Working Him: A Billionaire Romance (5 page)

Chapter 8:  Rachel

I pressed my hand to my throat as I sagged against the cool concrete wall on the outside of the lobby, my pulse pounding in my ears. That was Garrett, pressed up against the concrete pillar, nearly undressing that drunk girl. Did he live in the same building? Oh no. I hadn’t looked at his address close enough, too engrossed in the rest of the files to mess with the minute details. I had been reading the files that I had taken from the office, writing down my notes before I realized I hadn’t even eaten any dinner and was on the way out to grab something greasy and fast, before the whammy in the lobby. Why was it bothering me so much? I didn’t know, but it was, badly.

Sighing, I pushed away from the wall and walked to my rental car, though my appetite was gone now. I had no realistic expectations with Garrett, wanting to keep my personal life separate from my professional life, but being this close to him now, it was getting harder and harder to do so.

***

The Next Day

I cleared the email I was reading and sat back, feeling a bit exhausted for it to be only three hours into the workday. After my late night and very little sleep, I had come into the office in a bad mood only to find a mountain of files and emails to weed through. And I thought my home office was bad.

“Hey gorgeous.”

I looked up to see Travis standing before me, a grin on his handsome face. Though he was definitely not as handsome as Garrett was, he still had a small realm of charm about him, an infectious grin that almost had me smiling in return. Almost. “Mr. Douglas,” I said instead, giving him a wan smile. “Good morning.”

“Good morning,” he replied, leaning against the desk in no apparent hurry to move along to his own office. “And call me Travis. After all, this is an intimate office setting, Rachel.”

I squirmed inwardly at the sound of his voice, knowing immediately that he was looking for a conquest. So was I but in a very different context of the word. “Very well, Travis. I have placed your contracts on your desk for your signature and added a few showings to your calendar today. I hope you don’t mind.”

“Wow,” he said, clearly expecting me to simper under his use of wording. “You are all business. I like that, a lot.”

“I’m just doing my job,” I said pleasantly, folding my hands on my desk. “And I am here for anything that you might need, Travis.” Yeah, so I was playing with words as well. I had to feel him out, to see if he might actually be the real reason I was here. Travis reminded me of a guy who liked to be strung along for a little while but was intimidated by a strong woman. Well, he had met his match.

“Anything?” he asked, arching a brow as the door opened behind him and Garrett walked in. All of a sudden everything about Travis faded away in the background as I laid my eyes on the man who had caused such little sleep for me last night. Who was the woman? It definitely was not the one who had raised hell in the office yesterday. So out of one bed and in the other, somewhere in the same building as I was currently staying in. Great. Garrett’s eyes met mine and I swallowed hard, seeing the hardness in his eyes as he looked at his partner.

“Garrett, ‘bout time you rolled in,” Travis remarked dryly, crossing his arms over his chest. “Late night?”

“You know it,” Garrett replied, his eyes shifting from Travis to me. “What’s going on here?”

“I was just speaking with Rachel about my calendar,” Travis grinned. “She’s a gem.”

“That she is,” Garrett said slowly as he walked by. “Now leave her alone. Rachel, I will be sending you a list of things in just a moment.”

“Um, sure,” I said as both of the men walked to their offices before releasing a breath. Wow. That was some tension that I hadn’t expected.

My cell rang and I picked it up, carrying it to the small breakroom that happened to be right behind my space. “Hello?”

“You figured it out yet?”

“Christina,” I breathed. “No, I haven’t figured it out yet. It’s only been a day.”

“It feels like forever,” she sighed into the phone. “Do you know what he’s making me do? File! I am not a damn receptionist, no offense.” I knew immediately that she was talking about Brian. After all, he was the only man she talked about these days but still refused to do anything about him.

“None taken,” I said, examining my chipped nail polish. “I’m not either. I don’t know how they keep up with all of this calendar mess with the phones ringing off the hook. Why is Brian being so weird?”

“I don’t know,” she said, irritation in her voice. “How are your two hotties? Any thoughts on which one it is?”

“It’s too soon,” I sighed this time. “Can you pull up anything you can find on Travis Douglas?”

“Sure yeah, I will email it to you,” Christina said. “Aw hell, here he comes again. Hurry back will you? I think he’s picking on me because you aren’t here for him to do so. I’m sick and tired of it.”

“Bye Christina,” I chuckled, wishing my best friend would pick up on the simple signs that a man was trying to get her attention. Brian wasn’t picking on her because he was an asshole, but more so because he wanted her attention. Christina was too worried about what the office would think to even pick up on those subtle signs. As I hung up the phone, Travis came through the door, carrying a coffee mug that said ‘STUD’ on the side.

“Hiding out in the break room already?” he teased as he walked over to the single cup machine and placed one of those little cups in the top of it, pressing a few buttons.

“I, no, personal call,” I said, holding up my phone and attempting to look guilty.

“Oh, don’t worry about that,” he said with the wave of his hand. “I won’t tell Garrett.”

“Have you two known each other long?” I asked innocently, deciding to start with the easy questions. Since I had his full attention, I might as well utilize it.

“Long enough,” he said with an easy smile. “How do I get to know you, Rachel?”

I forced a smile, sighing on the inside. Flirts were hard to get any information out of and I was not the type of person to get them into bed to find out what they knew. Brian didn’t pay me enough for that. “I’m easy to get to know.”

He took a step closer and I stayed in place, showing him that he wasn’t going to intimidate me. “Is that right?” he asked softly, his eyes glittering. “Perhaps we should get to know each other somewhere more private than the break room.”

“Travis.”

Travis whirled around and I saw Garrett standing in the doorway, staring at the both of us with a stormy expression on his face. “Your phone has been ringing off the hook. Care to actually work today?”

