Page 14 of Mister Cowboy
January looked out the window in time to watch as they pulled into a circle drive of a fancy downtown building. Brecken exited the building with such an easy confidence she envied him. He was a fashion icon walking across the parking lot, and he didn’t seem to be aware of it. He might as well have been wearing jeans and a t-shirt—he looked that comfortable.
Edward stopped at the curb, and the valet opened the door for Brecken, who flashed her a smile as he stretched out in the seat next to her.
“Good morning, January.”
“Hi. I thought—”
He waved her off before she could finish the sentence. “Yeah, I wasn’t expecting to be here, either, but I have business at the ranch this morning before I go into the office.”
She let her eyes drop to the impeccably tailored, dark purple suit he was wearing. “Nice suit.”
“The way you said that makes me think you don’t appreciate my style.”
“Actually, quite the contrary. I admire the suits very much. Who’s the designer?”
“Thank you.” He grinned proudly. “Victor Peach. He’s a local designer.” He pulled at the lapels and smiled. “One-of-a-kind suits with style.”
A giggle escaped her lips, and Brecken leaned in. “Like me.”
“Truer words have never been spoken,” she whispered as his eyes locked with hers, and the energy in the car shifted.
“Have dinner with me?”
“What? No. I can’t—”
“Why not?”
“I don’t think it’s a good idea.”
“Hmmm.”
He was crazy. They couldn’t have dinner. Right? She may not be working directly with him, but he was still her boss and she needed this job.
When Edward pulled up to Blackstone Ranch, she practically jumped out of the car, eager to get to the sanctuary of the office and throw herself into the job. Focus on the work instead of the man who had her all twisted inside. She glanced at the clock on the wall, which told her she had ten minutes before she had to meet Timothy for the tour, and then dropped her purse onto the floor next to the desk.
She scanned through the project plan Tina had created. Yesterday, January had been too worried about the job to appreciate the amount of detail that Tina had managed to include in the plan. It was actually quite impressive. She’d just flipped to the third page when the sound of footsteps approached the room.Please be Timothy.
Not Timothy. Brecken lingered in the doorway, and her pulse quickened. “You ran off before we could confirm dinner.”
“I can’t have dinner with you. You’re my boss.”
“Fine. You’re fired.” He put his hands in his pants pockets and laughed. “I’m kidding, of course.” He walked into the room before pulling an envelope from one pocket. “Here. Maybe this will help ease your mind.”
“What is this?” she asked, taking the envelope and turning it over in her hand.
“It’s payment for the entire project. I assume you’re worried about me firing you or some other worst-case scenario, so I hope this will ease your mind.”
“So, you think paying me up front will get me to have dinner with you?” The shock and offense were clear in her tone.
“No.” His smile faltered and he took a step back. “I knew you were stressed yesterday and I wanted to let you know that I wasn’t going to fire you.” He cleared his throat. “This doesn’t have anything to do with dinner. It’s just, there’s still so much I don’t know about you, and you’re going to be spending some time here over the next couple of months and I thought we could get to know each other.”
“So, a date?” January completely understood what he was saying, but the opportunity to put him on the spot was too good to pass up.
“Let’s call it a business dinner.” He nodded toward the envelope in her hand. “One hundred grand, as discussed.”
Her eyes snapped to his. “We never discussed payment. And that is far too much money.”
She was holding one hundred thousand dollars? Her body temperature rose, and she wanted to shove the envelope back to him. This was way too much money for the job he’d hired her for.
