The Boss's Surprise Son

by Teresa Carpenter

  She wondered if that was a good thing. He began the meeting promptly at eight-thirty and kept to the agenda, moving smoothly from topic to topic while encouraging input from everyone at the table. He had her taking notes, but she noticed he also jotted down items when someone made a good point.

  At the end of the meeting the room quickly emptied out, except for Rick. Savannah began clearing the debris.

  “Ms. Jones?” He waited until she glanced up to meet his gaze. “What do you have going on with Rett?”

  Savannah groaned internally. Just great. Because of Rett’s playful comments Rick now had the wrong impression about them. She could tell him about the lessons; they weren’t a secret. But she wasn’t entirely sure he’d approve or believe she didn’t have a thing for his brother. So she decided to prevaricate.

  Avoiding his gaze, she dumped a load of trash and then picked up the wastebasket and brought it back to the table to finish the cleanup.

  “I don’t have anything with him today, but you wanted me to sit in on the meeting for the security upgrade and that’s tomorrow.”

  He blinked, and then crossed his arms over his chest. “I meant are you seeing him?”

  “I see him every day.” She smiled and blinked, playing confused.

  Should she just tell him? After all, it wasn’t the office romance he feared. No, best not open a can of worms. The lessons were important to her and she didn’t want to mess things up.

  What if he wanted to see her work as proof? With two weeks of lessons under her belt she was thrilled at how well she was doing, but she was still new at the craft and by no means ready to go public with her efforts. Especially not to a professional jeweler.

  “It sounded like he expected to see you later. As if you had a date,” he stated baldly.

  “Gracious no. That’s just Rett.” She waved a careless hand, her comment true, yet not an outright denial, a fact that didn’t slip past Rick if his narrowed gaze was any indication. “He’s a bit of a flirt, you know,” she confided as if sharing a secret.

  And then she just continued to smile and waited for him to move on.

  And waited. He stood, hands in his pockets, staring at her.

  “Or maybe I misunderstood,” she said guilelessly. “Did you want me to find him and ask him something?”

  “No. I—” He glanced at his watch, clearly still suspicious, but mindful of his schedule. “Never mind. Can you stop by the legal department on your way back to your desk? I want to know if we’ve received the signed contracts from Emerson for the international deal. We should have received them by now.”

  “Of course.” Savannah dumped the last of the trash, glad to have avoided the confrontation. For now. He’d find out eventually. But she hoped to be indispensable by then.

  Her lessons were important to her. But private. For years the classes she took at night and online had been her only freedom, her bid for independence from too much responsibility at home.

  She still took courses that interested her or furthered her career. She just didn’t talk about them much. Somehow, they’d always been too important to share. The knowledge, yes, but the classes, she kept to herself.

  Nobody could steal the joy from her if they didn’t know about it.

  Rick turned to leave, and then paused. “The doughnuts were a nice touch. Be sure to put in an expense voucher.”

  Savannah watched him go. Not so stiff after all.

  Deciding he needed a break later that afternoon, Rick dropped by Rett’s workshop to see if he wanted to go kayaking.

  “Man that sounds so good.” Rett didn’t lift his head from the piece he was faceting. “But I have a client consult in twenty minutes. Can you wait an hour?”

  “No. I only have about an hour. I’m going to go ahead and go. I really need to work off some tension,” Rick said.

  “Okay, we’ll connect later in the week. Call me when you get back, so I don’t send the Coast Guard out looking for you,” Rett replied.

  As he hopped into his kayak and began paddling against the waves, Rick realized he’d really needed the fresh air and exercise. Pitting himself against the ocean, using his mind and muscles to beat the elements gave him a sense of freedom he got nowhere else.

  Unfortunately, the rhythmic lift, dip and pull of paddling, first one side and then the other, left room for thoughts of Savannah to invade his mind. Darn it. Too often thoughts of her occupied him when he should be concentrating on business.

  The idea of her spending private time with Rett nagged at him. And not just because of Rick’s policy against interoffice relationships—Rett followed his own rules in that regard and was much less strict in his personal interaction with colleagues.

