Quitting the Boss (6 page)

She knew it was time to tell him the truth, to tell him what she really wanted.

“You like being a project manager.” And she did, but this wasn’t just about her career.

“Yes, but I want more.” She hoped Alec would understand the underlying message in her comment, that he’d admit he wanted more, too.

“You should have talked to me about this. I could have put you on more acquisitions, given you more challenging projects.”

Jenna sighed, her courage waning. She wasn’t ready to give Alec up, but she was realistic enough to know the risk if she told him what she’d really meant.

Instead of confessing, Jenna nestled closer, letting his warmth blanket her.

Alec had managed to make a case to human resources that there were too many important projects to spend a lot of time reviewing applications. He had a position, he had a veteran project manager, he was ready to make the offer. His case must have been solid, because Candace Pelack told him to extend the offer to Carly if he thought that was best.

The situation was likely going to come back and bite him in the ass – because Candace didn’t make anything easy unless there was something in it for her – but he’d deal with that if and when it came.

Carly had actually squealed over the phone and informed Alec she would give her notice immediately. She’d see if Jenna or Elisa would let her stay at one of their places while she looked for an apartment.

Alec wondered what Jenna would say to that. More curious, if she did let Carly stay, how would she explain where she spent her nights?

He supposed once she made the transition over to Gavin’s department, they wouldn’t have to keep their relationship a secret any longer. There would be nothing human resources – or more specifically, Candace – could say or do about their relationship.

He glanced at his computer screen, checking Jenna’s status. She was in a meeting and so was Cash, so they were likely meeting with Westville Credit Union. Cash had moaned about taking over Westville. Though he didn’t have the kind of finesse Jenna had with that client, the man could handle it. And if he couldn’t, Alec would pass it on to Jalen Foster, who seemed eager to take on the difficult client. The only reason Alec hadn’t given it to Foster now was because he did not want him working that closely with Jenna. Even though Jenna had claimed she’d only kissed Foster once during those long two months when they’d had to cool their heels, Alec didn’t trust the guy to be anywhere near her.

Even though jealousy ran hot in his veins, Alec wasn’t ready to go public. One of the appealing things about his relationship with Jenna was that there were no expectations, especially external ones. He hated when people stuck their noses in, speculating and asking questions. Alec had no intentions of marrying, not after learning what a farce his parents’ marriage was. No, Alec wasn’t going to let a woman play him the way his mother played his father.

Yet, just as he’d confessed to Jenna, he wasn’t ready for things to end between them. He didn’t like the thought of her working for Gavin. In college, Gavin had had the opportunity to cross the line with Alec’s girlfriend and hadn’t. Alec wanted to trust his friend with Jenna, but he had learned a long time ago that even those you trusted could betray you.

“Got a minute?” Gavin asked, leaning through the door frame.

“Sure. Have a seat.”

Gavin tossed a magazine on Alec’s desk. “This came today. There’s a project management track. The PDUs are good to maintain certification.”

Alec grabbed the magazine and scanned the cover. Software development conference in Las Vegas.

Sin City. Alec wouldn’t mind going there, specifically with Jenna so they could commit all kinds of sins. No one would know them there. They could be completely anonymous.

He didn’t think about what they were missing often, but on occasion the little things nipped at him. In the City of Lights, he could put his hands on Jenna in public.

Tossing the magazine back on his desk, Alec focused on the here and now. “Elisa mentioned the other day she needed some professional development units. You been to this conference before?”

Gavin nodded. “It’s a good one; little pricey, but worth the cost. If you send her, your team will get a lot out of it. Hell, she can work with Jenna when she comes back to coordinate some training.”

Alec didn’t like thinking of Jenna in her new role but at least there would be opportunities to work with her. He eyed the magazine, the cover showing Las Vegas in all its nighttime glory. “Vegas, huh?”

“Talk about the perfect venue. I can get some kicks without using vacation.”

“Kicks? You getting back in the saddle?”

Gavin laughed. “If by saddle you mean meaningless sex with countless women, then yeah.”

