Millionaire Romance: In Love With My Personal Assistant - A Contemporary Romance (Millionaire Romance, Contemporary Romance, Comedy Romance Book 2) (11 page)

They settled into the car quietly, with an easiness falling upon them. The somber nature of their last conversation before business took over seemed to be long forgotten. James hoped it would stay that way. Glancing at the time on his phone’s screen, James held it between his hands and looked to Jennifer.

“Are you in a hurry to get back to Chicago tonight?”

Jennifer eyed him. “I don’t know. Depends. Why are you asking?”

James smiled. “Well, this is my home. I’d love to show you some places while we’re here. You probably don’t know any of this stuff about me.” Jennifer pursed her lips together in consideration. After a while, she spoke softly.

“I always thought you didn’t want me to know much about you.”

James held her gaze. He shruggled after a moment and glanced down, but didn’t return his eyes to Jennifer’s. Instead, he turned in his seat and drew a seat belt over his chest.

“There might have been a time where I thought that was a better choice.” It was an honest answer, through and through.

Jennifer ran a hand through her hair and drew her seat belt in the same fashion. The driver situated themselves in the front seat. He made eye contact with James and nodded, not even needing a word as to their first destination. In the back seat, James noticed Jennifer’s interest with the passing world as the driver stepped on the gas.

“It’s so green here,” she commented, a bit in awe.

“You’ve never been to New Jersey?” Jennifer shook her head. “What about New York?”

“Just for the auction,” she admitted, turning back to James. “I’ve never been this far on the East Coast.”

“Beaches?”

“Just the lake,” Jennifer grinned. “That counts, doesn’t it?”

James laughed. “Wow, woman. You need to get out more.”

“I can’t. I was too busy busting my ass working for you.”

James knew she meant it as a joke, but it struck him somewhere deep inside. Jennifer’s face changed, growing serious.

“I didn’t mean that,” she said quickly.

“Yes you did,” James replied just as curtly. His voice was a little more edged than he meant it to be. He wanted to tell her that he never asked her to work so hard, then again, after all those years, he never told her to stop, did he? Not until recently when he finally decided to incur more costs and get someone to supplement the trivial nature of the mential tasks her position covered.

“I guess I’ve been a bit of a jerk to work for, huh?” James asked, watching Jennifer studiously. A genuine smile played across her full, beautiful lips.

“You never made me work so hard.”

“But I never stopped you either.”

“How could you know I worked at night and on my days off?”

“You work on your days off?” James shook his head. “Please don’t tell me you do that.”

Sheepishly, Jennifer shrugged. The smile was falling, but still lingered. She closed her mouth and said nothing more. Within seconds, the gril grew again  to another tempting smile. What he wouldn’t give to lean towards her and take those lips into his own.

The car felt significantly more cramped than the cabin they had flown into New Jersey on. His leg rested comfortable against Jennifer’s leg and he wanted to slide a hand along the top of her thigh.

James grinned back at her, unsure of what signals she was sending to him. The conversation could go one of several ways from where they were, but judging by her smile, James’s figured he was on a good path. He just didn’t understand why.

“What’s going on behind that beautiful smile?” James asked with the most sultry voice he could muster. Jennifer wet her lips and bit the bottom one before answering.

“I could ask you the same thing.”

“Hmm.”

Tit for tat.

Jennifer raised her eyebrows at him, but said nothing more. She turned towards the window and crossed her bare legs again. James ran his eyes down the length of her body. He tried to discreetly let out the breath he had been holding in. He swore that each and every second he spent in her presence was exponentially growing her level of sexiness.

Maybe he would need to book her a ticket commerically to return home. He didn’t like that idea though and he was pretty certain that it would only be taken as an insult.

“So this is where you grew up?”

“Born and raised.”

Jennifer turned to him. “When did you make it out to the city?”

“After I made my first ten million,” James leaned back into the seats and sighed. “It seems like ages ago but it was really only 15 years,” he smirked. “Wow, I’m suddenly feeling very old.”

