Unbreak My Heart (28 page)

“I was afraid of that.”

I blinked at her. “You were?”

“Yes. That’s why it’s best to do an informal poll with industry professionals before taking the next step.” She swirled the wine around in her glass. “What was his advice?”

“Hire from within.”

“Precisely.”

“Which is great in theory…?”

“It’s great in reality too. I can think of half a dozen qualified candidates right now. Can’t you?”

I swallowed a mouthful of margarita, allowing a moment to appreciate the blend of orange and lemon with the smoky flavor of tequila. What had they put in this to get those ratios so perfect?

“Sierra?”

“Sorry. Having a margarita-utopia moment.” I shot her a quick grin. “To answer your question…I can think of two people that might be contenders. Tamarin and Jessica.”

“They’re both on my list too.” Phyllis studied me over her wineglass. “Who do you think is on the top of my list?”

“Alexis?” I guessed.

“No.” She paused. “You are on the top.”

“Me? Seriously? But I already have a fulltime job. I didn’t give you the impression—”

“No, dear, you haven’t.” She patted my arm. “And that’s the real shame. You are everything PCE needs in a director, Sierra.”

I didn’t bother to hide my shock.
Me? Really
? kept pinging in my head.

“You’ve poured your heart and soul into PCE from the start. I’ve always believed you’re the driving force behind why it started out successful and continues to grow every year. No one is more invested in taking it to the next level. You told me tonight that you love it. That’s why you need to seriously consider taking the position.”

“Phyllis. Is this an offer?”

“Yes. I’ll have the details drawn up and send you an official offer this week.”

“I…shit. I don’t know what to say.”

“I’m hoping you’ll say yes.” She held up her hand to forestall my argument. “Please hear me out. I’m so proud of everything you’ve accomplished. I’m proud to have played a small role in your growth as a businesswoman. I’m delighted you still come to me for career advice, though for the life of me I’ll never understand why you insisted on starting entry-level at Daniels Property Management.”

I laughed. She’d said
entry-level
like it was VD.

“I suspect you’re struggling more in your position than you let on. I can’t claim to be surprised. We’ve come a long way in the business world. But there are those…men, usually, who keep putting their wing-tips on our foreheads and kicking us back down the ladder because we’ve dared to climb it.”

“I’m still sporting tassel marks on my behind from one manager’s diatribe this week.” Fucking Greg.

Phyllis leaned in. “I’ve met your father. I know he is a hard-working and fair man. While I understand your reluctance to bring company issues to his attention, I have to ask…if he wasn’t your father, would you have the same reaction?”

“If my father didn’t own the company, chances are as a senior-level VP, in a subdivision of the main corporation, that I wouldn’t have the ear of the CEO. So in some ways, the accusations that I get special consideration and privileges because I’m the daughter of the CEO are true.”

“Damn tight spot you’re in.”

“What keeps me going is the belief that change comes from within. If I say screw it, this isn’t worth it…the status quo wins, and I’ve let down the women in the company who are hoping that I’m the one who can set things right.”

She blinked at me.

Crap. Had I pissed her off?

“Sierra McKay, I am so fucking proud of you.”

The F-bomb? From Dr. M? Get the fuck out. “Uh…why?”

“You’re actually practicing what I preach. Few students do that out in the real world. Your tenacity is admirable. And yet, I really believe you’d be happier if you spent your working hours in an environment where you’re needed and where your true passion lies. So please read over the offer for PCE this next week. Take some time to think it over. Call me if you have any questions.”

“I will. Thank you. For everything.”

“Thank you. You are my shining star student, Sierra. I want to make sure you get the chance to show the world what you can do.” She pushed back and stood.

I stood too and gave her a hug. “Drive safe.”

“Hope to hear from you soon.”

After Phyllis left, I settled in and tried to process everything that’d just happened.

But my mind was swimming with too many possibilities, too many variables, too many questions. This type of decision was out of the realm of my experience. And the people I’d normally talk to about it…well, one just offered me a job and the other owned the company I worked for.

