‘No problem, Sam.’ Kerry glanced over to Ryan and giggled. ‘No problem at all.’
‘Kerry.’ She wanted to warn her off, but what could she say? He’s great in bed, but seems a total prick out of it? Or worse, and perhaps even closer to the truth: I might not want him, but I can’t stand the thought of him with anyone else just yet?
‘What?’
Sam sighed. ‘Nothing. Just, be careful.’
Kerry burst out laughing. ‘Don’t you worry about me. Look, don’t touch, right? I’m not daft enough to come on to a guy from work.’ She waggled her eyebrows. ‘Even someone as tasty as him.’
And that, Sam thought despairingly, just about said it all. For the millionth time since she’d seen Ryan Black sitting in the foyer, she cursed her champagne-addled hormones.
Still feeling dazed, Sam walked slowly back to her desk. Usually when she was in the office her mind buzzed, but now it was stuck on last night. Please God it was nothing that a strong coffee wouldn’t fix.
She’d barely stepped into her office, mug in hand, when Becky hurtled in behind her and shut the door. ‘Spill.’
Sam glanced down. ‘The coffee?’
Becky hissed. ‘I want details. For eighteen months, I’ve been telling you to put Douchebag Damien behind you and get out there again, but you’ve been oh no, I hate men, I’m never doing that again, I’m perfectly happy being single.’ In what Sam presumed was supposed to be an imitation of her, Becky swished back her non-existent hair and pouted. ‘And now I hear that you did the dirty with a guy and didn’t even find out his name.’
Sam winced. The stupid thing was, if fate had been kinder, if Ryan Black had been confined to a naughty memory, only to be replayed when she needed a dose of feeling like a woman and not a CEO, she’d have felt liberated by her decision. Not flattened by it. ‘Kind of badass, huh?’
Becky’s eyes widened. Then she burst out laughing. ‘Is this the new you then?’
‘Of course, because it’s worked out so well for me, don’t you think?’ Letting out a pained groan, Sam buried her face in her hands. ‘Oh God, I’m not sure I can do this.’ Lifting her head up, she eyed Becky hopefully. ‘How about we get rid of him and find someone else?’ Becky wasn’t just marketing director, she was also their nominated HR person.
‘Sure, boss, as long as you don’t mind if it takes more time than we can afford, because not only will we have to find a brilliant software developer with the right skillset to achieve in a few months what our previous guy couldn’t do in eighteen, he or she will have to work their notice. Not everyone is available straight away like Black.’
‘Because he got fired.’
‘True, but it wasn’t for reasons that concern us.’ Becky sighed. ‘Look, it’s your call, but you’re the one who told me how desperately we need to get the modifications to the app done and launched before they do.’
‘I know.’ Sam straightened up, took in a breath and had a quick slug of coffee. ‘Okay, I can do this. It was one dumb night. I’m not going to let it interfere with the chance of keeping this company ahead of the game. It’s not like either of us want a repeat.’
Becky studied her with narrowed eyes. ‘You’re sure about that? There must have been something about the guy that got through the solid concrete wall you usually put up to ward off men.’
The dark eyes, brooding expression, big, hulking presence? Was she really that shallow? ‘Whatever it was, daylight and a hangover have successfully obliterated it.’ And she was a total liar. She’d still felt a pulse of arousal when he’d shaken her hand. Her stomach had still dipped when he’d crudely reminded her what they’d done together.
‘I don’t know.’ Becky looked like she didn’t believe her. ‘He’s not my type, but even I can see he’s got something. And the only drink I’ve had is raspberry tea.’
‘I’ll never understand how you can swallow that stuff.’ When Becky just looked at her, Sam knew she wasn’t going to be let off the hook that easily. ‘Look, I’ll admit he’s attractive, and last night, after the week I’d had, his sullen, I-don’t-give-a-shit attitude was just what I needed.’ He’d also been considerate, she remembered. Chivalrous almost, in the way he’d taken care of her. Very different to the man she’d just faced. ‘Trust me when I say: the only thing I want from him now is the bit between his ears. So, if he really is the genius software developer your brother claims, I’ll happily fix a smile on my face and be a good boss.’ The company was her priority right now and everything else, including her pride, would have to take a running jump.
