The CEO Buys in (Wager of Hearts #1)

by Nancy Herkness

  “Let me guess. Dr. Cavill wants me on the cot, and Mr. Trainor doesn’t.”

  “That’s correct.”

  She couldn’t blame Trainor for not wanting a total stranger sleeping beside him when he felt lousy. “Let me know when they make a decision.” She hesitated before saying, “I walked into the closet when I was looking for the bathroom. I just wondered . . . who do all those clothes belong to?”

  “They’re for Mr. Trainor’s guests. Please feel free to borrow anything you’d like.”

  Chloe thought of strolling into Trainor’s bedroom in the evening sandals and had to suppress a giggle. “Thanks, but I was just curious.”

  Ed nodded and withdrew, closing the door gently behind him. She sat down on the chaise longue, pulled out her cell phone, and checked for missed calls. There were none, so either Grandmillie was fine, or she’d fallen and couldn’t get up. Chloe grimaced at her gallows humor. Grandmillie was undoubtedly sound asleep in her own bed and wouldn’t appreciate all of Chloe’s worrying.

  She could hear muffled voices from the next room, their tones testy. Trainor wasn’t giving in to the doctor’s orders without a fight. She stretched out on the chaise and closed her eyes, listening to the rise and fall of the argument next door.

  “Ms. Russell.”

  Chloe sat up abruptly. Cavill stood at the foot of the chaise, looking down at her. She’d nodded off while she waited. “Sorry,” she said, swinging her legs over so she could stand up. “It’s late.”

  Cavill nodded. “I’m not going to mislead you. Nathan doesn’t want you in his bedroom, but I’ve insisted.”

  She had to swallow a nervous giggle at his phrasing.

  The doctor looked away and then back at her. “I’m sorry if he’s not as appreciative as he should be.”

  Once again, she read the strain on Cavill’s face. “Is he still very sick?”

  The doctor made a gesture of uncertainty. “Fevers often go back up.” He wasn’t indulging the whim of a rich and important man; he was worried about his friend.

  “I’ll do whatever I can.”

  Cavill gave her a tired smile and walked beside her into the master suite.

  Trainor was sitting up in the bed, his broad shoulders and chest covered by a dry dark-green T-shirt. His damp hair was neatly combed, and his eyes were unclouded by fever. When his gaze fell on Chloe, his mouth tightened. “Your presence is entirely unnecessary. Please allow Ed to send you home in a car.”

  “Your doctor believes I should stay,” Chloe said.

  “My doctor is an infuriating ass.” Trainor turned his glare on Cavill.

  “You’re too weak to throw her out bodily,” Cavill said, “so you might as well be gracious.”

  “I can fire her,” Trainor said, although Chloe detected a lack of conviction in his voice.

  “Then I’ll hire her,” the doctor replied.

  She felt caught in the clash of the titans as the two men squared off.

  Trainor sagged back on the pillow. “You win this round, Ben. Just leave me the hell alone.”

  “Gladly,” Cavill said, picking up his bag. “I don’t envy Ms. Russell having to spend the next few hours in your unpleasant company.” He turned to Chloe. “Arvind knows what to do medically. Your job is to calm the savage beast.”

  Trainor muttered something unflattering under his breath, and Cavill chuckled as he walked out the door.

  Chloe stood beside the cot, wondering if she was supposed to talk to her boss or encourage him to sleep. Trainor lifted his head and locked his gaze on her. “You can sleep in the guest room. If I become uncontrollable, Arvind can call you in to the rescue.” His tone became heavily ironic.

  Now what was she supposed to do? “Dr. Cavill told me to stay in here.” She cast a glance of appeal at Arvind. He nodded.

  “Oh, for God’s sake, sleep wherever you want.” Trainor closed his eyes. Now Chloe could see the dark circles under his eyes and the way the skin stretched too tightly over his cheekbones.

  She felt awkward lying down on the cot even though Trainor wasn’t watching. Her gaze landed on the paperback on the bedside table. “Would you like me to read to you?”

  His eyelids snapped open and he skewered her with a look of utter disbelief. “In the middle of the night? No, I would like you to let me sleep.”

