Page 11 of Baby Bombshell for the Boss

He wasn’t completely sure he was doing the right thing. But he was doing what he wanted to do. He cleared his throat. “I have a suggestion for you to consider,” he said.

She looked skeptical — but also, a bit hopeful. “What kind of suggestion?”

“A job for you. Maybe. If you wanted it.”

“You have a job for me?”

“Do you remember all the interior design ideas you had for my office last night?”

“Of course,” she said. “It was a beautiful space. The right person could do a lot with it.”

“Maybe you’re the right person. It’s not a long-term offer, of course, the way you’d have with a design firm, but if you took it on, it would give you something to do for now. A way to earn money while you looked for your permanent job. That would be a good thing, wouldn’t it? And you were excited about your design ideas, so I have to think it would be enjoyable for you.”

“It would be,” she assured him. “Designing a space like that would be a dream, and it’s just what I need right now. But how can you offer me that job? Wouldn’t it be your boss who decides things like that?”

“Well…” He hesitated. “I may not have been entirely forthcoming about a few things.”

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t work at SmartSilver,” he explained. “I’m the founder of the company. I’m the owner and CEO. I don’t actually have a boss.”

Her eyes went wide. Elliot knew she was having the same realization people always had when they discovered who he was — she would be thinking about his finances, about the fact that she had spent the night with a billionaire.

But she surprised him. “You’re telling me that you’re the inventor of the Silver Shield?

“You know about that?”

“Devin used it. Don’t a ton of companies use it? It’s some of the best security software on the market, right?”

“We’ve had some good years,” he said, doing his best to be modest. “And I didn’t invent it on my own — my team helped me.”

“Even so, that’s amazing,” she said. “What a cool accomplishment.”

Elliot was as impressed with her as she was with him. He wasn’t used to people finding out who he was and wanting to talk about his achievements. It was much more common for them to be blinded by the realization that he had money. It made him like her that much more that she hadn’t been that way about it.

“So, I do have the option to hire you for the decorating job,” he said. “If you think you’d be interested, that is.”

“Of course I’d be interested,” she said. “It sounds great. But are you sure you want to hire me?”

“Why wouldn’t I?’

“I know I can do a good job,” she said. “But you’ve never seen any of my work, Elliot. It just surprises me that you’d want to hire me without even seeing my portfolio.”

“I’ve seen your work,” he countered. “I’m in your home right now. I can see how you’ve decorated it, what you’ve done with the place.”

“But a home is a completely different sort of project from an office space,” Ivy said.

“You sound like you’re trying to talk me out of hiring you.”

“No, no, I’m not. I suppose I’m just a bit gun-shy, after what just happened with Devin. I don’t want to get halfway into the project and then have you discover that you really don’t think I’m up to it after all.”

“That won’t happen,” he said.

“You can’t be sure of that.”

“Yes, I can. I’m willing to commit to you all the way through.”

“And what happens if I take things in a direction you don’t like?”

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