“Will it suffice?” he asked.
It was about half the size of Rob’s office and generically outfitted with a desk, bookcase and metal file cabinet. The walls were white and bare, and the carpet an office-gray Berber. Nothing special but functional. “It’ll do just fine.”
“Great. While you settle in I’ll be in the conference room.”
He started to turn and before she knew what she was doing, she heard herself say, “Rob, wait.”
He turned back to her. “Yes?”
Okay, now what? She wanted to say something, she just didn’t know what, or if she even should.
He was standing there, waiting patiently for her to continue, so she blurted out, “I’ll need a few things, like Wi-Fi passwords, and I’ll need access to a printer.”
“We’ll discuss all of that in the conference room.” He paused, then said, “Anything else?”
Yes, there was something else, she just didn’t know how to put it into words. Not without making herself look clingy and pathetic. She forced a smile and shook her head. “No, nothing.”
“Then I’ll see you down there.”
Feeling disappointed for no good reason, she hung her coat on a hook behind the door and stowed her purse in the bottom drawer of her desk. She would need everything in her briefcase for the meeting, so she held on to it.
She had never before questioned her ability to do her job, but as she walked down the hall alone to the conference room, nerves jabbed away at her confidence. Maybe it was the complicated nature of her relationship with Rob that was getting in the way. Yes, they had ended their sexual relationship, but there were still feelings there. It would take time for them to go away completely. And maybe it was a little late to consider this, but what if the past few days hadn’t been about sexual attraction as much as his using her to learn her weaknesses? Maybe he would use that information against her to discredit her in front of the people in his department.
Maybe all the while that she had been gushing over what a nice guy he was, it had been an act to lull her into a false sense of security.
A possibility she probably should have considered before she surrendered to him body and soul.
She stopped just outside the conference room door, suddenly convinced she had made a horrible mistake. That by letting her emotions get the best of her, she was about to walk into her worst nightmare. It was imperative that no matter what, she not let anyone see the pain that such a betrayal would cause her.
Taking a deep breath, she stepped into the conference room, head held high, shoulders squared. Rob and three other people sat around the conference table. Her first surprise was that he wasn’t sitting at the head of the table, where she would have expected him to be. Her second was that she was greeted with smiles and not scowls when Rob said, “Everyone, this is Caroline Taylor. Over the next three months I expect you to give her your full cooperation.”
Huh?
Full cooperation? He wasn’t going to give her a hard time? Make her feel unwelcome as he had last week? He was actually going to be nice about this? And why did it suddenly make him about a million times more appealing.
Now she was thinking that it would be better if he’d been a jerk. But it was still early. He still had time to knock off some rude or scathing comments. Hell, he had three whole months to prove what a creep he really was. Maybe she had just seen him on his best behavior.
He introduced his team—Alexandra “call me Al” Lujack, Will Cooper and Grant Kelley. They each looked to be in their mid to late twenties and couldn’t have been more than a few years out of college.
“Have a seat,” Rob said, gesturing to the head of the table, surrendering his authority to her. Crap, he was even nicer than she thought.
She chose the chair beside Al instead and pulled what she needed from her case. “First, I’d like to say that I’m very happy to be here, and I’m looking forward to working with all of you. I want everyone to know it’s not my intention to come in and take over the department or diminish anyone’s authority. I believe that teamwork is the only way to accomplish goals, and that means I like to hear ideas from everyone. The first six to eight weeks we’ll spend analyzing the data, longer if we have to, then we’ll discuss our findings, and together outline a viable plan. Does that work for everyone?”
Looking skeptical, Grant asked, “Will it really take that long?”
“It will if we’re thorough, and bear in mind we’ll be going back twenty years.”
There were looks of surprise all around.
“Why so far?” Al asked. “Wouldn’t data that old be irrelevant?”
“Not at all. There are many factors we need to consider, and I don’t want to risk missing a thing. This will explain my methods.” She passed around the folders she had created, outlining all the data they would need and why.
Several minutes passed as they reviewed the material, and Grant said, “As deep as you’re digging, compiling data that old could be tricky.”
“I have complete faith in everyone.”
“As do I,” Rob added, going to bat for her once again.
They spent the rest of the day in the conference room, calling in for lunch. She hadn’t exactly been sure what kind of leader Rob would be, but from what she could tell so far, he was firm but fair, and it was obvious that his employees respected him. And while they may not have trusted her, they definitely trusted him. And he seemed to, if not trust her, be giving her the benefit of the doubt.
The meeting broke up at six, and everyone went home, or so Carrie assumed. She planned to work only another hour or so, then head home, but when she checked the time later, it was nearly eight-thirty.
“Planning on staying all night?”
Startled, she looked up to find Rob leaning in her office doorway, jacket off, tie loosened, looking too darn yummy for his own good. The dark shadow of stubble across his jaw gave him that I’m-too-sexy-for-my-suit look.
There probably wasn’t anyone left in the building….
Carrie, don’t even go there.
