In answer, he crooked his finger at me to come to him.
It was appalling the way my body reacted to the commanding gesture, as if I’d just been summoned to the bedroom.
Mortified, frustrated, and irritated that he had such power over me, I gave him a slight shake of my head. Reid’s eyebrow raised at my defiance, but I ignored him. We’d decided that I needed to find a new job, and that was exactly what I’d done. My time at Shaw’s was up after Christmas, and Reid would no longer be my boss. So defying him wasn’t really an issue.
Instead, I moved toward Santa, who took the present with another lascivious wink in my direction.
The whole time, I could feel my boss’s stare burning into me.
I knew he was beyond annoyed at this point.
A niggle of concern filtered through my newfound “could give zero fucks” attitude.
Maybe Reid would ask me to leave sooner.
And even though I kept telling myself I didn’t care what he thought of me, I knew it would sting horribly if he made me pack my things and leave him.
I wasn’t prepared for it.
Not yet.
I still had two weeks of secretly pining for him and hating him in equal measure.
I wanted those two weeks!
They were mine.
I flicked him a look beneath my lashes.
He was still there.
Glowering at me.
Oh, dear.
I was definitely on someone’s Naughty List.
Chapter Two
EVAN
Early October
Three months ago
The thing is … I’m actually a really professional person. Normally. Ask anyone.
The current situation didn’t highlight that virtue, but I promise it was true.
It was just very hard for me not to press my ear to Reid’s office door so I could listen in on his conversation with Emmy.
I wouldn’t usually.
I might be infatuated with my boss, but his relationship with Emmy was none of my business.
However, yesterday, I had the unfortunate task of relaying to Reid that his girlfriend had rung up a whopping five grand bill under his personal account for the store. Reid had gone quiet at the news, giving nothing away regarding his feelings on the matter.
Then, today, I’d been in the staff room trying to defuse a quarrel between Ailsa, the salon manager, and Louis, the beauty department manager. Apparently, Ailsa had recommended a product to a customer that we didn’t stock, and this ruffled Louis’s feathers. While he was sort of right that she should only recommend store products, I couldn’t help but understand why Ailsa was pissed off at him for his condescending attitude.
Handling staff disputes was not part of my job description. It should fall to George, the general manager, to Human Resources, or to Reid himself. Reid, however, had no patience for tattletales, as he called them, and George was in a meeting with our events coordinator for the upcoming Halloween sale. Human Resources were surprisingly good at avoiding human contact outside of their own department. Reid had thus asked that I “see to the problem regarding the staff.” This had been happening more and more lately, since I had a knack for conflict resolution.
“So,” I was saying to Ailsa and Louis, “if Ailsa thinks this product is a better one than the products in Shaw’s, I’ll talk to Reid about stocking it. That way, we all win. Yes?”
Louis gave a little huff, but nodded.
Ailsa beamed.
That was when I saw Emmy floating by the staff room wearing four-inch heels, her diaphanous trench coat billowing behind her as she strutted down the hallway toward Reid’s office.
“Uh … I have to go. We’re all good?” I gave Louis and Ailsa a thumbs-up before scurrying out of the staff room before they could stop me. “Back to work,” I threw over my shoulder.
Emmy was already in Reid’s office by the time I caught up. The woman had outrageously long legs.
That was when I abandoned all common decency and pressed my ear to the door.
I was shamefaced, but not nearly enough to stop myself.
“Three months is nothing,” Reid said calmly.
While my boss could glower for Scotland and brood and cut a person with a look so dirty I’d seen grown men crumble under it, he rarely raised his voice. He was always so in control. It made me want to ruffle his feathers.
And by ruffle his feathers, I mean drive him so wild with passion he falls on me like a wild thing.
Flushing hot at the imagery, I squeezed my thighs tight and tried to concentrate on the somewhat muffled conversation beyond the door.
“Do you know how many men would die to have me in their bed?” Emmy countered.
At her arrogance, I stifled a snort.
So she was tall, voluptuous, and gorgeous.
Big deal.
If she had a beautiful heart to go with her pretty facade, then she would have been right. Reid would be lucky to have her.
Unfortunately, Emmy was kind of a snooty cow. She looked down her nose at Reid’s staff and expected them to snap to her every demand, and was what she referred to as a socialite. A socialite? Did those even exist in Edinburgh? Apparently so, because Emmy didn’t work for a living. She had a degree from St. Andrews University, so she wasn’t stupid, but she was from a wealthy family. Between their money and Reid’s, Emmy didn’t seem to think working was a productive use of her time.
Did I sound judgmental?
I wasn’t usually judgy.
But I was judging her. I admit it.
The thing of it was, I couldn’t understand how this lack of work ethic could appeal to Reid. My brother’s best friend hadn’t gotten to where he was in life without serious hard work. He’d grown up around the corner from us in Dalkeith, a town about thirty minutes southeast of Edinburgh city center. A town I still lived in, occupying a tiny one-bedroom apartment a few streets over from my parents’ house.
Reid had grown up with a single mum, Annie. She’d worked her arse off to keep a roof over Reid’s head and food in his stomach. Like us, they didn’t have much, but they had each other, and Annie had my parents while Reid had Patrick. I hadn’t come along until my brother and Reid were twelve years old, so by the time I was old enough to really get to know Pat and Reid, they’d left home. Despite how easy it might have been for them to fall in with the wrong crowd of boys in our estate, they’d both stuck in at school and gotten into the University of Edinburgh. While Patrick then studied for his medical degree in Manchester, Reid got his MBA at a top business school in London. We’d see them over the holidays, as Annie and Reid always spent Christmas with us. I wasn’t aware of Reid back then. I was only a kid, after all, and just excited to have my big brother home.
Reid returned to Edinburgh before Patrick, and we didn’t see much of him at all.
My brother returned home two years later to complete his foundation program as a doctor at a general practice in the city. It was then we saw more of Reid. Not loads, but more.
And I developed my first real crush.
I remember it clearly.
I was fourteen years old. It was Christmas, and Patrick was spending the night with us, rather than staying at his flat. Like always, Annie and Reid came over for Christmas Day.
I’d noted that Reid didn’t smile much.
But he smiled at me as he strolled into my parents’ sitting room and wished me a happy Christmas. His smile set off a riot of flutters in my belly, and I found myself tongue-tied and flustered around him.