“Who pissed in your cornflakes?” Travis shot back, stepping away from me. “I was just getting to know our new employee here.”

“Ms. Tyler, I believe we aren’t paying you to stand around either,” Garrett continued, his voice flat.

“Of course not,” I said slowly, brushing past Travis and to the doorway. “I’ll get right back to work.”

He stepped aside and allowed me to exit the room, the barest hint of our bodies brushing each other sending a shiver down my spine. If I didn’t know any better, I would think that Garrett was jealous.

***

The rest of the morning flew by pretty fast. I looked through the rest of the computer files in between the phone calls, but found nothing of interest. Well, I could rule out the former receptionist at least. Both Garrett and Travis stayed busy in their offices, though I could hear their voices from time to time through the walls, the only indication that they were actually still there. As lunchtime approached, I grabbed my purse and logged out of the computer with the intent of heading out so that I could add some information to my file to update Brian.

“Where are you going?”

I turned around to see Garrett standing in the doorway of his office, his dress shirt and pants causing me to tremble just a bit. His shirtsleeves were rolled to his elbows, showing off his strong forearms and impressive tan.

“Lunch.”

“I need you,” he ground out, pulling his door shut. “I have to meet a client and I need someone to record for me.”

“You want me to go onsite with you?” I asked, surprised. “Like on a showing?”

He nodded and walked past, heading to the door. I picked up my stuff and a notebook before hurrying after him, barely catching the elevator before the door shut behind me. I stood next to him as he jabbed at the button, the spicy scent of his cologne filling the small space. It was obvious by the tick of his jaw that either he didn’t want to ask me along or he was still pissed about this morning. Which I didn’t know.

“Where are we going?” I asked innocently, shifting my purse in my hands.

“Fort Lauderdale,” he answered, apparently none too pleased at the thought. “A client is pitching a fit that I sold her a lemon of a house and now she is demanding that I meet her out there so she can personally tell me what is wrong with the place.”

“Oh,” I said, unsure of exactly what to say. If he was anything like what I remembered him to be, Garrett hated to lose at anything. An unhappy customer would be no different. He didn’t say anything else as the elevator doors opened and we walked out together into the parking garage, where my car was parked. I had no idea what he drove but I could almost guarantee it wasn’t the economy car I was driving. “Um, my car is right there,” I said, my voice echoing in the space. “I’ll just wait to follow you.”

“You’re riding with me,” he ground out, looking over at me like I was crazy. I inwardly drew a breath, the thought of being in a car with him for over two hours’ roundtrip making me a bit crazy. After seeing him last night in the lobby, I didn’t know what he would say, if anything.

I followed Garrett over to a sleek black Porsche and climbed into the passenger seat, barely getting my seatbelt buckled before he peeled out of the parking space and we were on our way. I swallowed hard as he zipped through town and then finally onto the interstate, the sign telling me we had over an hour in the car together before we would be in Fort Lauderdale. Of course the investigator in me was dying to ask him a bunch of questions, but the personal person in me was holding back, scared to even speak. I didn’t know what to say for one of the few times in my life or even what conversation to bring up.

“Stay away from Travis.”

Surprised, I looked over at him, seeing the death clench of his jaw as he stared at the road ahead. “What?”

“Travis,” he repeated, clenching the steering wheel tightly. “He’s not good for you. Don’t even think of starting something with him.”

I burst out into laughter because I was too stunned to respond. Was he saying this because of our past or because he was jealous? “Will you fire me if I do?” I asked softly, wanting to egg him on just a little bit.

“Of course not,” he responded, sliding a glance over at me. “But he will hurt you, Rachel, and I will not be there to pick up any of the pieces.”

“You’re kidding me, right?” I said. “You do realize I’m not thirteen anymore and fully capable of handling myself.”

He sighed loudly and ran a hand through his hair as he weaved in and out of traffic. “Just trust me on this, okay? I know damn well you’re not thirteen.”

I fell silent, the tension in the car palpable. It warmed my heart that he was still concerned about me, but I couldn’t help but wonder if he still saw me as the lonely girl from his past or the woman I had grown into. I definitely saw him as the man he had grown into. He was strong, gorgeous, and very sure of himself. Everything that any woman would want in a man. I just had to get him to open up, so I could rule him out as a suspect. “How is your mom?” I started out, picking what I hoped was a safe topic.

“She’s good,” he finally said after a moment, some of the tension ebbing out of his body. “George is a good man. He loves her and she wants for nothing.”

“That’s good,” I said truthfully, glad that she had found someone. She had been devastated when Mr. Louden had passed on.

“What about your mom?” he asked softly. “How is she?”

“Good as well,” I supplied, glad that I could finally say that. “She’s getting married actually to a good man.”

“It’s funny how it’s all turned out isn’t it?” he chuckled, the final tension fading away. “And how it has come back full circle. I mean, the way we found each other again.”

“Yeah,” I said, fiddling with the bracelet on my arm. “It’s funny.”

If he only knew the real reason we had been thrown together again, I doubted he would be chuckling. In another time, I would have loved to reconnect with Garrett and his family, but this way, well, it wasn’t under the best of circumstances. What would he do once he found out? The thought was still rolling through my head when we pulled up to this beautiful waterfront house an hour later, much of the car ride spent listening to Garrett hash out a problem on the phone with another client. I was glad to get out of the car and stretched before grabbing my notebook, unsure of what my role was in this whole business deal. Garrett also climbed out as an older woman with long blonde hair and dressed in a skimpy bikini with a sheer cover up over it walked out of the front door, her smile melting into a frown when she saw us.

“Mrs. Trent,” Garrett said, a smooth smile on his face. “I’m glad you called me.”