Handsome Boss: Handsome Devils Book 2 Read online

  Emma scrambled to think of something to say to him, anything at all, but she simply couldn’t get her mind in gear.

  Finally, he solved her problem by saying, “If you have any questions, just let me know.”

  “I have a question,” Leigh said. “Why haven’t you tossed this old fax into the garbage? It’s junk, Nathan. You’re too sentimental.”

  Nathan glanced at the machine in question, then looked at Emma. “You can swap it with the one in my office if it’s giving you too many problems.”

  “No, I’m sure I’ll be able to figure it out,” she said.

  Nathan glanced at the closed door to his office, then returned his attention to Emma. “So Caitlin, huh?”

  Emma glanced at his schedule. “ Yes. She said she was from the Honey Ladies’ Society.”

  “I can’t believe Caitlin did this.” Nathan frowned. “She’s not with the—” He stopped when the elevator door opened, and a middle-aged woman exited. “Emma, this is Amanda Newman. She heads up the Honey Ladies’ Society.”

  Amanda walked forward, her gaze moving from Emma to Leigh to Nathan. “Am I late?”

  Leigh laughed. “From what I can tell, Amanda, you’re right on time. Seems Caitlin pretended to be from the Ladies’ Society and is waiting in Nathan’s office.”

  Amanda frowned. “I wish they’d stop doing this.”

  Truly baffled, Emma had to ask, “Doing what?”

  Nathan glanced at his closed door. “It’s kind of a joke around town. Some of the single ladies occasionally try to...trick their way into seeing me. I’m busy and like to keep personal callers off my calendar, unless it’s for charity. Which is why Amanda is here.”

  Emma studied the closed door. What had she done? “So Ms. Estes isn’t with the Ladies’ Society?”

  Laughter sputtered from Leigh. “Not even close. Caitlin just wanted to get in to see Nathan and snagged this opportunity. Emma, don’t feel badly. Lots of the local ladies do this kind of thing to him all the time. They’re trying to find ways to get his attention. They do things like delivering pies here or sending him truckloads of flowers.” She slapped Nathan on the back. “My brother is one hot property.”

  Amanda sighed. “I shouldn’t have mentioned that I was coming to see Nathan to so many people. I’ll talk to Caitlin.”

  Before she could move, Leigh held up one hand. “No way, Mrs. Newman. Caitlin went to a lot of trouble. Let’s not spoil it.”

  A feeling of dread settled low in Emma’s stomach. She felt terrible that she’d let this woman into Nathan’s office. And since she’d caused the problem, she’d also be the one to solve it.

  “I’ll ask her to leave since she misled me.” Emma took a step forward, but Leigh skirted around her.

  “I want to see what Caitlin’s cooked up.” Practically skipping, Leigh threw open the door.

  Loud, pulsating music immediately started. Leigh and Nathan were the first ones inside the office.

  Emma heard Leigh’s laughter and what sounded like a groan from Nathan. When she and Amanda Newman reached the doorway, they both froze.

  For her own part, all Emma could do was stare. Caitlin Estes was dressed in what appeared to be a cheerleader’s uniform. She was performing a variety of routines for Nathan, and Emma would give her this—Caitlin Estes was one limber lady. She did flips. She did tumbles. She jumped and cheered and hooted.

  “I guess the ladies in town have tried about everything now,” Amanda murmured when Caitlin did an impressive handstand right in front of Nathan, her little skirt flipping up to display a big red heart tattooed on her left thigh.

  Finally, with a hop, Caitlin stood and grinned at Nathan. “Let me know if you want to see my other tattoos,” she said with a wink. Then as calmly as could be, Caitlin put her coat back on, shut off the music on her phone, and left the office, wagging her fingers in a wave to the rest of the group as she went by.

  “Well, that was different,” Amanda said after Caitlin got in the elevator.

  “I can’t believe she did that,” Nathan observed dryly, walking over to his desk.

