Ego Trip: A Cocky Boss Romantic Comedy

by Tabatha Kiss

  Graham sets his phone down. “Sorry,” he says to me. “I’m getting a hundred emails a day about my mother.”

  “Fiona’s big senate announcement making waves?” I ask.

  “It’ll die down, eventually.”

  I snort. “You don’t follow politics much, do you?”

  Graham cringes, highlighting the tired circles under his eyes.

  Graham, Oliver and I...

  Well, you see, we have some history, and...

  Oh, screw it.

  Just say it.

  “Graham, there’s something else I need to talk to you about,” I say.

  He bobs his head at my clipboard. “Go on and hit me with it,” he says.

  I hold my breath. “Well, it’s...”

  I pause, still unsure how to phrase it delicately, but there’s no really great way to say I’m in the midst of a sordid, ongoing love affair with my superior.

  “It’s about Oliver.”

  “Oliver?” he asks.

  “And me.”

  Graham exhales hard and nods. “Yeah, I know.”

  My blood runs cold. “You know?”

  “Oliver told me.”

  “He...” My nerves clench. “He told you? When did he tell you?”

  “About a week ago, I think?” he says as he rubs the scruff on his chin.

  My jaw drops. A week?

  Graham has known about us for a week?!

  “So, then...” I hold my breath. “Then, you know that...”

  “That he offered you a job,” Graham says. “Yeah, I know.”

  I lean back slightly. “You know... about the job offer.”

  “He told me he reconsidered the whole lone wolf thing.” He chuckles. “I knew he would, too. One day with a decent assistant turns everything around. I just wasn’t expecting him to try to steal you out from under me like that.”

  “Right,” I say, breathing a laugh. “So... silly.”

  “I thought so, too, at first, but...” Graham pauses with a shrug of the shoulder. “It might actually be a good idea.”

  I raise a brow. “What?”

  “I’ve thought a lot about it over the last few days,” he says. “The CEO is far more grounded than the Liaison is. I’ll still have to travel, but not nearly as much as we’re used to. Oliver said you’ve mentioned how much you’ll miss that.”

  “I... yeah, I might have mentioned that.”

  “I still need an assistant,” he adds. “But, if I’m to be completely honest with myself, I feel far more comfortable knowing you’re out there keeping this company on track than here in Vegas picking up my dry cleaning.”

  “So, are you saying that you want me to take his job offer?” I ask, confused.

  “No,” he says, smiling. “I’m saying that I want to promote you.”

  I blink twice. “Promote me?” I ask. “You mean, like... making me Company Liaison?!”

  “Junior Company Liaison,” he corrects.

  “That... doesn’t exist.”

  “It will. I’m the CEO. I can do things like that. I checked.” He smiles at his own joke. “You’d still have all the same responsibilities you do now, but with a little more authority — and an appropriate pay raise that we’ll negotiate later.”

  My mouth sags. “Whoa...”

  Graham nods. “I thought you’d say that.”

  I laugh. “I don’t even know what else to say.”

  “Say nothing,” he warns. “It’s not official yet. We’ll talk more about it after the convention next week.”

  “Okay...”

  I swallow hard.

  I squint.

  I can’t fucking believe this is happening.

  “Does Oliver know about this?” I ask.

  “It was his idea,” he answers. “He even offered to cover your raise out of his own paycheck. I guess you two made a really great team out there. He wants you — and only you.”

  Blood rushes to my cheeks. “Is that right?”

  “Liaison has always been a two-person job,” he muses. “Not sure why it’s taken us so long to do this. Seems... obvious.”

  “I guess the previous Liaisons were all greedy bastards,” I joke.

  Graham chortles. “Gonna let that one slide.”

  “Thank you, sir.”

  He tilts his head. “Was there something else we needed to talk about?” he asks.

  Oh. Right.

  Only that sordid, ongoing love affair with my superior.

  Now, potentially, my full-time superior.