I did have one more option.

After I got in my car, I activated the hands-free option for my cell phone and said, “Call Rory.” I didn’t worry that I was calling too late; night owl Rory would rather do anything than sleep.

She answered the call by saying, “Please tell me you’re using Bluetooth so I don’t have to worry about you wrecking your car when you’re talking to me.”

“Hands-free, all the way, baby. And I’m not
that
bad of a driver.”

She snorted. “It’s the big city. Everyone is in a hurry and you don’t have to be the bad driver to end up in a car crash.”

“Let’s start over. Heya, sis. How’s life in the woods with your very own flannel-and-jeans-wearing lumbersexual?”

“Fantastic. But I prefer Dalton to wear no shirt.”

“I don’t blame you. Is it creepy to say I’d ogle him without shame if I saw him demolishing big logs with just an ax and his rippling muscles?”

“Kinda creepy, but I’m sure it’d put a swagger in his step, despite the fact he’s your business partner as well as your brother-in-law.”

“Blow him a kiss for me, because I know he’s close.”

“Hang on.”

I heard background noises and then a sigh.

“I’m back. Damn distracting man. What’s up?”

“I miss you. I need to talk to you and I wish I could just drive over to your house right now.”

“Me too. I hate that we live so far apart. Why’d you have to move all the way to Arizona?”

“Why’d you have to move to the middle of nowhere, Montana?” I countered.

Rory laughed. “I ask myself that same question sometimes. But you didn’t call to talk about me.” She paused. “So your dad and my mom told me Boone West is back around, specifically in Phoenix.”

Rory’s mom had married my dad when I was sixteen and Rory was twenty-two. Since we both had been only children, we’d immediately latched onto each other. I believed we were closer than blood siblings because we were both so grateful to finally have a sister.

“Sierra?” she prompted.

“Sorry. Yes, Boone is in Phoenix.”

“Is he out of the military?”

“He’s still in the army. It’s this big complex political program that’s allowed him to be on educational leave while on active duty.”

“But he’s in Phoenix because you’re there?”

“I’m not the only reason he’s here, but I’m the biggest reason.”

“How deep are you in with him?”

“He’s living with me.”

She went quiet for a moment.

“It’s good, Rory. Better than I ever imagined.”

“I still feel the need to punch something. Like his face.”

I grinned. She was such a tough talker. “You’re loyal and I love you for that. But I didn’t call to talk about my relationship with Boone.”

That surprised her. “You didn’t?”

“No. I need some career advice.” I passed the turnoff to my house and decided to keep driving. “This stays in the sister vault.” We created the sister vault as a place where we shared things we didn’t want her mom or my dad to know about.

“Got it. So what’s going on?”

“I was offered another job today.”

“Since when were you looking for another job?”

“I wasn’t.” Rory knew about my involvement with PCE so I didn’t have to waste time laying that part out. I could delve right into the pros and cons list I’d already started to compile. I talked for a good five minutes without interruption, but I wondered if we’d lost the connection because Rory rarely let me ramble on. “You still there?”

“Yes. Just trying to process it all. First off… Damn, girl, I am so freakin’ proud of you! What positive forward motion in your career just to be offered the position.”

I grinned. I knew she’d understand. “Thanks.”

“Second, it has to feel empowering that you’re the most qualified person to expand the company beyond the start-up phase.”

“It is. PCE has always been more than just a service organization I belonged to in college.”

“Which is why your former advisor knows you’re the best person to take PCE to the next level,” Rory pointed out. “And I have to ask this, so don’t be coy or downplay your abilities. But didn’t you consider applying for that top spot?”

I chose my words carefully. “Yes. And no. Yes, because ego aside, I’ve been involved in every aspect of PCE since its inception. No one is as familiar with the ins and outs as I am. That might be because I’m a bit of a control freak.”

