The Official Guide to Marrying Your Boss

by Doyle, Mae

  Oh, God.

  “Your suit,” I gasped, clamping my hands over my mouth. “I ruined your suit.”

  His gorgeous suit, which had to cost more than all of my clothes put together, had caught the wet remains of my paper cup. When I’d thrown it I hadn’t thought about the fact that he was right across from me.

  That wet sound of it hitting something? Yeah, that it was it hitting him.

  “It’s fine,” he said. “Really. Are you okay?”

  No. I was not okay. I had just told him that I’d lost my grandmother, suffered hot chocolate burns on my legs and stomach, and ruined his suit.

  Oh, and he had a crush on my alter-ego. I just knew it.

  “I’m fine,” I told him, digging my nails into my palm. “I’m so sorry about your suit. I’ll pay to get it cleaned, I promise.”

  He shook his head. “Don’t worry. If it wasn’t hot chocolate, it would have been something else. Let’s just get you home to change, okay?”

  I heard what he was saying but was paying more attention to the poor employee who had just showed up with a mop and bucket. Nick looped his arm around my shoulder and led me out of the coffee shop.

  He opened my car door for me and helped me in, then started it, before turning and looking at me.

  “Your address?”

  No. Not a chance did I want him coming to Tiffany’s place. I couldn’t handle the fact that he would see me living out of a suitcase on a sofa. But then I looked down and realized that I couldn’t work like that all day long, so I just nodded and gave him the address.

  We were halfway there when I had a moment of panic shoot through me.

  Did I leave anything out that would tie me to Tasty Foods?

  Chapter 18

  It took me three tries to get my key out of my purse and another four to even get it in the door so that I could open up the townhouse, but with Nick standing right behind me and the overpowering smell of hot chocolate in my nose, it was a little hard to concentrate.

  “Okay, just wait right here,” I told him, grabbing his shoulders and pushing him up against the wall in the foyer as soon as he was inside. “Let me make sure that there’s nothing…weird sitting out first, okay?”

  Yeah, like the box to my burner phone. A notepad with all of the information about Tasty Foods I’d already told him. My clean underwear that I had dumped on the sofa instead of putting it all away. I grabbed a box and shoved everything inside then turned around in the living room looking for a hiding spot before rushing into the kitchen and shoving the whole thing in the oven.

  “Sorry,” I whispered to the oven, like it had feelings. “Okay, come on in,” I called out to Nick, rushing over as I did to start digging through my suitcase for something to wear.

  He stepped into the living room and my heart stopped as I looked at him. He was so gorgeous, so sexy, and so out of place in the townhouse. Without sounding judgemental, he asked, “so this is where you’re staying?”

  “Yeah, on the sofa,” I told him, angling my face away so that he couldn’t see that I was embarrassed. “Gimme just one minute and I’ll change, okay? It’ll be fast.”

  “You can shower before we go back if you want to make sure that you’re really clean,” he said, and I paused, thinking. The idea of being naked with just a wall or two between us was very inviting, but I didn’t think it was a good idea.

  What if I dropped my towel in front of him by accident?

  But then again, what if I dropped my towel?

  I shook my head. “I’m good, thanks. Just want to make sure I’m not burned, okay?” I brushed past him carrying my change of clothes but he reached out to stop me.

  “I can look and see if you need to go to the doctor, Katie. No charge for you.”

  Oh, God. This wasn’t happening. “Um, I think I’m okay,” I told him, backing up. As much as I wanted to have him follow me to the bathroom for a little doctor’s visit, it was not a good idea.

  He was my boss, for one thing. For another, I was a crazy liar who needed to get back to the office to set up a party for Thursday.

  Nick let me go and I rushed to the bathroom, leaning against the closed door for just a moment while I tried to calm my pounding heart. Once I figured that I wasn’t going to burst into flames and the aching in my core had subsided, I stripped down and looked in the mirror.

