Page 19 of Playboy Boss

Konrad gave him a playful whack on the shoulder. “Jeff, you sneaky bastard!”

Jeff laughed nervously, Scottie noted. His brown gaze shifted to Scottie for a moment, a half smile on his lips. “Konrad! I didn’t know you were coming down here.”

“I need to keep you lazy asses on your toes.” Konrad grinned.

Jeff rubbed his shoulder, grunting. He turned his eyes to Scottie, an obvious appreciation in the way he looked at her. “Who did you bring with you?”

Scottie glanced at Konrad, catching a furrow at his brow. He answered less casually, sharper and more professional. “This is Scottie Roberts. She’s my temp while Marisol is out.”

“Right.” Jeff’s gaze was fixed on her. He offered his large palm to her. “Nice to meet you, Scottie. I’m Jeff—”

“The sneaky bastard,” she said, finishing for him. “Yeah, I heard.” She took his hand, the heat of their contact making her feel woozy. Or maybe it was because Konrad had suddenly become very interested in her every move.

Jeff laughed heartily. “I like her.”

“Yes.” Konrad’s one word was a bit clipped. “That is obvious.”

If Scottie didn’t know better, she’d think Konrad had an issue with the way Jeff looked at her. Because he did have a hint of interest dancing in his eyes. The way Konrad had looked at her at the dinner party.

Scottie said, “I’m taking the grand tour of Korr Solutions.”

“Cool.” Jeff didn’t stop flirting, though Konrad’s objection to it was clear. He continued, “Want me to show her around, Kon?”

“No, I’ve got this under control, thank you, Jeff.” Again, his hand pressed against Scottie’s back to push her in the opposite direction. That time, however, she didn’t jump away from him.

“No worries. Oh, hey, it was nice to meet you, Scottie.”

Scottie pulled her attention from Konrad, which was no little feat considering the heat of his hand burned her flesh. She was breathless. Stumbling over her words, she said, “Nice to meet you too, Jeff.”

Jeff didn’t walk away, though, but hesitated. Then he said to Scottie, “So, every Thursday the software team goes to happy hour at Bowie Brew a couple of blocks from here. Want to join us?”

She glanced at Konrad, who didn’t hide his emotions about that. And he also didn’t remove his hand, which had been on her too long to not be noticed.

Why would he hate the idea of her joining Jeff for happy hour? It shouldn’t matter. She didn’t need his approval. He didn’t control what she did after work hours. In fact, she wasn’t his to control, period. He had enough women under his control.

Scottie stepped forward, Konrad’s hand falling from her back, leaving her abandoned without his touch. But it needed to be done. She lifted her chin in silent defiance. “Sure. Sounds fun.”

“Already trying to corrupt my temp, Jeff?” Konrad likely said it in jest, but there was no humor underneath.

Jeff grinned, seeming triumphant. “That’s not part of my job description.”

“No, it’s not. Now get back to what is your job description.” Konrad practically shoved Scottie until they were halfway down the corridor.

“He seems nice.”

Konrad grunted. They turned yet another corner of the ice-cold labyrinth of the suite. “Here is where the data magic happens. This is the software engineering department. Out of curiosity, do you have any coding experience? I know some BBA programs require a computer science credit.”

“Uh…” Scottie had to get her bearings. He was distant again. Nothing like he was seconds ago. “I took two semesters of software development in college, so I do understand how to write and read basic code.”

“Excellent. We lost someone this morning, and we are a bit shorthanded. I may have you do some software debugging.”

And just like that, he went back to not caring about what she did.

The rest of the afternoon flew by without much from Konrad, who’d shut himself in his office. Scottie busied herself with ordering lunch for some upcoming meetings later in the week. Also, she’d received an email from Anisette, thanking Konrad for the Chanel scarf. She didn’t seem as pissed off as Tamsin. Maybe he was being ethical in telling the women what they were getting themselves into?

Scottie wondered where Pilar was in all this. She also wondered if she could theoretically agree to his conditions of non-commitment, to have him just for a night. The thought jolted her to reality. No. A casual thing wasn’t her game. She needed all or nothing from a man.

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