Page 3 of Beauty and the Boss Man

Chapter Two

Aiden

The machines are so loud around me that I’m surprised I hear my phone ringing from my pocket.

When I pull it out, I see it’s Allison calling. Allison is my twin sister, so we’ve always been close. That whole ‘twin intuition’ thing that people always talk about? It’s a real thing.

“Hey, sis,” I answer. “Hold on a minute.”

I jog over to my truck and slide in. Thankfully, most of the noise outside is drowned out.

I put the phone back up to my ear. “Sorry about that; I couldn’t hear. What’s up?”

“Just checking in on my favorite little brother,” she jokes.

“First of all, I’m your only brother. Second, you’re only two minutes older than I am, and I’m like a foot taller than you. You can hardly call me your little brother.”

“Yet, I still do,” she laughs. “I’m going to be in town next weekend and wanted to see if you had time to do lunch with your wonderful sister.”

Allison moved to New York to run her real-estate firm, so she’s not back here in Minnesota too much. I feel awful that for once, I won’t be in town to hang out with her, but when I explain about the conference, she’s nothing but supportive.

“That’s awesome, Aiden!” She exclaims. “When do you leave?”

“Romy and I fly out that Friday.”

I can almost hear the smile in her voice as she asks, “Romy? Your assistant Romy?”

“Yeah. What about it?”

“Just wondering what’s going to happen when you and your cute assistant are away from work and in a tropical paradise for a whole week.”

I’m stuck on the fact that she called Romy cute. Immediately, my assistant’s face pops into my head.

Is she cute?

Sure. But have I ever thought of her in that way? No. I’ve forced myself not to.

Why?

She’s my assistant, and I believe in boundaries. Truth be told, I think of her as more than my assistant. Without her, this business wouldn’t be what it is today. We’ve cultivated an excellent working relationship, and I don’t want to ruin that just because my dick wants to play.

Besides, I’m pretty sure she feels the same way. She probably just thinks of me as her grumpy boss. I act like that, so we never get too close. And she shows up to work every day in her big glasses and messy bun. I don’t think I’ve seen her hair down since I first interviewed her for the job.

“You still there?” Allison asks, pulling me from my thoughts.

Damn, I forgot she was still on the phone.

“Yeah, sorry. I got distracted watching one of my guys working.”

“Uh-huh. Sure. You sure you weren’t thinking about Romy?”

I sigh. “You’re crazy if you think anything is going on there.”

“I’m just saying that the beach does crazy things to people.”

“Not me.”

“Would it really be that bad for you to find a nice girl to settle down with?” She asks.

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