by Mia Madison
Red Hot Crush
A Steamy Older Man Office Romance
Mia Madison
Copyright © 2019 by Mia Madison
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
This book is a work of fiction. All names, characters, events, locations, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any similarities to real people, places, or events are entirely coincidental.
Contents
1. Prologue
2. Kait
3. Kait
4. Tyler
5. Tyler
6. Kait
7. Tyler
8. Tyler
9. Kait
10. Kait
11. Tyler
12. Tyler
13. Kait
14. Kait
15. Kait
16. Kait
17. Kait
18. Tyler
19. Kait
20. Epilogue One
21. Epilogue Two
About the Author
Also by Mia Madison
1
Prologue
Valentine’s Day Last Year
“Some Valentine’s Day this turned out to be,” Kait said, staring into the fire. Though it wasn’t exactly roaring, it might have been romantic, if she were in the arms of a man.
“Hey, at least we got chocolate,” Gabi observed, holding out the box to her roommate.
“Chocolate from Sierra’s Aunt Margaret doesn’t count,” Kait said, but she took the box and carefully selected a piece. “Mmm… vanilla cream.”
Sierra was on the sofa, all but buried under a thick quilt. “At least the Japanese candy was from a man.”
“That was from my brother. He doesn’t count as a man,” Kait said.
“Yeah, he does,” Gabi said. “He’s a man—he’s just married and on the other side of the world. But it was still nice of him to send something.”
Kait sighed. She missed her brother. “Yeah, except no one could figure out what kind of candies they were.”
“I think the one I had was rice candy,” Gabi said.
“Mine was lemon. Oh, and I had one of the ones that looked like miniature sushi rolls,” Sierra added.
“I think those were erasers,” Kait said, and Sierra frowned while Gabi giggled.
“My point,” Kait said, after a long pause, “is that there’s supposed to be more to Valentine’s Day. More to life, actually.”
“Like what? Wait, hold that thought. I think the popcorn’s done.” A minute later, Gabi was back. “Scoot over,” she said, settling between Sierra and Kait on the sofa. Both her roommates immediately grabbed handfuls of the warm, buttery treat.
For a while, there was no sound other than munching and the crackling of the rather lackluster fire. Finally, Kait continued. “Well… as much fun as it’s been blowing our diets together tonight, other women probably had more exciting plans for Valentine’s Day.”
“Like dates?” Gabi asked.
“Well, yeah, partly. None of us are seeing anyone.”
“Hey! I am,” Sierra said. Reaching for another handful of popcorn, she missed the way both her roommates rolled their eyes. “Joe had to work tonight.”
No one commented, but the other two young women exchanged a glance. Neither of them thought that Joe’s excuse for not being able to take Sierra out tonight was genuine—just like neither of them considered him a decent boyfriend.
“It’s not just about men,” Kait insisted. “Look at the three of us. Are any of us happy? Really happy?”
“I’m happy with chocolate—” Gabi observed, but Kait cut her off.
“I’m serious. Can any of us say we’re truly happy with our lives? With our love lives? With our jobs? With anything?”
There was a long pause, and then Gabi handed the popcorn bowl to Kait and got up.
“Don’t be mad,” Sierra said as Gabi went into the kitchen.
“Come back,” Kait said. She hadn’t meant to upset one of her two best friends.
A moment later Gabi did come back, and she wasn’t empty-handed this time, either. “I’m okay. This just seemed like the kind of conversation that goes better with wine.”
“Now you’re talking,” Sierra said, accepting the first glass that Gabi poured. When all three of them had a glass of Merlot, Gabi resumed her spot on the middle of the couch.
“We’re all doing our best,” Kait began again, choosing her words more carefully. “But… I don’t know, I suppose you can argue that February 14th is just another night. But it feels different. It’s Valentine’s Day. We shouldn’t be stuck at home. That’s not living.”
“We’re here most nights. Why should tonight be any different?” Gabi asked.
“That’s my point! We’re not making the most of our lives. We’re out of college, we should be taking the world by storm. We should be out there meeting people—meeting men. Or just trying new things. Not here all the time in this dump.” Kait sighed. This was the house she grew up in, and she loved it, but it had definitely seen better days. “I just feel that there should be more.”
Everyone was quiet for a moment, reflecting, as Aunt Margaret’s box of chocolate made the rounds again and the popcorn momentarily set aside. “Okay, so how do we get more?” Sierra asked.
“I don’t think it’s something we get,” Gabi said. “I think Kait’s right. It’s something we have to take for ourselves. Or maybe something we make.”
“But how?” Sierra asked again.
“By getting out there,” Kait answered. “Right? We could be out doing something. Going to a club. Meeting people.”
“On Valentine’s Day?” Sierra was skeptical.
“On any day,” Gabi answered, warming to the theme. “Or we could take a class. Gain some skills. Seek out better jobs. Hell, maybe we should take a class that would help us fix up this place. I know it’s Kait’s, but we all live here.”
