Sweet Deal (2 page)

“Shelby.”

“We’ve sort of already met, but it’s nice to know your name.”

“Yeah.”

He watched her assess him, felt the tug of attraction, the flare of interest.

“On your coffee break?” he asked, removing the lid of his cup and setting it on the small table. The rich, dark-roasted aroma rose to his nose.

“Sort of.” She made a face. “I just needed to get out of the office for a few minutes. I kind of had a run-in with my boss.”

“Uh-oh.” He lifted a brow and sipped his coffee, hot and black. “Everything okay?”

She gave a heartfelt sigh and the emotion behind it pulled at something inside him. “Yeah, things are okay. I was just given a great new project to manage. If I do a good job, it’ll probably get me another promotion.”

He tipped his head and gave her a curious look. Okay, not a sexetary, apparently. “And the problem with that is…?”

Her wry smile held a hint of uncertainty, though intelligence gleamed in those blue eyes. “It’s a long story.”

“Go ahead.” He waved a hand. “I have time.” He tried to encourage her with his smile, curious about why she was so clearly upset over something she should be celebrating.

“I’m afraid my boss is…I don’t know how to explain it.” She looked down at her cup, both hands wrapped around it. “I think he’s…”

Her glum expression had him leaning closer, concern swelling inside him. “Is he harassing you?” His voice went rough and he frowned.

Her ocean-blue eyes flew back up to meet his. “No! No, not really. It’s just…he keeps giving me the best assignments, the best projects to manage, even when I think someone else might be more qualified. He calls me into his office and sometimes he just wants to talk. He takes me out for lunch. People are noticing and it’s making things…very uncomfortable.”

The shadows in her eyes and the way her voice went a little shaky told him how much this disturbed her.

“At first I was happy,” she confided. “I was glad he liked my work, and I was doing so well. Then I started to realize what was going on. Now he’s given me this big, high-profile project and he says we—he and I—have to go to New York together next month. I really don’t want to do that.” She bit her bottom lip.

“I see.” His frown remained in place.

“Oh heavens, why am I talking about this to a total stranger?” She gave a light laugh and shook her head.

“Hey, sometimes it helps to talk about it. And sometimes strangers are the best ones to talk to.”

“I suppose.”

“What are you going to do?”

“I don’t know. But I kind of screwed up this morning. I told him I have a new boyfriend. I thought that might get him off my back. But he actually got…kind of annoyed, I think.”

“Hell.” His shoulders tensed. What kind of scumbucket did she work for?

“I know.” She shook her head, her eyes troubled. “This weekend is the big company picnic. It’s a schmooze-fest and I have to go. He’s going to expect to meet this nonexistent new boyfriend.”

“That was a good idea, though. Maybe the boyfriend could be sick that day. Or out of town on business.”

“Yeah. I guess that’s what I’m going to have to do, make up some excuse. If my boss was bringing his wife, it’d be better. With her there, he wouldn’t try anything. But he says she doesn’t like coming to company functions.”

“He’s married.”

“Yeah.”

What a rat bastard. Jake shook his head. “That’s shitty.”

“I get the impression things aren’t so great between him and his wife. But I don’t know if he’s ever really cheated on her. Maybe I shouldn’t complain. I’m probably reading too much into all this. It’s just…” She hitched one small shoulder and another soft sigh escaped her pretty mouth. “I know people are talking and jumping to conclusions, and I
hate
that. I’m good at my job and I want to be judged on my work.”

“Absolutely.” Guilt stabbed him at how he’d thought she was a sexy secretary. Little blonde-bimbo sex kitten. Maybe that was exaggerating, but she was definitely giving him a different impression than he’d had before they’d talked. “He shouldn’t be doing that to you. Even if he doesn’t mean anything. And I hope to Christ he doesn’t, because if he
is
looking for more than just a professional relationship, he should be punched. He should know people talk. Asshole.”

