by Lexy Timms
When she had come in for an interview this morning, she knew she’d have to meet Simon eventually. However, having her interviewed changed from the media department to an interview with Simon at the last minute had been such a shock. Especially since she hadn’t come up with a plan to deal with Simon. Heather had figured she’d just cross that bridge when she got to it. She hadn’t anticipated that she’d be crossing it now.
“How long were you with VLA?” he asked.
“Four years,” she replied.
“Do you know Xander Richards?”
She squinted, trying to put a face to the name. “I’m sorry, who?”
“Never mind.” He waved his hand. “So, it was a good experience?”
She nodded. “Hours were tough, but they treated me well.”
“Hours are tough here at Dover, too,” Simon said. “But we make sure employees get a good amount of vacation days. You’ll also get some flexibility to work from home a few days a month. We expect you to work hard, but we don’t believe in burning people out. And I also believe that everyone on staff should be heard. So, I welcome your ideas and suggestions, Heather. Don’t be shy about speaking your mind around me.”
“That’s good to hear.” She exhaled, relief making her breathe a little easier. “How’s your head, by the way?”
He rubbed his temples. “Better. The pain is subsiding. It’s been a hectic morning, truth be told.”
“In your line of work, I can just imagine,” she said. “Is there anything I can do to make things easier for you?”
Simon leaned back in his chair and smiled. Getting a smile out of Simon had been rare when they were kids. She suspected it was still rare. The smile he gave her made her heart skip a beat. “Well, I like an employee who takes initiative. But my main problem isn’t today. It’s a speech I’m giving next week. It’s scheduled for an inter-company conference. The press is going to be there.”
“But you hate the press,” she said.
Surprise flickered in his eyes. “I’m not fond of the media. How did you know that?”
Her chest tightened. Ugh. She had forgotten herself. Being overly familiar with him and his habits would just remind him that he recognized her. And now that she had started her interview with a lie, she’d have to see it through. Especially since she wanted the job. Awkwardness with Simon aside, the man was brilliant. Working with him at Dover, Inc. would open so many doors for her.
“I...I’ve read up on you and the company. Wanted to be prepared for my second interview with Mrs.—Linda today. Sorry, it threw me when she told us we’d be interviewed by you,” she replied. That much was true. She really had read about him. Seeing someone she had grown up with succeed the way Simon had always filled her with a strange sense of pride. Not that the press had all that much to say. Simon was reclusive. Mysterious. Kept to himself and avoided interviews. Most of the information about him was just rumors and pure speculation. She knew that reporters would kill to get the kind of access to Simon that she was getting now.
“Doing research is good,” he said. “But don’t believe everything you read.”
She gave him a faint smile. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
“Since the speech is coming up soon, I’d need someone to go over it with. Deal with the press. That sort of thing.”
“I think I’m up to it,” she said. “I worked in the marketing department at VLA, so I have experience dealing with the media.”
“Excellent. Do you have any questions for me?”
None that were appropriate for the workplace. Heat flooded her entire body. Just being in proximity to him was bringing back old, erotic memories. Memories of her first time. It had been an awkward fumble in the dark, but still so romantic. He might not have known what he was doing, but Simon had been so very attentive.
She cringed inwardly. How on earth was she going to work as his PA if she kept thinking about him like this? Right now, she hoped to hell that he had a girlfriend. The press often harped on about him being a single, eligible bachelor, but if he had a girlfriend that might take away some of her own awkwardness around him. Sure, knowing he had the attentions of someone else would sting, but her bruised heart had healed a long time ago. Her disastrous marriage to Gary had toughened her up considerably.
It would take more than a dazzling smile to turn her head. Which is why she was willing to keep up the pretense that she had no idea who Simon was. Keeping her personal life and her professional life separate was paramount. That was especially true now that she was a single mom.
“What happened to your previous personal assistant?” she asked. Better to be blunt and get professional issues out in the open.
Simon frowned. Laced his fingers together and let out a deep, disappointed sigh. “He was disloyal.”
“Loyalty is important to you,” she said.
“Isn’t it important to everyone?” he asked.
She bit back the question she really wanted to ask. If loyalty meant so much to him, why had he dumped her out of the blue the summer before he went off to college? Simon had just graduated, but she still had another year of high school. They had agreed to stay together despite the distance. But then, he had broken up with her without warning. Broken her heart. Simon leaving her behind had been her first heartbreak. She wasn’t going to be that vulnerable again. Not ever.
“I suppose it is,” she said tersely.
“Well, you’ve got excellent references,” he said, looking at her reference letters. “I just wonder if you can be loyal to us after working with our rival for so many years.”
“I absolutely can,” she said. “I’m a team player. I’ll do what it takes to help you and Dover succeed. Including at your upcoming speech.” Her pulse quickened. Anxiety had already taken hold, but if she wanted this job she had to put herself out there and come out of her shell.
“We’ll have to conduct a background check,” he murmured.
