Employed by the Boss: Billionaire Obsession Dark Romance (Managing the Bosses Book 7)

by Lexy Timms

  “Sorry,” she said. “It's still kind of habit. But my therapist and I are working on it.”

  “Working on it is all anyone can do,” Jamie said, impressed that her sister had even noticed that she was stepping out of line with the comment, let alone apologizing. It seemed like therapy was doing her a lot of good.

  She led Christine down the hall toward the nursery, where the twins were in their playpen with a few toys.

  “So, they're going down for their afternoon naps in about an hour, or an hour and a half. As long as it's before one. There is rice cereal in the kitchen cabinet if they need something more than bottles, but they shouldn't. And the diapers are in the drawer. Once they lie down, they sometimes wake intermittently, and one of them might need a diaper change. One of them usually does.” She smiled at her sister. “But if you need anything or you have any questions, you can just ask me. I'll be right down the hall in my office.”

  Christine looked away from the twins and the smile she gave Jamie was real. “Thank you. I'll be sure to get you if anything seems wrong.”

  She leaned down over the playpen, cooing at the babies, and both of them looked up at her with wide eyes. Jamie stifled a laugh. They knew their Aunt Christine, but not well; it was about time that she got to build her relationship with them. Just as much as Jamie didn't want them having a distant mom, they shouldn't have a distant aunt, either. She wished they had a grandma they could have a good relationship with, but the rest of them would just have to love the twins a little extra to make up for it.

  “I'm going to go ahead and get to work,” she said, taking a step toward the door. “So have fun.”

  Her sister didn't even look up, just lifted one hand in a wave and went back to entertaining the twins. She was going to do a great job, Jamie was sure. She headed down the hall and got settled into her chair to finally get some work done without interruptions.

  An hour later, Jamie stood and stretched. She hadn't heard any noise from the nursery, but she wanted to see how the twins were doing, and how Christine was dealing with taking care of them on her own for a bit. So she started back toward the twins' room, keeping her footsteps quiet. If they were asleep already, she didn't want to disturb them.

  A good distance from the nursery, she started hearing sounds. There were the usual happy baby noises, but intermixed with them was Christine's voice, playful and occasionally dissolving into laughter. Jamie felt a smile forming on her lips. She'd been right. They were doing great.

  The suspicion was proven correct when she moved in to stand at the edge of the doorway.

  Christine was kneeling on the floor, careless of her clothes for the first time since Jamie could remember, and trotting a stuffed horse across the carpet in front of the twins, who were squealing with delight and reaching for it with their chubby little hands. Christine would let them get close, then let out a little neigh and trot it away faster. Jamie laughed, and her sister looked up, for a moment looking like she'd been caught at something she wasn't supposed to be doing before her shoulders relaxed and she smiled back at Jamie.

  “Having fun?” Jamie asked.

  “We are, actually,” Christine said, glancing down, and Jamie realized that she was shy about it. Her sister had never been shy about anything, but then, she had never been caught doing something so totally unsophisticated as playing keep-away with two babies and a stuffed horse. “I mean, I assume that they're having fun. Going by the laughing.”

  “They're having so much fun you can hear it ten feet down the hall,” Jamie said, stepping further into the room. “I think you're doing great with them. I knew you would.”

  She sat cross-legged next to her sister, and gave the twins a wave. They didn't return it, still fascinated with the stuffed horse.

  “That means a lot to me to hear you say,” Christine said. “I mean... We were really hard on you, Jamie. You could have chosen to throw it back at us, but you never did. You just kept trying. And I think that, without you, I wouldn't be here today.”

  “You don't have to—”

  “I mean it,” Christine interrupted before Jamie could finish. “You're the one who found me on the floor that night. You're the only person who cared enough to come check. Dad means well, but he just didn't think about it. Mom doesn't care unless there's someone to put a show on for. But you just came, just because you were worried. And you visited me in the hospital. Mom didn't. You're a good person.”

