Head Over Heels for the Boss (Donovan Brothers) (2 page)

“Exactly. You’re too educated to run the register. Rumor has it that driving…” He chose his words carefully. “Isn’t one of your strong points, so you won’t be able to deliver flowers once my insurance company sees your records. And you’ve already proven yourself as manager. It’s time for you to move on.”

She gaped at him. “This is Harmony Hills. There’s not a lot of room for upward mobility. You bloom where you’re planted.”

He leaned back in his seat. “Agreed. And Donovan, Inc. is where you’re going to be planted. You have a master’s degree. I am coordinating a fortune. I’m smart and experienced, and even educated, but you’re the one with the MBA. And someday I’d like to slow down. Work a day or two a week while someone else ‘minds the store.’”

Her eyes got even bigger, if that were possible. “You’re hiring me to run your family’s fortune?”

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.” He sat forward again, confused about why she was reacting so badly to what was, essentially, a lucrative offer. “I’m hiring you to assist me. At some point, I’ll be bringing other people into the mix. I’m not saying one person is going to take over for me. What I’d really like to do is build a team. I would manage the team and you would be one of the members. Probably my go-to girl because, as my first hire, you’d be the most experienced. Are you on board?”

“I’m the first?”

“You’re the first.”

Her eyes narrowed. “Where would I work?”

“There’s an office right outside this door.”

She frowned. “Then where will the other people work?”

“I have four offices back here, but someday I might need a full office building in town.”

“Okay. What’s my salary?”

“About four times what you made at Buds and Blossoms.”

“Holy cats.”

He leaned back, glad this conversation had finally found its footing. “This is a totally different situation than the flower shop. You’ll work with me to choose from the projects or investments available for the family’s money. Directly with me.”

She leaned back, too. “Oh.”

He fought the odd thought that she was trying to get away from him. “You don’t want to work with me?”

Her smile suddenly looked fake. “No. No. It’s fine.”

But he had the distinct impression it wasn’t fine. She seemed to be the opposite of what he’d expected. He’d thought she’d jump for joy. Yet, here she was hesitant.

“So our first order of business is to replace you and your parents at the flower shop. You don’t happen to have résumés on file?”

She sniffed a laugh. “In Harmony Hills?”

His decision to keep the business of investing his family’s money in Harmony Hills was fraught with problems like a very small employee pool. Still, he wasn’t sorry he’d done it. The family was together, without their abusive dad, who had moved to Arizona. And finally the Donovans had a chance to experience real family life. He wouldn’t trade that for ease of finding employees.

“No. I suppose you don’t have résumés.”

She carefully met his gaze again. “I can write a ‘help wanted’ ad and have it in tomorrow’s paper.”

“Okay. Go out to the desk and do that now.”

She rose. “No time right now. I’ll have to do it in between flower arrangements. My parents might have already mentally moved to South Carolina, but I have a wedding on Saturday and two funerals.”

“Oh.” He rose, too. “There’s no one else at the flower shop?”

“It really only took my mom and dad and me to run it.”

“So you can’t start working for me until you’ve replaced all of your staff?”

“Don’t be hasty.” Her eyes narrowed as if she were thinking. “My neighbors, the Benjamin Brats?” She gave the nickname the town had bestowed on the children of her neighbors, Mr. and Mrs. Carl Benjamin, because, well, their kids were brats. “They owe me a favor. I can use them to help out. They can take orders and run the register while I make the bouquets and deliver them.”

“You’d leave them in charge of the shop?”

“Get them in the right mood and they’re surprisingly responsible.”

“And who’s going to help you with the bouquets?”

She gave him a strange look. “No one.”

“You’re going to do a wedding and two funerals alone?”

“I’ve been doing it since grad school.” She laughed and the sound filled him with warmth. Filled the whole office with warmth. The real Izzy was back. “Actually, I can do all this and still give you a few hours tomorrow, Thursday, and Friday morning.”

She caught his gaze. Smiled.

“What time do you want me to start?”

“How early do you need to be here to be able to get a few hours of training in and still get all of Buds and Blossoms’ work done?”

She mentally calculated her answer, her eyes narrowing again.

“Let’s say seven.”