* * *
“I thought everyone had left for the night,” Carrie said, and Rob struggled to keep his gaze above her neck, and not on the pillows of cleavage pushing against the form-fitting nylon top she wore under the suit jacket that was now hanging on the back of her chair. Her suit was another story altogether. Unlike last week’s shapeless, unflattering garment, this one had a fitted jacket with a tapered waist, and a hip-hugging skirt that reached only midthigh. Her hair was up, but this time it looked looser and sexier somehow. Or maybe it was the same and he was seeing her differently now.
She managed to look both professional and sexy as hell.
It had been torture, not to mention distracting, but he’d managed to keep his hands and eyes off her all day. Well, maybe not his eyes, not completely, but he was careful not to be too obvious.
“I’m here until eight or nine most nights,” Rob told her.
“No wonder you don’t have a girlfriend,” she said, closing her laptop.
That was part of the reason. A fairly large part, actually. “I’m heading home and I thought you might like a ride. No one is here to see us in my car together. Unless that’s not the real reason you turned down a ride this morning.”
“Of course it’s the reason,” she said, looking indignant. “What other reason would there be?”
He shrugged. That was the million-dollar question.
She had insisted that they end their affair, that it was the only way to keep a civilized work environment, and claimed she would have no problem with pesky residual feelings. Because while she admitted that they were incredibly good in bed together, she still didn’t “like” him. But when he’d asked how she could sleep with someone whom she didn’t even like, she’d admitted that she didn’t actually dislike him either. He had the feeling that she liked him more than she was letting on.
He could honestly say that he had never met anyone quite like her. And because
they had such an intense sexual attraction, and neither was looking for any kind of commitment that extended past the bedroom door, he didn’t see the harm in continuing to fool around the full three months that she was here, or at least until they grew tired of each other. But he was honoring her wishes and keeping his distance. For the most part.
“If there is no other reason, then you have no reason to say no to a ride home,” he said, and he could see that he had her.
“I guess that would be okay, as long as it’s just a ride.”
He shrugged. “What else would it be?”
She gave him that look, like he knew damn well.
If someone would be making a move tonight, or any other night, she could rest easy that it wouldn’t be him. When he was through with her, she would be begging for it.
“In that case, I’ll meet you by the elevator in ten minutes.”
“Make it fifteen,” he said, just to be difficult. Even he had to have a little fun.
“Fine, fifteen,” she agreed, looking exasperated.
Rob went back to his office and finished up a few things, and about twenty minutes later walked to the elevator. She was already standing there waiting, but to her credit she didn’t point out that he was late, though he could tell that she wanted to. She had no idea just how easy it would be to ruffle her feathers.
They rode the elevator to the garage, and as the doors opened they stepped off into a wall of icy-cold air.
She shivered under her heavy coat. “I don’t think I’ll ever get used to this cold.”
“Try wearing a hat,” he said. “And invest in a well-insulated pair of boots.”
“I might just try that,” she said, hurrying along beside him to his car. Which was hard to miss being the only one in the lot.
“What happened to the Mercedes?” she asked, as they approached his Escalade.
“They were calling for snow today. This handles better.”
When they buckled in with the engine running and the seats warming, she told him, “I wanted to say thank you. For today.”
“No problem.” He pulled the SUV around to the parking garage entrance and lowered his window to swipe his key card and open the security gate. As he pulled onto the street, he asked her, “Out of curiosity, what did I do today?”
“You showed acceptance when I walked into the conference room, and displayed confidence in me. In doing so, the team will be that much more likely to work well together. It was a nice thing to do.”
“I didn’t do it to be nice,” he said. Mostly he just did it to get laid. He wouldn’t seal the deal again by making her life hell.
“Whether you meant it or not, you were.”
“I’m still not convinced that just isn’t a big waste of time and money. Your methods—”
“Have never failed me before. Just ask my previous clients.”
“However,” he continued, “you’re here, and you’re obviously not leaving until the job is done, so there’s no good reason not to cooperate.” And after going over her plan today, he was slightly less skeptical than he’d been before. Not to mention that now that he really knew her, he couldn’t work up the will to disrespect her in front of his team. It just didn’t seem right.
“To be honest, it’s a bit annoying,” she said.
“What’s annoying?”
“Your niceness.”
“I could act like an ass if it would make you happy.”
“That’s the thing, I don’t think you know how to not be nice.”
“And that’s annoying?”
“A bit.”
There was no doubt about it, Carrie was in a class all by herself.
Ten
Rob glanced over at Carrie, wearing a look that suggested she was just slightly left of center. Or maybe a little more than slightly.
“So, you prefer men who aren’t nice?” he said.
“I didn’t say that. I just said your niceness is annoying. It’s probably that I’m not used to it. I date a lot of jerks.”
“And you do this, why?”
She shrugged. “I just do. They’re the kind of man I naturally attract. It’s an inherited trait. With the exception of my biological father, my mom had lousy taste in men, and so did her mom.”
