Tempting The Boss (13 page)

Her back stiffened. “I don’t think I need to be afraid of him.”

Dean reached over and set his hand on top of hers. “I know he’s your brother, but you were afraid of what he would do last week. He hasn’t done anything to convince you he’’s trustworthy.”

She shook her head. “No. I saw him yesterday. He was crushed.”

“Or he’s a good actor. I’m not saying you have to tell him off or have an armed guard. But let me hang around for the day. Don’’t let yourself be alone with him. Just in case.”

“Have you hang around? And what exactly am I supposed to tell Terry? That you’re still doing consulting work?” She snorted.

“He already thinks we’re together…” Dean clenched his free hand into a fist as he waited for her response.
What the hell was he even doing? Telling Victoria to let the world think they were a real couple? Going public with a relationship he didn’t even know if he wanted?

“It’s not going to matter,” she told him.

He frowned. “It can’t hurt to have me around. You need to be more careful. With everything with your dad and the plant purchase, you’re going to be more distracted than ever. Let me be a second set of eyes and ears for you.”

“It’s not going to matter if I’m alone with Terry because he’s coming to work for me.”

Dean rapidly blinked as he leaned away from her. “What?”

She tightened her lips and pushed herself off the bed. “I said he’s coming to work for me next week. I offered him a job last night.”

Dean stood too, and bore down on Victoria. “What the hell is wrong with you?”

She glared up at him. “I’m running a damn business, Dean. A
family
business. If Terry wants to be involved, he’s allowed. Remember, there’s a chance he owns the place now anyway.”

“Is that what this is about? You’re throwing him a bone so he doesn’t throw you out on your ass if your father left him everything?””

“No. It’s about my brother coming to me and asking for a favor. If I say no, that could be the end of our relationship forever. If he’s willing to forgive me for firing him, the least I can do is give him a job he’s completely overqualified for.”

“And what if you do get the company? How long before you happen to have a little ‘accident’ and Terry steps up to take your place?””

Victoria pushed against his chest, but he refused to move. He wasn’t letting her out of this damn house until she came to her senses. Terry might talk a good game and play the grieving son, but someone had already tried to kill Victoria twice.
Why wouldn’t she listen to reason?
He refused to believe someone this smart could be so stupid.

“For the love of God, Dean. Just leave me alone. If you haven’t realized, I have a funeral to plan. It’s going to be a hard enough day as is without you giving me grief.””

“It will get a hell of a lot harder if you’re dead! I’m not letting you go anywhere until I know you’re taking some sort of precaution to make sure you’re safe.”

“I’m already taking precautions! Gordon has five different guys—each one costing me a fortune, by the way—who are all trying to find out who wants me dead. None of them can find any connection between Terry and what’s happening to me. No mysterious payments out of his account. No shady meetings with guys since he got back to the city. No emails or texts that could be a hit order. Nothing. I’m not a fool, Dean. I do want to live.”

Dean frowned. Victoria was able to hire the best of the best, and he knew from experience that whoever wanted her dead was no professional. Chances were they’d leave muddy footprints all over the place. If it was Terry, Gordon should’ve been able to figure something out by now. ““Are you sure you want to take the chance?”

“Consider, for a moment, that Terry isn’t trying to kill me. What kind of message would it send if I don’t help him plan Dad’’s funeral?”

He bit back a growl of frustration. Hell, if he ever had a chance of keeping her away from Terry, it was gone now. She would need to help plan her father’s funeral and there wasn’t a thing he could say to stop her. So he said the next best thing. ““I’m going with you.”

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

As Victoria’s gaze bounced between Dean and Terry, she realized just how big of a mistake she’d made. Dean glared at Terry with barely concealed contempt, and Terry kept awkwardly shifting his weight as they reviewed the myriad funeral options laid out before them.

There were caskets to choose from, flowers, venues, menus. She’d actually faced a moment of panic and called up Grace for help. But of course she wasn’t available to devote the next three whole days to planning a funeral.

This wasn’t just a funeral, though. This was a multinational meeting of business conglomerates that she only had days to throw together. Luckily, it wasn’t a secret that her family had money, and her father had made some arrangements before his sudden heart attack last week.

Their family funeral home that had also handled her grandmother’s funeral decades ago had stepped up to make things as easy as possible. And when Dean wasn’t looking as if he was about to punch her brother in the face, he actually made a few good points.

It was almost frustrating when he was so helpful. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d truly relied on anyone besides her assistant Denise. She didn’t even want Dean to come with her today, but it was strangely comforting that when her hand slipped below the table, his would be there to catch it. Something she knew Terry had noticed, but she didn’t care at this point.

People mistaking her and Dean for an honest-to-goodness couple was the least of her concerns. At the moment, the top priority was flowers, which was the first time in her life flowers had been a priority.

“Everything seems so cheerful,” she muttered as she flipped the pages in one of the massive books the funeral director provided. He had five of them. Five books of just funeral flowers. Who knew? And of course she’d need to look through every page. Her father deserved the best, and she needed to know she’d considered every option.

“Oh…that one’s pretty!” Joslyn, across the table, pointed to a white lily bouquet.

Victoria frowned. “You don’t think it’s too pretty?”

“Do you think your dad would like it?” asked Dean.

Terry and Victoria both let out a laugh at the same time. “Please,” said Victoria. “Dad probably never stopped to smell any type of flower ever.””

“So would he want no flowers?” asked Joslyn, brow furrowed in confusion.

“Oh no,” said Terry. “He’d want a massive display. He’’d want to go out with a bang and impress everyone.”

Victoria smiled at the memory of how much Dad liked to show off. For someone so frugal with money sometimes, he sure did like to splurge every now and again. “It’s like no matter what we pick, it’s not going to really be right for him anyway.”