“Okay, seven it is.” In the same way he ended all business meetings, he extended his hand to shake hers. “We’ll see you tomorrow morning, then.”

She took his hand. Her smooth pink palm met his callused hand. She was incredibly soft, prettier than he remembered, and an adult now. Not cute little Izzy who worked in her parents’ flower shop. But Belle. A mature woman with an MBA who was his first employee.

He intended to make this work. That probably meant getting her to admit whatever it was that made her so standoffish with him. But he could do that. He was an expert with people. He just had to find the right time. Maybe get her alone someplace more comfortable than his office so they could have a more relaxed, more personal conversation.

That’s what he’d do. Get her alone somewhere relaxed. Like maybe a booth at Petie’s Pub, where it was dark and quiet. Surely that would loosen her up.

Chapter Two

W
alking up Ash Street and crossing Main to get to the flower shop, Isabelle was so disoriented she was nearly hit by Josh Montgomery, who rolled down the window of his big Ford F150 extended cab and yelled, “Watch where you’re going, Izzy!”

Isabelle jumped out of the way. “Sorry.” But she couldn’t stop thinking about working with Devon. The only thing that had made the sale of the flower shop palatable had been that she believed she’d only have to deal with him quarterly. Instead, once she hired an entirely new staff for Buds and Blossoms, she’d be right outside his office door.

And he’d touched her. When she’d slid her palm against his to shake hands and seal their deal, pinpricks of awareness had skittered up her arm. The air had disappeared from his office. And, honestly, that whole fainting thing was back in play again. The only time she didn’t feel lightheaded in his presence was when they were talking business.

Which might actually be her salvation. She
was
working for the man. They weren’t lovers. They weren’t even supposed to be friends. They didn’t really have to be friendly. If she kept all their conversations centered on work, she’d be fine.

Right.

Reaching the door of Buds and Blossoms, she turned the knob to enter, but the door was locked. Well, damn. Her parents weren’t wasting a minute. This time tomorrow they’d probably have their clothes in suitcases on the luggage rack of their SUV, racing down I-95, headed for paradise.

An unexpected feeling of emptiness rippled through her. She’d worked with her parents every day. Now they were leaving.

She ignored the feeling, told it to go away. She was twenty-six. Her parents were retiring. Moving on. That was what happened in life.

She rummaged for her key, opened the door, and stepped into the most heavenly-scented space in the world. Roses fought for supremacy over the hydrangea and carnations. But ferns never let any plant get too much attention.

Walking behind the desk, she inhaled the scent of home before she reached for a smock and opened the register. The bell above the door tinkled and Ellie McDermott Donovan entered.

“I hear a welcome to the family is in order.”

Isabelle tried to laugh. When Devon was in the Marines, LuAnn had shown her a picture of him in his dress uniform and she’d imagined herself marrying him, having his comrades in arms do that raised sword thing as she and her Marine ran out of the church. Actually being in his life now, those daydreams were horrendously embarrassing…and wrong. The man was her
boss.

“I’m not sure ‘welcome to the family’ is accurate since I’m an employee.”

Ellie smiled. Petite, with short red hair and a belly round with Finn Donovan’s baby, she was the picture of marital contentment. “Right now, it’s too small of a company not to consider employees family.”

“Who’s family?”

Dark-haired Piper O’Riley Donovan walked into the flower shop and stopped at the counter beside Ellie.

Isabelle didn’t know why she was surprised they were here. Gossip traveled fast in Harmony Hills, and the Donovan brides had recently become her friends. She’d done the flowers for both of their weddings. She’d also done the congratulations-on-your-son bouquets when Piper and Cade’s baby Richard Sean was born the month before. They’d never set out to establish friendships, but dealing with each other so frequently had bonded them. And she suddenly saw what Ellie meant about family. In some ways the whole damned town was family.

“Devon hired Izzy,” Ellie said.

“Belle.”

“Excuse me?”

Isabelle shrugged. “New job. New name. Devon called me Izzy this morning and I felt five. Seriously, don’t you picture me toothless with pigtails, riding my pink tricycle when you hear that name?”

Piper laughed. “Izzy does sort of bring back memories.”

“Fantastic.”

“Oh, now, not all of them were bad.”