Rory gasped. “You?”

“Takes one to know one.”

A moment of silence followed. I sensed Rory gearing up to get nosy.

“Look, I know you
said
you didn’t call to talk about Boone, but I have to ask—”

“If the reality of being naked with him lives up to the romantic fantasy I’ve held onto for seven years? Especially since I was a virgin the one and only time he kissed me?” I paused. “Well, I asked him to move in with me within a few hours of us hitting the sheets the first time.”

Rory laughed.

“Right now…it’s intense and glorious and necessary. Sex could be all-consuming if that was all there is between us. But there’s so much more than that.”

“When you’re past that fuck-your-brains-out-twenty-four-seven stage, call me and I’ll share my tips on how to train and tame your man.”

I heard my brother-in-law Dalton repeat “Tame?” in the background and I knew Rory was in for it.

Then Dalton’s voice came on the line. “Sorry, Sierra. It’s past Rory’s bed…
tame
. Later.”

Click.

I wasn’t expecting
Boone to be home since his shift went from noon to midnight. But his vehicle was in the garage. I found him in the kitchen, books, notebooks and papers spread out across the breakfast bar. I tossed my laptop bag and purse on the table just as Boone spun around on his barstool.

“When did you get off?” I asked him.

“I was waiting for you to come home so we could both get off.”

The possessive way he growled that as his hot eyes ate up every inch of me sent tingles zipping down my spine. “Boone.”

Then he gritted out, “Fuck. Me.”

“What?”

Boone stood and started toward me. “Look at you. All professional and put-together in your sexy-assed business suit.”

“Sexy-assed?” I repeated.

“Uh-huh. Oh, that skirt is perfectly acceptable in a business environment. Not too short. Not too tight.” His eyes roved up my body. “So’s the blouse. Not too see-through. Not too low-cut. On any other woman this outfit might actually look boring.”

He finally let his gaze connect with mine.

The primal lust in his eyes sent fire licking along my skin. I was shocked my clothing hadn’t spontaneously combusted from the heat between us.

“But on you? It’s way hotter than if you were wearing nothing but a garter belt and pasties.”

I managed to eke out a soft, “Why?”

“Because it issues a challenge. It screams power. It demands, ‘Are you man enough to peel back the armor?’ It reminds me that I’m the luckiest motherfucker on the planet that you’re
mine
.”

He snarled the last word.

Then he was on me. Hands in my hair. Mouth owning mine. Body to body as he drove me backward until my ass met the sliding glass door.

Boone’s need swamped me. He wanted me like this. As the woman I was now, not the girl I’d been. I didn’t have to prove I was smart and strong and feminine. He knew it. Celebrated it. Embraced it.

I surrendered completely; to the moment and to him.

But when my grabby hands reached for him, Boone broke the kiss.

Circling my wrists, he pinned my hands above my head on the sliding glass door. “Leave them there.” Then he nosed aside the collar of my blouse so he could make me squirm, make me wet with that wicked mouth on my skin.

“I’m gonna fuck you like this,” he panted against my neck. “Wearing this suit and those bang-me-baby high heeled shoes.”

“Yes. Please.”

Boone rocked his hips into mine and reconnected our mouths in a hot, wet kiss.

I couldn’t get enough of the slow stroke of his tongue, how he teased and took. His fingers slipped the buttons on my blouse free with such deliberate care that the sound of his fingertips scraping the fragile fabric made me arch closer. I wanted the calluses stroking my skin.

He trailed biting kisses from my lips to my ear. “Hold still.”

I could only moan. The fuzziness in my head, the tightness of my skin, the wetness between my thighs made my thoughts incoherent beyond the word
more
.

Sudden freedom around my ribcage meant he’d popped the front clasp of my bra. Immediately he pushed the lace cups aside as well as the edges of my blouse. He flattened his palms above my breasts and smoothed his big hands down my torso slowly, making sure every inch of my soft skin felt the rough touch of his.