  Jamie reached out and laid a hand on her sister’s shoulder. “I care about you, Christine. We had a rocky start, but so did Alex and Matt. If they can work through their issues, so can we.”

  Christine gave her another tentative smile.

  It was around that time that Lillianna decided to use their distraction as an opportunity, falling forward to clutch at the stuffed horse. She gave a crow of victory when she got her hands on it, and both women turned to look at her, laughter filling the space between them.

  “You go, Lilli,” Jamie said. “You totally got him.”

  Christine, still laughing, gave the toy over and Lillianna promptly stuffed one of the ears in her mouth. Jamie’s sister grimaced.

  “What?” Jamie teased. “Scared of a little drool?”

  “I guess I’m still a little uptight in some areas,” Christine said, and Jamie bumped her sister’s shoulder with her own.

  “You’ll figure it out,” she said.

  Benton, deprived of the toy, tried to reach out and take it from his sister, but Lillianna pulled it away. Jamie quickly reached for one of the other stuffed toys, handing it to Benton before he had time to tear up. He banged it contentedly against the floor in what may have been an attempt to copy Christine’s earlier trotting.

  Sometimes, Jamie thought, watching the twins play with their toys and glancing over at her sister’s bright face, the world catches you by surprise in a good way. Last year had been hard, but they’d made it through, and now they had a family coming together and a business still going strong. Alex was healthy. She was finally learning the ropes of working with kids. They were going to make it, she was sure.

  ***

  When Mark and Alex came in together that evening, Jamie and Christine were in the kitchen having a snack with the twins, who seemed determined to play ‘how much floor space can I cover with a single cracker?’ Jamie looked up at the sound of footsteps, and found her husband and brother-in-law standing just inside the doorway, watching them both with amused smiles on their faces.

  “Hey,” she said, brushing crumbs off her shirt and stepping around the counter to wrap her arms around Alex in greeting.

  “Hey,” he repeated, hugging her tight. “I think the answer is pretty obvious, but how did it go today?”

  “It went really well,” Jamie said, pulling back enough to smile up at him. “I got about three hours of work done, and Christine and the twins got along great.”

  “Glad to hear it,” Alex said, and his smile said he really was. “Actually, Mark has offered to watch them for us tonight, if we want to go out to dinner.”

  Jamie glanced over at Mark, who gave her a big smile and a thumb’s up. “Absolutely. I’d love to spend the evening with the kids.”

  “I could help,” Christine offered quietly from the other side of the kitchen, where she was still sitting between the twins.

  Jamie exchanged a look with Alex, who nodded.

  “Sure,” she said. “If that’s okay with Mark.”

  “Like I’m going to refuse help,” Mark said. He made a shooing motion at them. “We’ll hang out here with the kids. You two go have fun.”

  When Jamie opened her mouth to give instructions, Alex took her hand and pulled her up the stairs.

  “They’ll be fine,” he said in the bedroom. “Mark has spent time with the twins before, and Christine just watched them for most of the day. Between the two of them I’m sure they’ve got it handled.

  “I know, but I just want to make sure they know where the emergency numbers are,” J
amie said, pulling her shirt off over her head. “And they need to know what time the twins go to bed. They’ll need to feed them dinner in a little bit…”

  Alex came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist, drawing her back against him and resting his chin on her shoulder.

  “They’re going to be fine, Jamie. Really.” She felt his mouth curve up into a smile. “And you and I are going to have a good time. Because I missed you.”

  He slid his hands up the curve of her waist and cupped the weight of her breasts. The touch woke desire deep inside of her, and she groaned. It had been way too long since they had been together. Days too long.

  “I missed you, too,” she said, turning in his arms to wrap her own around his neck, her nipples tightening against the soft fabric of her bra. “I want you.”

  Alex leaned down, and his lips met hers. She sighed into the kiss as his tongue pressed past her lips, making love to her mouth.

