“Six figures?”
“Seven.”
I held back a laugh. “What happens when it rains?”
“A construction crew is building retractable cases for the TV and furniture tomorrow,” he said. “I’m also having one built indoors for the days when she doesn’t want to come out here.” He looked as if his logic was perfectly practical. “I was going to ask you for your advice, but I didn’t want to distract you from your meetings. Is this too much?”
“Coming from you?” I smiled. “No, not at all.”
Violet plopped onto a seat in the front row and looked back at us. “Hit play, Uncle Preston!”
He laughed and pulled the remote from his pocket. Then he led me to the second row.
I rested my head on his chest as the movie played, and he ran his fingers through my hair.
“Do you want to go over my notes after this goes off?” I whispered.
“No.” He kissed me. “We can do that tomorrow.”
“Shhhh!” Violet turned around and looked at us. “Bear can’t hear the movie when you’re talking. You have to be quiet.”
We laughed, and she shushed us again.
The second she turned around, Preston pulled me into his lap and “quietly” kissed my lips for the rest of the film.
In the morning, I showered in his master suite, while he had one of my suits delivered to his front door.
We shared his town car on the way to his headquarters—each of us addressing our emails and phone calls as Violet slept in her car seat.
With only a couple of weeks left on our deal, I tried to remind myself that this was only temporary and that when it came time to resign from Parker International, we’d be strangers all over again.
“Stop thinking like that.” He leaned over and kissed me as if he’d read my mind, erasing every single one of my thoughts.
Damn.
We went our separate ways when we made it to his floor, and I told him I’d debrief him on my trip at noon.
Unfortunately, noon already felt like never, since it was my day to sit through more replacement interviews, and I didn’t think I was going to find the one today.
I took a deep breath and smiled at the third interviewee who sat across from me. “Can you tell me why you want to work for Parker International?”
“Well, this is actually my second interview for this position, so I’m hoping I’ll make a much better impression this time around.” She looked at her palm.
“Um … Okay, then. Well, I know you’re currently finishing up a law degree, but it says here you used to work sales at the corporate flagship for Borders Bookstore before they ceased operations. Can you tell me a little about your previous position?”
“It was a really great job. It’s so sad that they closed, you know?”
“Yes, but can you give me a few details about what you used to do there?”
“Um, yeah. Wait one second.” She brought her palm up to her face. “I think this is where I messed up last time. Hold on.” She began reading the words on her hands loud enough for me to hear them. “Say something about sales and units. Don’t bring up names or specifics, so they can’t ask that many specific questions. See other palm for my resume. Don’t look at palms too much.” She put her left palm down, and then she looked at her right one.
I pinched my arm to make sure this was really happening.
“Okay, so.” She cleared her throat. “I would love to discuss my previous employment if, and only if, I’m granted a chance for a second interview. At this point and time, my resume speaks for itself.”
I stared at her, tempted to say what Preston would say if he were sitting next to me.
Get the hell out of my office. Now.
“I’ll be in touch,” I said, standing and offering my hand.
“Oh my god, really?” She smiled. “I knew I’d get to the second round this time!” She shook my hand and walked out of my office.
The second the door shut, I crossed her name off the list. With half an hour to spare until noon, I decided to check on another applicant, but I spotted a regretful terms email.
* * *
Subject: Thank You for Letting Us Know (AveryCon)
Miss Lauren,
Thank you for sending such a thoughtful letter to our job offer. We regret we won’t be working with you for the next stage of your career, but we sincerely wish you the best.
Max Reynolds,
CEO of AveryCon
* * *
What the hell?
I’d never sent them a rejection letter. I started to tell them that they must be mistaken, but another regretful terms email landed in my inbox, this time from the firm I interviewed for last week. It took me all of five seconds to check my sent box to realize what’d happened.
Ugh! Preston.
I stormed out of my office and into his, but he wasn’t at his desk. His laptop was open, and his coffee was still steaming in its cup.
“Preston?” I called.
No answer.
Confused, I walked to his private bedroom suite down the hall and saw him sleeping on the bed, with Violet softly snoring as she lay against his chest.
I wanted to thrash him, but I figured it was unfair to do so if he was sleeping, so I hit the lights. I walked over and pulled a blanket over them, and before I could walk away, Preston grabbed my wrist.
Opening his eyes, he stared at me for a while, and then he slowly stood up.
“Thank you for the long lunch break,” Cynthia said, stepping into the room. She looked at our entwined hands and tilted her head to the side.
Preston made no move to let my hand go, he kissed Violet’s forehead and whispered to Cynthia that we were about to discuss something important.
“Don’t call me unless it’s an emergency,” he said.
He led me out of the suite and to his office, locking the door behind us.
“I’m pissed at you right now,” I said.
“What’s new?” His lips met mine within seconds, and my arms went around his neck. Slipping his hands around my waist, he cupped my ass and lifted me against him, carrying me over to his desk.
“Wait,” I said, pulling back from him. “Why did you hack into my email account to send rejection letters?”
“For the umpteenth time, hacking implies that I didn’t guess your password.” He smiled, trailing his finger against my lips. “Although I do like your new password, SexwithmyBoss, much better than your old one.”
“You said you had no problems with me quitting.”
“I’ve never said that.”
“You know what I mean … Why would you send a rejection letter to AveryCon without telling me?”
“The CEO of AveryCon is about to be indicted on serious fraud charges. You don’t need a sinking ship on your resume after working for the best.”
“What about The H Company? Is Mr. Horford about to be indicted on fraud charges, too?”
“No.” He smiled. “I just don’t like him.”
“Oh my god …” I tried to push him away, but he held me still.
“He has a reputation, Tara.”
“So do you.”
“Before you, I’ve never slept with an employee, and I’ve never fired someone because she wouldn’t agree to sleep with me either.”