She wrinkled her nose and smiled. “Thanks.”

“Wish I could help somehow.”

“Oh, I’ll be fine.” She straightened her shoulders and smiled with a determined optimism.

Their eyes met with an almost physical force. Her smile faded and he knew his did too, and with sudden sureness he knew they both had the same idea.

The words came out even though he knew it was crazy. But she was so sweet and pretty and distressed, her good reputation being trashed by a jerk-off boss. “I can come and pretend to be your boyfriend.”

Chapter Two

“That’s crazy,” she breathed, still staring at him.

“Yeah, it kind of is.” He grinned. “But what the hell. Maybe it’ll get him to back off once and for all if he sees you with someone else.”

“You don’t have to do that. You don’t even know me.”

Well, he wasn’t going to insist. He was almost regretting making the wacky offer, so if she didn’t want to do it, fine. “Whatever.” He shrugged. “I’m not busy this weekend. But if you have some other way of dealing with it…”

“I don’t.” She sighed again. Golden eyebrows slanted down over those sexy eyes. “I just feel bad. It seems like a lot to ask of a complete stranger.”

“Hey, we’re not
complete
strangers. We see each other here every day. You know I have a steady job at least, and I’m not likely an axe murderer.” He smiled and the answering smile that spread across her face warmed him inside. Damn, she was gorgeous. No wonder her boss was hot for her. Who wouldn’t be?

But you had to have some kind of ethics in the business world. In a way, it would make him happy to piss off this guy who was being a dick to such a nice girl.

“Saturday. Four o’clock. At Pacific Park.”

“Should we meet there?”

She thought about that. “We should probably arrive together.”

“Give me your address. I’ll pick you up.”

She hesitated.

“Okay, never mind.” He smiled reassuringly so she’d know he wasn’t a serial rapist or something. “We’ll meet somewhere else and then go together. How’s that?”

“Um. Okay.”

“Let’s exchange phone numbers,” he said. She gave him her cell phone number and he punched it into his phone, and then she did the same with his. They arranged a meeting place and time.

“I can’t believe we’re doing this,” she said with a little laugh.

Jake shrugged and smiled. “Like I said, hopefully it will get him off your back.”

She nodded. “I should get back to the office.”

“Yeah. Me too.”

They both stood, picking up empty coffee cups that they tossed into the trash as they made their way through the other tables and onto the sidewalk.

“Good luck,” he said, and resisted the urge to reach out and move a strand of hair that had drifted across her face. “I’ll see you Saturday.”

“Yeah. Thanks, Jake.”

They turned and walked in opposite directions down Sierra Street, but when Jake glanced back at her over his shoulder, she was looking back too. His chest got a funny feeling inside it and he lifted a hand in a casual wave before striding down the sidewalk away from her.

Shelby.

Huh. He’d just wanted a quick break from the monotony of work and ended up with a date.

No. Not a date. He was doing a good deed, helping a damsel in distress. A smile tugged at his mouth. Him, doing a good deed? But hey, she was hot and cute. Spending a few hours with her wouldn’t be a hardship. He didn’t do relationships after the disaster his last one had turned out to be. Ironically, the
only
relationship he’d ever really had. Thinking about how his girlfriend and his best friend had betrayed him still made his gut cramp. He’d been an idiot to get involved with someone. He knew anyone he cared about would leave eventually. That’s why
he
was the one who left. Always. And he planned to continue that way.

But man, there was some kind of spark between him and Shelby. They’d made eye contact lots of times, awareness shifting between them. Maybe he would’ve asked her out at some point. Maybe this was a perfect excuse.

“What’s wrong with boinking the boss?” Shelby’s friend Myra demanded. She sat across the table from Shelby in the tiny sushi restaurant where the two of them, along with Shelby’s two other best friends, Riley and Kiara, had just finished dinner on Friday evening. “Where else are you going to meet men at our age, when you spend more time at the office than you do anywhere else?”