“But we don’t know how to do anything like that,” Sierra said.
“That’s what the class is for. Besides, if it’s a handyman-type class, then maybe there would be, you know, handy men there.”
“That would be cool,” Sierra said. “For you two, I mean. I have Joe.”
“It’s something to think about,” Kait said, tactfully refraining from saying anything about Joe. “But whatever we do, let’s do something. Do we really want to be sitting here on Valentine’s Day next year?”
“Yeah, who knows if Aunt Margaret will send us chocolate next year,” Gabi quipped.
“I’m serious,” Kait said firmly. “Let’s vow to do something. Something to make our lives better. Let’s meet people. Let’s meet men. Let’s get out there and be proactive instead of sitting in here. We’re stagnating. We should be on fire.”
“Gabi looked like she was on fire after she came back from spring break two years ago,” Sierra said.
“It was the stupid Florida sun,” Gabi said. “I’d never gotten sunburned before that. But Kait’s right. All of us could be doing more. I mean, none of us have a boyfriend—”
“I do!”
Kait rolled her eyes. “It’s not just about men. None of us have decent jobs, either.”
“We all have jobs,” Sierra protested.
“A job you actually like?” Kait asked, one eyebrow raised. She was currently doing basic data entry that had nothing to do with her computer science major. Sierra worke
d for a glorified telemarketing company, and Gabi worked for a temp agency that sent her someplace new every few days—when it had work for her at all.
“Okay, so clearly, we all could be doing better,” Gabi said, taking a sip of wine. “We need to be proactive. Like Kait said, we should be on fire.”
Kait took a drink of her wine, too. “I just feel that we’re kind of… lukewarm right now. Literally and figuratively.” She glanced at the glowing embers of the fire.
“If only we could get the heating fixed then we wouldn’t be,” Sierra said and continued when the others tried to speak over her. “I’m not complaining, I’m trying to agree with you. Maybe if we all looked for better jobs, then we’d be able to afford some repairs around here.”
“Or maybe we can learn to fix some things ourselves,” Kait suggested.
Gabi gave her an incredulous look. “Or maybe we’ll meet super-hot men who happen to be very good with their hands.”
When the other two giggled, she blushed. “You know what I mean. Like maybe they can help fix things around here.”
“Perhaps, but speaking for myself, I just want to meet someone. I haven’t had a date in… god, since just before graduation.”
“So, over nine months. I think the last time for me was August,” Gabi said.
“I have Joe,” Sierra said, as if daring someone to contradict her. But neither of them did.
“But how do we meet someone? We’re pretty busy,” Gabi commented.
“We put ourselves out there,” Kait said.
“In what way?” Sierra asked. She sounded curious.
“In every way. In love. In life. At work. Let’s take chances. Let’s take risks—within reason. Let’s make things happen. And maybe, just maybe, next year on Valentine’s Day things’ll be very different.”
“Maybe I’ll be dating Bradley Cooper by then,” Gabi said. “I’m in.” She raised her glass.
“Me too,” Sierra said. “At least for the getting a job and making the most out of life part.” She raised her glass as well.
“Me three,” Kait said. “We need to give it our best shot. We need to be on fire this year.” She paused and then wrinkled her nose. “Hmm… that sounds rather fatal. What else could we call it? We want our lives to be the opposite of lukewarm.” She held her glass up, too, as she looked at her two best friends.
“Red hot,” Gabi said. “That’s the kind of year we’re going to have. We’re going to be proactive and take chances and make our lives better. We’re going to get the jobs of our dreams and meet the men of our dreams.”
“I’ll drink to that!” Kait said. “Here’s to a red-hot year.”
They clinked their glasses together, their eyes reflecting the firelight. Gabi gulped down the rest of her wine and the other two followed suit.
Her throat burning slightly, Kait set her glass down and looked at her friends. “We can do this.”
“Yes, we can,” Gabi said, setting her own glass down as well. “Now that that’s settled, who has the chocolate?”
2
Kait
Four Months Later
“Hey, Kait. Is this seat taken?”
I looked up from my spot at the end of the row. Patrick Finn was already lowering his large, clumsy frame into the chair next to me. “Um, no, go ahead.”
Squeezing closer to the wall, I sighed. The weekly meetings were held in the largest room at TR Technologies. There were plenty of empty seats.
“TGIF,” Patrick said.
“Amen to that.” At least that was something Patrick and I could agree on. We didn’t have much else in common. He and I were the most junior employees in the programming department. He’d been here six months longer than me though we did much of the same kind of work.
“Got any plans for the weekend?” he asked.
I shrugged, but then scolded myself. Patrick wasn’t a bad guy, just… dull. But we were coworkers and I should make more of an effort. “Not much. You?”
“Well, I was wondering if you wanted to go out with me tomorrow night.”
