I knew I should have told her that I’d call her later so that I could flat out run to the hotel, but curiosity got the better of me. So, I asked what had been playing on my mind for the last couple of days. The thing that she’d been so quiet about and one thing she knew about, I was shy but I ain’t too shy to ask about her love life.
“What’s going on?”
She sighed over the phone, so I figured it wasn’t good news and regretted asking the question.
“I’m still keeping out of his way. He's a big help there. I’d rather not have another run in with him again.”
“You ran into him?” I asked as I stopped dead in my tracks. There was silence. My eyes narrowed in suspicion and I forgot about my tardiness as I started to wonder.
“Jessi,” I said, my voice lowered. “Is there something you’re keeping from me?” I didn’t get a response, and I gasped, loudly and dramatically. “Jessi! We’re supposed to be best friends! Don’t tell me you… dumped me for him!”
I finished the words with a whimper, and I heard Jessi laugh on the other end. That had me smiling, a little softly, but she wasn’t there to see anyway. Besides, her soft sigh ended on a plaintive note.
I’m so sorry, Jessi, I thought to her silently. So sorry you have to hurt like this. Sorry, that I’m so little help to you that you don’t even come to me. Sorry… that all you can think of is running away.
Whether she’d put in for the transfer already, or would soon enough, I would miss her once she was gone. Jessi thought she was good at keeping secrets, but she wasn’t. She felt things too strongly for that.
Of course, I’d heard the rumor about her and Trent back when we were just starting to grow to like each other. I’d dismissed the ones that said she was a gold digger and not ashamed because he abandoned her for it. I could always go to Emily for the information, Trent’s younger sister and a friend I’d connected with through Jessi, but I got the sense Emily didn’t know much about her elder half-brother. I couldn’t exactly ask Mason, the second oldest brother.
I still didn’t know just how deep their relationship had been, but the look on her face when he found us in the staff room that day…
Her expression had been so fucking complicated. There was hope in it, one I wondered if she knew she still felt. There was also an old wariness there like he’d been careless with her before and she was bracing herself for him to do the same to her once again. Most of all, there was so much pain—hers—and sadness—for him.
It all made me very curious, but the furious, and hurt, look on her face after he left made me think better of asking.
After all, I couldn’t expect her to tell me all her secrets when I was still keeping some from her myself.
“Seriously, though,” I said, sighing. “Jessi! You know if you need something, I’m here for you, right? If it’s too hard, you don’t have to keep things to yourself. If you’d like, I could share something, and you could share something…”
She sighed. “Do you mean another girl’s night? Honestly, I’m not sure I can handle another night like that, Laura.”
I frowned at the scenery before me and blew air out between my lips to calm myself. “You know, I’ve been wondering this for a while, but something happened on that night, right? And don’t bother trying to lie. Tell me if you’ve been back to your apartment since that night.”
“I… was at my parents,” she admitted, hesitantly, with another sigh. “I’ll go back to my apartment eventually; I’m just… afraid of what I’ll find there.”
“What could you possibly find in your apartment beside your things?” I asked with a growing suspicion once more.
There was a short silence. “I guess I’m trying to avoid someone,” she admitted, but then she continued hurriedly. “It’s nothing to worry about, though. I wanted to find Emily so she and I could have a chat. I haven’t talked to her in a while, but I think she’s still busy with her dad.”
“Would you rather talk to her than me?” I asked, with sadness that wasn’t entirely an affectation.
“I’ve known her longer, and it’s to do with her father. I’m not sure if you heard, but he had a heart attack, or so my mom heard.”
“There were rumors,” I said vaguely, figuring she didn’t need to know if she hadn't heard them yet.
Hopefully, Emily hadn't heard them either, though I did want to know the source of that info when the Thompson family was pretty good at keeping their secrets under lock and key.
“It’s because he’s sick that his sons are all back, after all. I wanted to know if he had any plans of getting better, or if the guys will be sticking around more permanently.”
“Oh well,” I muttered. “I guess there’s plenty more of cleaning up after Mason in my future, then. Hopefully, the guy tones it down a bit.” I deliberately didn’t mention Trent’s name, even though I knew he was the one son she would have been glad not to have come back.
“He’s been behaving so far, from what I’ve heard. Maybe he’s changed?” she mused.
I chuckled. “Oh, honey, no. A guy like that wouldn’t just out of nowhere change so much. I bet he’s just biding his time. I’ve had so much good luck lately. Maybe it’ll happen today.”
“You probably just jinxed yourself with that.”
“Better to get it over with, anyway, than stick with this suspense of ‘will he, when will he.’ Everybody’s feeling it.” Then I grinned. “Though I can't say I’m not looking forward to it just a little.”
She hummed. “Because there’s a slight chance you get to see him at least half naked? Along with some of the pretty friends, he’ll be dragging along with him?”
“There’s definitely that,” I agreed. “It makes me feel a little jealous sometimes.”
Other times, it left me so angry that there were people like that, while there were people like me that had to struggle with everything living in the same country.
“I know the feeling,” Jessi sighed. “And now, I’m afraid I need to go, I’m even later for work now. You should probably hurry, too.”