“You weren’t the only redhead in elementary school.”

Ellie gasped. “Hey, my hair is red, too! I know your pain.”

Piper said, “Besides, your hair’s beautiful.”

“Oh, sure, now that we’re all old enough to appreciate it.”

Piper laughed again. “You are in a mood.”

Ellie caught Isabelle’s gaze. “Don’t you want to work with Devon?”

She wished that she could tell the truth, confide. But Ellie was a star employee for a PR firm in Pittsburgh, an employee so valued they let her work from home. And Piper—
dear God
—Piper had survived the great runaway bride gossip. She was a legend of patience and maturity in Harmony Hills. And wouldn’t Isabelle look like an idiot for whining about a stupid crush.

Though she wasn’t exactly sure how “stupid” her crush was. Devon was more gloriously handsome in real life than any of her daydreams. And working with him, she’d actually have a chance to make those daydreams come true—

Oh, really? What the hell was she thinking? Not only could she embarrass herself even more than when she asked him to prom, but also, imagine the gossip that her and Devon dating—a boss and employee—would generate. This wasn’t going to work. She was too darned attracted to the man to spend eight hours a day with him only twenty feet away. Working with him was wrong on so many levels. She had to admit it and get her head out of the clouds.

“No. I don’t want the job.”

Ellie gasped. “No! Izzy, think about what you’re throwing away! You’d be working with a fortune. Investing. Meeting people. Watching Devon wheel and deal.”

If she could watch Devon without him knowing she was watching, she’d be fine. As it was… No. She hadn’t even been able to shake his hand without getting chill bumps. This job might be perfect for her, but working with Devon wasn’t.

Piper shook her head. “If you’re serious, you’d better tell Devon today.”

“No. No! That’s not right.” Ellie caught Isabelle’s hand to get her attention. “Izzy, you’re twenty-six years old and you’ve never done anything beyond work in this shop. You
need
to work with Devon. You need to find yourself. I say give it six months.”

“And then what? Buds and Blossoms will be staffed with strangers. I can’t just say ‘give me my job back’ when there’s someone else depending on it.”

Ellie drummed her fingernails on the counter. “You could if you bought the flower shop back.”

Isabelle gasped. “I don’t have that kind of money!”

“Well,” Piper said through a smile. “You’d have six months of working for Devon to pull it together.”

The thought of buying the flower shop back gave Isabelle her first sense of control since she’d had the talk with her parents. They hadn’t just sold her livelihood. They’d sold the career she’d been working toward for over a decade. Even if she put aside her crush on Devon, it was jarring to be taken out of the job she’d been preparing for her entire life. Maybe the answer to her dilemma wasn’t to do something extreme, but just to buy back the shop.

“He
is
quadrupling my salary. I’m accustomed to living on one quarter of what I’ll be making. I could save every cent of the extra money he pays me.”

Piper said, “To get a loan, you’ll need ten percent of what he paid for the shop as a down payment. That is, if he lets you buy it back for what he paid.”

She combed her fingers through her hair. “I don’t even know what he gave my parents.”

“Then that’s the first thing you have to do. Find out what he paid,” Piper said. “Because you’re going to need ten percent of that.”

“Unless after six months you decide to stay,” Ellie reminded her. “Devon’s a smart, savvy businessman.” She walked alongside the edge of the counter nonchalantly. “I can’t even imagine what you could learn from him. Even better, you’re probably going to travel.”

“And go to nice restaurants,” Piper agreed. “Meet tons of people.”

Ellie’s eyes sparkled. “Maybe even a man.”

Isabelle groaned. The man she wanted was the man she’d be traveling with.

“She’s right,” Piper said. “You dated Jimmy Flannagan most of high school and half of college—except for that little breakup around prom time your senior year. And by the time he broke up with you for good, everybody else your age was taken. You’ve kind of been stagnant in the dating department.”

This was the good news/bad news of living in a small town. Though it was comforting to have two women only slightly older than she was who were up-to-speed enough on her story that they could help her work through it, it was embarrassing that everybody knew her pathetic dating history. Thank God Piper didn’t seem to know that in her little breakup with Jimmy she’d asked Devon to the prom. Proof he hadn’t told anyone. Maybe proof he didn’t remember?