‘Understood.’ Becky turned to walk out. Just before she opened the door, she glanced over her shoulder. ‘Do me a favour and satisfy my curiosity. The part between his legs. How good was he at using it, exactly?’
Sam spluttered out a laugh. ‘You’ve got to be kidding me.’ When Becky raised her eyebrows and gave her a cheeky grin, Sam gave in. ‘Put it this way, if he’s as good with the part between his ears, we’ll be okay.’
Ryan dumped his rucksack onto his new desk and gave the blonde – Kerry – a half-hearted smile. ‘Thanks.’
She smiled brightly. ‘No problem. Hopefully you’ve got everything you need. If there’s anything we’ve forgotten though, just shout. I mean, not literally, obviously, but you can call me, or, you know, just walk around the corner.’ She mimed walking with her fingers, clearly not aware he could actually understand English. Then she pointed the twenty or so yards over to where she sat. The same place she’d also pointed out to him five minutes ago.
‘Got it.’
‘Okay then.’ She smiled again. It was like her face couldn’t do anything else. ‘Well, I’ll let you know when Sam’s free to see you.’
But she didn’t move; just stood there, shifting from foot to foot, staring at him. ‘Was there something else?’
Her smile slipped a little, possibly because he’d let his irritation show in his voice. ‘Oh, no, it’s all good.’ She gave him a daft little wave. ‘Well, have a good day. I hope you enjoy working for Privacy Solutions. The people here are so lovely. It’s like a family, you know?’
Good God. Next she was going to tell him they all met up for Sunday lunch and had sing-songs round the piano.
Because he didn’t have a clue how to reply to her, he muttered another thanks, relieved when she finally took the hint and walked away.
Sighing deeply, he slumped onto his chair and took a minute, a very vital minute, to rub a hand over his face and curse. What the hell had he got himself into? A boss he’d somehow managed to sleep with, and a firm the staff thought was like a family. For a man who didn’t mix well, who liked to keep himself to himself, it felt like he’d landed in purgatory.
Taking a few deep breaths, he forced himself to sit up straight. There was no point getting all narked about things. He had a job, didn’t he? Well, as long as Huxton didn’t throw him out. She could hardly do that because of what he’d done before he officially started though. Could she?
Crap, this is why one-night stands were a stupid frigging idea. Now she had him by the balls and he had no choice but to suck it up.
He spent the rest of the morning and most of the afternoon trying to get a feel for the size of the problem he’d been tasked with fixing. Well, he and some junior programmer called Alice who kept asking him if he needed anything. If Huxton only employed people who had smiling as their default face, he was going to be kicked out by the end of the day.
Suddenly the smell of something expensive and elegant wafted up his nostrils.
‘I’m free to see you now.’
He turned round with a start. ‘Should I tug my forelock?’
Sam gave him a cool smile. ‘Only if you want to.’
You need the blasted job. Giving her a sharp nod, he stood, glad that he could at least look down on her physically, even if in every other area she held all the cards.
He followed her to her office, keeping his eyes firmly on the back of her head, and not where they want
ed to drift. No doubt she’d seek a reason to boot him out as soon as possible. He was damned if he was going to make it easy for her.
Her office was small and unassuming. It backed onto the original brickwork, the other three walls being made of glass; the bottom part frosted, the top clear. More of a meeting room, he sensed, from the lack of anything personal in it. She pointed to a chair and he dropped into it, feeling a creeping sense of dread as she slowly walked round her shiny modern desk to sit opposite him.
‘Are you firing me?’ he blurted into the oppressive silence, then cursed himself for sounding so desperate.
‘Have you given me cause to?’ she shot back.
He hissed in a breath at her sharpness. ‘I’ve not had a chance to read your rules. Do they prohibit sleeping with the boss, before you knew she was the boss?’
Those huge blue eyes flashed at him. ‘Your contract with us started this morning. I suggest you read it carefully. If you stick to the terms of the agreement, and perform as we’d expect, I won’t have a reason to fire you.’
