Hopeless (6 page)

“Bright and early, boss.” Her eyes drifted
to Lily for a fraction of a second. “Enjoy the rest of your evening.”

Lily waited until she walked away before
asking, “So, she’s working for you, huh? I thought you didn’t socialize with
your employees?”

Some of his closest friends were the
instructors who led his classes, so he knew where she was going with this line
of questioning. “I still don’t date my employees, if that’s what you’re gettin’
at.”

Lily watched Victoria push the heavy door
open and step outside. “Have you told her that? The way she was looking at you…
I couldn’t help but think she was hoping for something more.”

If she was hoping for something more, she
wasn’t the only one. “Victoria knows how I feel about mixin’ business and
pleasure.”

“Good.” She reached across the table for
his hand. “Where were we?”

“I was just leavin’.” He threw a few bills
on the table to cover their tab and raised his hand to his friends. “Nice
seein’ you again, Lily.”

Victoria didn’t feel like going home to an
empty apartment, so she went to the only other place she felt safe: the
shelter.

Her best friend and fellow volunteer,
Lindsay, looked up from the small intake desk in the lobby. “Hey, what’re you
doin’ here so late? You’re not on the schedule, are you?”

Victoria had been volunteering as a crisis counselor
at the shelter for abused women and children for seven years. When God gave her
a new lease on life, she decided to make the most of it and try to heal her
past by helping others. “I was just passing by on my way home. Hey, guess what?
I got a new job today.”

Lindsay turned away from the computer
monitor and grinned. “No way! Pull up a chair and tell me about it.” She hid a
yawn behind her hand. “I could use a little excitement to keep me awake
tonight.”

Victoria glanced at the ever present
Styrofoam cup of sludge beside her friend. “Caffeine’s not doing the trick
tonight?”

“Nope.” She kicked her sandaled feet up on
the desk. “Okay, so tell me everything. Is it full-time or will you have to
keep looking for something else to get by?”

Victoria had been working part-time as both
a waitress and karate instructor since she graduated from college a few years
ago. It took her seven years to get her undergraduate degree because she had to
work to put herself through school, but it was worth it. Now she had that precious
piece of paper and no one could ever tell her she was stupid or worthless
again. “I don’t think so. We haven’t discussed compensation yet, but it’s a managerial
position in a new studio, so I hope it’ll be enough.”

“A managerial position in a karate studio?
Those are pretty rare, aren’t they?”

Her friend was right, it was unusual. Most
Grand Masters opened one studio and managed the day-to-day operations
themselves, but since Jay had four studios, she could understand why he needed
to hire outside help. “Yeah, I guess I lucked out.”

“I’m so happy for you, hon. I know you’ve
been looking for an opportunity like this for a long time. Besides, you’ll be
able to get out from under the perv’s thumb. That’s gotta feel good, right?”

Putting her old boss on notice would be
sweet indeed. “I can hardly wait to tell him where he can shove his job.”

“The new boss isn’t like that, is he?”

“God no! Jay’s great. In fact, he has a
pretty strict policy about dating his employees, according to his assistant.
Which is great, I think it shows he has character.”

Lindsay frowned. “If he’s so great, I think
it kind of sucks he doesn’t date his employees. You know how hard it is to find
a decent guy these days.”

“If it makes you feel any better, I have a
date with his twin brother tomorrow night.”

Lindsay sat up straight and clapped her
hands. “Tell me everything. What’s he look like?”

Victoria pointed to the martial arts magazine
she’d tucked in beside the computer monitor during her last shift. “Give me the
magazine, and I can show you. Mike and his brother are twins, not identical,
but the resemblance is uncanny.”

Lindsay handed her the magazine and took a
sip of her coffee as her friend located the page she was looking for.

Victoria found the article she’d been
reading about Jay and passed it to her friend. “There’s Jay.”

Lindsay’s mouth fell open. “Oh. My. God. He’s
your new boss? The man is gorgeous.”

Gorgeous, sweet, sexy, funny, successful…
every woman’s fantasy. Too bad Victoria didn’t have time to waste fantasizing.
“Yeah, he’s cute.”

“Cute? That’s like saying those competitive
bodybuilders are in decent shape.”

Victoria laughed. “Okay, you’re right. Jay
is hot, but so is Mike.” She shrugged. “I think we’ll have fun together.” And
going out with Mike was so much safer than spending time alone with his
brother. If she hadn’t believed in chemistry before, she certainly did now.
Physical appearance had nothing to do with her powerful attraction to Jay. His
appeal was so much more than superficial, and that terrified her.

Jay had been awake since the crack of dawn,
tossing and turning, watching the sun rise from the window of his high-rise
condo and thinking about Victoria.

By the time he finally reached the studio,
coffee tray in hand, he was uncharacteristically tired and cranky. He knew the
reason. He had to spend the day fighting his attraction to the woman who would likely
end the night in his brother’s arms.

Buying suites next to each other seemed
like a good idea at the time, but if Jay had to listen to his brother’s
headboard pounding against his bedroom wall tonight, he was going to have to go
over there and pound on him to relieve some of his mounting frustration. 

“Morning, boss,” Victoria said, slipping in
through the glass door while his back was turned.

He felt her presence in every nerve ending of
his body even before he turned around to face her. She was infiltrating the
spacious room with her subtle, spicy scent… her energy. Some force he couldn’t
identify almost drew him to her without thinking about the consequences. He
wanted to pull her into his arms again, only this time he didn’t want to let
go.

“Mornin’,” he said, bringing his take-out
cup to his lips.

She brushed his shoulder as she reached in
to take the other cup from the tray. “You’re a man of your word. I like that.”