  But Savannah was Rick’s. Oh, not romantically, but still, he realized he didn’t want to share her with anybody.

  He dug in deeper, pulled back harder, causing water to roll over the sides of the shallow boat.

  Okay, he’d noticed her soft curves and her great legs. Of course he’d noticed; he was a man after all. But he had no business noticing. She was his administrative assistant, not his girlfriend.

  His inappropriate thoughts served as a reminder of why he never mixed business with pleasure. It was a bad practice. It definitely led to trouble and, for him, it had no future.

  His muscles burned and the chill, salt-laden air felt good against his sweaty brow.

  Marriage wasn’t for him. In his experience love was always followed by pain. Better to keep his relationships light and put his energies into the business.

  As for Savannah, he wished her gone, not hanging out with Rett.

  Turning the kayak, Rick firmly put thoughts of Savannah’s body, dating and marriage aside and headed back to shore. He had a business to tend to.

  CHAPTER TWO

  RICK HAD STEPPED OUT FOR LUNCH the next afternoon when a pretty redhead toting a baby carrier stopped by Savannah’s desk.

  “Hi, I’m Rick’s sister-in-law, Jesse,” the woman introduced herself. “His brother Brock’s wife. Is he in?”

  “I’m sorry, no. I’m his new assistant, Savannah. Can I help you with something?” she offered.

  “Right, Savannah.” The woman offered her hand with a genuine smile. “Gram speaks very highly of you. She mentioned something about you working with Rick.”

  “Mrs. Sullivan is a doll,” Savannah enthused. “I really appreciate her putting in a good word for me with Rick. I’m very excited to have this opportunity.”

  A fussy cry came from the carrier, and Jesse grimaced at Savannah before cooing at her baby. Once the fussing quieted, she looked up again.

  “I have an appointment with Rett to discuss a gift for Gram for her eighty-fifth birthday. The guys are throwing a big surprise party, so they want it to be something spectacular.”

  “She’ll love that. When is her birthday? I’d love to get her a little something to show my appreciation.”

  “Oh it’s not for another few months.” Jesse rolled her eyes at herself. “I know, I’m way anal, but I like to start early. And we want a really spectacular gift so it’s only fair to give Rett plenty of time to work. But Troy is awake and alert now and wants attention. I was hoping Rick would take him for a few minutes while I consult with Rett.”

  “Oh, well…” Watching a baby, even his own nephew, didn’t sound like a Rick activity, but Jesse must know her brother-in-law better than Savannah did. “How long do you expect to be?”

  “Only about twenty minutes. That’s all Rett could squeeze in today, but we wanted to get started and at least discuss what we want to do.” She bounced the carrier when another cry sounded. “Never mind. I know Rett won’t mind—he loves the kids. We just won’t get as much done as we’d hoped.”

  Savannah glanced at the hourglass; most of the sand had already fallen to the bottom half. Rick rarely took a full hour for lunch. “He should be back soon. If you like, you can leave Troy here with me and I’ll watch him until Rick gets back.”

  “
Really? That’s so nice of you.” Relief brightened Jesse’s features. “He’s fed and newly changed, so he shouldn’t be any trouble.” She set the carrier on Savannah’s desk. “Thank you so much.”

  “No problem. How old is he?” Savannah asked.

  “Five months.” Jesse handed over Troy’s diaper bag. “I’ll be as quick as I can.” With a wave, she rushed off.

  “We’ll be here, won’t we, baby?” Savannah talked to Troy, smiling gently. Babies liked her. She figured they had her number. She was mush in their tiny hands and they knew it.

  She spent a few minutes getting acquainted before lifting the little boy from the carrier. She cuddled him and then settled him in her lap, bouncing him lightly while she went back to the numbers.

  That worked for ten full seconds. Troy’s tiny fingers wrinkled the paper. She just got that away from him and he knocked her pen to the floor. Rescuing that as well, she turned him around and sat him on the desk facing her.

  “You’re a busy boy. Are you trying to be like your uncle Rick and work, work, work?”

