Or maybe that was just her.
Aiden looked at her. “Everything is fine?”
“Totally fine.” Then she looked at Dax. “At least, so far.” She still wasn’t sure how she was going to handle Dax asking her out. She should turn him down. For sure. But she didn’t really want to.
Aiden looked at Dax too. “So why is Jane here?”
Oliver also looked at Dax. “Yes, Dax, please fill us in.”
“I invited Jane up to discuss an idea I had,” Dax said.
Oh boy. Half of her was very nervous about this. The other half really wanted to know all his ideas that involved the two of them. That was trouble.
Though she really wasn’t sure she needed Oliver’s and Aiden’s input on any of those ideas.
He was a hot, charming millionaire who clearly got his way a lot of the time. What the hell was she doing even thinking about flirting with him? Not to mention actually flirting with him? Because she had been. A little. And entertaining the idea of pasta and cake pops.
Damn. Just an hour ago she’d been entertaining the idea of cake pops with him, even while knowing that was a bad idea, and now she’d added pasta to it all.
“What idea?” Jane asked when no one else did.
Really, wasn’t that where Aiden or Oliver could have jumped in?
“I want you to be my boss for a week.”
She lifted a brow. Was that an innuendo about the bedroom? He wanted her to be a dominatrix or something? Because she wasn’t doing that. She had no energy for leather and whips and sex swings. “I don’t think so.”
“No, really, it’s great,” Dax insisted. “You show me up close and in personal how the factory works.”
“The factory?” She frowned. “Wait, you want to work in the factory?”
“It’s the best way to learn all about the company from the inside out,” Dax said. “I need to get down there with the people who do it every day. Reading reports and listening to management can only get us so far.”
“And you want me to be your boss on the factory floor?”
“Absolutely.”
Yeah, he might not have meant it in a dominatrix way initially, but there was something flirtatious and innuendo-ish in his tone now.
But in regards to the factory, this was a terrible idea.
Well, it was a terrible idea in the leather-and-whips way too. Actually it was an even worse idea in the whip way. She really didn’t have the energy for that.
She was pretty sure she didn’t have the energy for Dax, period.
But she couldn’t have him work in the factory with her. She wasn’t anyone’s boss. No one freaking listened to her. Not her father when she told him he had to go to physical therapy every day. Not her stepmother when Jane told her to lay off her little sister, Kelsey. Not Kelsey when Jane told her a C in English wasn’t good enough. She didn’t even try to boss anyone around at work.
“In other words, you’re tired of sitting in an office and talking to only us all day,” Aiden said to Dax.
“There’s that too,” Dax agreed, without looking the least bit sheepish.
“This isn’t a terrible idea though,” Oliver said, nodding thoughtfully.
Oh, it was a terrible idea.
“He’s got a point,” Ollie went on. “We do want to know how everything works. We know everything about Fluke because we built it from the ground up. Everything that happens is there because we made it happened as we went along.”
“What’s Fluke?” Jane inserted.
“Our company name is Fluke Inc.,” Aiden told her. “That’s the parent company our game and all the merchandising and everything falls under.”
“We called it that because it was a total fluke that the game took off and that we were even remotely successful,” Dax said with a grin.
“It’s a constant reminder that we basically got lucky, and we still have to work to keep things going,” Ollie added.
She liked that.
“Ollie’s right,” Dax said. “We know everything about Fluke because we created it. We need to know Hot Cakes that well.”
“The Lancasters owned this company for fifty years, and they didn’t know all the ins and outs,” Jane said. “I can promise you Eric Lancaster has never pushed one button or pulled one lever in that factory or in the warehouse.”
“Well, we want to be better than the Lancasters,” Aiden said firmly. “We will be better.” He looked at Dax. “This is a pretty good idea.”
Oh, it really wasn’t.
“I know,” Dax said.
Jane gave a little snort and shook her head. He said it as if it was the most obvious thing that his idea was good.
“It is,” Ollie said. “I wouldn’t mind learning a few things about how the factory functions and getting to know some of our new employees.”
“No,” Dax said. “I’ve got this.”
“Has to be you, huh?” Ollie asked. He was watching Dax thoughtfully.
Which made Jane look at Dax thoughtfully. He was watching her.
“Yes. I have a specialty that can help a lot in this area of the business, and a particular interest in this project, so my time would best spent in the factory,” Dax said.
“You have a particular interest in the factory?” Aiden repeated.
Dax was still looking directly at her when he said, “Definitely.”
Aiden nodded. “Ah.” His tone indicated he suddenly understood everything.
Shit, Jane thought maybe she did too.
She looked at Aiden. “Do I want to know what his specialty is?”
“That’s probably a no,” Aiden told her.
“Oh, ask me anyway,” Dax said, giving her a grin that was playful and sexy, heavy on the sexy.
She wet her lips and thought very hard about not asking him. She even pressed her lips together and shook her head.
He leaned in slightly. Not enough to come even close to any kind of potential sexual harassment—dammit anyway—and said, “Come on, ask me, Jane.”
