Hotshot Boss (Alphalicious Billionaires)

by Lindsey Hart

  Curtis filled the pot with water and slapped it on the expensive gas stove. He cranked the burner on and watched the blue flames lick at the bottom of the copper. Straightening, he chose to focus most of his wrath on Lexi Wellington. If she’d showed up on time, the diaper incident wouldn’t have happened.

  Lexi. Wellington.

  She was pretty much the bane of his existence and had been since she got the job a few years ago. She was his executive assistant, so he stayed the hell away from her. She was off limits. He didn’t need to be sued for sexual harassment, which nowadays, could be construed as even looking at a person.

  And it was damn hard not to look at Lexi Wellington.

  She was gorgeous. Tall, probably around five ten of deliciously perfect proportions. She was lithe and somehow curvy too. Her ass… god. Her ass had been on his mind for years. It was an ass worthy of worship. Her breasts would easily be a perfect handful. Her stomach was flat and flared out into curvy hips and long, shapely legs. She liked to wear skirts and heels, always professional ones, but it didn’t matter. They still highlighted all her finer assets. It wasn’t her fault. She didn’t flaunt them. She was born from angels or a goddess who got kicked out of some kingdom in the sky or a temptress from the depths… or maybe all of the above. The point was that in addition to all of the former, she had long sandy yellow hair, a set of piercing cerulean eyes, full bow lips, carved cheekbones and a heart shaped face. Lexi was the whole package.

  She’d also made it pretty damn clear that for whatever reason, she hated him. He hadn’t exactly given her an easy time over the past couple of years, but that was after she let it be known to all, including him, that she’d rather lick a public toilet than be civil to him. She kept her disdain carefully veiled with a thin layer of professionalism, but the hatred was there.

  Still. He couldn’t think of a single other person that could help get him out of the mess he was in. He’d made a couple of discreet calls. A hell of a lot more desperate ones. He’d tried anything and everything he could think of. His friends were all conveniently busy or flat out turned him down. That was the small pool that could actually be trusted with a kid. He couldn’t just ask some random person from work to come to his house for a whole weekend and look after his niece and nephew. He was screwed and he knew it. Lexi was the last person he asked. He’d been doubly desperate.

  He was shocked when her face melted instantly at his odd request earlier in the week. She probably would have done it without the money, but he couldn’t take that chance. He had to sweeten the pot since he knew she hated him. She was actually excited about looking after the germ infested, diaper explosions waiting to happen, hysterical mini monsters. A few days and ten grands later, he had Lexi Wellington in his house for the weekend. And he planned to make the best of it, mini humans aside.

  Lexi’s soft, sunny laughter, a joyful, deep belly laugh that was absolutely genuine, floated out after the kids’ laughter, echoing through the halls and blanketing the kitchen with its sugary sweetness.

  Curtis realized two things. One, the water was boiling, and he was standing there like an imbecile staring at it as it steamed and furled into the air above the pot. Two, he wanted to hear that laugh over and over again. If he had to endure a few days with his sister’s smelly little mini-me’s, then so be it. It was a price he was willing to pay as long as Lexi was part of the deal.

  CHAPTER 3

  Lexi

  Lexi emerged with two towel-wrapped kids to find a gourmet meal of sorts set out in the kitchen. Curtis, it turned out, had basic cooking skills. By basic, she meant the skill set of a starving pre-pubescent boy, but heck. It was food and it was there, set out and waiting. Two small bowls for the kids, two larger ones for them.

  “I’m impressed.” She stood in the entrance to the kitchen, staring at the sprawling high end everything, her attention centered on the island where the steaming bowls stood.

  The cabinets were ivory, and she knew they were expensive. She’d seen the quote for them. She also knew that the granite was imported from Italy and that it was five grand a slab. The island slab had to be cut twice and re-ordered since it was wrong the first time. She’d been the one to handle the fiasco, liaising between her boss from hell and the builder who was supposed to be taking care of everything and didn’t.

  Curtis raised a brow. “With the house?”