  Emma looked at him, trying to gauge his reaction to what had just happened. Thankfully he didn’t seem angry. He also didn’t appear upset or flustered, and a small part of Emma was thrilled to see he didn’t seem the least bit intrigued by what had happened. Mostly he seemed amused.

  Still, she felt terrible. Here she’d promised to be the perfect assistant, and then she’d gone and let that woman in. She should have questioned Caitlin more carefully, but she’d assumed the young woman was being honest.

  That would teach her to make assumptions. She’d let the small-town, laid-back atmosphere of Honey fool her, and so far, her first day on the job was off to a dismal start.

  “Could have been worse,” Leigh pointed out. “At least Caitlin was wearing panties.”

  Nathan pulled into his driveway, put his car in Park, and let out a long sigh. Home. Finally. After what had to be one of the longest days of his life. Simplify had more bugs than an ant farm. He’d spent most of his day helping with the testing and making suggestions on fixes.

  He’d expected problems because a program as complicated as this one always had bugs. But BizExpo was only a six weeks away, and Barrett Software needed to make a big splash there if the company was going to keep supporting most of the town of Honey.

  Normally he considered himself a fairly lucky guy, but not today. Today he figured he stood a pretty good chance of a house dropping on him, and it was with a great deal of caution that he opened his car door and climbed out. For one second, he held his breath, waiting for another catastrophe to bonk him on the head.

  Thankfully, though, nothing happened.

  Until he heard the thumping noise coming from over on the sports court. Before he could consider the wisdom of investigating, he glanced that way. Emma was playing basketball on the court, and from the way she was pushing herself, she was working off the tension of her day.

  For a heartbeat, he simply watched her, enjoying the enticing sight. And Emma Montgomery was indeed a sight, with her long legs and curvy body.

  Although he didn’t make a sound, she must have sensed him watching her because she turned and looked at him.

  “Hi,” she said, breathing fast.

  “Hi.” Nathan wandered over to the court and set his briefcase down on the bench. “You’ve been playing hard.”

  She dribbled the ball a few times. “Want to take your best shot?”

  Although there was nothing sexual about her comment, his gaze snagged hers. He knew he should say no and head on inside the house, but his mind couldn’t seem to get his body to respond.

  “Sure,” he said, shrugging out of his jacket and tossing it on top of his briefcase. She handed him the ball. He sized up his shot, then watched with satisfaction as the ball whooshed through the hoop.

  “Nice shot,” she said, picking up the ball.

  “That’s the first thing that’s gone right today,” he admitted.

  Emma stopped a couple of feet from him, and her smile faded. “I am so sorry about what happened with Caitlin. I had no idea she intended on doing...what she did. She was wearing a nice coat when she arrived.”

  Nathan laughed. “Don’t worry about that. Caitlin and her friends are always doing stuff to me. They’ve been doing it for years.”

  Emma slowly shook her head. “How can that not bother you? And to think, I let her into your office. I’ll be much more careful in the future.”

  He admired Emma’s dedication to a job she’d just started. The woman was a hard worker and realized how important this program was to Barrett Software. Knowing a type-A personality like Emma was going to let the Caitlin incident gnaw at her, Nathan decided a distraction was in order.

  He snagged the basketball out of her arms and started to dribble it.

  “Let’s forget about work. First one to twenty points wins.” Then before Emma could say a word, he went by her and easily sunk the ball. “
Two points for me.”

  “Hey, that’s not fair. I didn’t even agree to play.”

  Nathan grinned. “Too late. I’m winning. What are you going to do about it?”

  Emma opened her mouth, and for a second, he thought she was going to refuse to play. But then abruptly, she grinned right back at him. “You’re on.”

  Although he wasn’t dressed for a game of basketball, he managed to keep up with Emma. But just barely. The woman was good. Very good. By the time they were tied at eighteen points each, Nathan was sweating and breathing hard.

  “This is it,” Emma said, easily moving the ball from hand to hand. “Hold on, Nathan Barrett, I’m going to wipe the court with you.”

  He laughed. “In your dreams.”

