Who's the Boss Now (Managing the Bosses Series, #3) (9 page)

"Hey." Gina glanced up.

"Hey. I just wanted to check in on Paul's office. I know we still have a few weeks, but I wanted to see if the contractors had a date in mind for getting him out of my office. I mean, finishing the rebuilding." She brushed her fingers by her chin and glanced over to see Alex walk into his office, head down.

"It should be two weeks from today. Why?” Gina leaned forward. “Is he being a pain? I can replant him now with another analyst if I need to. You know I don't mind doing it for you, girl." She stood up and stretch.

"No. Two weeks is good." Jamie turned back to the other woman. "Can you do me a favor and check if Alex has anything on his calendar? I thought it was clear but now I’m wondering if I mixed it up."

Gina moved the mouse for her computer and clicked it a few times. "Not for the next hour. Have at him. Let's grab some lunch when you get done."

"Sounds like a plan." She turned and walked into Alex’s main office door that was open, knocking softly on the door frame. "Do you have a minute?"

He glanced up and gave her a curt nod. "Yeah. Shut the door and come on in."

Something told her that having the door closed wasn't going to be as fun as it was a few days back. Her stomach growled again and she rubbed her tummy absently.

Alex sat down in his chair and leaned back. "You still pissed at me?"

"I'm getting over it." She shrugged. "I need to run a few things by you."

"Go for it." Dark circles sat under his beautiful blue eyes, much like his brother Mark seemed to be sporting every time they saw him.

"Mark called and will be coming up on Saturday with all of the paperwork from the estate sale."

"Good."

"He wants to know if he can stay at your place. He's having a few financial difficulties."

"No." Alex kept his steely gaze on her.

"Alright. He can stay with me." She crossed her arms over her chest. "Next topic is your notes for the meeting on Tuesday."

"Wait. What the fuck? My brother’s not staying with you. That's
not
happening." He sat up in his chair and leaned toward her. The aggressive look on his face would have been sexy if he didn't mean it in a negative manner.

"Then he's staying with you. There’s plenty of room in your house. You're being an ass about this." She moved to the edge of her chair, ready to challenge him. Their 'moving to the next level' would definitely include her holding her own in a fight with him.

"Fine. I don't give a shit. Whatever." He stood and threw his hands in the air, which was too dramatic for even him.

"Alex? What the hell’s going on? Is this,” she said and gestured back and forth between the two of them, “too much? What’s the problem? Because it feels like one moment you can’t keep your hands off me, and then next my touch burns you. If we have to work together and live almost on top of each other... I just don’t get it.” She stood up and walked toward him. He was passionate, but overly emotional? No, that was not his style.

"Fuck." He turned to face her, the color having drained from his face.

Her heart almost stopped in her chest from the look on his face. Something was wrong. Extremely wrong.

"What’s going on?" She reached out for him, but he pulled back.

"I just met with Annette." He ran his fingers through his hair.

"Oh..." Sickness rolled through her. Were they getting back together? Had he slept with her?

A knock at the door interrupted them.

Gina stuck her head in. "Sorry, Mr. Billmore’s on the phone. He's in no mood to call back."

"I'll get it. Thanks, Gina." Alex moved toward Jamie and waiting for Gina to close the door. When she did, he touched the side of Jamie’s face. "We'll talk tonight."

"Alright." She turned, wanting to push farther, but there was no reason to. He needed to answer the phone, and she needed something cheesy or greasy to make life seem better.

Jamie walked out of the office and quietly closed the door to find Gina watching her.

"Food?" Gina picked up her purse.

"Sounds good." Her angst would have to be properly put away. If Alex was going to break her heart, she needed something comforting. Food.

J
amie finished up her day and spent the evening waiting for Alex to finish. She gave up and headed back to her apartment after nine. A salad dinner and then a long swim left her bored and cranky. She’d eaten enough crap food and her body was starting to tell her.

