I Married the Boss!

by Laura Anthony

  “We’re here!” Nick Delaney and Rachel Sinclair giggled.

  Sophia crouched and tied Rachel’s slender ankle to that of her fiancé. Then she bound them at the knees.

  “Hey,” Rachel asked. “I haven’t had the chance to ask you how you worked things out.”

  “I haven’t,” Sophia admitted.

  “Did you listen to your heart?”

  “It wasn’t speaking to me.”

  “Come now, Sophia, of course it was. You’re just not listening.”

  “That’s not too tight, is it?” Sophia asked, anxious to get Rachel off the topic.

  “Perfect,” Nick replied. “The closer I am to Rachel, the better.” He draped an arm around her shoulder and drew his bride-to-be into the circle of his arm.

  They gazed into each other’s eyes and grinned. Sophia felt an ugly jolt of jealousy. She wanted what those two had. Love, honesty, open communication. She wanted a committed relationship with a man she could trust. Like Rachel and Nick. Like Cindy and Kyle. Like Molly and Jack. Like Lucas and Olivia. Like Patricia and Sam. Like everyone else in the world.

  An unexpected lump formed in her throat. Maybe she’d never have anyone. Was she too picky? Should she settle? Accept Mike despite his flaws? But what’s to say Mike even wanted her for anything more than a good time?

  Rachel and Nick hobbled off to the side, giggling and holding on to each other while another couple waited to be harnessed together.

  Over the loudspeaker, she could still hear Mr. Barrington calling out the names of the contestants.

  “And last, but of course not least, Mike Barr from the mail room.”

  A cheer went up from the crowd. Sophia cast a glance down the hill, and watched as Mike got to his feet. Grinning boyishly, he bowed to the audience. He was very popular with the Barrington employees. She wouldn’t be the only one saddened to see him leave.

  “Mike is paired with Sophia Shepherd,” Rex said.

  The cheering intensified.

  Sophia blushed. Great. Just what she needed. With her luck, Michael would show up at the same time she and Mike came hopping down the hill together.

  “We’ll have some accompanying music,” Rex announced. Mildred Van Hess came over and put a CD into the compact disc player. A few seconds later, “Flight of the Bumblebee” poured from the speakers.

  Mike came toward her. Sophia held two pieces of rope in her hand. He took them from her, then bending over he clinched their ankles and knees, uniting them as one.

  Raising up, he grinned at her.

  “Places, everyone,” Rex announced.

  Laughing along with the other contestants, Sophia and Mike hobbled over to the starting line.

  Why did it have to be him?

  Their legs rubbed like two pieces of flint sparking a fire. Bare skin against bare skin. Sophia had never thought of ankles and knees as sexy body parts but she was quickly altering that perception.

  “You know the only way we’re going to sew up this race is to work as a team,” Mike whispered, his breath tickling her ear.

  Sophia suppressed a shudder of delight and raised a hand to her hair to block the mind-expanding sensation.

  “We’ve got to pull together as one, going in the same direction and at the same pace.”

  “Who says I want to win?” Sophia crinkled her nose.

  “Come on, you want to win as much as I do.” His grin widened. “Let’s blow them out of the water.”

  This side of Mike surprised her. In the nine months he’d worked at Barrington Corporation she hadn’t detected one competitive bone in his body. He was usually so laid-back and devil-may-care. Why suddenly was he so interested in winning? Especially something that didn’t matter? If he could be so intent about a three-legged race, why couldn’t he employ the same enthusiasm toward a serious career?

  These questions disturbed her. Why indeed? Mike was smart, he was likable. The only thing holding him back was his own lack of ambition. What did it take to light a fire under this man?

  One kiss from me.

  The thought fogged her mind like a dirty. secret. No matter how she might try to deny it or avoid it, the chemistry between them was undeniably overwhelming.

  Maybe, she mused, entertaining the very notion she’d promised herself she would not fall victim to. Maybe he would change for me. Maybe chemistry would be enough to cause such a reaction in him he’d settle down and get a decent job.