  “No.” She couldn’t keep her smile back. She glanced down at Noel’s tangled dark hair to hide it. “I’m surprised you eat carbs.” Not to mention that you have a box of fifty cent macaroni lying around. Maybe his sister dropped it off with the kids. Lexi had never met her, but she was pretty sure most of the other James’ were normal. It was only Curtis’ gene pool that seemed to have gone faulty.

  Curtis snorted. “Yeah. Well. I guess we all have our failings.”

  “Do you also happen to have a diaper and some clothes for these guys? I’ll get them dressed while their dinner is cooling off.”

  “Yeah. Upstairs. First room on the left.”

  Lexi rolled her eyes. She shifted Austin in her arms. He was tugging at her hair with his fists, probably about to ask her to giddy up like a pony. Noel looked sleepy after the bath. Her hair was a snarled mess of knots and she shivered in the towel. Thanks for the help, Trust Fund Asshole.

  “Come on, guys. Let’s go on a treasure hunt to find your stuff, seeing as your uncle is super-duper helpful.”

  The kids didn’t understand her sarcasm. Austin let out a screech and Noel took off, her oversized fluffy white towel coming loose and trailing behind her like a massive cape. It was a miracle she didn’t trip and fall. Curtis muttered something behind her but didn’t offer to help. He probably hadn’t scrubbed the wall clean either. He seriously had another thing coming if he thought she was going to do it.

  After chasing Noel up the stairs and letting Austin steer her around by her hair, she was able to locate the room the kid’s stuff was in. The entire house was crazy sized. Even the guest room was probably five hundred square feet. The king-sized bed in there and the heavy dark furniture didn’t even begin to take up much space. The rest of the place was very masculine. All white walls, but dark floors. It was very clinical, expensive and just sparsely enough furnished to be tasteful in that detached, bachelor, too much room to actually live in sort of way.

  She’d had enough phone calls with the interior designer and decorator, conveying what Curtis James apparently wanted with his house, seeing as he was too high and mighty to talk to actual real people who had actual real jobs, that she wasn’t at all surprised to see modern art and blocky hard looking furniture all over the place. It was exactly as he’d described. The interior designer and decorator, a guy named Paulo who was a superhuman, only took work for high end asshole clients, so he pretty much knew what to expect. He was super nice, a real rock star in her books, and Lexi took the pleasure of using James’ company credit card to order a very nice edible arrangement for Paulo after the job was complete.

  After she dressed the kids, Lexi steered them back to the kitchen. It appeared that they were already running out of steam. They were young and probably went down for the night pretty early. She’d hoped that they would be hopped up on sugar from their clueless uncle who bribed them with ice cream and candy in an effort to win over their affection, but alas, no such luck. They weren’t bouncing off the walls, which meant she was going to get stuck with the TFB for the rest of the night.

  She should have known though. Curtis might eat carbs, but ice cream and candy were out of the question. Lexi knew for a fact that the guy worked out four to five times a week. She freaking renewed his gym membership for him because he didn’t even have enough basic skills to do even that.

  “Macaroni!” Noel exclaimed. “You’re the best, Uncle!”

  Curtis James, being the true asshole that he was, just pushed the bowl towards the edge of the counter with a disgusted look on his face, like he didn’t want Noel to come too close to him. Lexi rolled her
eyes and grabbed the bowls.

  “Do you have spoons, or do you think they’re Neanderthals for real?” she quipped as she settled the kids at the massive kitchen table that stood off to the side of the kitchen cabinets. It had eight chairs around it and was solid wood and probably cost a fortune. It also looked like it had never been sat at before.

  A drawer slammed behind her and she was presented with two massive, adult-sized spoons. She didn’t complain. Good. Let the kids make a massive mess everywhere. She’d take them off to bed after and leave James with it. He probably had no idea how to even operate a napkin let alone a dishcloth.

  He’d probably have his cleaner on speed dial within a few seconds after the kids were in bed.

  Austin screamed in delight. He dug in wholeheartedly, pushing most of the pasta all over the table and floor and himself. Lexi bit down the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing. She could practically hear Curtis James groaning behind her.