  Emma started dribbling down the court, then veered left, but he moved with her. She tried to recover and go right, but he blocked her again. Finally, she turned and went to scoot past him, but he was too quick for her. He knocked the ball out of her hands, and when he lunged for it, he ended up bumping into Emma.

  “Whoa.” He wrapped his arms around her waist and barely kept her from falling over. At first she teetered, and he almost lost his footing as well. But finally, they managed to steady themselves.

  “Well, that was graceful,” Emma said with a laugh. She blew out a breath and ruffled her bangs.

  “Want to call it a draw before we kill ourselves?”

  She smiled. “Probably a smart idea.”

  For a second, he returned her smile. Then he realized he still had his arms around her waist. Her hands were on his shoulders. And her warm, soft body was pressed against him. Without meaning to, he glanced at her full lips.

  Let her go, you idiot.

  His hands didn’t move, and neither did hers. He met her gaze. He could see the same fire of attraction in her eyes that he felt burning inside of him. “I should—”

  “We can’t—”

  He nodded. “Right. I know.”

  She nodded. “Absolutely. Not smart.”

  He looked at her again. Her hands still hadn’t moved. Neither had his. He could feel his heart thumping wildly in his chest. He needed to be smart. He needed to exercise willpower.

  Emma’s gaze dropped to his lips. Then slowly, she leaned toward him.

  Ah, hell. He needed to get this situation under control before something happened that they’d both regret.

  Her lips brushed his.

  And his good intentions dried up and blew away.

  4

  Emma hadn’t really meant to kiss Nathan. Sure, she’d wanted to—very much so. But she hadn’t meant to actually do it. Kissing him wasn’t a bright thing to do. Kissing him could lead to all sorts of problems.

  But now that she was actually wrapped in his arms and kissing him for all she was worth, she had to admit it was pretty darn terrific. Nathan Barrett kissed like he did everything else—well. Very, very well.

  As he deepened the kiss, tingles danced over her sensitized skin. Yep, the man could kiss. Oh, boy and how. He kissed so well that she pushed aside all the annoying reasons why she shouldn’t be doing this and simply enjoyed herself. Nathan, too, seemed to be caught up in the kiss.

  Emma had no idea how long they stood on the basketball court kissing, but it was a long, long time. Even so, when Nathan finally broke the kiss, she couldn’t help feeling disappointed.

  Her disappointment only increased when he slowly removed his arms from around her and took a step back. Now that they were no longer touching, the air between them crackled with a combination of lust and regret.

  Nathan cleared his throat. “I didn’t mean to do that. It was completely unfair, and I hope you know I didn’t mean to take advantage of you.”

  His comment was completely expected, and the last thing Emma wanted to hear. But he was right. Now was the time to backpedal like crazy away from what had happened.

  “What do you mean? Why was it unfair?” She really was baffled. She felt many things after that kiss, but she sure didn’t feel like he’d taken advantage of her.

  “You work for me, and you live here. It was reprehensible of me to kiss you.”

  Emma couldn’t help it. She smiled. “I understand why you feel that way, but technically, you didn’t kiss me. I was the one who started this, and in no way did you take advantage of me.” She scuffed the toe of her sneaker on the ground. “Still. I can’t imagine why I did that.”

  Oh, great. She sounded like an idiot. Plus, she was a liar. She knew exactly why she’d kissed him—the man was hotter than an August afternoon in Texas.

  But Nathan didn’t question her explanation. Instead, he acted like the perfect gentleman he always seemed to be. His expression was concerned. “That kiss was more my fault than yours, Emma.”

  The intellectual side of her forced her to ask, “No offense, but how do you figure that? I was the one who kissed you first. How does that make it your fault?”

  “I could have stopped you.”

  “Hardly.”

  “Of course, I could have.”

  She was skeptical. “I think you’ll need to come up with a better explanation. I still don’t see how it’s your fault.”

  He opened his mouth, then promptly shut it. Emma couldn’t help smiling as she watched him struggle for an answer—one he never did end up finding.