  Holy. Crap. Everywhere the hot chocolate had hit me was bright red, the skin angry and a little puffy. I touched my stomach, sucking in a hiss as I did. I had no idea about the different stages of burns, but I did know that this wasn’t good.

  Heat poured through the burns and now that I actually had time to pay attention to them, I realized how bad they really were. Should I let him look at them?

  Grabbing a washcloth, I put some cool water on it and dabbed at my burns, biting my lower lip as I did. It hurt like hell, each time I touched my skin sending shooting pains through my body.

  I could let him look at my stomach, but not my legs. Giving myself a little nod, I dressed, glad that I’d chosen a loose dress that wouldn’t rub too much.

  Nick was sitting on the sofa when I came out, looking at his phone, but he put it away and stood up when I walked into the room. “What’s the damage?”

  I hesitated. “Will you look at it? I think it’s bad.”

  “I told you I would. Come here.”

  I walked to him then realized that I’d have to pull my entire dress up for him to get a look at it. For a moment, I thought about getting some pants, but instead I grabbed a blanket from the back of the sofa and wrapped it around myself, pulling my dress up and out of it as I did.

  Sure, my undies were cute, but that didn’t mean I wanted him to see them.

  Well, not like this.

  “Okay, let’s see,” he said, helping me lift my dress up. I sucked everything in, wishing I spent more time on my abs than on eating gyoza with Tiffany, and tried to imagine what he was thinking.

  Was he judging the bit of red underwear he could see? Or was he more focused on the belly button ring? It had been an impulse piercing after my grandmother had died, but now I couldn’t help but wonder if it was stupid.

  “These burns aren’t great, but they’re not so bad that you need to go to the hospital. I just wasn’t sure how hot the hot chocolate was when you spilled it,” he said, reaching out to lightly trace my skin.

  I sucked in my breath, holding it for just a moment while he touched me, but then he stepped back and I dropped my dress.

  “You’ll be fine,” Nick told me, grabbing me by the shoulders. “But you’ll definitely want to wear some loosing fitting clothes for a while. The last thing you want is anything rubbing on that.

  “Thanks,” I said, completely unable to look him in the eye. The fact that I’d been so close to being naked in front of him wasn’t something that I was going to be able to forget easily. I wanted to reach out and pull him to me, the desire to have his body pressed up against mine was almost painful, but before I could do something that would get me sued, or worse — fired — he turned away.

  “We should probably get back. I know that you have some things to do to get ready for Thursday,” he said, walking towards the front door.

  “You’re right.” I grabbed my purse and followed him, making sure to lock the door behind me. The morning had turned cooler than it had been earlier, and I shivered in my thin dress, even though the heat from my burns was more than enough to keep me warm.

  We were silent for most of the way back to the office, but after he parked, he turned to me. “I’m really sorry about the hot chocolate incident, Katie. If you are at all worried about the burns just talk to me, okay? I’ll do whatever I can to help.”

  He was so earnest and open that I wanted to cry. It probably didn’t help that my legs and stomach felt worse than when I’d grabbed a curling iron as a kid. He was just being so nice to me, and I found myself getting envious of Marie.

  “Thanks, Nick,” I said. “Don’t worry about it, oka
y? If Thursday goes off without a hitch then it will all be worth it.”

  “Yeah, Thursday.” He got a smile on his face and I felt my heart drop. Nick honestly thought that Marie would be here on Thursday to serve the lunch, and I still had to figure out how to let him down easy.

  We both walked back to our own offices, him giving Linda a little wave as he went by her. She shot me a dirty look, probably because I’d changed clothes, but I didn’t care.

  She could think whatever she wanted. As soon as I was in my office, though, the calm feeling disappeared. I grabbed my personal phone and saw that Tiffany had sent me a link.

  Clicking on it, I waited for my phone to load the page while I pulled out my burner from my desk. Nick’s message from the morning was still there, waiting on me to answer him.

  Leaning back in my chair, I propped my feet up on my desk for inspiration.