  When they broke apart, he pulled back despite her attempts to keep him close, and slapped his hand against her backside. “Go,” he growled. “Get dressed. We’ve got to be at dinner in a little less than an hour. After that, we’ll think about dessert.”

  Jamie groaned in protest but she went to finish dressing, though she did make sure to strip out of her jeans very slowly and fully in Alex’s view. If the sharp intake of breath behind her was anything to go by, he appreciated the effort.

  They emerged from the bedroom shortly after, both of them fully dressed and keeping their hands, for the moment, to themselves. Mark and Christine were still standing in the kitchen, chatting quietly while the twins smeared abstract designs across their trays in cracker crumbs. Alex immediately went to them, crouching down slightly to say something to them that Jamie couldn’t hear. Benton flailed a hand at his father, and Alex laughed.

  “Okay,” Jamie said as she and Alex stepped toward the door. “So the twins just had their snack, which means they should be ready for dinner in an hour or two. There’s baby food in the pantry. Mark knows where to look for it.” She snagged a pad of paper from next to the phone, and jotted down the number for the twins’ pediatrician. “You know how to get a hold of Alex and me. And the police. If anything happens that seems health-related but isn’t an immediate emergency, you can call their doctor. Make sure you call us, though. Maybe call us first. Unless it’s an emergency, then call the police first.”

  “Jamie,” Alex said from behind her.

  “And the formula is in the cabinet, too. They each get some right before they go to sleep. They shouldn’t wake up again before we get home, but if they do and they’re hungry give them another bottle. The scooper is inside and Mark, you know how much, right?”

  Mark and Christine were both nodding.

  “It hasn’t changed since last week, right?” Mark asked, trying to hide a grin.

  “Jamie, we have to get going if we’re going to make our dinner reservation.”

  “It’s still the same.” She ignored Alex as she went through a mental check list. “And of course you know where the diapers are and all that.”

  “Yes,” Mark said, looking amused. “We know where the diapers are and all that. We even know how to change them properly.”

  “Okay,” Jamie said, taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly. “I think that’s everything, then.” She started toward the door, and then paused again. “Can you check on them every now and then while they’re asleep? I mean, in person.”

  “Of course,” Christine said. “Everything’s going to be fine, Jamie, I promise.”

  Jamie turned again, and then realized that in the worry about making sure Mark and Christine knew everything they needed to know about taking care of the twins she hadn’t actually said goodbye to them. A bolt of guilt struck her. She hurried back toward them. “Alex. Come say goodbye to the twins.”

  “I already said goodbye,” Alex said, but she heard his footsteps anyway, and a moment later she could feel the warmth of his body at her back.

  “Bye,” Jamie said, leaning down toward the twins and reaching out to touch Benton's hand and then Lillianna's. “Bye-bye, sweethearts. I'll see you again soon.”

  Alex made a noise that might have been a chuckle under his breath and wrapped an arm around her waist. “I promise I'll bring Mommy back,” he said. “We’ll be home before you know it.”

  The twins, of course, didn't seem to care they were leaving. They were too busy playing with cracker crumbs. Jamie felt a little sting of tears at the back of her eyes. She had never left them with someone before. Maybe it was easy for Alex; he went off to work every day, but she'd been home with them. She leaned down and kissed the tops of their heads, feeling the silk-fine hair under her lips and wondering again how she and Alex had managed to make something so perfect. Well, she knew how Alex had. She straightened up finally, and let Alex tug her toward the door, talking about how they were going to be late for their reservation.

  “I've never left them with a babysitter before,” she said as she sat back in her seat and Alex slid into his own, turning the key in the ignition. “What if something goes wrong? Will they know what to do?”

  “They know what to do,” Alex said. “They've taken care of the twins before.” He reached across the space between them with one hand and slid his fingers into hers. “It's going to be okay, Jamie. Really. We're going to have a great night out at dinner, even if we are going to be making our reservation by the skin of our teeth, and the twins are going to have a great night with their aunt and uncle. Everyone will be happy.”