“Oh, come on,” Jennifer teased, she pushed at James’s leg with her own and crossed her hands over her chest. Her eyes twinkled. “34 is hardly old.” James eyed Jennifer thoughtfully. “It’s a seasoned age with style.”

“I just realized something,” James stared at Jennifer blankly.

“What?”

“Was I your first real job?”

Jennifer tried to surpress a smile, but failed. After a moment of hesitation, she answered.

“At the ripe age of 23, yes. Yes, you were,” she bite back a smile. James grinned.

“I’m glad it was you,” he said finally.

Jennifer lowered her gaze and took an interest in her purse. Before the silence could blossom around them, James’s phone began to vibrate and ring within his palms. He didn’t bother looking at the caller, but pressed one of the buttons along the side of his phone to silence the call. Lifting her head with renewed determination, Jennifer smirked and nodded towards the phone.

“Aren’t you going to see who it is?” She asked slyly. James ignored her taunt.

“No,” James said with a straight face. He stared back at Jennifer unashamedly, but she didn’t back down.

“Do you want me to answer for you?” Her smile doubled, “As your assistant?” James leaned towards her.

“No,” his voice was stern. He wasn’t a fool; he knew that Jennifer knew damn well who was calling him.

“I can’t believe you didn’t change the ringtone,” Jennifer smirked. “You two still talking?”

James pressed his lips together irritably. “I’m not.”

“But she still calls you…” Jennifer let her voice trail. James turned in his seat to her squarely.

“I don’t call her. She’s called a couple of times but,” he shrugged, “I haven’t been available to see what she wants.”

With another teasing smirk, Jennifer flicked hair over her shoulders. “Do you plan on talking to her?”

“No,” James answered quickly, “not if I can help it,” he softened some. “But, if I run in to her, I’ll be cordial.”

Jennifer nodded, and then took a deep breath. “Well, for what it’s worth, I think she lost a good man.” James smiled at the kind sentiment.

“I think that’s worth a lot,” he said softly, holding Jennifer’s gaze steady. He pressed his lips together and looked out the car window. He didn’t want to discuss Katie. She was just another reminder of his stupidity for the past two years.

Silence fell, but it didn’t bother James. He searched for a way to transition to the job, and found it when the driver turned onto the road that would take them to their destination.

James cleared his throat and instructed Jennifer on what she could expect. These were old men who believed in the old way of doing things. They were hesitant to make changes. Even with their impressive age difference, the one common denominator these men would have in common was money. They understood that talk. The meeting was just to wet their lips about the services they offered.

Jennifer was every bit of inquisitive about New Jersey being the place James used to call home so many years ago, but she stayed focused to the business and tapered her questions. James still ntoiced her wondering eyes about the slowness of the suburb.

He wondered briefly what she would think about him coming from such a no name place. Seriously. No one but those from Summit really knew about it. This close to the New York, many only knew about Jersey City and Newark; but there were several little townships that branched out from those larger cities where many affluent individuals decided to live. Many communted to New York for work, just like any other border metropolis hovering close to statelines, like Chicago.

Timothy was waiting for the duo when they arrived. From the looks of it, ABC Training owned the entire building and leased the bottom floor to other businesses. This company had real potential for sure.

The new CEO was a thin, lanky man with silver hair. He wore a suit with a peppered hankercheif and greeted James like he was an old friend. With Jennifer, he held her hand with both of his meaty palms and kissed the back delicately. It was a bit of a southern gesture, but James wasn’t going to judge.

“And who might this beautiful woman be?” Tim asked, smiling mischeiviously. She answered him with a polite grin and locked hair behind her ears.

“Jennifer’s worked with me for the past five years. Her work within the company is beyond replaceable at this point,” James said confidently. Jennifer grinned at him.

“Let’s talk about your needs, shall we?” James tried to steer the conversation quickly.

“Well, hold on, Mr. Melone,” Tim said with a frown. “Are you in a rush?”

Jennifer turned to James and smiled. After glancing between Jennifer and Tim, James forced himself to relax and shook his head.

“No. Not at all.”

Tim beamed. “Alright. Let’s go for  a walk then. I’m so grateful and pleased that you flew in so quickly to speak with me. I appreciate it a lot.”