Sarky responses bombarded his brain. You can already vouch for my performance. Painfully he swallowed them down, along with his pride. ‘Understood.’
‘Good.’ She did something weird then. She smiled at him. Not one of the cute, tipsy smiles from last night; this was strained, as if it was a real effort. But it was a vast improvement on the snottily polite stuff she’d thrown at him earlier. ‘I’d like to officially welcome you to Privacy Solutions, Ryan.’ His name sounded odd on her tongue. As if she was speaking to a friend, which he knew he’d never be, not by any definition of the word. ‘As you’ve probably already seen, we’re a small company but we have high ambitions and a big heart. Our philosophy is one team, one mission, one heart.’
Not the time to snigger, but seriously, one frigging heart?
‘Problem?’
‘Nope.’ Those eyes held his and he found it hard to ignore their quiet demand. ‘Look, it’s just a bit happy, clappy, skipping with daisy chains for me. I’m more: rely on nobody, nobody lets you down.’
‘That’s rather sad, don’t you think?’ Her wide mouth curved. ‘Though the image of you skipping with daisy chains is certainly an interesting one.’
‘Yeah?’ Frustratingly, her smile still did things to him. ‘I don’t make a habit of it.’
For a brief moment some of the warmth from last night drifted between them, along with the pulsing attraction. But then she looked away and pasted that professional look back on her face. ‘The Privacy Solutions mission is to be the go-to company for your online privacy concerns. We were the first to show you who’s storing information on you. Now we want to be the first to go further and let you see not only the who, but the what. Who has your data, and what data they have.’ She met his gaze head on. ‘If you don’t think that’s something you can do, I need to know now.’
He didn’t flinch. She might have him by his balls, but his ego was alive and kicking. ‘You want me to do that in, what, six months?’ he hazarded, remembering the blue-haired goth had told him at the interview timelines were tight. Six months was definitely that.
‘Three.’
Panic slithered through him, coiling round his insides. Three was his probation period. The glint in her eyes told him she knew it too, and he could almost feel her grip on his balls tightening. ‘Fine.’ He stared her down. ‘You want me to achieve in three months what your last software developer failed to sort in eighteen.’
‘Yes.’
Translation. He had three months to achieve the impossible, or he was out on his ear. He forced his mouth into a cocky smile. ‘Piece of cake.’
‘Good.’ She leant back in her chair, a picture of cool sophistication. He hated that he still found her unbelievably sexy. Hated that despite the grip she had on his balls, the power she wielded over him, he’d like nothing better tonight than a repeat performance. ‘I admire confidence, as long it’s backed by results.’
‘And I’m up for a challenge, as long as I’m not being shafted.’
He’d never know what her comeback would have been because at that moment there was a cursory knock on the door and a tall blond guy wearing a foul citrus-green shirt strode in. ‘Darling, you’re back.’ He stopped short when he noticed she had company. ‘Oh, my bad. I didn’t realise you were giving our new boy a grilling.’
Every single one of Ryan’s heckles rose – new he could handle but our boy, and grilling, like he was some sort of wayward kid they’d taken in off the streets? She must sense his irritation, too, because those freaky eyes of hers looked like were laughing at him.
Camp lime-green guy was either oblivious or in on the joke. ‘You must be the software whizz-kid Becky’s been warning me about.’ He gave Ryan a careful study before sticking out his hand. ‘Lucas Baker.’
‘Ryan Black.’ Expecting something limp and clammy, Ryan was surprised to find his hand gripped in a firm, confident handshake.
‘Lucas is our design director,’ Sam added and yes, that half-smile was still on her lips as she watched him quickly extract his hand.
‘Pleased to meet you, Ryan Black. You need me for anything’ – the look Lucas gave him from his glittering blue eyes was loaded with innuendo – ‘anything at all, just shout.’
Ryan willed himself to hold his gaze and not to flush. He was pretty certain the guy was messing with him, but it didn’t stop him feeling acutely uncomfortable. Or exhaling with relief when Lucas turned his eyes back on Sam.