Panic increased her heart rate. A background check meant he’d figure out that she was lying. He’d know that she was exactly who he thought she was. If she wanted this job, she couldn’t afford be caught in a lie this embarrassing. Heather swallowed hard. “The truth is, I’m the kind of employee who would rather separate their personal life from their professional life.”
“I feel the exact same way.” He stared at her. “It’s not going to be anything invasive. Just a standard check into your conduct at your previous job to make sure it all squares up with your resumé. I’m sure it does, so this is only a formality.”
Her mouth fell open. “So, you’re actually offering me the job? For real?”
Simon nodded. “Yes. For now. I’ll draw up a three-month contract, and if after three months we both want to continue we can set up a more permanent arrangement.”
“Don’t you need time to think about it?” she asked.
“No. When I want something, I get it.” His gaze was still on her, his eyes blazing with some indescribable heat. “My mind’s made up. I want you, Heather.”
Her entire body was tingling. His words and the way he was looking at her sent her heart racing again. The hunger in his eyes had to be her imagination. Nobody ever looked at her the way he was looking at her now. Like he wanted to devour her.
Never in a million years would she have believed the awkward boy she grew up next door to could say so much with his eyes alone. It was just in her head. The divorce was making her so sexually frustrated that she really imagined that her rich, handsome boss might be interested in her. Ridiculous.
“You don’t want to interview the third candidate?” she finally asked.
He shook his head. “Don’t need to. I know what I want.”
Fine. Two could play at that game. “When would you like me to start?”
“Today, if you can. I desperately need someone to start getting caught up and helping ASAP.”
Her eyes widened in disbelief. She had landed a job. Keeping her excitement in check, she said, “I’d love to.�
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“Great. I’ll print out a contract.” He started working on his laptop.
As she waited for her new boss to print out her contract, her excitement gave way to renewed panic. Getting a job like this after the past year of being laid off and divorced was more than she could have ever hoped for. But now she had a real problem on her hands.
“I can’t wait to start working with you.”
At the moment, it looked like Simon believed her lie. Which meant that, for at least three months, she still had to keep up the biggest lie she had ever told.
Chapter 3
“I can’t wait to start working with you,” she’d said. Heather’s smile was so familiar to him that he found himself staring at her for a moment too long.
When she glanced at him and caught him staring, Simon quickly looked away and pushed the lobby button in the elevator. They were the only people in the elevator, and the scent of her perfume filled the air. There was something so arresting about the surprisingly seductive scent that clung to her. It wasn’t the perfume he would have expected for someone so primly dressed. Heather’s perfume was the scent of a seductress. Not a professional PA.
He groaned inwardly. His head was swimming with the most insane, inappropriate thoughts. It must have been the ebbing headache. And the fact that Heather Hall reminded him so much of his childhood friend.
“I look forward to us working together, too,” he finally said stiffly.
The elevator doors opened, and they stepped out into the gleaming lobby of Dover, Inc. headquarters.
“I figured we could start the tour from the bottom floor and make our way up,” he suggested. “I want to introduce you to the security personnel at the front.”
He led her across the lobby to the huge front desk. He introduced her to the receptionist and the security guards.
As Heather started to ask the receptionist questions about Dover, Simon found himself staring at her. She resembled his high school sweetheart so much that it was making his heart race. Why the distraction now? He hadn’t seen Heather Monroe since he was seventeen, maybe eighteen years old. More than ten years ago. Yes, he had fond memories of the time they had dated in high school, but that didn’t explain why he literally couldn’t breathe right now.
Just being around a woman who reminded him of his childhood sweetheart was affecting him. It put his mind in an unfamiliar daze. It was rare for him to react to a woman like this. Surely, it must have been the headache putting him in such a fog. Or the stress from having to fire Xander earlier in the morning.
“Will I be able to get my key card today?” Heather’s voice interrupted his thoughts.
“What?”
Her hazel eyes were staring at him expectantly. “Simon?”
“Yes.” He nodded to the receptionist and security guards before leading Heather away from the front desk. “You’ll get your key card today. And your ID card, if you’re game for taking a photo.”
She walked beside him, quickly trying to keep up. “A photo? Today? I don’t know if I want to take a photo with my glasses on. I probably look way too nerdy to take a good photo.”
“I’m sure that’s not true,” he said. “You look fine. Perfectly adequate.”
Adequate? He cringed the moment the word left his mouth. What woman alive wanted to be told she looked adequate?
Her eyebrows shot up as they stopped in front of the elevator. “Oh. I see.”
“No. I mean, you look more than adequate,” he rushed on. “Lovely, in fact. And you have the most remarkable eyes...” Damn it, he was staring at her again. Right into her eyes like a crazy person. He started pressing the elevator button, pressing it so hard he was surprised he hadn’t broken his fingers.
A blush turned her cheeks the most becoming shade of pink. “Thank you. I get that a lot.”
“I just meant that your eyes are like Heather’s eyes,” he said. “The other Heather. The one I went to school with.”
