Synergy: New Adult Romantic Suspense (U-District, #1) (18 page)

Interesting change of subject
. “I was planning on it.”

“Great, I’ll see you there.” Jade took the contract from Bryce and gave him a stunning smile. The kind of smile that stopped a man in his tracks and left him wishing it was aimed at him. In this case, it was.

Shit.

JADE HOPED BRYCE WOULD NOTICE
her hair up with the sides in a barrette and the rest falling down her back to show off the classic diamond studs in her ears. The light sage green, knee-length sundress accentuated her curves in just the right places.

She needed to look elegant and classy for Synergy’s yearly summer barbeque held at her grandmother’s mansion on Lake Washington, which was now owned by Jade’s parents. Her grandfather had purchased the lakeside lot after becoming a multimillionaire while working for Microsoft in the early eighties as a software engineer.

With his millions, he’d also bought a private jet, which he piloted himself. He’d been irritated by the lack of functionality of the flight-management systems on smaller aircraft, so in 1986 he decided to start up his own company to create something better. Soon the company had diversified its product line and began taking in engineering and manufacturing work from other avionics companies. Thus Synergy Technologies was born.

It was company tradition for Synergy employees to bring their families to join in on the picnic and festivities at the mansion. Attendance was nearly one-hundred percent, and this year was no exception. Fortunately, the Seattle weather cooperated today, with sun and a perfect eighty-two degrees. To increase the odds of good weather, the picnic was held on the third weekend of July. Gran always joked, “The first day of summer in Seattle starts on the fifth of July.” Sadly, that was usually the case.

“Wow, don’t you look all elegant.” Aleks gave Jade a big hug. “I don’t want to smoosh you.”

Jade laughed. “Thanks for coming.”

“I’m so glad I could finally make it this year. I can’t wait to see you all CEO-like.”

“This is a family barbeque. You won’t see me very CEO-like.”

“Uh-huh,” Aleks murmured while looking around. “I can’t believe how many people are here. There must be like hundreds.”

“At least. We have over two hundred employees, and they bring their families or guests. Luckily, they don’t all show up at the same time.”

“It makes you realize how big your grandmother’s place really is.”

“Gran was lucky Granddad bought it when he did. You can’t get this much land on the lake anymore. Several developers tried to convince her to sell it so they could break it up into smaller lots. She wouldn’t budge.”

“Can’t blame her. It’s so beautiful.” Aleks turned toward the lake, where families were kayaking, swimming, and jumping on a huge trampoline in the water. Others were sitting by the boathouse visiting with one another. “Ooh, let’s go sit over there.” Aleks pointed to the white gazebo perched over the edge of the lake.

“That was one of Gran’s favorite spots.” Jade greeted many of the families as they passed.

“How do you know so many people?”

“Most of our employees have been with the company for decades. I grew up with them.” Jade scanned the gazebo. It was full.

“You can sit here, Jade.” Jason stood.

“Oh no, I’m fine.”

“We were just eyeing the kayak that freed up.” Jason linked hands with a woman she didn’t know and walked off toward the water.

Aleks sat down next to Jade. “I’m eyeing that trampoline myself.”

“Yeah, it’s a lot of fun. I can’t today, but it’ll be a different story if you come back tomorrow.”

“You are so on.” Aleks giggled. “Ooh, who is that?”

Jade’s heart skipped a beat. “That’s Bryce.”

“You were right. He’s a total hunka hunka.”

“Shh.” Jade nudged her. “He’s cute. But you haven’t met his temper yet.”

“Temper or not, he can drop crumbs in my bed anytime.”

“Aleks!” Jade always laughed at the stuff she came up with. “Do you want me to introduce you to him?”

“Oh, yeah. Well, that is, if you can get through his harem.”

Three women were crowded around him. Bryce didn’t seem interested, but they were doing their best to get his attention.

A woman with striking red hair walked up to Bryce. She was gorgeous, and she seemed familiar to Jade, but she couldn’t place her. Bryce put his arm casually around the redhead, and the other women walked away pouting.

“Oh darn. He has a girlfriend,” Aleks said, her shoulders slumping.

Jade bit her lower lip and pressed a hand to her abdomen as her stomach clenched. Bryce had a girlfriend?

Aleks tapped Jade’s leg. “The hunk and his girlfriend are headed this way.”

“Let’s go meet them.” Jade pasted on a smile when they reached him. It had been completely stupid of her to assume a man like Bryce wouldn’t already have a girlfriend. “Bryce, I’m glad you could make it.”

“I haven’t missed one yet.” His smile was heart-stopping, the kind of smile that halted a woman midsentence, the kind that made a woman feel like she was the only one, the kind that slowly heated a woman’s insides until nothing remained but a puddle at his feet.

Jade focused on the dimple in his right cheek. That didn’t help.

Aleks nudged her in the ribs.

“Uh, Bryce, I’d like you to meet my friend Aleks.”

Bryce lifted a brow at her name and held his hand out to her. “Alex… short for Alexis, I assume? It’s nice to finally meet you.”

“Actually, it’s Aleks with a ‘k,’ short for Aleksandra. My mother’s side is Russian.”

He smiled politely when Aleks took his hand and didn’t let go. “Kenzie, this is Jade. I believe you two have met.”

“Yes, we met briefly at the hospital,” Kenzie said.

“Oh, you’re the nurse who helped with my IV.” Jade didn’t recognize Kenzie with her hair down and a small diamond stud in her nose.