‘Should I pop back later, sweet cheeks?’
And yeah, there was definitely a joke going on between the pair of them. Sam was clearly trying hard not to laugh.
Ryan shot to his feet. Stuff this shit. He wasn’t going to sit around being the butt of their jokes. ‘No need. We’re done.’ Giving them both a stiff nod, he headed smartly for the door. Call him paranoid, but he was pretty certain he could hear laughter before they shut the door.
Chapter 6
Sam rolled her eyes at Lucas as he gracefully slid into the chair opposite her.
‘Sweet cheeks?’
He grinned unapologetically. ‘I wanted to see how he’d react.’
Lucas was handsome, openly gay and a total flirt. He was also fiercely loyal, an astute judge of character and the best app designer Sam had ever come across. ‘And?’
‘Fair play, he looked more annoyed than horrified. He didn’t back down from the Baker stare, either.’ His eyes lit up. ‘Maybe that hunk of manhood swings my way.’
Sam opened her mouth to tell him otherwise, then thought better of it. Bad enough Becky knew her embarrassing secret. If Lucas got an inkling she’d slept with that hunk of manhood, she’d never hear the end of it. ‘I don’t care which way he swings, as long as he can do what we hired him for.’ She rubbed at her forehead, trying to ease the thumping headache. That would teach her to drink on a school night. ‘Did you waltz in here just to cop a look at the new guy, or was there something else you wanted?’
Lucas tipped back his head and laughed. ‘The first, obviously. But as I’m here, remember we’ve got a meeting at 3pm to get the scrumptious Mr Black up to speed with where we are with the Privacy 2 app.’
‘I hadn’t forgotten.’
He grinned, dramatically uncrossing his legs. ‘Then my work here is done.’
As he strolled out, thankfully closing the door behind him, Sam sank back against her chair. Torture, that’s how this day felt. Discovering she’d employed the man she’d supposedly had anonymous sex with last night, on top of a backlog of work, thanks to her few days away. All served with a humdinger of a hangover. Yep, today officially sucked. And she still had a meeting to get through. With her not so anonymous one-night stand.
Her eyes fluttered closed as she recalled the look on his face when he’d asked if she was going to fire him. Desperate. He’d covered it quickly enough, but that glimpse of vulnerability had shown her that despite how unbalanced she felt, she was actually the one in control, the one wit
h all the power. The realisation wasn’t pleasant. It felt even less pleasant when she imagined how she’d feel if it had been the other way round. If she’d found herself working for a guy she’d unwittingly slept with.
It brought a new level of shame to her earlier comment about his performance review. Sure he’d been crass, but she’d managed to out-crass him.
Now it was up to her to put them back on the right footing and treat him like she would any new employee. It meant wiping all memories of last night from her mind, including the reasons she’d found him attractive.
Piece of cake. And no, she didn’t have an image in her head of him saying those exact words a moment ago. His full lips curving in that sexy half-smile, half-smirk.
Ryan Black was the only one in the meeting room. Sam slowed as she neared it, watching him through the glass wall. He was leaning forward, those big shoulders slightly hunched as he looked down at his phone. Ordinary hair. And a crooked nose. Not much to go gaga about really.
Just then he looked up. As his dark gaze snared hers, her stomach flipped over and she swallowed to try and quell the jitters.
‘First one here, I see.’ A statement of the bleeding obvious. Clearly her wit had deserted her.
There was that more-smirk-than-smile again. ‘Didn’t want to get in trouble with the boss.’
Her heart was beating far too fast for someone trying to convince herself he held zero interest for her. ‘Good idea. I hear she’s a real tyrant.’
They shared a look of quiet amusement which immediately took Sam back to last night, and the way they’d seemed to click, even though they were so totally different.
Memories she needed to wipe out.
His gaze lingered on hers before darkening as it dropped to her mouth. ‘Shit, Champagne Lady. How the hell did this happen?’
Her heart bumped against her ribs. ‘I’m not sure.’ Where had her real voice gone, and what was this breathy replacement? ‘In hindsight, maybe I should have checked your ID, after all.’
The New Guy Page 4