“I guess that’s a start.” Gavin’s long-time girlfriend had taken off a few months back, leaving the guy bitter and mistrustful.

“Don’t even think about giving me relationship advice, asshole.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” Alec laughed.

“Good. Now I have a company to run, so I suppose I’ll get back to it.”

“Department,” Alec corrected, an exchange that was familiar and comfortable. “You forget, the company is mine.”

“In your dreams, buddy.”

Grabbing the conference magazine again, Alec headed to Elisa’s desk, by way of Jenna’s. Of course she wasn’t there, probably using a conference room for the client meeting. Her laptop was gone, but the workspace was spattered with notepads and pens, indicating she definitely hadn’t left for the day.

“You still need PDUs?” Alec asked, tossing the magazine on her desk.

“I need ten before November,” Elisa informed him, twisting around in her chair.

Alec nodded at the magazine. “See if there’s anything in there that will cover what you need. If so, submit a travel request.”

Her eyes went wide. “You’re sending me to Vegas?”

“I’m sending you to a conference. I’ll expect you to share information when you come back.”

“Can I tack on some vacation to the trip?”

Alec could practically see the excitement beaming out her. “Sure. Just make sure it provides the PDUs you need. If not, we’ll have to find something else.”

“Yeah, yeah. I’ll do that.”

“Detail the courses in the travel request,” he reminded her. It had been a while since Elisa had gone on a business trip. Money was limited and he tried to rotate it among the team. Jenna was next on the rotation to attend a conference, but she was no longer his responsibility.

“Thanks, Alec. I’ll be thorough.”

He had no doubt about that, once she got over her initial excitement. Alec continued up the aisle, noting that Cash wasn’t at his desk and neither was Foster. He hoped the little prick wasn’t sitting in on the Westville meeting.

Next he made his way to the corner. Serenity Fairchild’s desk wasn’t far, but he didn’t like one of his PMs being away from the rest of the team. Unfortunately, Joel Rosebush refused to move even though his colleagues were on the other side of the room. The bristly old guy was near retirement and no one wanted to get on his bad side, so he’d managed to maintain his spot in PM Row, as it was called.

“Serenity,” he said, coming up behind his aloof project manager. He chuckled silently when she jumped.

“I hate it when you do that,” she snarled, turning to glare at him.

“After Jenna moves into her new office, you’re free to take her desk.”

“You’re going to stick the new person back here?”

“Carly’s coming back,” he informed her now that she’d accepted the offer. “She’ll be fine back here.”

Her eyes narrowed. “I’m fine here. Carly can have the throne.” It was no secret Serenity didn’t like Jenna. She had no problems complaining to him about how perfect and righteous Jenna acted.

“You like sitting in a dark corner where people can sneak up on you?”

“You’re the only one who sneaks. I like it here. It’s quiet and I can get my work done.”

Alec knew there was more to it than that. Serenity always acted like an outsider, like she didn’t belong on the team. He’d gone to great efforts to get her integrated, but she was reluctant. Today, she seemed downright pissed off.

“You doing alright?” he asked.

“I’m fine.” She continued to scowl and if there was one thing he knew about Serenity it was she revealed nothing unless forced to. Her annual review was always hell.

“If you change your mind about the desk, let me know.”

Serenity nodded and turned back to her computer, her dismissal obvious. Alec wandered back down PM Row, finding nothing had changed in the few minutes since his last pass. He had a project budget to review and an acquisition proposal to write, but damn if he wanted to work on either. What he really wanted to know was if Jenna was wearing one of those tight little skirts that taunted his control. And if she was, he wanted to hike it around her waist as he buried his cock inside her warm, wet pussy.

Jenna rolled her portable cabinet into her new office. Yes, she could have emptied it and replaced the contents in the matching cabinet in her new office, but it seemed more efficient to just swap the cabinets out. The last director of training had left abruptly. There was speculation he was fired, but no one knew for sure and those who did weren’t talking. Jenna had even asked Gavin, who simply stated Doug had left for personal reasons.

He left some items behind, so Jenna opted to clean the cabinet as a courtesy to Carly rather than leave crumbs, candy, broken pens, and who knows what else in there.