  Don’t go there, Sophia Denise Shepherd. Don’t you dare hope for it. Only Mike can change Mike.

  But what if he could change? What if he were willing to change, not for her but for himself? What if he decided being a rolling stone wasn’t all it was cracked up to be? What if he came to realize that home and family were the most important things in life?

  The crowd had moved away from the picnic area and come to form a line along the edges of the race path. She saw Stanley Whitcomb pushing her mother’s wheelchair. Olivia walked beside them. Lucas was one of the contestants, having been paired with a new employee from accounting. Jannette waved jauntily.

  “Ready,” Rex called out over the loudspeaker.

  Mike took Sophia’s hand in his. “Bend slightly at the knees,” he instructed.

  She obeyed, copying his stance.

  “On your mark.”

  The contestants tensed in readiness.

  “Go!”

  A wild melee ensued.

  Everyone rushed downhill toward the finish line.

  Right away, Cindy and Kyle pulled into the lead but then Kyle stumbled and they went down. Another couple tripped over them, creating a pileup.

  Mike deftly steered Sophia to one side.

  They moved as one, gracefully as Olympic figure skaters. Wherever Mike led, Sophia followed. She matched his pace, neither too fast nor too slow. Their fingers remained entwined.

  It was a strange ballet. And oddly erotic.

  Acutely aware of his knee bobbing into hers, Sophia tried to concentrate on the race. Instead, her head was distracted by thoughts of how good they were at this. If they could make the most of being bound together, what would they be like in bed? Flesh to flesh with no cumbersome rope to impede their progress.

  Sophia groaned inwardly, pushed away her fantasy and forced her thoughts back on the race. She braved a glance over at Mike and her heart stuttered. His green-eyed gaze was fixed intently on the finish line.

  He wanted to win. She could see it in the set of his jaw, in the intent expression on his face. Where had this competitive spirit come from and why hadn’t she seen it before? Had he purposely been keeping it under wraps? Why?

  Mesmerized, Sophia neglected to watch the ground. She misstepped. Mike grabbed her elbow, attempting to correct her balance.

  She flailed backward and grasped at his shirt, struggling to keep herself upright. She didn’t want to cost him the race.

  Her efforts proved futile. She fell.

  Mike toppled over her.

  They rolled together, grass and dirt hitching a ride on their clothes, in their hair.

  Emotion welled inside Sophia. She’d disappointed him!

  Then came the sound that surprised her.

  Mike’s husky laughter.

  They came to a stop. Sophia’s back against the ground, Mike laying atop her. The other contestants hopped past them. Sophia caught a glimpse of numerous tanned knees and scuffed sneakers. The sun shone brightly in the pristine blue sky. The air smelled of grass and Mike’s cologne.

  She hitched in her breath and stared up into his face.

  His green eyes were filled with mirth. Smile lines bracketed his mouth. Bits of straw hung in his dark brown hair.

  Gently Sophia reached up with her fingers to rake it away.

  He laughed again and she could feel the vibrations bubble from deep within his chest.

  They were breathing hard. In unison.

  “So much for that free swanky dinner in Sedona,” he said.

  “Disappointed?”
<
br />   “Are you?”

  “I could eat a hot dog in Phoenix with you,” Sophia said, startling herself. That wasn’t what she’d meant to say.

  “Could you, Sophia?” He spoke lightly, but the look in his eyes was deadly serious. “Could you really be happy with that?”

  Yes! All she wanted was someone to share her life with. Someone she could trust. Someone who would be there for her. But was Mike that someone?

  “I...”

  “Lucas!” Someone shouted. Suddenly there was a loud commotion from the sidelines.

  “What’s going on?” Sophia asked, raising up on her elbows.

  Mike rolled off her and followed her gaze.

  A crowd had formed a circle around someone. Jannette? Sophia’s heart leapt into her throat. She’d been so wrapped up with Mike, she had been negligent of her mother. If something had happened to her mother, Sophia would never forgive herself.

  “Untie us!” she said, panicking.