  “See, I’m right,” she said with a laugh when he still hadn’t come up with a reason after a few seconds. “It is my fault, not yours. Please stop worrying about this. I didn’t feel pressured, and it had nothing to do with my job or my living arrangement. The kiss wasn’t your fault.”

  He flashed a rueful grin, and Emma was glad the atmosphere between them lightened.

  “I haven’t given up yet,” he said. “I only need a couple more minutes, and I’ll think of a reason why I’m to blame.”

  She shook her head. “Nope. Time’s up. You have to admit it was my fault.”

  Her teasing accomplished what she’d hoped it would. They were no longer awkward and uncomfortable with each other. Instead, they were joking and laughing about the kiss. For her part, Emma had never felt less like laughing in her life. That kiss had shaken her clear to her toes.

  But Nathan had been right. The kiss never should have happened, and since she had to work with this man, self-preservation demanded they put what had happened behind them. Way far behind them.

  Nathan raised one eyebrow. “Are you always so opinionated?”

  She nodded. “Absolutely. And it’s not that I’m opinionated. It’s that I’m always right.”

  He laughed and scooped the ball up off the ground. “Why don’t we agree that regardless of who started the whole kissing thing, we shouldn’t have done it? We do have to work together.”

  “Exactly.”

  He dribbled the basketball a couple of times, then added, “And I don’t think either one of us is looking to start something.”

  “True. I’m only here for the summer.” She shifted her weight from one foot to the other and tried to ignore the nervous bubbling in her stomach. This was becoming awkward again. Now seemed like a wonderful time to escape. “I think I’ll go shower,” she said, grabbing the first excuse that popped into her mind.

  Nathan dribbled the basketball. “Okay. I think I’ll stay for a while longer and shoot a few hoops.”

  Ah. Always the gentleman. He was giving her time alone, some breathing room to regain her composure. No wonder everyone in this town acted like he’d hung the moon. The man constantly thought of others.

  Darn him. How was she supposed to ignore him if he insisted on being such a good guy?

  “Have fun.” She turned and was heading toward the house when she found herself adding, “And thanks for the—”

  Eek. She slammed her mouth shut. Good grief. What in the world had she been about to thank him for? He seemed curious about that as well since he stood watching her with an expression that could only be described as cautious and amused.

  “Thanks for?�
� he prompted when she didn’t say anything after a few seconds.

  Emma scanned her mind, searching for a suitable alternative to thanking him for the best kiss of her life. Finally, she grabbed on to the obvious.

  “Thanks for the place to stay. I really appreciate it.”

  A slow smile crossed his lips, and Emma felt her heart rate accelerate. He knew she hadn’t intended on saying that, but he let it go.

  “You’re welcome,” he said, his gaze tangled up with hers. He looked away first, turning slightly and tossing the basketball toward the hoop.

  It missed. By several feet. Looked like she wasn’t the only one rattled by that kiss.

  “I don’t see how we can have Simplify ready in time,” said Tim Rollins, Barrett Software’s head of testing. “My team keeps finding errors.”

  “With the voice recognition software?” Nathan asked.

  “Yes. Plus, the customizable database doesn’t work,” Tim explained.

  “It works. It just needs some tweaking. We can take care of all of these problems.”

  This came from Sadie Isles, the head of development.

  Nathan held back a sigh and studied the people in the room. They were his lead managers, and they were all looking to him for reassurance. Every single one of them.

  “We have a little over five weeks until BizExpo. We need to work together to guarantee the product is done and the demo is flawless.”

  He turned to Tim. “Have you had the developers sit in on your tests so they can see for themselves what’s happening?”

  Tim shook his head. “Not yet. But I will.”

  “Good.” Now he looked at Sadie. “That should speed things up.”

  She nodded. “I’ll get with Tim after this meeting and work out a plan.”

  “Good.” Nathan glanced around the room, his gaze lingering way too long on Emma. With effort, he made himself look away. If he didn’t watch out, instead of thinking about design problems and coding roadblocks, he’d spend all of his time thinking about how great it had been kissing her last night. So, he needed to stop thinking about her.