James nodded. “Not a problem at all.”

“You know, James helped us get noticed back in the day,” Tim mummbled.

Jennifer’s brows pinched together. A smile drew at her lips and she looked between Tim and James.

“What do you mean?” She asked curiously.

“Youth sports,” Tim clarified. “As a young man, James sponsored the start of a regional league.”

“Really?” Jennifer’s eyes were wide. “That’s incredible.”

James cleared his throat uneasily, and watched Jennifer. He had always been careful to keep his personal life and interests separate from work. There was a certain type of vulnerability that came with letting someone discover who you really were.

 “What’s more impressive is the slots he held each year on the training teams for scholarships,” Tim nodded and turned to James. He planted a large palm on his back.

 “I don’t think I understand.” Jennifer glanced in between the two men.

Clearing his throat again, James gestured around the area they stood in. “Summit is ranked as the 16
^th
-highest per capita income in the state. Out of the county, about 30 percent are in poverty. I wanted to help the 30 percent.” Jennifer nodded with understanding, her eyes widened as she watched James.

“And you used sports to help the youth?”

With a weak smile, James shrugged his shoulders. “I read a lot of studies. I found results that seemed to suggest innercity kids lacked drive because they had no concept of the choices they could make.”

“The reality of the real world,” Jennifer nodded eagerly in agreement, “that being born poor didn’t mean you had to stay poor.”

“Exactly,” James smiled at her. Jennifer’s eyes darted across his face. She seemed to struggle with words to say, but in the end, she fell silent and turned her back to Tim and James.

“It didn’t help everyone from Union but it did help,” Tim said emphatically. He reinforced his words with another strong pat on James’s upper back. For a thin popsicle of a man, Tim had a considerable amount of strength in his swing. James arched his back to get the older gentlement to release his hold.

“So tell me,” James said with a forced cough, “why consider New York now? After so many years? I looked through your balance sheets and fiscal reports. You could have made this move five years ago and made several billion by now.” With a tired sigh, Tim turned to James. It seemed like he was finally ready to get to business.

They spent the next thirty minutes walking along the well maintained grounds of the complex. Hidden behind the building face was a luscious garden of trees, brush, gazeebos and flat, green grass. Tim explained that many companies would benefit from allowing their employees time to go outside and bask in the sun.

As the number one corporate team building company of choice, they had to model their own suggestions. Everyone leasing within the building benefited from the beautiful grounds. Two gazeebos were designated for smoking and four more were just for relaxing and passing lunch breaks.

“It’s not quite the Googleplex,” Tim joked, “but I think we’ve got a pretty good start.”

They passed another 20 minutes with Tim. He gave them a tour of the building and came to understand the needs they had and wanted to create with an office in New York City. That meant future trips to the East Coast. The more they spoke, the more apparent frequent travel was becoming as a requirement to fulfill a contract to satisfaction. As time passed, James caught himself watching Jennifer periodically.

She said very little, but took everything in, listening closely. She grew tense the moment it became apparent that a contract with the company would mean more trips.

It was after four before they ended the meeting and Tim walked them curbside to the escort vehicle. There was more small talk and catching up about the economy and state of the small town. Afterwards, they said their goodbyes with another polite hug, back slap, and a kiss on the hand from Tim to Jennifer. Ever the professional, Jennifer smiled and took his compliments with style.

Jennifer stepped into the car first and slid to the driver’s side door. James climbed into the vehicle next, and with a few more waves, and good wishes, shut the door with a loud sigh. He turned to Jennifer quickly, and looked her over.

“What do you think?”

Jennifer crossed her legs lazily and looked over her nails.

“How do we have time for a contract like this, James?

He nodded quickly. “I know what you’re thinking. We have Seogen and Carnal first.”

“With everything needed for damage control, I just don’t know if we should spread ourselves so thin,” Jennifer said softly. She avoided James’s eyes.

It would be no big deal to right the time crisis he set up in Colorado. He was actually looking forward to a potential East Coast contract. He loved that side of the States, their beaches, greenery, and slow way of living; and more than anything, he loved having an excuse to visit New Jersey and come back home.