by Lexy Timms
She smiled. “He’s such a sweet boy.”
“Yeah, he seems like a great kid.” Envy made his stomach knot up. It wasn’t right to be jealous of her ex-husband. Despite their divorce, it was clear that Gary had given Heather something Simon had no idea how to give. Happiness.
If he was less set in his ways, and their relationship less fraught, he might be ready to try. To try to make a woman happy. And if he could choose that woman, it would be Heather. He shoved that crazy thought away. Sex with Heather had been incredible. Mind-blowing. But mind-blowing sex wasn’t the foundation of a relationship. Not the kind of relationship that a woman like Heather deserved.
He smoothed her hair back from her face. “Goodnight, Heather.”
She yawned loudly. “G’night, Simon. You’re a good guy. Too good. Thank you.”
“No problem.” Simon turned away and headed into the living room. From the sound of her heavy breathing, it was obvious that Heather was drifting off to sleep. Her hangover would probably be terrible tomorrow, but at least it looked like she wouldn’t be throwing up tonight.
He settled in front of the TV and started mindlessly flicking through the channels. His thoughts were racing, going over the events of the day. As he went over everything, he found himself torn.
Part of him cared about the Heather he had just helped into bed. The mother who cared so deeply for her son that it moved even a stone-hearted man like him. But the other part of him remembered that she couldn’t be trusted. Not with all the lies she had told him.
Knowing that she had told him so many lies was going to make it impossible for him to get a good night’s sleep. Because he knew that the more he got to know Heather, the less he really knew about his new assistant.
Chapter 14
She woke up with a splitting headache. The worst of her life.
Heather had no idea what time it was, but it was far too bright. With all the strength she could muster, she hauled herself up to sit upright on the bed.
Suddenly, Simon stepped into the room, slipping a jacket over his broad shoulders. “Finally up?”
Searing pain needled through her skull. “Please. Not so loud.” She held her hand up and shut her eyes tightly. Anything to shut the world out while a jackhammer went to town on her brain.
“I’m going downstairs for breakfast,” he said. “If you have a quick shower, you’ll probably still have time to make it for breakfast before the day starts.”
Opening her eyes, she stretched her arms over her head with a yawn. “About last night—”
“Never mind that.” He glanced at his watch. “We’ve got a long day ahead of us and we need to focus. I need you at your best. No repeats of last night’s drinking.”
“Right.” She frowned. Something was off with Simon. Gone was the attentive man who had been so caring last night. In his place was her boss. Of course. Now was not the time for personal matters.
“By the way, your husband called,” he informed her. “I didn’t want to wake you, but he said he’d call back later.”
“You mean my ex-husband? Did he want anything?” she asked, ignoring the hint of jealousy she detected in Simon’s voice. Her mind had to be playing tricks on her. There was no way her wealthy boss was interested enough in her to actually be jealous of Gary.
“It didn’t sound like anything serious.” His jaw clenched. “I can save a plate of breakfast for you.”
She groaned, suddenly hit with a wave of nausea rising in her stomach. “I don’t think I can eat much. Not after all the drinks I had last night. This hangover is making me feel sick.”
“You have to eat something,” he said. “You need to get your strength up.”
Heather sighed. “I don’t think I can stand the thought of eating anything.”
“I’ll have the hotel staff whip up a hangover cure for you, and then you will eat something. At least try to get through the morning without incident,” he said. “I do need you sharp and alert today, Heather.”
His tone was all business, dashing any hopes she might have had of getting into anything more personal.
With a nod she said, “Okay. I’ll shower and then meet you downstairs for breakfast.”
“You do that.” He disappeared from the room.
As far as awkward, post-sex, post-drunken nights went, her talk with Simon could have been worse. He seemed distant, even irritated, but at least he seemed willing to give her another chance. Though, that was probably because Simon was a consummate professional who wouldn’t let their personal issues get in the way of work. Too bad she hadn’t known that about him when she had first interviewed for the job. It might have saved them a lot of grief. And maybe she wouldn’t have ended up sleeping with him. Twice.
She could worry about that later. Right now, she had to find a way to get over this hangover and do her job without making things even more tense with her boss.
AFTER POPPING SOME painkillers and taking a quick shower, Heather sent a text to her parents. Finn was probably on his way to school, but she wanted to make sure she got in touch with her son before her day started. It was rare for her to be away from Finn for longer than a day.
Guilt was already making her feel even more jittery as she got dressed. But right now, she had to set her anxiety aside and focus on work. She was working for her son, after all. Making sure she was independent enough to not have to rely on anyone and proving that being a single mom didn’t have to mean the end of her life. If she worked hard, she could set a good example for her son and show that she would never give up no matter how many times life knocked her down.
“There you are,” Simon said when she found him at the table in the hotel dining hall. He shoved a glass of some hideous green concoction over to her side of the table.
Eyeing it suspiciously, she sat across from him. “What on earth is that?”
“Avocado,” he replied, glancing down at the newspaper in his hand.
“You put guacamole in a glass for me?” she asked.