Patrick’s words took a minute to register. I was staring toward the front of the room, eager for the meeting to start. Not because I was such a model employee, but because… well… these meetings were my favorite part of the week. Though this was only my fourth one. I’d just started here a month ago after two months of intensive job searching.
“What do you say? Want to do something tomorrow?”
Oh, crap. He was asking me out. Flustered, I smiled at him vaguely. I didn’t get asked out all that often, but it wasn’t like I never did. As a twenty-three-year-old woman, I should be able to handle these kinds of things better. But as an introvert, handling people-related things wasn’t my strong suit. “Um… what did you have in mind?”
“I don’t know,” Patrick said, looking baffled at my question. Had he honestly not made any plans? “We could go out to eat. Do you like pizza?”
I nodded. Technically, it was true. I liked pizza—but my waistline didn’t.
“Or catch a movie.” The ideas were evidently coming more readily to Patrick. “Or my buddies and I often play games online.”
I nodded again—clearly, I needed to work on my people skills. But I knew which games he meant. Sometimes I played some of those, too. It might be fun.
“You could come over and watch,” Patrick suggested, sounding a little doubtful. I guess he supposed women didn’t like those kinds of things. But we were both software programmers, so that was kind of sexist.
And suddenly, I could see the whole evening unfold. Patrick greeting me awkwardly at the front door of what was likely his parent’s house. Him leading me to a twenty-year-old sofa, probably in the basement. A couple hours of watching him shoot onscreen bad guys and shout into a headset with his friends. And at the end of the night, probably a fumbling, sloppy kiss. Though my social life was not the best, I’d been on those kinds of dates in high school and college. The guys my age didn’t seem to know any other kind.
I hesitated. My roommates and I had made a pact to put ourselves out there. To meet men and date more. Patrick was a man. Well, he was male, at least. I’m not sure I’d call him a man. But maybe he was a diamond in the rough. Maybe if I gave him a chance, he could be the man of my dreams.
But then the actual man of my dreams walked to the front of the room, held up his hands, and waited for the assembled employees to grow silent.
Tyler Reynolds.
The CEO of the company.
My boss’s boss’s boss.
My brother’s best friend.
And the man I’d had a crush on since I was three.
“Kait?” Patrick whispered.
With effort, I pulled my gaze away from Tyler to focus on Patrick. “Hmm?”
“What about Saturday?”
His hopeful look made me feel bad. I was being incredibly rude. Even though he hadn’t put much thought into the date, he’d still taken a chance, which was more than I could claim lately. “I’m sorry, Patrick, but I think I’d just like to be friends. I’m… there’s someone I’m interested in.”
Disappointment flashed in his eyes, but then he nodded. “I understand.”
I smiled at him, and then my eyes returned to Tyler. I couldn’t help it. It had always been that way, whether I’d been spying on him when I was a little girl or drooling over him during these meetings now. When he was in the room, I couldn’t look away. Hell, I could barely breathe.
He didn’t look like a tech god—he looked like a Greek god. He was tall—he’s always been tall, but when he was a teenager, he’d been tall and lanky. Now he was tall and perfect. His blue button-down shirt barely fit his biceps but flattened over his taut abs. His black jeans hugged his hips. His dark hair was pushed back haphazardly away from his green eyes. And sexy stubble lined the jaw I ached to reach out and trace.
So yes, there was someone I was interested in. He wasn’t interested in me He didn’t even know I was working here. I’m not even
sure he knew I’d finished college and graduated with a degree in computer science.
But Patrick didn’t need to know any of that.
As a junior programmer, I was assigned the simplest tasks. Some days it was just working on line after line of seemingly endless code. But today, my supervisor had actually let me work on debugging some software. Though it was just for a minor app that TR Tech was probably going to phase out soon, it was fascinating work. Finally, I was problem-solving instead of working on auto-pilot. I got so involved that I worked through lunch and well into the afternoon.
Finally, the call of nature forced me away from my computer. The women’s room was empty—one of the perks of being in a field predominately made up of men. However, TR Tech was a modern company. Overall, nearly forty percent of the employees were female. That was Tyler’s doing. Everyone wanted to work for him. He could pick the best of the best, and he’d assembled a highly diverse team. It showed in the software and apps developed here.
My phone chimed on the way back to my desk, so I took a detour to the break room. Once there, I saw that I’d missed texts from both of my roommates. I swiped open Gabi’s.
Gabi: Want to go out to eat tonight? I’m too tired to cook.
That was surprising. Usually Gabi loved to cook. I checked out her next message.
Gabi: Also, I had to use all the pots and pans for the leak in the upstairs hallway.
I groaned. Would this rain never stop? It was supposed to be April showers, May flowers. But it was May and the rains kept coming. And the roof kept leaking.
For a moment, I shut my eyes, picturing the three-bedroom, two-story structure. I loved it. Except for my first two years of college, I’d lived there my entire life. But there was no question it was falling apart.