Jay almost wished he wasn’t so rigid,
always doing what he said he would, honoring his word, living and dying by his
damn principles. If it weren’t for his stupid policies, he’d be the one taking
Victoria out to dinner tonight instead of his brother. He almost suggested she
ditch Mike and go out with him instead, until he remembered her experience with
her last boss. He didn’t want her to think he’d hired her just because he was
trying to get her into bed.

“The painters finished up yesterday.
They’re gonna come back this morning and do the touch-ups. The cleaning crew
will be in to do their thing this afternoon.”

“Sounds good. What have you got in store
for me today?” Her tongue flicked out to catch a drop of coffee and his body
responded immediately. He shifted, standing behind the tall glass counter to
conceal his obvious reaction to her.

“I thought we’d get started on the offices.
The furniture’s in place, but a few things still have to be assembled, and
we’ll need to pick up the office supplies.”

“Sure, whatever you need. I’m at your
service.” She wandered to the window and his eyes traveled the length of her
long, muscular legs. She was wearing cut-off jeans shorts, a tight black tank
top, and flip flops. Her long hair was pulled up in a ponytail and her face was
free of make-up.

Jay knew she wasn’t trying to look sexy.
She came dressed for work, but she wore short  shorts better than any woman
he’d ever laid eyes on. “Let’s finish our coffee before we get started. There’s
some multigrain bagels in the bag, in case you didn’t have time for breakfast.”

She smiled. “I grabbed a banana and yogurt
at home, but thanks.”

“Did you sleep well last night?”

She wrinkled her nose, which made him
smile. “Not really. I stopped by to see a friend before I went home, so I got
in pretty late.”

His smile fell. She stopped by to see a
friend
at that hour? He couldn’t hide the edge in his voice when he said, “Must be
some friend to be entertaining guests in the middle of the night.”

She frowned. “She was at work. I just
stopped by to keep her company.”

He felt like a jerk for jumping to the
wrong conclusions and acting like a jealous boyfriend, instead of her boss.
Trying to make up for his inappropriate outburst, he said, “I’m sure she
appreciated the company.”

“She did. She’d had a rough night.”

“Sorry to hear that.” He wanted her to tell
him about her friend, but more importantly, he wanted her to tell him more
about herself. He wanted to know everything from her favorite food to her
favorite color to whether she slept in an old T-shirt or the buff.

She pointed to the new custom chopper
parked outside. “Is that your bike?”

“Sure is.” He grinned. “Motorcycles and
martial arts are my two passions in life.”

She laughed. “I can’t say I’m surprised.”
She looked at the half sleeve decorating his arm under his black t-shirt. “I
can picture you on a bike.”

“You like to ride?”

Her eyes darkened and she looked away. “I
don’t believe in taking chances with my life.”

He was more than a little sensitive about
this topic. He’d had the same argument with his mother dozens of times over the
years. “You think ridin’ a motorcycle is puttin’ your life at risk? Would you
be surprised to know statistically your chances of getting killed in a car are
greater?”

She rolled her eyes. “Only because more
people drive cars.”

She had him there. Damn, she was smart,
strong, sexy… How the hell was he going to be able to resist her? “So, I
couldn’t talk you into takin’ a ride with me sometime?”

Victoria glanced out the window and he saw
something in her eyes: longing. “I don’t think so, but thanks for the offer.”

He wondered what made her so guarded, so
afraid to take a risk. “You don’t know what you’re missin’.”

She looked him in the eye. “Sometimes it’s
better that way.”

He sensed they weren’t talking about riding
motorcycles anymore. “You and Mike still on for tonight?”

“I guess so. I gave him my number and he
hasn’t called to cancel.” She chuckled. “Unless he’s the kind of guy who just
wouldn’t show.”

No, he had no doubt his brother would be on
her doorstep at the agreed upon time even if he had to crawl to get there. The
jerk. “I can’t imagine a guy in his right mind standin’ you up, Victoria.”

She smiled. “That’s sweet of you to say.”

Jay tried to ignore the effect her smile
had on him, like a tight fist to the gut; it got him every damn time. “It’s the
truth, darlin’.”

She looked taken aback by the endearment,
though it wasn’t the first time he’d said it. He never even thought about
calling another one of his instructors sweetheart, darlin’, or baby, but with
her he couldn’t help himself, no matter how inappropriate it may seem. “You tell
that sleazy boss of yours you won’t be comin’ back?”

“No, I’ll head over there on my lunch break
and tell him face-to-face. It doesn’t seem right to do it over the phone.”

“You want me to come with you?” His mother
was expecting him for lunch, but she’d understand if he needed to take a rain
check. She knew how hard he’d been working, trying to get the new studio ready.

“Don’t worry, I can handle him.” She
smiled. “You do that a lot—worry about me. You must be the caretaker in the
family, huh?”

Jay chuckled. “Uh, no. My old man was a
cop. He’s Trey Turner’s head of security now. My stepfather’s a career cop, so
is Mike, and my mama teaches second grade. They’re all caretakers; well, except
for Mike. He has enough trouble takin’ care of himself without havin’ to worry
about anybody else.” Taking cheap shots at his brother behind his back made him
feel marginally better about their date tonight. He knew it was immature, but
he didn’t care.

“Wow, I love Trey Turner’s music.”

He was usually reluctant to talk about his
famous connections. Most women were always angling for an introduction, concert
tickets, or backstage passes, but he sensed Victoria wasn’t like that, so he
didn’t mind sharing. “Did you have a chance to meet J.T. last night? He owns
Jimmy’s bar.”

She shook her head. “No, I didn’t. Why?”

Jay sat on the stool behind the counter and
hooked the heel of his cowboy boot over the last rung. “J.T.’s brother, Derek,
is my step-father. His wife is Nikki Spencer, and his other brother is Ty
McCall.”