  I prefer hot chocolate.

  As soon as I sent it, though, I cringed. Was it too on the nose? In just a minute, I got my answer.

  Just had the most interesting experience with hot chocolate earlier today, but I’m sure I can make some on Thursday. Will you be around? I’d like to talk to you.

  My palms felt sweaty and I put the burner phone down, wiping my hands on my dress while I checked my personal one. Tiffany’s intern had come through with flying colors, the Tasty Foods website was up and looked great.

  I started to drool as I scrolled through the pictures, they looked so good. Amazing sandwiches, huge cakes, and giant pitches of iced tea all looked amazing, and I wondered for a moment where her intern had gotten the photos.

  Probably a stock photo site, so it didn’t really matter. Before I could decide if it was a good idea or not, I grabbed the link and emailed it to Nick to check out then shot Tiffany a text to thank her.

  Nick was still waiting on a reply from Marie, so fired up my computer to look for some recipes while I thought about what to say to him.

  I’ll do my best!

  There. It wasn’t a lie. I would do my best, but Marie wasn’t going to make it to the luncheon. I just had to be sure of that.

  My email pinged as soon as I put down the burner. Seeing that it was from Nick, I felt myself flush and I tapped my screen to open it.

  Katie, thanks for sending me the website. I was beginning to get a little worried about how legit they are. Think you could ask her to bring some of that sweet tea? Looks delicious.

  I told him that I’d be happy to, and opened up a web browser on my computer. Before I could even enter a search for food, my burner buzzed.

  If your best is half as good as that pumpkin mousse, then I’m sure you’ll be here.

  Oh. My. God. I wanted him to be saying those words to me, but he was falling for Marie, I just knew it.

  Instead of responding, which is what I wanted to do, I turned the phone off and tucked it into my purse, turning to the computer.

  I had the rest of the day to figure out what I was going to make for Thursday. I also had to decide how to handle the decorations that Nick and I had bought and figure out how I was going to get away with serving the food myself without him noticing that something was up.

  No big deal.

  After all, what could go wrong?

  Right?

  Right?

  Chapter 19

  If Nick knew how sweaty I got whenever I was near him, looked at him, or even thought about him then I was pretty sure that he would be horrified, but luckily, he hadn’t learned how to read minds.

  At least, I didn’t think so.

  If he had, all he’d know about me right now is that my palms were disgusting, I was second-guessing if I put on enough deodorant, and I really needed a shower. Well, that and I still wanted to kiss him.

  You want to know what’s not worth the money? Dry shampoo. Just take a shower, ladies, and I promise that everything will be better.

  Why was I nervous, you ask? Well, it had to do with the fact that he and Marie had been texting for days now, I’d stayed up late to finish the food for the luncheon last night, I wasn’t sure if my sweet tea was sweet enough, and the luncheon was set to start in half an hour.

  Linda popped into my office, which was a habit that she had developed since Nick and I went out for hot chocolate and I tried to burn off multiple layers of my skin. “There are two men here for you,” she said, her nose turned up like that could only mean one thing, and then disappeared.

  Before following her I needed to send a quick text to Tiffany, who was parked in her car right around the corner. All of the food I’d made was in the backseat, hopefully still warm.

  They’re here. Come around front.

  As soon as I’d sent that, I went to meet the guys. If Tiffany made it to the front at the right time then there might actually be a way that we could pull this off.

  I had to move slower than I would have liked because of my burn. Even though Nick kept offering to look at it, I’d turned him down.

  Really, who wants their sexy doctor boss to look at their burned skin on a regular basis? Not me. If he was going to be looking at my half-naked body, it better be because he was getting ready to worship it, not because he wanted to check my healing against his textbooks.

  My stomach and legs had healed up some, but they were still sore and sensitive, and I was sitting a lot more than I wanted to to keep my clothes from rubbing my skin. No squats in the hallway for me.