  “Calm down.” Quickly Mike sat up and unfurled the knots in the rope. Sophia’s pulse pounded.

  “My mother,” she said, scrambling to her feet. “What if something’s happened to her?”

  “Go on,” Mike said. “I’m right behind you.” And he was.

  A sense of peace flooded over her at the knowledge that he was there. For years she had prayed and dreamed of finding a man who would stand beside her no matter what, but Sophia discovered the reality of having Mike back her up felt much better than any fantasy.

  “Lucas!” Someone shouted again, and Sophia saw that someone was Jack Cavanaugh. She turned her head to spot Lucas and his partner at the finish line. They had won the race.

  “Olivia’s in labor,” Jack shouted, cupping his hands around his mouth to be heard above the din.

  That explained the crowd. Relieved to know her mother was okay, but concerned about her friend, Sophia rushed over.

  Olivia was sitting in a folding chair holding her abdomen and trying to be brave. Lucas arrived seconds after Sophia. He pushed everyone aside, scooped his wife into his arms and carried her across the field.

  A procession consisting of Olivia and Lucas’s friends fell in behind them.

  “I can walk, Lucas!” Olivia insisted.

  “The hell you say,” Lucas growled.

  The crowd chuckled.

  Mike took Sophia’s arm. “I’m betting you’d be just as stubborn as Olivia.” .

  “And you’d be as opinionated as Lucas.”

  He suppressed a grin.

  “Sophia.”

  She let go of Mike’s hand and went over to speak to her mother who was being wheeled along by Stanley Whitcomb.

  “Hi, Mom.” Sophia leaned over to kiss Jannette on the cheek. “Having a good time?”

  “Yes.” Jannette smiled shyly. Sophia was pleased and surprised to see her mother looking so happy.

  “Sophia, if you’d like to go on to the hospital with Olivia and Lucas, I’d be happy to give your mother a ride home,” Stanley Whitcomb interjected.

  “That’s so nice of you to offer,” Sophia said, “but we couldn’t impose.”

  “No imposition at all,” Stanley said.

  “But the wheelchair...”

  “I drive a sport utility vehicle. I have plenty of room,” Stanley assured her.

  “Mom?”

  “Run along.” Jannette made shooing motions with her hands. “I know you’re dying to go.”

  “You don’t mind?” It seemed so odd, seeing her mother happy in the company of a man. In all the twenty-nine years that Sophia had known her, Jannette had never dated. This new turn of events perplexed her.

  Jannette shook her head. “Go.”

  “All right, then.” Feeling like a mother leaving her child alone on the first day of school, Sophia followed Mike to the parking lot.

  “You want to ride with me to the hospital?” she quizzed.

  Mike melted her with his grin. “I thought you’d never ask.”

  He wandered the halls of the hospital, feeling at loose ends. Sophia sat in the waiting room with her friends chatting gaily about babies. The other guys had gone off to look at Nick’s new truck but Mike had stayed behind. He had too many things to think about.

  Mainly, how to tell Sophia the truth.

  Each encounter, each touch, each smile, each kiss brought them one step closer to... what?

  Commitment?

  But how could they commit when he wasn’t being honest with her? And what about her determination to marry a rich man? Where did that leave him but back at square one?

  The truth was, he liked being Mike. He liked not having the responsibilities. He liked having friends whose motives he did not have to question. He liked feeling footloose and fancy-free, even if it was only an illusion. It had been eye-opening, these past nine months, exploring a side of himself he thought long dead. From the time he could walk, he’d wanted nothing more than to follow in Rex’s footsteps. He’d learned all he could about the hotel business. He’d studied hard, learned the inner workings of the company from the inside out. He never took vacations. He worked fourteen-hour days. He had made Barrington Corporation his life.

  It had been nice, for a while to play the irresponsible bad boy. The experience of assuming someone else’s skin had taught him a lot about stopping and smelling the roses before life passed him by. Mike the mailman might not be rich, but he was a much happier man than Rex Michael Barrington III.

  Deep in thought, Mike stuffed his hands in his back pockets. He stopped outside the waiting room and peered in the glass window.