“You don’t really believe there’s nothing wrong with it,” Kiara said mildly to Myra. “It’s a bad idea. Isn’t it, Riley?”

Riley twirled a strand of brown hair around one finger. “Well. It could be a bad idea. But Myra is right in one way.” She shrugged and narrowed her exotic dark eyes. “It’s hard to meet men. Once you’re out of school or college, where else are you going to meet them?”

“That’s right.” Myra smiled. “Forty percent of people have had office romances.”

Shelby shook her head. Myra and her numbers and stats and spreadsheets. “I don’t want an office romance. Especially with my boss. Look what happened to me at RBM,” she pointed out, her stomach going tight at the memory.

“You just got involved with the wrong guy,” Myra said, tossing her auburn hair behind her shoulder.

“I don’t want to do that again,” Shelby replied, frowning at the chopsticks she was turning over in her fingers. “I lost my job over it last time. Plus had my heart broken. And besides, Andrew is married. That makes him totally off limits, even if he wasn’t my boss. Not happening.”

“Dating the boss is tricky,” Myra conceded. “And okay, yeah, a married man is a big no.”

“I also really, really want to keep this job,” Shelby said, leaning forward. “I had a hard time finding it and I really like it there. I don’t want to piss him off.”

“Well,” Myra said. “You don’t have to sleep with him. Just…take advantage of his interest.”

Shelby shifted her gaze to Riley then Kiara. They too exchanged glances. Then Shelby snorted. “I can’t do that.”

“He just gave you a primo project,” Myra pointed out. “He gave you tickets to Riverdance. He lets you leave early whenever you need to. There are all kinds of advantages to having a boss who wants to boink you.”

“Myra!”

“You know what I’m saying. And you said this project could lead to a lot of attention from the big shots. Maybe a big promotion. Take advantage of it.”

Shelby frowned. “Yes, I want to hang on to my job. But not that way!”

“I get it, Shelby,” Riley said with a sympathetic smile. “You want to be judged on your work.”

“Yes! Exactly. I just want to do a good job.”

“And you don’t want people talking about you.”

“Yeah. Like at RBM. Apparently they used to make bets on how long it would take Mark to leave after I did every night.” Bitterness edged Shelby’s voice. Her fingers tightened on the chopsticks.

Riley reached out and covered Shelby’s hand, giving it a brief squeeze. Riley still worked at RBM Pharmaceuticals, which was where they’d met and become friends, so she knew all the ugly details of that debacle. “I understand why you don’t want people talking like that. And Mark’s an asshole. There are already rumors about him and the new girl.”

Shelby grimaced. “Really?”

“Yeah.”

“We tried to tell you…” Kiara began.

Shelby groaned. “I don’t need another lecture about my pathetic love life.”

She knew they did it because they cared about her, but she’d heard enough of her friends’ analysis of all her romantic disasters, even as far back as high school when Myra had been her best friend. Myra, the analyzer. “And I can’t believe you’re telling me to take advantage of Andrew’s interest in me,” she said to Myra with growing heat. “What kind of friend are you? That’s exactly what I would have done in the past, all desperate for male attention!”

Riley intervened. “Shelby, you know you can’t take half the stuff that Myra says seriously.”

Myra sat back in her chair. “Yeah. You’re right. Sorry, Shelby. I wasn’t serious. I didn’t think you’d get so worked up about it.”

Maybe she
was
a little oversensitive about the issue. And she should know Myra didn’t always think about what she said. She was a great actuary, but not always so great with people, even though she had a good heart.

“Telling your boss you have a boyfriend was a great idea,” Kiara said, taking pity on Shelby, no doubt, and diverting the conversation. Shelby sent her a grateful smile, watching her friend sip her soda.

“It won’t work,” Myra stated.

Shelby lifted a brow. “Why not?”

“If he’s married, he’s a cheater. He’s not going to worry about
you
cheating on
your
boyfriend.”