Page 58 of Foreplay with the Boss

I curled my hands around the counter. She’ll never see that it’s in her best interest, as well as the company’s. She and her dad will get a good payout. I’ll write her a stellar letter of recommendation about her marketing skills, and once this deal goes through and Craze skyrockets, that’ll be an even bigger deal. Then she’ll be out of my life and my life will be a lot grayer, but she’ll bounce back just fine, and that’s what’s most important.

“That says it all,” Mom said, and I jerked myself out of my thoughts. “You want her here. You want more.”

“Mom, I?—”

“Just promise me something?” She gave me her serious look, waiting for me to agree, even though I hadn’t heard what she wanted me to swear to. It was hard to disappoint her, and I found I couldn’t flat out say no, even though I knew she’d end up disappointed about Kat and me in the end.

“What?”

“Promise me that you’ll tell her how you feel before she leaves.

She should have all the facts before she makes her decision.”

All the facts. Which just brought me back to where I started, with her being pissed off that I would be the guy who pulled the trigger on shutting down the company that’d been in her family for years. How could I possibly come clean and tell her that my dream for the business meant using hers as a stepping stone?

But time was running out, and the day of reckoning would get here one way or the other. So I’d let this perfect weekend finish on a good note, and then tomorrow after work, I’d call her into my office and come clean.

Maybe by then I’d also find the balls to tell her how hard I’d fallen for her.

CHAPTER 33

Kat

The best day ever had been followed by a night where I tossed and turned and thought about how much I missed having Jameson’s body next to mine.

The tossing and turning was more than just missing sleeping next to him, because hello, we’d only spent one amazing night in the same bed. It was more the awareness that as soon as I left Boston, we couldn’t have any more nights like that.

Jameson and I were at that beginning stage of a relationship where things were still new and exciting, but this was on a different, more promising level than I’d experienced before, like we were only beginning to scratch the surface of how good it could be.

Okay, so technically we weren’t in a relationship, but what did technicality matter after this weekend? We’d crossed boundaries, we’d dug deeper, and I’d met his mom.

Of course, that was on accident.

Maybe I could extend my time here. Just explain to dad that I’m learning so much, but I feel like a few more weeks would be really beneficial.

Would he understand, or would he tell me I needed to get home now, or he’d turn over the company that was supposed to be mine to the jackass?

I didn’t want to disappoint him, especially after he’d been patient with my shortcomings and done everything in his power to make sure I had every chance to be the boss he wanted me to be.

Thinking about that just sent my mind reel spinning again, the same questions that made it impossible for me to sleep continuing to plague me as I tried to focus on work. I was seriously exhausted from the mental and emotional tug of war.

I glanced back at Jameson’s office, wondering if I’d somehow missed his return. He’d been on the phone most of the morning before heading to the conference room for a meeting with the accounts manager. He wasn’t seated behind his desk, though, so the meeting must’ve run long. I knew he liked his meetings short and opposite-of-sweet, so I doubted that’d leave him in a very good mood.

Yesterday when I’d promised to help him catch up on the work he’d neglected in favor of hanging out with me this weekend, I had no idea just how insane his to-do list was. Unfortunately, there was only so much I could help him with since most of his emails required a response from him personally, but I’d taken everything I could off his plate.

Since I had trouble keeping myself under control around him, it was probably for the best that we couldn’t try to do some multi- tasking alone in his office.

If I stick around for longer, there’ll be more chance of us getting caught. That would be bad for my reputation, people would only question my authority more, then there’d be more disappointment from my dad, and I could kiss being boss of anything goodbye. I wasn’t even going to pretend Jameson and I wouldn’t keep fooling around, either. We’d already failed that test. More than once.

I read through the weekly reports, putting the important highlights in one big doc so Jameson could see it at a glance and wouldn’t have to spend time digging.

We do make a good team if I say so myself.

Maybe I should put my boldness lessons to good use after work today and just tell him I’m considering staying, and see what he thinks.

Obviously that would give away the fact that I’d gotten attached, but I doubted it would come as a surprise to him, and I felt like he was at least a little attached as well.

What if he was only more open with me this weekend because he knew our time was limited? It’d definitely been easier to tell him what I wanted in the bedroom because of that, but that was in the beginning. Things had changed. Right?

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