  She was tired and worried about Grandmillie or she wouldn’t have snapped. “I don’t want to be here in the middle of the night either, but your friend is concerned about you, so I agreed to stay as an act of kindness. Clearly, that quality is wasted on you.”

  She heard the nurse hiss in a breath as Trainor stared at her. Now he would fire her, and Cavill wouldn’t be around to rehire her. She squared her shoulders and met his eyes straight on, refusing to show how horrified she was by her outburst.

  Incredibly, the corners of Trainor’s mouth twitched. “It’s completely wasted on me. Remember that in the future. Now go to sleep, my grumpy little temp. We’re none of us at our best at this hour.” He shifted downward on the pillows and turned onto his side so his back was to her.

  She sank onto the cot, her eyes tracing the line of Trainor’s spine under the form-hugging T-shirt. She could see his shoulder muscles flex and shift as he settled into a more comfortable position. It was weirdly intimate to listen to his breath begin to slow and even rasp in a near snore.

  Dropping her head into her hands, she massaged her temples with her thumbs. He hadn’t fired her. However, he wouldn’t be going to work for at least a day or two, so that left her without a position in the executive suite. She sighed. So much for the extra pay she had been counting on.

  She flopped over sideways and brought her legs up onto the cot, pulling the pillow under her head and giving it a frustrated punch.

  As always, it was the people like her who lost out when the big wheels had a problem.

  CHAPTER 6

  Nathan rolled over with a groan. His arms and legs felt like they were made of rubber, and someone seemed to be rapping on his skull with a hammer.

  With a Herculean effort, he opened his eyes, and once again found Chloe Russell asleep beside his bed, bathed in the pale light of dawn. At least this time he remembered how she’d gotten there. Too exhausted to move, he let his gaze roam over the not-unattractive picture of her streaked, sleep-tousled hair spread over the pillow, and the swell of her breast highlighted by her up-flung arm. Her lips, so firm and prim when she was awake, were full, and a soft shade of pink without their usual lipstick.

  He felt an unexpected tightening below his waist and sprawled onto his back to fix his gaze on the ceiling. If he was lusting after the temp, he wasn’t as sick as Ben thought. The surge of desire dissipated as he remembered the long list of appointments he’d missed the day before. Not to mention the ones he would miss today, because he wasn’t kidding himself about being able to go into work. He’d barely been able to stagger to the bathroom last night, and he was probably contagious.

  The thought made him turn back to Chloe with a frown. She’d been breathing in the germ-laden air around him, so she was likely to be the flu’s next victim. Then he’d have that on his conscience.

  On the other hand, she’d already been exposed, so further contact with him couldn’t make it any worse. She could stay and help him work from home.

  He felt more cheerful at the prospect and wondered why. He was accustomed to working from home without any assistance. It must be another sign of how badly the flu had undermined his strength.

  One of the monitors beeped, and Chloe’s eyes came open. Their gazes met, and for one moment, those full lips of hers curved into a smile. The smile disappeared as confusion clouded her face and she sat up, clutching the covers to her chest as though she was wearing something more revealing than the now-wrinkled blouse she’d worn to work the day before. Guilt jabbed at him; Ben had upended her schedule without much concern.

  “Wha—?” Chloe shook her hair out of her face. He saw the moment her memory of the sit
uation clicked in, and she said, “You look better. How are you feeling?”

  “Since I don’t remember much about the last twenty-four hours, I can’t say I feel better, but I suspect I do.”

  The worry cleared from her expression, and she released the sheet. “I’m pretty sure you couldn’t have put that sentence together last night, so the fever must be down.”

  So he’d been incoherent. “Did I babble like an idiot?”

  “Well, you babbled, but since you were having hallucinations, I don’t think you were being an idiot. You just saw things that weren’t there.”

  The hallucinations were beginning to fade from his memory. Only one remained vivid, and that was the feel of Chloe pressed against his chest as he lay in bed. A quick analysis offered two possibilities: either his brain preferred the pleasant image and held onto it, or the event had actually occurred. He decided to embrace the former explanation because the latter would make working with Chloe awkward.