She swallowed. Ugh, she was dumb. She’d never been dumb about a guy before. This was uncomfortable. “What’s your specialty?”
“Getting women to tell me all about what they want and need.”
Yeah. She’d asked. And she was glad.
That was super dumb.
She stared at him and had the definite urge to tell him she needed him covered in strawberry pie filling.
She loved cake, but if they were going for what she really wanted, it would always be pie. Strawberry pie.
“Jesus,” Ollie said, laughing. “I need to get Piper to fill me in on the sexual harassment policy and get me the forms over lunch today, for sure. I have a feeling we might be needing them soon.”
Aiden looked from Jane to Dax and back to Jane. “I absolutely will keep him as far away from that factory floor as possible. Just say the word.”
Jane studied Dax. Okay, so he was definitely flirting. But he was also serious about working in the factory. Was this was his way of… spending time with her or something?
This was definitely him being funny. He probably thought it would be hilarious to spend the week at the factory learning how the humongous mixers worked and how to set the machines to get the right coloring mixtures and how they sorted through the damaged products. Lord knew the tours of kids they brought through on a regular basis thought it was all pretty cool. Dax Marshall definitely had a kid-in-a-man’s-body vibe.
A very hot, hard, leanly muscled, sexy-beard, piercing-green-eyes, big-hands body…
Jane shook herself. This was clearly a lark to him. He probably thought he got to eat free cake all day. And he did. That was one of the perks working here. Employees could eat as much of the products as they wanted whenever they were on shift. Everyone took huge advantage. For about three days. New workers, surrounded by sugar and vanilla and sweet smells and sights all day, gorged themselves with free treats on their breaks. Then most of them never wanted to put another Hot Cakes snack ca
ke in their mouths ever again. Being around it every single day just almost made you numb to it.
But in the midst of feeling her very-neglected-for-far-too-long girl parts reacting to his flirty smiles and sexy innuendos and doesn’t-make-sense attention, she was aware this could be a good thing.
The hot millionaire game designer thought it would be fun to make cake all day? Sure. She’d put a hair net on him and make him stand on his feet all day and show him how to work machines that would make his shoulders scream from the repetitive pulling for hours.
This really could be fun.
“Let’s do it,” she said.
If nothing else, he could report back to his friends, her other new bosses, what it was really like down in the factory.
“Yeah?” he asked, his eyes lighting up.
And maybe she could show the laid-back charmer that most people didn’t get to coast through life on flukes. Raising his awareness of real life for real people could be a nice side effect to educating the new management about their workforce.
“Sure. Why not? We can always use some extra hands.”
She was 1,000 percent positive his hands would be completely worthless to them as far as their efficiency and productivity numbers, but hey, that would give her a chance to talk to Aiden and Oliver about those very measures and how they should actually look at what was going on in their factory.
“Great.” Dax looked at Ollie and Aiden, clearly pleased with the decision.
Ollie was smiling too, seeming completely agreeable.
Aiden, on the other hand, looked slightly suspicious. Of her. But the look he was giving her was also amused. Because Aiden had known her since high school, and he knew that she might tolerate cockiness and charm, but she saw right through it.
Aiden was wondering what she had planned for Dax.
She gave him a wink. He should definitely be wondering about that.
2
“I promise everything is fine,” Jane told her dad for the fifth time.
“Cassie j-j-just said K-K-Kelsey hadn’t been home m-m-much,” Jack said in his stilted speech.
“She’s been working on a school project,” Jane said, moving a stack of books and a pair of shoes so she could get his walker closer to his chair. “She’s been over at friends’ houses getting that done. Come on. Let’s go for a walk.”
“C-C-Cass thinks K-K-K doesn’t like her.”
He sometimes shortened their names to the first letter because it was easier to get out.
Jane put a hand on her hip and regarded her father. Jack had always been a strong man. He could do anything, in her eyes. Lift anything, fix anything, jerry-rig anything. He’d always been the one helping others, never the one needing help. She knew he hated it now. He often stalled when she was here and trying to get him to do something. He was fine if she’d just sit and chat, but if she wanted him to walk or show her his therapy exercises or even go out of his room, he balked and would try to distract her.
“If I confide something in you, will you stand up and walk out into the hall with me?” she asked him.
“B-br-bribery?”
“Yep.”
“Okay.”
She smiled. “Okay. I don’t think Kelsey likes Cassie all the time, no.”
She had to be honest with him. He would know if she was lying anyway, and the more sincere she was, the better the chances he’d follow through on his end of this bargain. The nurse said he hadn’t walked more than a few steps to and from the toilet in the past three days. That was not okay. It was difficult, for sure. She understood that. But he had to do it.
“But,” she went on. This was the part that was partially true and partially sugarcoated. “She’s a teenage girl, and Cassie tells her to do things like clean up the kitchen and do her homework and to be home by curfew.”
Jack thought about that then nodded. “M-makes sense.”
Jane nodded. It did. Most teenage girls didn’t like their parents all the time. Of course, she wasn’t telling Jack the whole story.