At her pointed statement, I checked my watch, and my eyes widened.
“Shit!” I didn’t realize I’d slowed down so much while we were talking, I’d wasted more time than I’d thought. Immediately, I picked up the pace. “Will I see you today?”
“I’ll be in the kitchen. If you have the time, come by. I’ll have something for you.”
“Thank you, Jessi! I love you!” I chirped, then hung up the phone.
I ran most of the way, stopping when I was within sight of the staff entrance before slowing down to catch my breath. I paused outside for a moment, hoping for a good day at work, then walked in.
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Part I
Breaking the Bosses
BBW Menage Romance
Chapter One
She was already running late, and today was not the day for things to start going wrong so early. April clutched her coffee mug and ran as fast as she could in stiletto heels, trying not to let the coffee spill onto her cream blouse and pencil skirt. Whistles sounded from a nearby construction site and she flashed them a smile. It seemed like everywhere she turned, someone was telling her that she needed to be stick-thin and pouty-lipped, but the fact of the matter was that her curves and her smile drew appreciative grins wherever she went.
She slowed her run as she approached the doors of the Zenith Tower. Home to Houston & Co., her employers, it was a vision of glass and steel, modern and sleek, and sometimes April wondered exactly why she was working here. Sure, the pay was good and her coworkers were nice, but the fact was that the majority of the employees were snappish and her bubbly, romantic-comedies-and-wine personality didn’t exactly mesh with people whose idea of casual Friday was
a navy suit instead of a black one.
And today, as she slipped into the elevator and punched the button for the top floor, she especially wondered why she was here. She could be a secretary absolutely anywhere—her recent promotion to the CEO’s secretary had given her a resume a lot of people would kill for—and she didn’t exactly need to be putting up with bickering shareholders. The idea of three days spent smoothing egos and defusing fights left her exhausted, and the men hadn’t even shown up yet.
“April!” Jane, the CFO’s secretary, smiled as April strode off the elevator. “Wow, you look gorgeous.”
“Thanks, Jane.” April smiled. Five foot eight, slim, and stunning, Jane was one of the girls April would just have written off a few years ago. In fact, when she first showed up at Houston & Co., she’d thought Jane’s compliments were insincere, meant to make her feel ugly and incompetent. But Jane was a real sweetheart, somehow managing to survive as secretary to the meanest person at Houston, and her blue eyes were alight with envy as she looked over April’s outfit.
“I wish I had the courage to wear things like that,” Jane said, heartfelt. Her usual black suit was offset with a crisp white blouse and a pink bracelet April had only just persuaded her to buy. “But I don’t think I’d look very good in it.”
“All you need is confidence and a smile,” April reminded her. Someday, she promised herself, she would help Jane realize how pretty she was. “You’ve got the smile. Now you just need to fake it ‘til you make it with the confidence.”
Jane laughed.
“You’re sweet.” Her voice dropped and she craned to look down the corridor. “Are they here yet?”
“Oh, crap!” April had managed to forget that she was late. “Probably. Wish me luck.”
“You’ll need it. And if you need a drink, we’ll take you out at lunch.”
Jane disappeared and April walked down the hallway, heart pounding. Now that she was here, she didn’t have any desire at all to go into the CEO’s waiting room. Nathaniel Bryan and Dave Hines were trying at the best of times, and that was when there was an entire table full of board members between them and a team assigned to run interference. Now, the two largest shareholders were going to be in town alone, and the CEO had asked April to show them around town. He’d even asked pleasantly, as if he wasn’t throwing her into a pool full of hungry piranhas.
“Hello?” she called as she came around the corner of the room.
For a moment, she thought it was empty, and a weight lifted from her heart. Then:
“Hello.”
April turned around, and dropped her coffee.
“Oh, my God—I’m—I’m so sorry.”
“Not a problem.” The man stooped to pick up the cup and throw it away, and retrieved a handful of napkins from the sideboard. A few he threw into the puddle of coffee, and with one or two, he dabbed at her blouse.
“Ah, um…I can get that.”
“Let me.” His voice was like velvet, and he looked up from his task to flash sapphire-blue eyes at her.
April tried not to faint. He was hands-down the most gorgeous person she had ever met. His hair was a deep brown, his features looked as if they had been chiseled from stone by a master sculptor, and he had a dimple on his chin. Tall and slim, he nonetheless had broad enough shoulders to taper elegantly under his suit jacket, and the hands presently wiping at her blouse had long, elegant fingers and the faint calluses of someone who played guitar.
And no wedding ring. Interesting.
April told herself not to be ridiculous. She was gorgeous and sexy and utterly charming, but the fact of the matter was that executives never went for women like her. They preferred women like Jane, and frankly, she was fine with that. Executives didn’t make great boyfriends.
Only, it was difficult to breathe around this man.
“So, uh…are you…” Her voice was coming out too high.
“Dave Hines.” He stood and gave a regretful look. “I’m afraid that blouse may not be able to be salvaged.”
And he would know, because he had been very, very thorough. April tried not to blush as she shrugged.