  Troy grinned at her and then promptly burped up.

  “Oh, baby.” She reached into his bag and pulled out a cloth to clean him up. “That’s better, but let’s see if we can get you rinsed off.”

  She lifted Troy to her shoulder before setting the diaper bag in the carrier and carrying both into Rick’s office. He had a private bathroom. She set the carrier in his empty in-basket and took Troy into the bathroom to clean him up.

  Rick strolled into his office after lunch and froze in shock just inside the door. A baby carrier sat in his in-basket. With a frown he glanced back at Savannah’s desk. It was empty.

  What was going on? He moved to his desk, but the carrier was empty, too.

  What was Savannah up to now? Babysitting no doubt. People here already had her pegged as an easy mark. Well, he’d put a stop to this. There was a limit to his patience. And babies topped the list. His brothers popped them out on a regular basis; well, their wives did, and more power to them.

  Rick preferred to keep his distance. Not that he was nervous or anything, it was just that babies were complicated. You had to hold them just so, bounce them a certain way, make sure they didn’t touch things. Feed them, change them, burp them. Yes, definitely complicated.

  A baby’s cry shot tension straight up his spine. There was no ignoring that wail of displeasure. A moment later Savannah walked out of his bathroom with a baby boy in her arms.

  “So there is a baby here,” he said, looking from her to the boy in her arms, ready to take her to task for wasting time. Wait, the kid looked familiar. “Does it belong to one of my brothers?”

  “Yes, he is your nephew, Troy.” She bounced the boy gently. “Do you think five months is too young for an apprenticeship?”

  “Oh, yeah, we’ll just put a nanny on staff.” He opened his top drawer and tossed his wallet inside. “Where are Brock and Jesse?”

  “Jesse is downstairs going over preliminary designs for your grandmother’s birthday gift with Rett.” She shifted the baby. “Do you want to hold him?”

  “No.” He took an involuntary step back.

  Savannah lifted both brows at his reaction. “No? With your large family I’d think you’d be used to kids.”

  “Yeah, well, kids aren’t really my thing.”

  “Really?” His answer shocked Savannah. “How can you resist such a charmer?” She turned Troy to face him. “He’s adorable. And babies are so easy to reach, all you have to do is smile and coo.”

  To show him, she smiled at the five-month-old.

  Troy shyly smiled back.

  “See?” She glanced up at Rick and got caught in his watchful gaze.

  “Pull yourself together Ms. Jones. I never coo,” he said firmly.

  “Well, that’s a shame.” The baby squealed and bobbed in her arms. She felt bad for Rick, that his icy reserve prevented him from finding joy in his infant nephew. “Maybe you should try it sometime. Babies love unconditionally, you know. It’s kind of a win-win situation.”

  He cocked a dark brow, reminding her silently that she was speaking to the boss.

  “Right. What was I thinking?” She backpedaled a bit. She needed to leave the room before she said something she’d regret. She knew she talked too much. Her sister, Claudia, said it was Savannah’s biggest weakness and her biggest strength; she tended to say too much, but she also had the power to put people at ease.

  Rick tolerated her chatter fairly well, though he rarely spoke himself. Rather he observed and directed, often without saying a word. He orchestrated her comings and goings with the crook or staying motion of a finger. For the first week she’d felt as though she danced to the tune of the puppet master. Now she appreciated the efficiency of their system.

  She just wished he could connect with his nephew, who was so lovable and accepting. Maybe if he held Troy, he’d be swayed by the baby’s sweetness.

  When the phone rang, she grabbed her chance.

  “I should get that. Here, take Troy for just a minute.” She plopped the boy into Rick’s arms and reached for the phone, carefully keeping an eye on the pair as she spoke.

  He skewered her with a glare. Though he seemed uncertain, he instinctively cradled Troy against his shoulder, looking more as if he held a fragile piece of spun glass than a living, breathing child.

  Why did a single man holding a baby always look so sexy?

  Of course, Rick always looked good. Her first week of work she’d had a serious talk with herself about keeping her eyes off the boss.