Still, whether he remembered or not,
she
knew she’d asked him to the prom. She knew he’d refused her. She might have to work with him for six months to get enough money for a down payment, but that was about all she could handle.

“I’ll get enough traveling, mingling, and meeting new people in the six months I have to work for him while I save for the down payment.”

“Maybe,” Ellie agreed. “But I still think you should keep an open mind. Working for the Donovans could open doors. Maybe you’ll find a job that better suits you with one of the companies you deal with.”

“Maybe.”

“And let’s not forget the men,” Piper said, her smile growing. “Ellie and I both met our husbands because of our jobs. Who’s to say it won’t happen to you?”

The circular logic of it froze Isabelle’s brain. To meet these potential wonderful men, she had to work with the man she actually wanted. She pictured herself sitting beside him in the family’s private jet or in his car as they drove to Pittsburgh, or having dinner together after a meeting, and having him treat her like an employee or a stranger, and her stomach plummeted.

Even though she had a plan to get her shop back, her troubles weren’t resolved.

She still had to work with the man who made her heart race and her tongue tie. She had to hide her crush on Devon for six long months.

D
evon strode into the kitchen around noon to find both his brothers sitting at the Italian marble breakfast bar, eating sandwiches.

“Don’t you two have homes? Wives?”

“Our wives eat lunch at the diner. Besides, we heard we hired our first employee today. We came to hear how that went.”

“Isabelle Cooper,” his mom said proudly. She began cutting bread from a loaf she’d bought fresh that morning from the bakery at O’Riley’s Market.

Cade’s face scrunched in confusion. Without his Stetson, the shadow of dark hair on his head made his brown eyes appear almost black. “You hired Izzy?”

“Belle,” Devon said.

Blond-haired, blue-eyed Finn looked as confused as Cade now. “Belle?”

“She wants to be called Belle. She’s not five anymore.” She really wasn’t. Because he’d worked in Pittsburgh the past few years, she’d fallen off his radar and he’d missed that she’d grown up. But she had. She was a woman now—a woman with really pretty green eyes and a damned near perfect figure. When his brothers gave him funny looks, he added, “Her words, not mine.”

Finn frowned. “That’s who you hired to do the first level of investigation of potential investments?”

Devon took the third seat at the counter. His mother handed him a sandwich. “She has an MBA.”

Cade said, “But she’s only ever worked in the flower shop.”

“So?”

“So I think you’re bamboozling us. Hiring somebody who looks good on paper, so that you don’t actually have to hand over any work.”

“That’s absurd.”

“No. That’s how you are. Nobody can take care of the family as well as you can. Nobody could represent Mom in her divorce as well as you could. Nobody can manage the inheritance from Pap the way you can. At a certain point, you have got to let go.”

“And I will. As soon as…” He needed a second to stop himself from saying Izzy. “As soon as Belle proves her worth.”

Cade cursed. “She’s not gonna prove her worth. She has no experience.”

“I’ll teach her.”

“Great,” Finn said. “That’s code for you saying you’ll still do everything.”

“She’s a smart woman. After a few months of me explaining what we’re looking for, showing her how to plow through the prospectuses we get every day, she’ll be fine.”

Cade peered at him over his sandwich. “We’re checking up on you, making sure you really do give her work.”

“You do that.”

Finn said, “We’re serious.”

“So am I.” Because even if Isabelle never moved beyond reading prospectuses and typing memos, his brothers would never fire sweet Izzy Cooper. Even if she insisted on being called Belle. If it killed him, he would keep Izzy exactly where she was. Working for him without actually taking any work away from him. He might have told her he wanted to cut back to two days a week, but there really wasn’t anybody as capable of managing their money as he was. And there hadn’t been anyone as capable of handling their mom’s divorce as he was. Just as there hadn’t been anybody to defend his younger brothers when they were six and eight and their dad came home drunk, looking for someone to use as a human punching bag.

He’d been caring for his family since he was ten—over two and a half decades. He wasn’t about to stop now. And if that meant being cautious, stingy even, about what he taught Isabelle, then so be it.

He only had to hope
she
—a woman with an MBA who’d been running a small business for at least three years—didn’t notice.