“Oh.” She bit her lower lip, drawing his attention away from her eyes to her full, pink lips. “She must have meant a lot to you.”
“She was a great... friend,” he said. “She’s the one who encouraged me to start all this. Before Heather, nobody really believed in me.”
Her eyes widened. “So, you’re hiring me based on someone you knew in the past?”
“No! Your resumé speaks for itself. I apologize for the comparison. Again, I sound unprofessional. Just ignore the comments today. It’s been one hell of a weekend.”
Mercifully, the elevator doors opened again, and they stepped inside. The tiny space was crammed with staff who greeted him, which meant his agonizing conversation with Heather was cut short.
Once they got to the right floor, Simon waited while Heather took her ID photo. When she finally walked back out, ID in hand, she was putting her glasses back on.
“I took off my glasses for the photo,” she said, not sure why she was explaining it to him. “I couldn’t see a thing, but I think the photo turned out okay.” She held the ID out to him and he glanced at it. She really was a stunner. Maybe not in the way celebrity magazines went crazy over, but there was something so wholesome about her.
“Looks great. They’re IDs. Like a driver’s license. We’re not supposed to look like we’re posing.” His gaze flicked back to her and he drank her in. Heather wasn’t very tall, but she was slender. Willowy. With a very upright posture and a poise that struck him. Despite how uptight she came across, Simon sensed what smoldered underneath.
More than anything he wanted to yank the pins out of her auburn hair and let it cascade down her shoulders. Run his fingers through the silky strands. The way he had when they were together.
No. This wasn’t his old neighbor. The resemblance might be startling, but that was just his own mind going haywire. His intelligence had always made his thoughts race a million miles a minute. He could solve multiple puzzles in his head at once. That’s all this was. His own thoughts getting the best of him. That would soon stop, once he got to know this Heather a bit better. She was simply another puzzle, like everything else.
Granted, people didn’t often interest him this much. Software and hardware. Engineering. Brainstorming. Trial and error. That was what he knew. Those were the easy questions because, ultimately, there was always an answer. What was the answer to a woman like this, who intrigued him so much because she reminded him of someone else?
“It’s almost lunchtime,” he said, glancing at his Dover-made smartwatch. “I can show you where the staff eats and then we can continue the tour after.”
She smiled. “I’d like that. Lead the way.”
He tried to ignore what her smile did to him. Instead, he headed to one of the company cafeterias for lunch. His relationship with Heather Hall was strictly professional. Even though Dover permitted romantic relationships—if they were disclosed—to Simon, employees, especially subordinates, were off limits. Whatever feelings his new PA stirred in him were merely biological. A trick of a brain reminded of the past.
The cafeteria wasn’t particularly crowded, so he grabbed a seat for the two of them and handed her a menu.
“Thanks,” she said she scanned the menu.
Even though he knew the menu by heart, he forced himself to focus on it rather than steal a glance at her. Right now, Dover, Inc. needed him to get through this week and deliver one hell of a speech. A new generation of software and hardware was going to be released soon, and he needed to be on his A game at the inter-company conference.
Still, considering his former PA’s insider trading, suspicion nagged at him. The only way to set those suspicions aside was to do a background check on Heather.
Starting today.
LUNCH WAS DIVINE. EVEN better than anything she had ever had at her previous job. And best of all, lunch at Dover, Inc. was free.
As Heather took a bite of her delicious stir-fried rice, she realized how easy it would be to get used to all this. Simon might have been a genius CEO who o
bsessed over keeping everything running smoothly, but there was a very laid-back culture at Dover. She could eat whatever she wanted for free, unlike at VLA Tech where employees had to pay for food.
“So, Heather, how do you like things so far?” Simon asked from across the lunch table.
“Great,” she said. “Everyone seems friendly.” While they had waited to get lunch, Simon had called a few colleagues over and introduced her. She had literally just been hired this morning, and everyone she had spoken to had enthusiastically offered to help her adjust.
“Right. Friendly.” He took a bite out of his ham sandwich. No, that wasn’t a bite. Simon was practically inhaling it. Not taking the time to even taste it.
“Are you in a hurry?” she asked, glancing at the quickly disappearing sandwich.
He swallowed hard. “Sorry. I’m a fast eater. I just eat and get right back to work.”
“Yes, but it’s lunch time,” she said. “You can take a break for an hour.”
Simon cleared his throat. Feeling ridiculous for some reason. “I don’t usually take such long breaks.” Damn it, it was his company. He didn’t have to explain this to his new PA.
“You’re kidding.”
“No, I work all the time,” he said. “Can’t keep still for very long. My brain won’t let me.”
“Oh. I remember.” Her face went all hot the moment the words escaped her mouth.
He gave her a funny look. “Remember?”
“I mean, I remember how that feels. The business. I get that when I’m heading to bed at night. Go, go go,” she stammered as her face flushed with heat. She really needed to work on her lies if she hoped to keep this up for three months or more. “The joys of being a workaholic.”
“You say that like it’s a bad thing.” He gave her a lopsided grin.