  “No,” I answer. “I think that about catches us up.”

  “Good.” He smiles. “Now, get out of here. Take the rest of the week off. You’ve earned it. Be back here bright and early Monday morning, ready to rock this convention.” He snaps his fingers. “That reminds me, I’m having breakfast with Jonah tomorrow.”

  I chuckle. “Rock-music-Jonah-breakfast. Good system.”

  He turns up his hands. “I learned from the best.”

  I stand up with my heart still wild in my chest. “Thank you again, Graham,” I say. “This means... so much to me.”

  Graham smiles. “I know you’ll do great, Paige,” he says.

  “And I’ll, of course, find and train my replacement,” I add.

  “I know you’ll do that, too.”

  “And—”

  “Paige.”

  “Yes?”

  “Go home.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  I close the office door behind me before releasing all the air from my lungs.

  “Oh, boy,” I mutter.

  Chapter 43

  Paige

  Junior Company Liaison.

  A dream job, for sure. A dream life full of travel to amazing places with amazing people.

  And let’s not forget that higher paycheck. I’ll get to continue supporting my mother and possibly upgrade my apartment to something a little more... one bedroom.

  But I can’t accept it. Right?

  If I do, then Oliver and I can’t possibly go on like this. An affair on a business trip is one thing (an immoral thing, admittedly). Continuing it would be a bad idea in general, but the Junior Company Liaison continuing it with the Senior Company Liaison is a really bad idea.

  Right?

  There’s a knock on my door. I flinch in surprise with a glance at my bedside clock. Nearly 10 PM.

  I set my book down on my pillow as I slowly inch out of bed. They knock again in the time it takes for me to cross my apartment to the door and peek through the peephole.

  Oliver?

  I slide the chain free and open the door.

  Oliver smiles at me with a bottle of wine in one hand. “Hey,” he says.

  “Hi,” I greet. “How did you know where I live?”

  He smirks, amused. “Did you know that I can wander behind the desk of any Botsford Plaza in the world and look through… whatever employee file I want? It’s pretty cool.”

  “What are you doing here?”

  “Graham told me you two spoke today.” He holds up the bottle. “So, I brought wine to celebrate.”

  “And what exactly are we celebrating?” I ask.

  “You know damn well what we’re celebrating. Can I come in?”

  I sneer at him for a moment before holding the door open for him. It’s better to have this conversation inside than to risk him getting spotted.

  Oliver glides into the room, his eyes scanning from my bed to my treadmill to the kitchenette. “Nice place,” he says.

  I close the door. “Shut up.”

  “No, really. It’s cozy. I like it.” He points at the small chair and bookcase in the corner. “I like the little reading nook. That’s cute.”

  I cross my arms, putting up a little body armor to keep my distance. “Uh-huh.”

  He turns to me with a raised brow. “What?”

  “What?”

  “You’re mad at me.”

  I exhale. “Yes, I am.”

  “Why are you mad at me?�
� he asks. “I got you everything you wanted. I thought you’d be thrilled.”

  “Thrilled? Oliver, I told you I wanted to talk to Graham myself.”

  “Yeah. About us,” he says. “I talked to him about work.”

  “It’s the same thing and you know it.”

  “How is it the same thing?”

  “Because now I’m saddled with a job offer I can’t possibly turn down that makes it impossible for...”

  “Impossible for what?” he asks.

  I tighten my crossed arms. “Oliver, if I take this job, we’re done,” I say. “I can’t date you and be your Junior at the same time. I might have been able to get Graham on-board with us when I was your assistant temporarily, but now this is definitely crossing a line. You shouldn’t even be here right now.”

  He nods with a blank expression before walking around me into the kitchenette. I bristle with annoyance as he opens the cupboards above the counters.

  “What are you doing?” I ask.

  “Looking for wineglasses,” he says.

  I bite down. “Oliver, were you even listening to me?”

  “I heard you. Corkscrew?”

  “Oliver.”