  “I have a proposition for you,” he said. The temp looked wary. “I’m sure Ben won’t let me go to the office today, and I have a lot to catch up on. You’ve already been exposed to my germs, which I apologize for but cannot fix. Would you consider working here with me?”

  Her eyebrows drew downward as she untangled herself from the bedding and stood up. She had her lips pursed again. Instead of looking at him, she turned her gaze to the windows, where the tops of the buildings on the river’s western shore were just beginning to catch the early sun’s rays. “I’d need to go home first,” she said. She waved her hands down alongside her body in a movement that was meant to indicate her rumpled clothing but only succeeded in drawing his eye to her curves again. “To change.”

  “There are clothes in the guest room you can use.”

  A mixture of animosity and amusement scudded across her face. “I know.”

  “If you’re tired, you’re welcome to use the guest bed as well.” She gave a tiny shake of her head, and he realized he didn’t want her to say no. “I’ll double your hourly rate.”

  She brought her gaze back to him. “Dr. Cavill tripled it.”

  “You drive a hard bargain.” He made a gesture of agreement. “Consider your rate tripled.”

  She nodded. “But I still have to go home. It should only take about three hours, depending on traffic.”

  “Where do you live?”

  “New Jersey.”

  “You can use the helicopter. That will eliminate the traffic and get you back faster.”

  The look of astonishment on her face was worth the price of the aviation fuel it would take. “Use . . . the . . . helicopter.” She stared at him. “Where do you think it will land? I don’t exactly have a helipad on my roof.”

  “The pilot can figure that out and set up a car to meet you.” When her brown eyes went even wider, he began to enjoy himself.

  “You’re serious.” She shook her head as though she was trying to wake up from a deep sleep. “I guess I should be flattered that my time is so valuable to you.”

  “You should be.” He allowed himself to smile as he touched the control panel on his bedside table. “Good morning, Ed. Get Kurt to fire up the small chopper.”

  “I’ll be back as soon as possible,” Chloe told the driver of the black sedan that had been waiting for her at the airport. This trip was a commuter’s ultimate fantasy.

  “Take your time,” he said, closing the car door he was holding for her.

  Chloe jogged up the bluestone sidewalk and unlocked the front door of her small stucco-and-brick house. She loved the solid feel of the oak door. It spoke of security to her. Her grandmother got up early, so she didn’t hesitate to sing out, “Grandmillie, I’m home!”

  Silence seemed to shudder through the house, making Chloe bolt for her grandmother’s downstairs bedroom. The door was open. Chloe sprinted through it to find the bed neatly made, with no sign that her grandmother had slept in it. She ran around to the other side of the bed, but Grandmillie wasn’t lying unconscious or disabled on the floor.

  She heard the sound of water running and the bathroom door opening, and closed her eyes in a brief moment of relief. The steady rhythm of Grandmillie’s footsteps accompanied by the tap of her cane floated to her ears like the sweetest music.

  “Grandmillie!” she said, walking into the hall and enveloping her grandmother in a hug.

  “Good heavens, girl, you’ve only been gone for one night.” Grandmillie hugged Chloe back before extricating herself from the embrace.

  “It was a long night,” Chloe said. Her grandmother was fully dressed, her hair neatly pinned into its usual French twist, her cane’s colors matching the royal blue and yellow of her blouse. That made everything right with Chloe’s world.

  Grandmillie turned toward the kitchen. “You can tell me about it over some oatmeal and fruit.”

  “Tempting, but I have to shower, change, and go back to work.” She didn’t mention that she’d be working in Trainor’s home. Although her grandmother mostly had moved with the times, on occasion she surprised Chloe with an old-fashioned reaction.

  “I’ll have the oatmeal ready for when you’re done dressing.” Grandmillie was a strong believer in the importance of eating a healthy meal at the start of the day.

  “Well, er, here’s the thing. There’s a car and a helicopter waiting for me.”

  Grandmillie raised her eyebrows. “Did you say a helicopter?”

  Chloe gave an embarrassed shrug, since she thought it was a ridiculous extravagance too. “My boss wants me back quickly.”

  “He sent you here in a helicopter?”