  Jamie wasn't sure about that, but she didn't say so. Alex was probably right. The twins would get to bond with Mark and Christine, which was important, and Mark and Christine would get a little more time together. They really hardly knew each other, after all. Jamie had always kept Christine away from Mark, because although her sister was beautiful she was also toxic. Now, though, with Christine recovering from her bout of depression and all but over Stephen, she was pretty sure it would be okay to leave her there with Alex's brother. They'd enjoy the time with the twins. She tried to relax. “So, where are we going?”

  “A new place I heard about.” He turned his head just long enough to smile at her before his eyes flicked back to the road. “It's almost impossible to get reservations, I was told, but I seem to have managed it.”

  “I hope you didn't kick some other couple out of line.”

  Alex shook his head. “Nope. Just managed to slip in at an opportune moment. But that means that we really can't be too late or we might lose our table.”

  “There are other places to eat in New York City. I just had to say goodbye to the twins,” Jamie said. “And I needed to make sure that Mark and Christine knew where everything was. They've never watched the twins alone before, and—”

  Alex's hand squeezed hers, cutting her off. “Do you trust them?” he asked gently.

  Jamie looked down at their hands, fingers interlocked, and nodded.

  “Jamie?”

  “Yes,” she said. “I trust them.”

  And she did. But she didn't trust anyone to take care of her babies as well as she could. They were her children, and she was leaving them alone to go out to dinner. She could go out to dinner another time. There would always be other restaurants and other nights.

  “You need a break,” Alex said, like he was reading her mind. “And I need time with you. We both do. It’s okay to have quality time with just the two of us.”

  She felt him turn to look at her for an instant, but she was still watching their hands in the glow from the streetlights.

  “I've missed you,” Alex said, and she finally looked up at him.

  “I know,” she said. “I've missed you, too.”

  “So let's go out and have a fun night together, and then we'll come back refreshed for tomorrow.”

  When he put it that way, it did sound like a good idea. Jamie nodded, and found a smile. “Okay,” she said, trying to shove all the worries at least
to the back of her thoughts, if not out of her mind entirely. “I think I can do that.”

  “Good.”

  They drove the rest of the way to the restaurant in companionable silence, and Alex helped her out of the car and walked with her into the dining room. The reservations were, thankfully, still in place, even though they'd arrived a few minutes late, and the host led them to their table. Alex pulled out Jamie's chair for her, and she sat down.

  She hadn't realized just how long it had been since they’d last been on a date. Even before the twins were born, everything else that had happened—her father's health, and her sister's, and the trouble with Gina and Nicholas had made them too busy to really seek out much time alone together. And after the twins, of course, there hadn't been time for anything. It felt good to be sitting across from her handsome husband in a dimly-lit restaurant again, watching the lines of his face and remembering just how much he turned her on. She was still a little self-conscious about her post-pregnancy body, but the dress she was wearing was one of her favorites, and she knew Alex liked it.

  “What’re you going to order?” she asked, and he looked up and smiled at her.

  “I’m more interested in what I’m going to be having for dessert,” he said, giving her a look that made her melt a little, heat pooling low in her belly.

  It had been way too long.

  The waiter returned and took their orders, and they chatted over their food. Alex, she could tell, was carefully steering around most of the topic of work, avoiding anything that would make her feel bad about not returning yet.

  “So,” she said when he paused, “how is the new PA?”

  “She's just fine,” Alex said. “Knows what she's doing, and she's not afraid to work. Zander is glad to have her.”

  “And what about you?” she couldn't help pressing. “Are you glad to have her?”

  “She's useful,” Alex answered, “but she's not you. No one else can do what you do, baby. And that doesn't mean I want you to feel bad about staying home with the twins, but I don't want you to worry that you can be replaced. You couldn't be. Not even if she had some kind of super powers.”