leaving Victoria to wonder whether she’d imagined it all.

  “So what’s on the agenda this week?” he asked.

  She sighed and let her head fall back. Any seducing would have to wait until she had more room to do something about it. “It’s a plant visit. We’re always looking for a good deal on American properties, and this particular plant is for sale. We’ve been in preliminary talks with the owners. The place is hemorrhaging money at the moment, but I have ideas to turn it around.”