She threw a movie in the DVD and sat on the couch waiting for Alex to knock on her door. She dozed off and around two in the morning she finally texted him, only to get a short reply that they would talk soon. Images of him and Annette wouldn’t leave her thoughts, or her dreams. Why in the world hadn't he just brought the pile of work home with him? Unless he was out with
her
.

Something flared up inside of Jamie. She wasn’t sure what it was, but it made her irritable and possessive.

Morning took forever to come and was there too soon. "Why are men such a pain in the ass?" She sat up on the couch and stretched, aching everywhere.

She dressed in a simple green dress and flats, pulled her hair in a messy bun and put on a little bit of lipstick. The weekend was upon them again, which meant that she might get some time with Alex one way or the other.

After fighting through traffic, she made her way into the office and walked through the lobby to see Nicholas waiting and chatting with Gina.

"Hi, Nicholas. Are you here to see Alex?" She stopped in front of him, and couldn't help but appreciate how nice he looked in his pinstripe suit. The man might be a little older than her, but he was intensely handsome.

"You, actually." He stood and picked up his briefcase. "I was hoping I could talk you into having lunch with me. All business. I promise."

She couldn't help but smile in response to the warm smile that slipped across his handsome face.

"Business? What business do you and I have to discuss? I've sent out all of the current literature on your investments and the financials aren't due until mid-summer." She reached out and pushed her door open, a little concerned at not seeing Paul there again.

She made a quick mental note to call him later that day to make sure he was really okay.

Nicholas followed her into her office, but stopped at the door. "I have a few buddies that I play golf with who are looking for new investments. I've been bragging about you and Alex, and I believe the two of them are almost interested in meeting with you. I was going to visit with them next week. I'd love to have a few portfolio packets and a little bit of history on the firm. I figured I'd take you to lunch so we could take our time walking through everything."

"Let me get this straight." Jamie set her bags down and turned to face him. "You want to have lunch so that I can train you to sell our investment products?"

He laughed. "Something like that. Would you be willing?"

"Yes, but when are you looking to meet with your buddies."

"Well, it’s a short notice, but I'd love to have lunch with you today. Are you free?"

"No, but I can squeeze in a late dinner I think." She moved to her desk and leaned over to review her calendar. Drinks with Gina at five and nothing else. "Yeah. Let's do seven thirty."

"Good. I'll meet you at Champion Grille?"

"I love that place. I'll bring a lot of goodies for us to look over." She ran her hands over her hips, smoothing her skirt absently. His eyes followed her movements, which made her feel a little more exposed than it should have.

"Good. I'll see you then, and I'll follow up with Alex next week on setting up the meetings."

They spoke for a moment more before he finally made his exit. Going to lunch with him would have been a better call, but she had far too much to get through before the weekend.

She checked the clock, groaning at the fact that it was already ten. She needed to start setting her alarm and getting in earlier again. If nothing else, maybe she could tell Alex that he needed to be stricter on her arrival time. The only way she could get up with the sun was to have him push the importance on being at the office by eight or so.

After piddling around her desk for a few minutes, she realized that she wanted to see Alex, wanted to feel his arms around her. He hadn't come home the night before, which meant that he was knee-deep in something. She moved to the door that separated her office from his and knocked twice before slipping inside. She glanced to the main office door, glad it too was closed.

Alex glanced up, his expression weary. "Jamie. I'm sorry about last night. I got caught up in the drama of this place."

"Well, not sleeping is going to leave you sick, grumpy and ineffective." She walked around his desk and pushed at his shoulder, forcing him to turn toward her. "Besides, I missed you."

"Not still mad?" He turned and reached up, sliding his hands over her hips and tugging her closer.

"No, this isn’t about being mad. Not everything is about ticking me off. I don’t understand why you think that way?”

“Every woman I’ve dated is always mad. It’s a man’s job to make them happy.”

She laughed. Was he being serious? She pressed her lips together when she realized he was. He had told her once that he didn’t know how to love, that he wasn’t meant for a relationship. She was beginning to understand why. “I'm here to help, but you're pushing me away. I’m not mad, nor am I the bad guy." She pressed her fingers into the tight muscles of his shoulders and melted a little when he moved closer and wrapped his arms around her, pressing the side of his face to her center.