Kenzie smiled. “And you got eleven stitches when you were in again recently, if I remember correctly.”

“You do.” Jade laughed. She didn’t want to like Kenzie, but the facts were the facts: Kenzie was pretty, nice, and helped people for a living. Jade was no match for this woman. “So, you’ve been to the barbeque before?”
Strange I don’t remember her.

“I’ve been to the past two.”

That explains it
. Jade had missed the past two… intentionally.

“I’m really sorry about your grandmother,” Kenzie said.

Jade’s smile faded. “Thank you. I’m glad you had the opportunity to meet her.”

“She was a strong woman, as I’m told you are.”

Elation filled her chest. Jade looked at Bryce.
Did he say that about me?

“I’m sorry to bother you, dear.” Grace walked up to Jade. “Dinner is about to be served.”

“Thanks, Mom.”

Jade literally had to pull Aleks’s hand away from Bryce’s. “Follow me. One good thing about being the CEO’s guest is, you get to eat first.

“Did you see the way he looked at you?” Aleks said once they were out of hearing range.

“Who?”

“The hunk.”

“Bryce? He was just looking
for
me, that’s all.”

“You didn’t see the way he looked at you when he first saw you. You were too busy talking to everyone. There was heat. Man, I wish a guy would look at me that way.”

“He has a girlfriend. I can’t possibly compete against her.”

“Then why is he still looking at you?”

Jade resisted the urge to look back. “Is he?”

“That man is so totally into you, it’s not even funny.”

“He is not. Come on, let’s eat.” Jade took the head of the line, where the others waited for her. When she spared a glance at Bryce, her eyes locked with his. She couldn’t move. She couldn’t look away. They were thirty feet apart, yet heat radiated between them.
Why is he looking at me that way? What does it mean?

“Uh, Jade, you need to start moving.” Aleks gave her a nudge and pointed to the impatient people behind them.

Okay, whoa.
Jade took a deep breath to get her heart rate down and grinned.
Maybe he does have feelings for me.

But what about Kenzie?

WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?
Why was he continuing to react this way to Jade? It was one thing when his crotch was rubbing against her backside. Hell any sensible man would get turned on in that situation. But from thirty feet away?

Dammit.

Bryce slipped his arm behind Kenzie’s back and guided her to the end of the long line, which was a good thing as his appetite had vanished. He couldn’t be hungry when his stomach was bunched into a fist.

He couldn’t like Jade, not in that way anyway. They weren’t compatible. Sure, she had moments of brilliance, he respected her for trying to turn the business around, and he loved how her feisty nature echoed Gloria’s. He couldn’t deny that Jade was beautiful and that her scent did unholy things to his insides, but she was too young for him, too immature, and often infuriating. Not to mention she was his boss.

She’s Gloria’s granddaughter, for crying out loud. What would Gloria say if she knew?

The thought made his hands sweat.

Perhaps it’s just the wine…

It had absolutely nothing to do with Jade’s dress, which exposed her delicate shoulders and highlighted the green flecks in her eyes. Her long bare legs ending in opened-toed sandals would call out to every single man here, perhaps the married ones too…
right
?

And damn if the pearls her grandmother had given her didn’t hang gracefully along her slender neck, coming to rest slightly above the curves of her breasts.

Surely I’m not the only man here who can’t help staring.

Bryce scanned the crowd. Everyone’s focus was on the food table.

Damn.

He couldn’t deny he’d been thinking about her. How frail she’d felt in his arms when he’d carried her to the car, how his body had felt against hers when she’d been bent over the sink, and how she filled that dress to perfection.

Tomorrow would be a new day. Away from the alcohol and the heat, he wouldn’t have this kind of reaction to her.

I damn well better not.

JADE COULDN’T STOP
THINKING
about Bryce at work on Monday morning. She stood to stretch her legs. She’d been sitting at the computer for hours wondering if Bryce had feelings for her.
Why else would he look at me like that?
Aleks was never wrong about these things.
Oh, stop thinking about him.

Grabbing her purple and gold UW mug, she headed to the break room and waited in line for the hot water behind Jason.

“You should have seen Bryce. He is pure genius,” Jason said to Sara.

Jade sighed.
Why did he have to bring up Bryce?

“What’d he do this time?” Sara filled her cup.

“McPherson wouldn’t budge. He said he was going to look for a new supplier.”

“We lost a customer?” Sara asked.

That grabbed Jade’s attention.

“No, that’s the genius part. Bryce offered a forty-percent discount to get him to stay on board and he took it. It could lead to future business. Bryce signed the contract today.” Jason beamed.

He wouldn’t.
Jade’s ears grew hot.

“Uh, hi, Miss Buchanan.” Sara’s cheeks reddened.

“Hello, Sara. Will you excuse me?”

“Uh-oh, she’s mad,” Sara whispered as Jade turned to leave.

Mad is an understatement.

Jade walked straight to Contracts and asked for the new McPherson contract. She reviewed the addendums. There was nothing in the contract indicating any future business, but there sure as heck was a forty-percent discount.

How could he stoop this low?

She marched into Bryce’s office, ignoring Marge sitting across from him. “You had no right signing the McPherson deal without my consent.” She threw down the contract in front of him.

“Thanks, Marge. Sorry for the interruption. I think we were done anyway. Why don’t you have a seat, Jade?”