  “Actually, we landed at the Essex County Airport, and there was a car waiting for me.” Chloe was beginning to realize that Grandmillie wasn’t happy about something.

  “Young lady, if your boss has you riding around in a helicopter, then he certainly could have provided a shower and a change of clothes. I know how those corporate offices are with their fancy gyms and locker rooms. You didn’t have to come all the way back to New Jersey just to freshen up.” Grandmillie put her hands on her hips, her cane jutting out at an angle that somehow indicated her annoyance. “You came back here to check on me.”

  “That’s not true.” Chloe tried to deflect the lecture she knew was coming. “I wanted my own clothes after a night of sleeping on a cot in a strange place.”

  “Remember our deal, Chloe? If my living here begins to interfere with your life in any way, I will sign myself into an assisted-living facility immediately.” Grandmillie gave her a stern look. “That persistent Dr. Cavill gave me his personal emergency cell phone number, and you made me swear to wear my medical alert necklace, which I am.” Grandmillie held up the stylish pendant that concealed the call button she could push in case she fell or had another problem that required assistance when Chloe wasn’t home. “I don’t appreciate being treated like an invalid, but I know your concern comes from the heart.”

  “I’m glad you realize that,” Chloe said. “I don’t mean to worry, but after the insanity of last night, I needed to come home to you. I was feeling lost, and you’re my compass.”

  “Nonsense,” Grandmillie said, but her expression softened. “You’ve got a good head on your shoulders.”

  Chloe smiled. “That’s what I needed to hear. I felt like I fell down the rabbit hole into Wonderland. You wouldn’t believe my boss’s apartment, if you can call it that. It’s really a whole house inside a skyscraper, with a grand staircase and huge terraces and an incredible view of the river and New Jersey. He even has Jimmy Choo shoes for his guests to borrow.”

  Grandmillie snorted as she took her hands off her hips. “Why you are so taken with those outlandishly high-heeled, outrageously expensive frou-frou designer shoes, I can’t figure out.”

  “Maybe I have a Cinderella complex.” Chloe gave her grandmother another hug. “I’ve got to shower, but I’ll take you up on the oatmeal, after all. The helicopter can just wait a little longer.”

 
CHAPTER 7

  Nathan felt his mood lighten as Chloe Russell walked into his bedroom, looking both refreshed and businesslike in a slim charcoal skirt, a deep blue blouse, and black high-heeled pumps. He gave himself the pleasure of letting his gaze skim down her legs to her elegant ankles.

  His doctor was less appreciative. “What the hell is she doing here?” Ben rapped out.

  “Your manners are appalling, Ben,” Nathan said. “My apologies, Chloe. Ben thinks I should spend the day sleeping.”

  “He’s a doctor,” she said with a tilt of a smile, “so he’s probably right. You were pretty sick yesterday.”

  Irritation flared. “It was the flu. Nothing more serious than that.”

  “People die of the flu, you stubborn ass,” Ben said.

  Nathan caught the little choke of laughter the temp quickly stifled. He quelled a smile. “She finds you amusing, which is more than I do. I’m fine, so you can stop hovering and go treat someone who needs it. Before you go, get this damned tube out of my arm so I can get up.” He held out his tethered arm to his friend.

  Ben’s eyebrows drew down in a scowl. “If your fever spikes again, you’re going to need the intravenous line.”

  “Luis can put it back in,” Nathan said, glancing at the nurse who stood beside the monitors.

  Chloe spoke up. “I promise to keep an eye on him. If he looks feverish, I’ll go on strike.” She gave Ben a smile that pissed Nathan off. He was her boss; she should be smiling at him.

  Ben nodded to Luis, who removed the needle and tube so skillfully that Nathan barely felt it.

  “Now I have work to do,” Nathan said, giving Ben a hard stare.

  The doctor turned to Chloe. “If he gets out of bed other than to go to the bathroom, call me immediately. He won’t admit it, but he’s as weak as a kitten.” Ben’s eyes gleamed with wicked satisfaction at his description.

  “Kittens have claws, Cavill,” Nathan said. “And I’m about to use mine.”