"Me too, but I think it's only going to get worse. I have so much shit I'm dealing with. I would love help, but honestly I don't even know where to start."

“You hired me to help with the business. I’ve proved I’m capable. Put more stuff on me. If you’re here late, I can be too.”

“I hate to do that to you. I’ve been trying not to.”

“But I want to help.”

He sighed. “I may take you up on that.”

"Good but first, let’s start with us." She brushed her fingers through his hair and leaned over, kissing the top of his head. "Make love to me."

He chuckled before pulling back and slumping into chair. "Not right now, baby. I'm not in the mood for anything but a dark hole to hide in."

"Alex..." She bent down, squatting in front of him. Anytime she was near him, her body wanted sex. She pushed the thought aside and focused on what it would take to get him wanting sex too. “Talk to me about what's going on."

"You're not interested in Mark, right? I keep telling myself that I'm being a jealous ass, but the minute I feel better about it... something else happens."

"What? Didn’t we clear this all up already?" She sat back on her heels as confusion rolled through her. "Why in the world would you think that I'd be at all interested in your brother?"

"You seem to get along with him really well. He likes you a lot, obviously. I mean, hell, he's calling you to see about staying with me."

"I'm your personal assistant, Alex. Of course he's calling me to get to you. Everyone one does."

"You haven't answered my question." His expression darkened.

"No. I'm not interested in your brother. He’s having a hard time, he didn’t even want me to tell you about his financial issues but I did anyways, because I'm interested in you. Except you're doing a great job of making me question why the fuck I bother." She stood and walked to the window, hating how quickly the moment turned from a warm embrace to him accusing her of something so ridiculous that it pissed her off.

"I'm not sure why you're so upset about me calling you my PA. You are." He chuckled.

Jamie turned to pin him with a hard stare over her shoulder. "What the heck happened? Why would you go from being so sweet to being so uncaring and calloused?"

"What happened in general or today?"

Oh, she’d drop kick him out the window if she knew how. "Both! Either! Hell, I don't care. Just tell me what the fuck is going on!"

"Mark called this morning to talk to me about coming into town tomorrow because he couldn't get a hold of you. Then the asshole told me to lay off you because your parents are going through a divorce and you have a lot of shit on your plate." Alex stood and took a few steps toward her, his voice raising. "Why the hell does my brother, who lives a thousand miles away know this, and I don't?"

"Because he's going through a divorce too, so I shared some of my shit with him. You've been a little busy lately, and instead of bombarding you with my problems, I've been trying to help alleviate yours. That's what people who care about each other do." The burn of tears shouldn't have surprised her, but they did. She was tired of feeling like shit for no real reason. Maybe all of her internal struggles from the past were silly and unmerited, but they taunted her nonetheless. They both had these insecurity issues. Why didn’t he understand?

"He's getting divorced from Paula? Why the hell didn't I know this?" He jerked his hands down into his pockets and began to pace.

She stared at him in surprise. She’d told him he was having problems. She knew she had. It only made her more frustrated to know he hadn’t been listening to her. "Because you didn't care to say more than give words to him. He's your brother." She moved toward the door, done with the argument. "I'm out. I'll finish up what I have going on, and then I'm going to get a drink with Gina. Nicholas and I are having dinner to discuss some new investors for your portfolio. You're fucking welcome."

"I don't want you going to dinner with Nicholas. I don't like him." His voice was commanding.

Jamie spun around. "It's part of my job, and he's a client. The sooner you get it through your head that I'm not interested in anyone but you, the better it will be for us from a personal and business standpoint." She reached for the door back to her office.

"Jamie. Wait." He let out a long growl. "I met with Annette yesterday and... and..."

Jamie whipped around and pressed her hands to her hips. "And what? I'm tired of trying to figure you out. You communicate beautifully here. Communicate with me, dammit!"