  She let Austin and Noel eat while she turned and stalked back to the island. She grabbed the bowl the TFB left for her, complete with a spoon. She was starved. She didn’t have any qualms about digging in.

  “Do you have any ketchup?”

  James whirled, his eyes wide like she’d just asked for him to cut himself and bleed for her. “In the fridge.”

  “Thanks.” More eyes rolling on her part, but Lexi turned so he couldn’t see it.

  She marched to the fridge, which was a massive double door modern monstrosity that she knew for a fact cost more than she was going to make that weekend. She pulled open yet another overcompensating big door and came face to face with the world’s healthiest fridge. Fruits and vegetables. Expensive juices. Trays of raw meat. Fizzy fricking water. No carbs in sight. No desserts. There wasn’t even a jar of jam. She found a ridiculously strange glass bottle of ketchup that wasn’t normal looking, but she wasn’t overly fussy.

  “Wow,” James commented dryly when she uncapped the bottle and applied a liberal amount to the pasta.

  “That’s right. I know how to eat gourmet.” He didn’t respond, so she decided to clue him in on the speech she’d rehearsed while the kids were in the bath. “By the way, you’re their uncle. They think you’re super cool. Don’t do your best to prove them wrong.”

  “What do you suggest?” Curtis James’ pasta sat untouched. Big surprise.

  “I don’t know. Tuck them into bed? Maybe read them a story?” She batted her eyelashes charmingly, trying a dose of sugar. She knew that being overly obnoxious would get to James faster than he’d likely admit.

  “Fat chance. That’s why I’m paying you the big bucks,” he snorted, without an ounce of remorse.

  “Ugh,” Lexi muttered under her breath. She stuffed her face as fast as she could, just so she could get the heck out of the kitchen. As she passed James on the way to putting her bowl in the sink, she gave him one last parting shot under her breath. “They really are going to find out soon enough that you’re the world’s worst uncle.” She turned, a sunny expression on her face and clapped her hands. “You guys are ready for some stories?”

  She was greeted with squeals of delight as Austin and Noel scrambled away from the table. Austin actually did really well given that he should have been in a freaking high chair and Noel was like a little lady. They were adorable kids, with dark hair and big blue eyes. Austin still had the chubby cheeks of babyhood while Noel was beyond cute. They were pretty easy-going kids so far. The diaper incident seemed to be a one off.

  Austin let out a whoop and a giggle as she scooped him up. She took Noel’s hand after, satisfied that they’d left the table a huge mess of sticky, cheesy noodles.

  “Time for stories while Uncle cleans up,” she said sweetly. “Say goodnight, kids.”

  Austin garbled something in his super cute baby talk. He actually hadn’t said any words yet.

  “Goodnight!” Noel chimed enthusiastically. She looked at her uncle like he hung the moon. Poor kid. She was going to take it hard when her bubble burst.

  As they exited the kitchen, Lexi glanced over her shoulder. She was pretty damn disappointed that the TFB didn’t look nearly as pissed as she thought he’d be. Damn. She’d have to up her game. Too bad for him, she had a lot left in her arsenal. She was going to earn her ten grand and have a blast doing it.

  CHAPTER 4

  Curtis

  Somehow, Lexi’s magic touch put the hell spawns to bed without any toddler explosions, or four-year-old meltdowns. Curtis listened at the foot of the stairs, expecting to hear a pop or a bang, like the kids could actually detonate like a real box of dynamite, but there was only the occasional giggle and Lexi’s beautiful, sweet, lilting tone as she read them bedtime stories. It wasn’t anything he recognized. Something about a fox and a bear in the woods and the second was ridiculous nonsense about a cat.

  God. No wonder children were so horrible. The shit they listened to all day long- the mindless cartoons and even the books, on the odd chance they actually glanced at one and weren’t glued to their fucking tablets- were just shit. Really. That’s what was wrong with the up and coming generation.

  Then again, the last generation probably said that about the one before it and about his too. It blew his mind that there were pretty much two generations below him now. Aging. It sneaks up on a person like a ghost in the night. The asshole type, not the nice kind, and he was only thirty-four.