The things she’d told him were all true, but she’d left out the part about how Kelsey was expected to clean up the kitchen all the time, no matter who had last dirtied it up. Or that the homework she was supposed to do was “tutoring” Aspen, their stepsister, in English and math, both of which Aspen was horrible at, though it was Kelsey who got blamed when Aspen’s grades were poor. Or that the curfew was 9 p.m. whenever she went out with friends and didn’t take Aspen along. Most of Kelsey’s friends couldn’t stand Aspen, for good reason in Jane’s opinion, so that was almost all the time.
It wasn’t the worst thing any kid had ever been through, that was for sure, but Kelsey was unhappy a lot of the time. Jane wasn’t above taking Kelsey on a sister outing and then letting her go hang out with friends. Jane also helped with the chores around the house because there was too much, and it was ridiculous to expect Kelsey to pick up after Aspen. Jane had also talked to Cassie, repeatedly, about the tutoring. When she did, it would lighten up for a few weeks, but that didn’t mean Cassie wasn’t a complete bitch to Kelsey the whole time.
If Cassie wouldn’t run straight to Jack and stress him out and make him miserable, Jane would move Kelsey out of there and into her apartment in a hot second. But Cassie knew Jane and Kelsey both worried about Jack, and she used that to get free housekeeping and to help her daughter get good grades and friends she couldn’t get on her own.
Two more years, Jane thought to herself. Just two more years...
“Okay, come on. You promised me a stroll through the building.” She held out her arms.
“Hallway,” Jack corrected.
“But once we get to the hallway, we should keep going,” Jane said.
Jack shook his head. “Too f-far.”
“Dad.” Jane sighed. “You know you need to do this.”
He studied her for a moment. His body was failing him, and far too quickly, but his mind was there and finally he said, “We’ll t-t-try.”
Jane smiled. “Okay.” She’d take what she could get.
Forty-five minutes later, which felt like five minutes and also like four hours at the same time, they were back in his room, watching his favorite police drama on TV, him in his recliner, her on the love seat, her feet tucked up under her.
She’d worn him out. He’d walked into the hallway, as promised, then to the end of the long corridor, but they’d needed one of the nursing aides to get his wheelchair as he’d been too tired and shaky to make the trip back. By the time they got to his room, he was ready to relax for the evening, and frankly, she was beat. She was happy to watch TV for a little while and just chat too.
She didn’t like pushing him like that physically. It truly was one of the things about him being in the nursing home she was good with. They were supposed to make him do the hard stuff. It just didn’t always work that way.
She was nervous.
That was so stupid. She was showing a guy around the factory she’d worked in for as long as she’d been employed. That was it. It was something she’d done dozens of times before with new employees and with various tours. But she’d been thinking about this almost nonstop since leaving Dax’s office.
Twice last night at dinner, Zoe had needed to repeat a question to her. Jane and Josie—Zoe’s partner and Jane’s other best friend—joined Zoe and her mom, dad, and little brother, and now Aiden, for dinner at the McCaffery house. It was a lot of fun, and Zoe’s mom was a fantastic cook, so usually it was a highlight of Jane’s single-girl-cooking-for-herself week.
But last night she’d been completely distracted by the guy who sat in beanbag chairs in his office and displayed gummy bears where most people in executive offices would have flower arrangements their assistants took care of or expensive art pieces a decorator picked out or leather-bound books they never actually read.
She had a feeling Dax definitely dipped into those candy jars and had to refill them regularly.
She’d waved off the questi
ons about if she was okay, though, using her sister as an excuse for her clear preoccupation. Everyone around the table knew about Jane’s chaotic personal life, so they accepted that excuse without question.
And she hadn’t been totally lying either. Not that there had been anything specific going on with Kelsey at that moment, but it was only a matter of time.
After dinner, because she felt guilty for using Kelsey as an excuse when really it was a perpetually happy and flirty millionaire Jane couldn’t stop thinking about, Jane had swung by her childhood home to see her little sister—and be sure she was studying for the chemistry exam she had the next day. Thankfully, Kelsey had been at a friend’s studying, and Jane had been able to limit her time with her stepmother to a ten-minute conversation about Kelsey’s bad attitude and how Jane needed to pick up some more toilet bowl cleaner before she came over tomorrow.
Yes, Jane cleaned the toilets at the house every week. Well, she helped. She helped Kelsey clean the whole house, mow the lawn, and do other basic chores and errands—replacing light bulbs, picking up the groceries Cassie ordered online, things like that.
Jane put up with it. It just made life, for everyone, easier. Kelsey had to live there for only two more years. The situation was complicated and not perfect, but Cassie was her legal guardian, and well, if Jane moved Kelsey in with her permanently, Cassie would throw a fit. The role of young woman who’d gotten out from an abusive relationship and fallen in love again only to have her new partner fall seriously ill and put her in the position of caregiver who was now raising two daughters alone, was one she played well for the community. She had the martyr thing down. Everyone thought Cassie was amazing. No one blamed her for finally moving Jack into the nursing home. She’d done her best. It tore her up. It was a horrible decision no one should have to make.
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