With all her projects handed off, Jenna had the time. Knowing this was her task she’d dressed in slacks and brought in her own cleaners since she hated the smell of the industrial stuff the company provided. As she got to work, she simply dumped everything into the garbage, not interested in brushing the crumbs and melted candy off the supplies. She wasn’t typically wasteful, so Jenna tried to ignore the lingering guilt for tossing the stuff out.

She was scrubbing the last drawer when the door clicked closed behind her. “You look incredible on your hands and knees,” Alec said, his voice thick with desire. “Too bad you’re not wearing one of those fuck-me skirts.”

Jenna peered over her shoulder, smiling when she saw his pupils were dilated. Alec didn’t even try to hide the bulge in his pants. Heat swept through her body. Just seeing Alec turned on was enough to flip her own switch. “You think cleaning a metal cabinet is sexy?” she mused.

“You’re fucking sexy, Jenna. It doesn’t matter what you’re doing.”

Flattery. That was so unlike Alec, unless they were fucking, but even then it always seemed purposeful, driving her toward orgasm.

She stood, because cleaning a cabinet with his seductive gaze on her was a bit too much stimulus.

“You didn’t come by last night,” he said, his gaze intense.

“It was midnight,” she explained. She’d gone to her mother’s on Saturday to meet the new man. Conrad Morris, a sixty-year old financial assistant, would soon be husband number seven if Debra had anything to say about it. Jenna hated those meetings. Her mother relied too heavily on men, something Jenna strived not to do, but her mother seemed happy – as did Conrad – and in the end that’s all Jenna could hope for.

It had been two long, lonely nights but she couldn’t invite Alec along. Her mother would draw her own conclusions if Jenna had opted to stay at a hotel and since their relationship wasn’t out yet, he wouldn’t have agreed to stay at her mother’s with her.

Hell, even if their relationship was out, Jenna wasn’t sure she was ready to introduce Alec to her mother. He’d once told her that mothers didn’t scare him, but the woman would start planning their wedding, something Jenna had no interest in.

“I was up,” he murmured. Alec made no secret that he didn’t like Jenna sleeping anywhere but his bed. While it had been tempting to drive straight to his house, she’d been ragged from the trip. Visiting with her mother, fielding questions about why there wasn’t a man in her life was exhausting.

Plus, she got to spend some quality time with her fish. Goldie and Lockes were pretty independent goldfish with plenty of room in the ten gallon tank. Jenna had realized as she stared at them, too wired after the drive to go right to bed, that she hardly ever spent time at her apartment. Alec spent zero time there.

Her mother and the long drive was an easy excuse. The truth was she’d avoided the man who now loomed in her new office. He was in slacks and a striped oxford shirt that had the top two buttons open. His sleeves were rolled, showing the sinewy lines of his arms. He radiated sex and control and Jenna wanted to lick him up and down, paying special attention to that bulge.

She knew, however, that it was time for her to broach the subject of their relationship. She couldn’t keep putting it off. The point of leaving her job was to pursue more with Alec or to move on, whichever way it went. Their secret had become something she no longer wanted to keep and while she wasn’t ready to introduce him to her mother, she was sure her fish would like to meet him.

“There are no blinds in here,” Jenna noted, knowing she couldn’t talk about their relationship at work.

“And why would you need blinds in your office, Miss Craven?” Alec inquired.

“For privacy, of course.” While she tried not to make sex at work a habit, she was eager to break in her new office in the most delicious way possible.

Alec’s smile told Jenna he was on board with her idea. “Are you going to keep the desk there?” he asked. It was currently set up with a short side against the right wall, facing the window. Jenna hated having her back to the door and even though the desk wasn’t directly in front of the door, there was still an opportunity for people to peer in without her knowing.

“I thought I’d move it over there.” She pointed to the window. She would turn the desk ninety degrees, putting the short side against the windows. That would give people plenty of room to sit without being hit by the door.

Alec moved closer, pinning her against the desk. “As soon as you get blinds in here, I’m going to fuck you, right here on your new desk.”