“I think I’m more upset about the coffee, really. Not a great start to a Monday.”
He laughed. He had a wonderful laugh, one that made awareness flare all down her spine, and his teeth flashed white as he smiled.
“Well, let me get you another cup.”
“Oh, no, that’s all right.” Having one of the top shareholders get coffee for the secretary would be exactly the sort of gaffe the CEO had warned her to avoid. “I’m April Thornton, by the way—Mr. Jeffries’s secretary. We’ve touched base over email.”
“You’re April Thornton?” Surprise rang in his voice.
“Yes.” April looked over her shoulder from where she was stirring sugar and cream into her coffee. “Why?”
“You seemed…” He waved his hands, searching for the words. “I guess I would have figured you were farther up the ladder than that.”
“I will have you know,” April said loftily, “that secretaries run all companies.” She grinned at him.
“Oh? Do tell.” He folded his lanky height into one of the leather chairs by Mr. Jeffries’s door and raised his eyebrows, taking a sip of his own coffee.
“I,” April informed him, “am the gatekeeper. I control who sees Mr. Jeffries, who he knows is in town, and whose teams get first pick for the conference rooms.”
“A pity I couldn’t bribe you to keep Jeffries from knowing about Mr. Bryan,” Dave said with alacrity.
April paused. This was the sort of slight she had been expecting, and she wasn’t good at dealing with it.
“Ah, don’t worry—I’m joking.” Even though the look in his eyes said that he clearly wasn’t, he was, just as clearly, trying to set her at ease. He leaned forward with that sparkling smile. “So, tell me. Do you ever abuse your power?”
“Sir, I would never.” But April leaned forward as well, looking down the hallway first to make sure no one was coming. “Maybe once. Or twice.”
“I have to know. I promise I won’t tell.” He held up one hand in a mock oath.
“Well, a few years back, one of the executives was planning to run off to our competitors with a whole bunch of secrets. He kept asking his secretary to get him information for projects he wasn’t on, that sort of thing. When she asked why, he fired her and pretended it was for the same thing he was doing.” April raised her eyebrows. “His last months here were…not pleasant. Somehow, Mr. Jeffries was always busy when he wanted to meet. He kept getting dropped from projects. For some reason, he didn’t know his phone number had changed, and—such an embarrassing mix-up—his company cell phone got cancelled.”
Dave was laughing silently.
“You really did that?” he asked, when he recovered.
“Oh, not only that.” April grinned. “Somehow, in amongst all the other paperwork for the day, Mr. Jeffries signed a piece of paper acknowledging that the secretary had been wrongfully terminated. That’s the sort of thing that would sit in his inbox for six months waiting to be signed while she had to go get a different job. You know, if he had a different secretary.”
“Ms. Thornton, you are a treasure.” Dave lifted his coffee cup. “I won’t even ask what happened to that executive.”
“You don’t want to know, it’s too gruesome.” April sipped her coffee. “I’ll just tell you he doesn’t have a vacation house in the Hamptons anymore.”
Dave gave a guffaw, endearingly out of place with the rest of his well-maintained image, and April found her face softening as she looked at him. She’d read his bio: she knew he was young, successful in business at an early age, a skilled negotiator, strongly in favor of Houston & Co. branching out into the international business community. The secretaries had even whispered that he was gorgeous. But April hadn’t expected anything like this—a man who took her breath away, who was flirting with her as if she was some svelte society beauty, who was laughing as she
told him the exploits she’d sworn she would never, ever admit to.
Down the hallway, the elevator dinged, and April craned to look.
“That may be Mr. Bryan. I should go check.”
“Oh, God.” Dave settled back in his chair with a sneer. “I suppose you have to, don’t you?”
“Yes, I do.” And before she could stop herself, April added, “Behave yourself.”
She froze, but Dave held his hands up in mock surrender.
“As you command, my Lady.” He managed a cheeky smile. “I wouldn’t want to offend the woman who runs Houston & Co. from the shadows.”
April laughed and headed down the corridor, grimacing at her blouse. It was going to be ruined, Dave was entirely correct, and she hadn’t exactly hoped to meet Nathaniel Bryan with coffee all down her front.
“Mr. Bryan?” she asked, peering at the blonde man who was looking into one of the conference rooms.
“Ah. Are you April Thornton?” He turned and stuck out his hand. “How are you today?”
And April found that she had no words at all. For the second time this day, she was standing within inches of a man who made her knees go weak. With the muscles of a professional athlete and the blonde good looks of a J. Crew model, Nathaniel Bryan might just rival Dave Hines for the most gorgeous man April had ever met.
Her week had just got a lot more interesting.
Chapter Two
“So?”
“So what?” April looked up to see Jane poking her head around the office door.
Mindful of where she was, Jane peeked into Mr. Jeffries’s office, looked around the room, and then crept in to take a seat by April’s desk.
“So, how was it?”
“Oh, with them? Mostly fine.” April, who had just managed to stop thinking about blue eyes and dimpled chins and well-muscled arms, gave a sigh. “It was, uh…”
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