  The room was soundproof. He couldn’t hear what they were saying, but he could tell Sophia was laughing at something Cindy had said. Her eyes crinkled at the corners, her lips turned up just the way he liked them. The men had come back from the parking lot and had taken their places beside their women. Cindy and Kyle. Molly and Jack. Nick and Rachel. Patricia and. Sam. They all belonged together. They formed a tight friendship. A close-knit group of Barrington employees.

  A group that Michael Barrington could never be part of. He was the mysterious voice on the telephone. Their boss. The rich guy. He didn’t fit in.

  On the outside looking in. Mike swallowed hard. As he had been all his life. Until now, he’d used hard work and self-sacrifice to assuage his loneliness. The loneliness that had been a big part of his life for thirty-six years. He’d denied that he needed or even wanted anything more than his career. Now he knew how much more there was to life. He wanted what his employees had found. True and lasting love.

  Sophia lifted her head. Their gazes locked. Her smile widened, encompassing him in a warm glow. She got to her feet and walked toward the door.

  Her easy grace, the sway of her hips, that look in her eyes. Mike’s knees went weak.

  He loved her.

  No matter how hard he might want to pretend that she had not invaded his heart, had not seized his soul, it was a lie. She had captured him. Completely.

  Except he was not the man she believed him to be. He was not the man she wanted.

  “Hi.” Sophia popped out into the hallway, her hands crossed over her chest. “Have a nice walk?”

  “I get jittery if I sit long.”

  She nodded. “Hospitals are nerve-wracking places.”

  Mike knew that. How many long, ugly hours had he spent in this very hospital, watching his mother slowly fade away while he was helpless to intervene? All the Barrington money in the whole world had not been able to save her.

  Couldn’t Sophia see that? Didn’t she realize that money could not buy life or happiness or freedom? Money was a tool and nothing more. It wasn’t a god to be worshiped or something to cling to. Money could not hold you tight in the middle of the night when you woke from a bad dream. Money could not stop the spread of cancer. Nor could it bring real friends into the life of a lonely boy.

  “Want to grab some coffee?” she invited.

  “Sure.” Mike shrugged and walked with her down the hall
to the cafeteria. He felt awkward with her. He didn’t know what to do. His plan to make her fall in love with Mike the mailman had backfired, failing miserably.

  He fed coins into the coffee vending machine, then punched the buttons. He knew how Sophia liked hers. With lots of milk and sugar. They took their cups and went to sit at a table near the window.

  “I’m so nervous for Lucas and Olivia. I hope things go okay.”

  “They’ll be fine. They love each other, those two. No matter what happens, they’ll make it.”

  “Yeah,” Sophia said wistfully and stared out the window deep in thought.

  Was she, like he, thinking about true love, happy marriages and healthy babies? Did she feel the same internal longings he felt?

  “Are you serious about leaving Phoenix?” she asked.

  “I’ve got no reason to stay, Sophia.”

  “Oh.” Her bottom lip quivered.

  Mike toyed with the napkin holder on the table, unable to meet Sophia’s stare. He wanted so badly to tell her the truth but he didn’t know how to start.

  “Can I ask you a question?” she ventured.

  “Shoot.” He cradled his coffee cup in his palms.

  “Do you ever see yourself settling down, committing to one town, one job, one woman?”

  Yes! How he longed to tell her what was really in his heart. But he couldn’t. This was the perfect opportunity to find out for sure. Would she accept Mike the mailman for exactly who he was? Would she relinquish her infatuation with her boss and announce her love for Mike?

  “Sophia, Mike!” Molly burst through the door, her face flushed. “The nurse told us it’s a boy!”

  Sophia jumped to her feet and embraced Molly. They jumped about the room, excited as children at Christmas.

  “Come on, come on.” Molly motioned them to hurry.

  “Lucas is coming out any minute to give us the details.”

  They trooped back to the waiting room just in time to see Lucas grinning from ear to ear. “It’s a miracle,” he kept saying over and over. “I can’t explain how wonderful it feels.”