He looked up from his paper. “It’s a mixture of avocado and eggs. Sure to cure any hangover.”
“Simon, that is disgusting.” She wrinkled her nose. “Are the eggs raw?”
Her boss raised an eyebrow. “You think I had the staff put cooked eggs in a glass?”
“Well, I don’t know. It doesn’t sound any more disgusting than raw eggs.” Her fingers curled around the glass.
“The eggs are raw,” he confirmed. “It’s perfectly safe. Just hold your nose and drink it down. After that you can have breakfast.”
She stared at the glass, her stomach lurching at the sight of the green ooze inside. “Where did you learn about this cure? College?”
His eyes darkened. “My parents.” Simon brought a cup of coffee to his lips and drank. “Hurry up and finish so we can go over today’s itinerary.”
His brusque manner was already setting her on edge, but she’d drink anything to feel better. Taking a deep breath, she lifted the glass to her lips and took a huge gulp. She shuddered as she forced down some of the revolting concoction. It nearly made her gag. “I don’t think I can drink much more,” she forced out.
“That’s probably enough. Now, eat something so we can start the day.”
There was a jug of orange juice on the table, so she reached for it and filled one of the empty glasses. She drank some of it down, trying to get rid of the awful taste in her mouth. Then, she reached for the croissant on the plate in front of her and reluctantly started to nibble on it. Ordinarily she would enjoy having such a nice breakfast, but she could hardly taste anything.
Sitting with Simon here in the clear light of day was already making her face grow hot. Memories of having sex with him started rushing back. Made her entire body tingle with desire.
No. She could not go down that road again. Not if she wanted to focus on work and get back on track.
After she finished her croissant she went over the day’s agenda with Simon. Their morning would be relative
ly easy with a series of presentations, but the afternoon events were already making her anxious. The afternoon session was basically a networking session, and she knew how much Simon was going to loathe making small talk with people he could barely tolerate.
With breakfast done, they headed to the hotel conference room and took their seats in the front row. The morning presentations dragged on until it was time to take a break for lunch. Once lunch was over, they headed back into the hotel conference room for the networking session to begin.
“This is already tedious,” Simon muttered.
The conference room was packed with schmoozing executives representing tech companies, venture capitalists, and other wealthy investors from around the world. Most of the attendees stood around mingling, chatting, and laughing, but Heather caught most of them glancing over at Simon. Even these wealthy power players knew that Simon was the star in the room.
“Let’s just stay for half an hour,” she murmured under her breath.
“It’s easy for you to say,” he said. “Nobody looks at you and sees dollar signs.”
She frowned. “I’d hope they would look at me and see a person.”
He sighed. “I didn’t mean anything by it—”
“Let’s just get this over with,” she said sharply, making a beeline for a prominent investor she recognized. Santo Mattis was important enough for her to have memorized his photos and his credentials before she came to the conference. Simon probably wouldn’t have recognized the investor, but she did. Because it was her job to make things run smoothly.
Simon had been curt with her all day, but she was just as tired and cranky as he was. Maybe it was the long day, or the sexual tension they had been fighting that was irritating him, but she absolutely refused to waste this opportunity. Getting Simon to agree to a session like this was a minor miracle the board had pulled off, and Dover, Inc. needed this to work if they hoped to attract more investors.
Mattis was talking to a group of other businesspeople, so Heather cleared her throat softly to announce herself.
“Hello, Mr. Mattis,” she said, already sweating that she had been forced to interrupt. If Simon didn’t hate these things so much she wouldn’t have to try this hard to wrestle a meeting. “I’m Simon Diesel’s assistant.”
Mattis smiled and held out his hand to shake hers briefly. “Hello. How good of you to arrange a talk between us.” He was of average build, grey-haired, and spoke with a slight accent.
She returned his smile. “I don’t want to interrupt, but if we could have a moment of your time when you’re through here—”
“Oh, nonsense, you’re not interrupting,” Mattis said. “We were just talking about Simon. Where is he?”
Annoyance made her body go rigid. She had just assumed that Simon had followed right behind her, but she turned around to find no one there. With narrowed eyes she scanned the room until she spied her boss, standing exactly where she’d left him, with a scowl on his face.
“He’s over there,” she said, titling her head in Simon’s direction.
It was totally rude on their part to want a meeting with Mattis and keep him waiting. When this networking session ended she was going to have to gently remind her boss about protocol.
“Well, lead the way,” Mattis said. “I’m looking forward to having a discussion with him. It’s a bit of a long walk, though, don’t you think?”
She groaned inwardly. Prompting Mattis to walk across the conference room was beyond rude. Now she looked like she didn’t know what she was doing, and Simon looked like he was too arrogant to meet an investor. Which, truth be told, he was. Sure, he hated small talk, but who didn’t? It wasn’t right for them to come all this way for him to back out of his obligation.
Heather was fuming on the inside, but she plastered a giant smile on her face and guided Mattis across the room to where Simon was standing. Quickly, she made introductions.