  When Lexi tiptoed down the stairs that opened into the massive living room complete with a giant flat screen TV, leather couches, some sort of imported rug that he didn’t really give two shits about, and a huge fireplace- the modern kind, not the cottagey looking kind- he was ready for her.

  She glanced around like she’d walked into a snake pit by accident. Or rather, like she was walking down a snake infested trail and was on the lookout for them, stepping carefully, and she’d finally found the biggest, most venomous one of all.

  “I’m not sure what your beef is with me,” Curtis stated casually. He leaned back against the couch, crossing his arms behind his neck. He was trying to be as non-threatening as possible, but Lexi froze, pivoted slowly, and stared at him like he was about to sink his fangs into her ankle. “I’ve never been anything but professional to you. I’ve never asked anything of you outside of work. I don’t call your work phone at all hours of the day. I’m careful just to limit that to a nine to five basis. I’ve tried to be fair. I’ve given you a good wage, far more than most assistants earn, though I’m not complaining. You’re worth your weight in gold. I’ve never made any weird advances on you…” he let that hang in the air between them for a minute. “So, why the shade?”

  Lexi had that deer in the headlights look on her pretty face for a few seconds before she blinked her cerulean eyes and gave her head a small, almost imperceptible nod. “Shade? I can’t believe you just said that.”

  He went on, not missing a beat. “You took this job for more than one reason. You like kids, I get that. The money is good too, but you were curious. You wanted to snoop around my house. You wanted to snoop around me.”

  Lexi’s jaw flapped open. “W-what?” She finally stammered. “Your arrogance seriously knows no bounds.”

  “It probably doesn’t. I agree with that, but I’m not wrong about this. Generally, when a person treats another person with disdain for an extended period of time, it means the exact opposite of what they want to portray. You’re interested, Lexi.”

  “I’m not interested in anything but taking care of those kids. You have no idea how to look after children. I feel sorry for them. I knew you’d be garbage at watching out for them, so I didn’t want them to be scarred for life. They’re at an impressionable age. I’m trying to salvage things for you. You’re a terrible uncle, by the way. Just the worst. Do the world a favor and don’t ever reproduce.”

  “I have zero plans of doing any such thing.”

  “Good. Yeah. That’s good. Your poor niece and nephew. You should treat them like they’re actually human, n
ot two little turds.”

  “Turds? That’s exactly what they are. That little shit and that diaper stunt-”

  “Speaking of that, you probably haven’t cleaned it up yet.”

  It was his turn to gape at her. “What are you talking about? Clean it up? Why the heck would I clean that up?”

  “You’re leaving it for me,” Lexi stated flatly. Her face crinkled up in disgust, but it wasn’t about the poop. She was clearly disgusted with him.

  “No. I’m leaving it for Agnes, my cleaning lady. I’ll call her tonight and get her to come by.”

  “You won’t!” Lexi looked truly horrified. “I’ll clean it up. Why would you call in another person to do that for you? Do you think some poor lady who probably spends all day cleaning up other people’s mess really wants to come here at this hour to do that?”

  “She’s hardly poor. I pay her five hundred a week to come in here and clean this place and most of the time it’s spotless. I’m just one person. I don’t make much of a mess.”

  “Yes, poor you, alone in this big house. All by yourself with all your expensive furnishings and trimmings.”

  “Ahhh.” Curtis flexed his arms above his head. He leaned forward and pegged Lexi to the spot with a very pointed look. “I see. So, this whole thing about you not liking me is because I have money.”

  “No, that’s not what it’s about. It’s about your sense of entitlement. You expect the rest of the world to serve you. You think you’re important because you were born into the right family. You think the world owes you something because you’re a James, but it doesn’t. It doesn’t owe you a thing. You walk around like the rest of us should worship the ground you just stepped on. Well, I have news for you. No one should have to worship you. No one owes you a damn thing. You haven’t really worked a day in your life. Your dad and your grandpa gave you everything. Every. Single. Thing. That’s the problem I have with you. That’s the problem we all have with you. No one at work actually likes you. Everyone is just too scared of losing their job to actually say it.”