  “Paige.”

  “Stop!”

  Oliver faces me. “No,” he says with a smirk.

  “No?” I repeat.

  “No,” he says again. “I’m not giving up.”

  He successfully retrieves a wineglass from the cupboard and squints as he looks for a second one.

  “I’m not giving up,” I argue.

  “Sure sounds like. Do you have another wineglass?”

  “No, just that one.”

  “You only have one wineglass?” he asks.

  “I... broke them. And I never have company, so I didn’t replace them.”

  “Fair enough.” He snatches two drinking glasses instead. “We’ll slum it tonight.”

  I pinch my eyes closed. “Oliver, will you please just stop and listen to me? Please?”

  Oliver stops. He sets the glasses down on the counter next to the bottle and turns to me, giving me his full, undivided attention.

  “Oli, I wish things were different,” I say, taking a breath. “I wish that we could have... found each other in a better way. At a better time. But we didn’t. What we have is—”

  “I’m going to stop you there,” he says over me.

  “No, Oliver, please. I need to get this out.”

  “Don’t bother. What we have is a choice, Paige. A choice to deny ourselves what we clearly want or to continue living by someone else’s rules.” He takes a wide stride toward me. I think to move, but my body locks in place instead. “I’ve been through... so much in my life,” he says. “You have, too. If you ask me, we found each other right when we needed to.”

  I sigh. “Oli...”

  “I let you slip through my fingers once,” he whispers, his icy eyes lost in mine. “I won’t do it again.”

  Oliver touches my cheek. Again, I think to resist it, but the blooms of warmth rushing through my face keep me grounded. His touch travels upward, nuzzling my hair back behind my ear. He drifts closer, our lips drawn to each other without connection.

  “You’re mine, Paige,” he whispers, his breath warm on my cheek. “I’m not letting you go.”

  I tilt into his kiss. My heart pounds like a drum as I curl my arms around his neck, giving myself over to temptation.

  Still, somehow, through everything we know we can and can’t be, five little words echo in my mind.

  No one has to know.

  Chapter 44

  Oliver

  The annual Botsford Corp shareholders’ convention.

  For years, I’ve spent a lot of time on the outside. I own shares in the company, just like every other building manager, but as the manager of the venue, I had a lot more going on than attending meetings and hamming it up at the hotel bar after hours.

  Well, except for that one night in particular, of course.

  This year, it’s different. It’s all different.

  This year, I have a seat at the table. I’m not someone who takes orders from the big guys upstairs. I’m one of the big guys.

  It feels good.

  I enter the golden ballroom in the Vegas Plaza lobby, passing under a banner that says, “Welcome, Shareholders!” The chairs separate the room into two sections; the front rows for the visiting building managers with the back three rows reserved for the company’s major shareholders, including the Board of Directors; powerful men and women like Kingston and Drake Botsford and, of course, the family’s lawyer, Stella Walsh, who is currently talking quietly with Graham and Hayden. I wave as I pass and continue on. Best not disturb them.

  They’re all chatting and mingling for now, but once the lights go down and the presentations begin, it’ll be pin-drop quiet in here as the big wigs determine whether their dollars are being spent correctly. A bad convention reflects badly on leadership. More specifically, on Graham now that Kingston has retired.

  Time to make this place look good.

  I stride down the aisle between the rows of chairs. A podium sits up front with a laptop perched on top and wired to a projector screen mounted behind, ready for the building managers to use during their presentations.

  A quick scan of the front rows and I see a field of familiar faces. Marla and Jonah, who should probably be in the back with other major shareholders, but I doubt anyone is going to try to pull him away from his new wife. Miranda and Peter. Angela, of course. She spots me and smiles. I blow her a kiss and she casually flicks me the bird before going right back to her conversation with Marla. Fun broad, that one.

  And then there’s Paige.

  She sits in the front row with her clipboard on her lap and her phone in her hand. She scribbles and texts, always running at one-hundred percent during work hours. She’s a firecracker outside work hours, too.