Dean took the book and flipped it shut. “Then don’t worry about it.”

She sighed. “He needs flowers.”

“And he’ll have them. The guys here know what they’re doing. When my parents died, we had almost no funds for the funeral. So I gave the florist a very tiny number and they worked everything else out.”

That was a tempting idea. Just step away and mark one thing off her ever growing list of priorities. “What if I don’t like it? What if it’s not impressive?””

“Well, who knows more about flowers? Either of you, or someone who does it for a living?”

Terry bristled. “I’m not handing over something this important to someone who has no idea what they’re doing.”

Joslyn set a hand on his leg. “It’s not a huge job,” she agreed. “Terry and I can take care of it, Victoria. We both know you’re busy…”

For a moment, Victoria almost thought Joslyn was insulting her.
We all know work is more important than your father’s funeral
. She pushed the thought aside. It was probably her own guilt for wanting to run as far and fast from the funeral planning as possible.

Besides, Joslyn had been nothing but nice in the past day. At the hospital, she’d been sympathetic and absolutely supportive with Terry. Victoria knew it probably wasn’t easy for her to be pulled into all this family drama.

The only one Victoria couldn’t understand was Dean. She had no idea why he was even still around. Sure, she’d hired him to hang around as added muscle for the plant trip, but now why was he here?
Pity because he’’d been through this before? Did he actually want something more from her?

She’d inwardly laughed at the thought. They got along okay, and the sex was mind-blowlingly good, but they really made no sense as a couple. She hadn’t had an actual boyfriend in over five years, and he didn’t once give any hint that he wanted more than what they had. It was a question she really should ask him, but she hadn’t been able to muster up the courage during the few times they were alone.

First, the timing was horrible. Who wanted to have the relationship talk at a funeral parlor? Secondly, she didn’t even know what she wanted, so she wasn’t about to ask him. There were good reasons it had been so long since she’’d had a relationship. She’d spent the past few years digging Green & Sons out of the financial hole it had been in, and she rather liked her freedom.

She’d grown up surrounded by men. Once she’d been old enough to live on her own, it had been a breath of fresh air. How was she supposed to handle sharing her life with someone who couldn’t possibly be more different from her?

“So…flowers?” asked Joslyn.

Victoria jerked her head up, only then realizing she’d been lost in her thoughts. “Sorry,” she muttered. “If you want to take over some of this, I’d be very appreciative.”

Joslyn gave her a gentle smile. “Of course,” she said. “From now on, we’re sisters. Anything you need, just ask.” She held out a hand. “Let me put my number into your phone. That way you can get a hold of me if you have any questions.”

Victoria took a steadying breath as she tried to muster up the energy to smile back at her brother’s fiancée. It was only twelve in the afternoon and all she wanted to do was crawl back into bed and rest. She was never this exhausted. And when was the last time someone programmed their number into her phone? It seemed like everyone these days had a business card to hand out. She keyed in her password and handed her cell over to Joslyn.

But the smile she wanted never showed up. The emotional trauma of yesterday and her active night with Dean must’ve taken their toll on her, and for the life of her, she could not muster up any enthusiasm for her brother’s happy-go-lucky fiancée. ““Excuse me.” She pushed herself away from the table.

She heard a chair scrape behind her and held the door to the office they were using open, expecting Dean to follow her. But instead, she looked back to see Terry.

“Hanging in there?” he asked.

Before she could answer, Dean also emerged in the hall, the stern look he’d worn all morning firmly in place.

“I’m managing.” She narrowed her eyes at Dean in a silent warning to behave himself.

Terry gave Dean a tight smile while Dean remained straight-faced. “Can I get a few minutes alone with Vicks?” her brother asked.

Dean took a step closer to Victoria. “Your girl is neck-deep in flower arrangements. I’d rather stay out here.”

At least he actually made up an excuse for coming out into the hall. But being squished between the two men in her life wasn’t exactly the breather she wanted. “Can I just have a few minutes alone, guys?”

Dean set a hand on her arm and gave her a gentle but firm squeeze. “I don’t think you need to be alone right now.”

She rolled her eyes, but before she could say anything, Terry spoke up for her. “If she wants to take a moment to herself, she’s allowed.”

“It’s fine, Terry.” As much as she wanted to tell Dean exactly how much she wanted him to give her some space, she’d agreed to bring him along for a reason. Even if she didn’t think Terry was the one after her, someone was. And until she found out who, she didn’t want to be alone in public for one second.

“No, it’s not fine. He’s been giving me the stink eye since the moment I met him and now he’s following you everywhere you go? What are you doing with this guy?”

“You haven’t been around in years,” snapped Dean. “So don’’t show up out of the blue asking for a job and insulting your sister’s choice in men.”

“Dean! Come on—”

“What, Victoria? He already got what he wanted. He was around you for less than a week and you gave him a job. So if I want to tell him what I think, I will. Because you’re sure as hell not speaking up.”

Terry held up his hands. “Whoa, whoa. Is that what you think? I’m only back for a job?”

“He’s not back for a job,” assured Victoria, but it only seemed to make Dean more upset.

“Stop defending him. Even if he’s a great guy who only wants to get along with his sister, he’s only been back for a week. Don’’t let this tragedy force you into making bad decisions.”

Victoria took a deep breath and tried to remind herself why it was important to have Dean with her. All last night, he’d been so gentle and understanding. She was an idiot to expect him not to revert right back to his normal self in the light of day.

She pushed through the funeral home doors and took some deep gulps of the warm city air. The streets and sidewalks were packed with the lunch rush, and Victoria leaned against the pristine marble front of the funeral home to take it in.