“Why do you think that is?”
“I’m sure the drinking hasn’t helped. Although my grandma has been sober since I was little.”
“And your mom?”
“She drinks every day. My real dad was killed in the Gulf War, which was when my mom started really drinking. As much as I love her, she was always very fragile. When she lost my dad, she just couldn’t handle it. We ended up moving in with my grandma because my mom couldn’t pull herself together. She would go to the bar after dinner, stay out until closing, sleep until I got home from school, then after dinner it was back to the bar. It was like that until she met my stepfather, Ben. He was older than her, with an ex-wife and two grown kids in Arizona.”
“And he was a jerk?” Rob asked.
“At first he was a godsend. He took care of my mom, and he paid attention to me. He took me to movies and out for ice cream and he would help me with my schoolwork. They were together for only a month when we moved in with him. That was when things started to change.”
“I’m assuming for the worse.”
“He was an alcoholic, too, but a functioning one. He only drank after work and on the weekends, but when he did drink, he drank a lot. And he was a mean drunk. I learned just how mean the first time I mouthed off to him.”
“What did he do?”
“Cracked me across the mouth.”
Rob glanced over at her. “He hit you?”
“It was backhanded, and only hard enough so that it stung. But as I’m sure you’ve noticed, I’m not the kind of person who keeps her opinions to herself, so it happened a lot.”
“Didn’t your mom stop him?”
“She tried once, but he got so mad that she never said anything again.”
“Did he hit her, too?”
“There was no need. She did whatever he asked, never argued. I guess in that respect she was the perfect wife.”
His grip seemed to tighten on the steering wheel. “Did you tell your grandmother?”
“No way. She was so relieved when Ben came along. She was sick a lot of the time and she didn’t have the energy or the patience to take care of my mom. She thought Ben was an angel sent down from heaven. I knew that if I told her what he was really like she would worry. I figured I could handle him on my own. And I did for the most part. My mouth did get me in trouble with my teachers occasionally, but I was an excellent student. It was my ticket out.”
“So you stayed there until you graduated?”
“Not quite. When I was sixteen he and I got into a huge fight. I came home three hours past curfew on a school night and he met me at the door.”
His brow furrowed, as if he were expecting something unpleasant. “And?”
“Words were exchanged, my mouth got away from me as usual, and I won’t deny that I said some pretty horrible things. Nothing that wasn’t true, though. He came unglued. He slapped me that time, his full palm against my cheek. It rattled my brain and split my lip and left a bruise the shape of his hand on my face.
“I told him I was going to call the police. He knew he’d crossed the line, so he jumped in his car and took off. He was gone all night. The police showed up around 6:00 a.m. to let us know that he’d been in an accident. He hit a tree and died instantly. There was an open booze bottle in the car, so they assumed it was a DUI, but after the autopsy they discovered that he’d had a heart attack. And he had advanced cirrhosis. He would have been dead in a couple of years anyway.”
“How did your mom take it?”
“Surprisingly well. The half-million-dollar insurance payout helped. Plus he had another fifty thousand in investments. She sold the house, bought a condo close to the beach. As far as I know, she’s happy.”
He shot h
er another glance. “As far as you know?”
“As you can imagine, there’s a fair amount of resentment there on my part, and me being me, I have a tough time putting a filter on it, so when we do talk she walks away from it feeling guilty, which just makes her drink more. Which makes me feel bad. We’re both better off if we don’t talk often, and when we do, we keep the conversations short. It’s not an ideal situation, but it works for us.”
“I couldn’t imagine not talking to at least one of my parents every day,” Rob said, stopping at a red light. “But I guess that comes with being a part of a family business.”
“How long have you worked for Caroselli Chocolate?”
“Since birth practically. But I wasn’t officially hired until I was thirteen and I started working part-time in one of the stores. When I graduated from college I moved to the main office.”
“What did you do then?”
“I started out in the mail room, then worked my way up to the marketing department.”
That surprised her. “You had a marketing degree and they started you in the mail room?”
“Everyone in the family pays their dues. There’s no special treatment and it’s very competitive. That includes salary. I could leave the company and go to a marketing firm and almost double my salary. I make most of my money in profit sharing.”
“Is there anyone in your family who doesn’t work for Caroselli Chocolate?”
Rob pulled down her street. “Tony’s sister Christine is mostly a stay-at-home mom. Same thing with Nick’s sister Jessica, but they both help out in the stores when they’re short-staffed, or around the chocolate holidays.”
“Christmas, Thanksgiving, Halloween, Easter and Valentine’s Day,” she said.
“Very good.”
She smiled smugly. “I do my homework. You would be stunned by how much I know about the chocolate industry.”
Rob swung the SUV into the driveway, and right away Carrie noticed that something was off. It took several seconds to realize what it was.
“The light is on in the living room.”
Rob peered through the windshield to the front of the condo. “So it is. Do you keep it on a timer?”
Caroselli's Baby Chase Page 9