  Fuck, she’s gorgeous.

  As I step closer, I notice the little beads of blue scattered around her. Sapphire necklace and earrings. A deep navy scarf around her neck. Her sheik yet sensible shoes.

  I smile, happy I chose the blue striped tie this morning.

  I sit down in the empty seat beside her. Paige raises her head to greet whoever sat next to her and exhales in surprise when she realizes it’s me.

  “Oh, what?” I ask, amused.

  “Are you sure you should sit next to me?” she whispers, only for me beneath the audible hum of the room.

  “No one is going to question why the Company Liaison is sitting next to the CEO’s assistant.”

  Her brow furrows in thought. I have a point, and she knows it.

  Still, I can’t resist.

  “I had fun this weekend,” I say.

  She inhales sharply and glares at me.

  “Three days,” I tease. “Minimal fresh air.”

  “Oli…”

  “You and me and… our little vibrating friend.”

  “Stop,” she whispers, her hidden smile nestled in the corner of her mouth.

  “Should I swing by again tonight?” I ask, my voice for her ears only. “I’ll bring batteries.”

  “No,” she answers.

  That’s a yes.

  I smile and we go quiet as the remaining managers and shareholders pile into the ballroom.

  A minute before nine, Ira Botsford waltzes in from the lobby, looking as jacked as always. As head of security, it’s his job to secure the ballroom and keep undesirables from listening in on private Botsford Corp meetings like this one. I must buy him a drink later and ask about Vincent. I wonder if he’d be willing to tell a few old war stories about the bakery man.

  He approaches the front, whispers something in Graham’s ear, and Graham nods. Guess it’s time to begin.

  I glance at Paige beside me, coincidently at the same time as she looks at me, and smile.

  She looks forward, still holding back that hidden smile, but that’s all right. I’ll get it later.

 
Now, let’s get this day over with so I can get her alone again.

  “Welcome!” Graham's voice echoes through the mic at the podium and the room goes quiet. “I am Graham Botsford, Chief Executive Officer of the Botsford Corporation.”

  Someone howls from the middle seats while others add in a little extra applause.

  “Thank you,” Graham says, smiling widely. “It’s been an... interesting few months here. My father, the great Kingston Botsford, retired and left this company in my hands... just as my wife and I were expecting our baby girl to arrive. Thanks, Dad,” he adds sarcastically. Brief laughter echoes through the room. “But, as he always told me, a Botsford should never be too scared to roll up their sleeves and do what needs to be done. But we can’t do it all alone. So, we surround ourselves with good, hardworking people who will push us and guide us forever forward.”

  Again, I look at Paige.

  Fuck, she’s beautiful.

  “Today, I wanted to dedicate some time to a group of the most hard-working people in this company: the building managers,” Graham continues. “As Company Liaison, I worked with these men and women every day and all of them never ceased to amaze me with their talent and their dedication to providing our guests with the best luxury hotel experience money can buy. Going forward, I will, along with the new Company Liaison and his team, work hand-in-hand with them every day to ensure this company takes its already stellar reputation to the next level. Not just with our customer base, but with the employees that serve as the backbone of our operations worldwide. It’s not my company...”

  I lean an inch closer to Paige. “It’s our company,” I whisper as Graham does.

  She snorts softly, then instantly composes herself.

  “But enough from me,” Graham says. “Let’s get started on today’s presentations. Please welcome to the podium a man I am proud to call family; my cousin and the current manager of our Chicago location, Ian Botsford.”

  The room breaks into polite applause as Ian rises from his chair across the aisle. He buttons his jacket and turns to wave at the rows of chairs. His eyes stop on Paige and he smirks, offering a wink one can only interpret as creepy.

  Seriously. Stop gawking at her like that, you piece of shit.

  Paige sits still. Fierce and bold, in her own special way. She didn’t even clap now that I think about it.