“Would you mind if my assistant took some notes of our discussion?” Simon asked. “Or would you prefer something more private?”
“I’m fine having your assistant with us. My assistant is dealing with a minor emergency while she’s making some video conference calls, so she’ll be indisposed. It will be good to have someone take notes as we talk,” Mattis replied. “How about we head over to the dining room for a chat?”
“We’ve already eaten,” Simon said flatly.
Heather cast her boss a meaningful glance, resisting the urge to shake him for his rudeness. “I think Mr. Diesel means that we’d be delighted to go to the dining room.”
Simon scowled again but said nothing as they all walked to the hotel dining room for a private meeting.
While they sat together at a table, Heather started typing up notes. The discussion was mostly one-sided, though Mattis didn’t seem to notice that he was the only one speaking. Simon usually responded with a serious of grunts and nothing more. Heather was the one who spent most of her time pressing Mattis for information and ideas.
Finally, the meeting wound down, and since it had run for so long they didn’t have to spend much more time at the networking session. Heather did make sure to target other personal assistants for business contacts and, with that information gathered, she and Simon made their way back to their hotel room.
“That went well, didn’t it?” Simon started taking off his jacket.
She crossed her arms and stared at him. “You’re joking.”
“No.” He frowned. “What’s the problem?”
“You practically blew off Mattis,” she said, huffing out an annoyed breath. “You barely said a word to him and you didn’t acknowledge the other people in the conference room.”
He shrugged. “You know I hate these things.”
“Everyone hates these things,” she said. “But that doesn’t mean you can’t make the effort. You didn’t even try to get to know Mr. Mattis. It would have helped you figure out what he wanted. What motivates him.”
“He wants what they all want,” he said. “Money. That’s all people care about.”
“Must be nice,” she muttered softly.
“What was that?”
She sighed. Might as well just get it out in the open. “I said it must be nice. To have so much money that you can’t fathom why anyone would want money of their own.”
“Mattis isn’t exactly poor.” Simon crossed to the living room and tossed his jacket onto the sofa. “He’s a well-off man.”
“So what? He wants to be more well-off; having a good relationship with him will be good for Dover,” she said.
“We don’t need him.” Simon sank down onto the sofa. “We don’t need anybody.”
“That’s just your problem, isn’t it?” she snapped, unable to hide her frustration. “You’re so very good at pushing people away. Closing yourself off from them. Believing the worst about them so you can walk away and act like you’re the injured party.”
He stared at her. “We’re not talking about Mattis anymore, are we?”
“Does it matter?” She spun on her heel and headed for the balcony.
All day she had been on edge, so as not to make things worse. Yes, she had made her share of mistakes last night, but that was no reason for Simon to punish the entire company because of it.
She stepped out onto the balcony and stared at the sky, watching the sunset. Mentally she was kicking herself for letting things get so personal again, but mostly she hated herself for caring so damn much about what Simon thought.
Chapter 15
Her back was turned to him.
His eyes focused on the arch of her slender neck, exposed since her auburn hair was tied up as usual.
Heather was standing just a few yards from him, and yet she might as well have been hundreds of miles away. Even without seeing her face, Simon sensed her agitation.
He walked across the room and joined her on the balcony.
She was holding tightly to the railing, staring up at the sky. Though he hated to, Simon
had to admit that she really was lovely standing in the light of the sunset. He hated admitting it because it meant admitting that he could be distracted. Could lose focus from his work. That never happened. Until now.
“I know you think I push people away,” he said.
“It’s not just me who thinks it,” she said softly. “Everyone thinks so. The media. Your media relations officer, Linda. I mean, Linda pretty much warned me that you don’t care about the lives of your employees.”
“That isn’t true,” he said. “I do care.”
“Forget I said anything,” she said. “I don’t want Linda to get in trouble.”
“I won’t bring it up to Linda, if that’s what you’re afraid of.” He glanced at her, struck by her wholesome, innocent beauty that made his chest tighten. “I do care about my employees.” One employee in particular, if he was telling the truth. Which was the problem. Caring about someone like this wasn’t in his nature. So, why start now?
She turned her head to face him, her hazel eyes glowing fiercely in the light of the setting sun. “Is that why you made things so difficult today? Because, if you cared about your employees, you wouldn’t have made the meeting with Mr. Mattis so difficult.”
“This isn’t about Mattis,” he said coolly.
“So, what is it about if you know so much?” She threw her shoulders back in defiance.
There was something so thrilling and exciting about this delicate wallflower of his childhood standing up to him. Nobody stood up to him. Not really. He wasn’t an unfair man, but wealth made people suck up to him in a way that Heather seemed to shun. It really was remarkable, even if it frustrated him at times.
“You’re upset about something I’ve done,” he said. “This is personal for you, isn’t it?”
She narrowed her eyes. “You tell me.”
“You’re angry with me,” he murmured. “Angry that I’ve kept people at a distance. Angry that I’ve kept you at a distance.”
Silence. Heather turned from him and looked back up at the rapidly darkening sky.
