Who's the Boss? & Her Perfect Stranger: Who's The Boss? / Her Perfect Stranger. Jill Shalvis

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ nodded emphatically. “Joe scared her off, and—” He broke off at the look on Joseph’s face.

      Another awkward silence. Tim bit his lip. Andy stared at his feet. Vince watched Caitlin send a curious, cautious glance to Joe. “She, uh…didn’t work out,” Vince said diplomatically. “It wasn’t really anyone’s fault exactly.”

      Joe scoffed. “No need to mince words, Vince. You can tell her the truth.”

      Whether it was loyalty or simple resistance to Joseph’s tone, Vince remained silent, stubbornly buttoning his lip.

      “I’ll tell her,” Tim piped up in a stage whisper that everyone within three miles could have heard. He looked at Caitlin and confided, “Joe scared the last three women off. You don’t scare easily, do you?”

      “I…” She thought of her bills. Of the creditors. “No.”

      “Joe’s not all that great with women,” Tim said.

      Vince laughed softly when Joe shook his head, disgusted.

      “We begged him to get someone in here to do the filing and answer the phones. And to lighten things up a bit. You know—someone to have fun with. That’s all. No offense, you understand,” Andy said quickly.

      “None taken,” Caitlin assured him, delighted with her sweet new workmates.

      “But the longest any of them lasted is about three hours,” admitted Tim.

      Looking into the frowning, incredibly handsome face of Joe Brownley, Caitlin had no problem imagining why. “You don’t say.”

      Vince laughed again, and some of the tension dispersed. “He’s all bark, no bite,” he assured her, but some of his amusement faded when Joe glared at him.

      “Why is everyone talking about me as if I’m not standing right here?”

      Vince ignored him. “Sort of like a terrier,” he elaborated. “Loud and gruff. Then passive as a kitten.”

      “Really?” She eyed the very annoyed Joe. The long, lean lines of his body were stiff. His eyes like ice. Passive was the last word she would have used.

      “Back to work, guys,” he said stiffly, his wide shoulders tense.

      Tim hesitated at the door. “Nice to meet you, Caitlin. I hope you stay.”

      “Do you really know how to make coffee?” Andy asked plaintively. “Because—”

      “Andy,” Joe said, his voice careful and quiet. “Don’t you have something, anything, to do?”

      “Yeah, I guess.” His shoulders slumped. “It’s just that you make really crappy coffee, Joe. And—”

      “I’m sure we’ll have plenty of time to discuss the damn coffee,” Joe grated out, clearly beyond patience. “I’d really, really like to get to work some time today. Would that be all right with everyone here?”

      Vince leaned close to Caitlin, confiding, “He’s only a bear because he’s so close to finishing this project and all this other stuff keeps interrupting him. Phones, paperwork, stuff like that.” He flashed a sweet smile. “Don’t let him scare you off now, okay?”

      He was so kind. So were the twins.

      She couldn’t remember if or when she’d been shown such simple, untethered friendship. Any friends she’d thought she had were gone. Vanished into thin air because she was no longer a somebody.

      But these guys… They’d all looked her in the eyes instead of her chest—another plus in their favor—when they’d talked to her, and while it was obvious they thought she was pretty, they’d treated her with respect.

      Caitlin smiled, embarrassed to feel her throat tighten up at reliving their warm, eager greeting. She’d never in her life felt so welcome—the still scowling Joseph Brownley excluded—and a realization hit hard. Everywhere she’d gone, everything she’d done, she’d either been accepted for her looks or for her father’s money.

      Never for herself alone.

      Everyone left and she was standing here with her boss. She knew darn well he didn’t want her, that he didn’t think she could handle this job. But for some reason, he wasn’t going to refuse her.

      He caught her gaze with his, and his jaw went all hard again. Most of her resolve wavered and what little there was left took a bad beating at his next words.

      “Okay, princess, here’s how this situation is going to work.”

      Where had that nice man gone? The one she’d first spoken with, the one she’d thought was going to be her friend? She looked carefully, but couldn’t see a trace of him. It was almost as if once he had realized he was stuck with her, he’d purposely turned himself into someone she wouldn’t like.

      Well, he’d been partially successful, she thought. She didn’t like him, but she wouldn’t run off because of it.

      “Last door on the left is my office,” Joe said gruffly, stepping into the hallway to point it out. “I hate to be interrupted, so stay out.” He looked at her expectantly then, a little hopefully. Maybe she’d still run off if he were boorish enough?

      As if she’d read his mind, she laughed at him. Laughed. The unexpected sweet sound had Joseph’s stomach muscles tensing.

      “Are you waiting for me to cower from such a fierce command?” She shook her head, her short blond bob flying. Her flowery fragrance wafted up, assaulting his nostrils, annoying him because she smelled so damn good he found himself straining for another sniff. “Or maybe, better yet, you think I’ll run off with my tail between my legs.”

      Her words put a vivid picture in his mind of what was between her legs.

      “Should I remind you whose daughter I am?” she asked, breaking into his startling sensual thoughts.

      Her father had backed down to no one. “I know whose daughter you are.”

      “Good. And I don’t frighten easily.”

      Mad at her, at his techs and at himself, he stalked back into the front office.

      “Clearly,” she muttered, “I’m to follow you.”

      Why today? he wondered helplessly. Why, when he was so damn close to finishing his program, did he have to deal with this? With a quick glance upward, he grimaced. Thanks, Edmund. Hope you’re getting a kick out of this.

      Caitlin passed him in the hallway. “Maybe I would be better off at Del Taco.”

      He watched as she sashayed prettily into the main office, her hips swinging in tune to his undisciplined hormones. “I’ll give you a lift to the nearest one.” Then, to soften the words he realized were unkind, he offered the sweetest smile he could.

      She shook her head. “Well, I walked right into that one, didn’t I?”

      Her mouth was pouty, lusciously red, and the СКАЧАТЬ