  Yeah, right. The man was serious eye candy so that didn’t work.

  But she wanted this job and that did. So yeah, her ambition helped her keep her hormones in check. That and Rick’s workaholic habits and stern demeanor.

  Today none of that seemed to matter. Not when he looked so vulnerable, strong yet gentle, with the baby cuddled in his arms.

  Not wanting to press her luck, she wrapped up the call. “Sorry about that.” Savannah took a step toward Rick. “I’ll just take him back—oh, baby!”

  Troy burped up, all down the front of himself. And Rick.

  “Sh—” Rick broke off a curse. His reflexes in holding the baby out and away had not been quite fast enough to save himself from a nasty dousing, including on his shiny black loafers.

  Troy’s brow puckered up, and Savannah grabbed the wet cloth from his seat and rushed forward to clean him up before he started to cry.

  “It’s okay, sweet thing, you’re fine, you’re good.” Once she had the baby all mopped up, she turned to Rick and swiped at his white shirt. After she got the worst of the mess off the front of him, she lifted her gaze and met his blue eyes, which were much closer than she had anticipated, and were focused on her with a mixture of irritation and awareness.

  “Sorry, that’s the best I can do,” she said, her voice huskier than normal.

  “Thank you,” he said, his voice calm and controlled, his gaze holding hers. “I think you should take him until Jesse returns.”

  “Of course.” She hastily stepped forward, almost tripping over her own feet as her nerves tingled. A ring sounded through the open door and she paused. “Oh, there’s the phone on my desk.”

  “Let it go to voice mail,” Rick ordered. “I need you to take Troy while I change my shirt.” Without waiting for her response, he passed the baby into her care.

  The phone on her desk stopped, and his began to ring.

  Even as he picked up the receiver the other hand went to the top button of his shirt. He made quick work of both the call and stripping to the waist.

  Savannah swallowed hard, tempted by the sight of bronze skin and hard muscles. A taut, lean torso supported broad shoulders and narrowed to lean hips. The ocean-kayaking he did with his twin showed in the defined muscles of his arms.

  “Savannah.” Her name was a buzz in her ears until he thrust the phone into her hand. “Take down the details of this conference call for me. I�
��ll be back in a minute.”

  “Of course.” She watched his strong back disappear into his private bathroom before turning her attention to the task. Easily juggling baby and receiver she jotted down the information from the manager of the San Francisco branch.

  When Rick returned a few minutes later retucked and retied she pushed the memo slip into his hand and, carrying Troy, began to back toward the door.

  “I’ll just go find Jesse.” She made her escape. At the door she snuck a quick peek back. Rick sat behind his desk. Once again at work, once again in control.

  The sight sent a longing through her she couldn’t explain. And couldn’t afford. Not when she still tingled from the tempting view of his hot body.

  She loved her new job; the work interested and challenged her. And she’d learned a lot. But suddenly she looked forward to Rick’s upcoming trip to Europe. Thank goodness for the international deal he’d closed.

  After the moment of heated awareness between them, having a full continent and an ocean dividing them for a week seemed like a really good idea.

  Troy smirked at Rick over Savannah’s shoulder as if happy to have her to himself. That drew a reluctant grin out of Rick. The boy was a true Sullivan.

  Savannah was another matter. Rick had never known the irrepressible Ms. Jones to be so skittish.

  Why he found her quick retreat so fascinating he couldn’t say. Maybe he just liked seeing her flustered. She deserved it after tossing the baby at him and then standing so close that the sweet scent of her hair teased him even over the stink of baby burp, sending a spark of awareness streaming through his blood.

  The shock of watching the gold flecks sparkle in her green eyes triggered an inappropriate physical response inside him he had no intention of acting on.

  The last thing Rick wanted or needed were lascivious thoughts about his assistant. What a train wreck that would be.

  Better to be annoyed than aroused by her.

  The best thing would be if she quit. Hmm, he mulled the idea over. He saw two problems with that option. Gram would blame him, citing his promise, and Savannah wouldn’t be so easy to get rid of. She actually seemed to like her job.