  The two guys weren’t waiting by Linda’s desk, but had moved as far away from her and her glare as possible. When I walked into the main lobby, they turned to look at me, then visibly relaxed.

  “I’m Katie,” I said, holding out my hand and giving them both the once-over.

  They were taller than me, which wasn’t hard, and dressed in khakis and button-up shirts. No nametags, but that couldn’t be helped because there wasn’t any way that I was going to try to make them on my own. Both of them had combed hair that was pushed away from their face and one held aprons in his hand.

  The one with the aprons wore cowboy boots, which didn’t really fit with my idea of a catering company, but the other had on black thick soled shoes that were reserved for nurses, waiters, and other heros in the community.

  “Where’s the food?” Cowboy boots asked, and I shushed him, making him raise his eyebrows at me. The last thing that I needed was for Linda or Nick to hear them talking. I’d been very clear when I’d hired them from Craigslist that they were to show up, look nice, say that they were from Tasty Foods, and not mention anything that may sound suspicious.

  This is what I got for trusting the internet for anything. I thought that I’d been clear when I’d placed the ad, but obviously something was lost in translation.

  I gave cowboy boots another glare. There was a huge tattoo of a naked woman on his forearm, and I rolled my eyes. “The food is right outside, and you need to make sure to pretend like you guys are really from the catering company, okay? No matter what someone says, you work for Tasty Foods, and Marie is sorry, but something came up and she couldn’t make it. Also, you couldn’t have covered up Tits McGee there?” I waved my hand at his arm.

  He raised his eyebrows at me and flexed his arm to make her dance. She had a snake wrapped around her neck, which was oddly mesmerizing, but I frowned. This was not what I’d wanted when I’d come up with the plan. Ignoring him, I looked at the orthopedic shoe guy, and he just shrugged. “As long as we get paid, I’ll say whatever you want, okay?”

  See? That was the kind of compliance that I wanted from my workers, and I suddenly understood why every single boss I’d ever had in high school and college had been such a hardass.

  The food should be here by now. I was too short to look over their shoulders, so I leaned over to look past them out the front. Sure enough, Tiffany’s bright blue SUV was parked right out front in the fire lane, her hazard lights going crazy.

  “Okay, cowboy boots, orthopedic shoes, the food is out there. Let’s move!”

  Like we were in a wa
r movie, the three of us turned to the door and marched outside, fighting against the bluster of the windy morning. Tiffany saw us coming and hopped out of her car, throwing open the doors for the guys to grab food.

  “You need any help?” She asked, and I shook my head.

  “You’ve done enough, now get out of here before you accidentally make eye contact with Linda and she turns you to stone, okay?” I grabbed a chicken casserole. “I’ll send one of them out for the sweet tea in a minute.”

  “You got it. Good luck, and I think that you’re absolutely crazy,” she said, hopping back into the car.

  The guys followed me inside and I led them into the back room where we’d be eating. The table was already decorated, with fake leaves and pumpkins down the center, and I had the turkey candles ready to be lit.

  “Okay, you two run back for the sweet tea and I’ll help you get this set up in here,” I told them. “Once everyone arrives, you guys can serve and then we’ll clean up and you’ll be done.”

  This was working. They both gave me a nod and disappeared out the door right before Nick walked in.

  He stood in the doorway and I gasped when I looked up at him. Even though I should have been used to him dressing up and looking amazing, I still got a fluttery feeling in my stomach whenever I saw him.

  “Katie, this looks great,” he said, walking in and picking up one of the turkey candles. “I’m glad that we went out and got the decorations together.”

  My heart flipped. “Thanks, that was fun. Well, minus the great hot chocolate incident of course.”

  “Of course. Have you seen Marie yet?”

  Just every single time I look in the mirror.

  I shook my head. “No, but the guys are bringing in the food, if you want to talk to them.” I held my breath. This was going to be the moment that really decided everything. If the two guys could pull this off then I wouldn’t have to worry about Nick finding out that Marie didn’t really exist.