Page 6 of Flirt Like A Pin-Up

I sigh and follow him into his office. “Because you’re the boss, and I’m your assistant, at least for the next two weeks. It’s my job to take care of all the little things so you can focus on the big things. And I happen to be great at my job, by the way. Task and use me like Coulter does Brooklyn.”

His lips quirk before he takes his seat and mutters under his breath. “If only I could.”

Aww, yeah. There’s the Camden I love.

I mean—notlove. Hot for, yes, because whatever there is between us is purely physical. Once he gets what he wants—even if I want it, too—he’ll move on to the next woman. Probably a supermodel like the ones he was setting Coulter up with last year. He obviously has all of their phone numbers on speed dial.

Pimp.

“Fine. I’ll loosen the reins and hand more things over to you. Speaking of which, I need you at the luncheon today.”

“To take notes?”

Camden considers this and nods. “You could do that, too, but this is more of a social luncheon with business mixed in. I need you to be another set of eyes and ears, picking up on any chatter I might miss.”

“What’s the purpose of today’s luncheon?” I perch on the corner of his desk, crossing my legs. He takes a surreptitious glance at my thighs, his gaze traveling down to settle on my super tall heels, but betrays little of his thoughts as he fights his reactions to me.

Yeah, with him, I’m definitely a tease.

“We’re opening up investment opportunities and taking our business nationwide. I don’t know if Chris has mentioned it to you, but we’re at capacity with all the manufacturing orders we have. We need to build more production space, and to do that, we need money. Today’s luncheon will announce our roll-out plan to our current stakeholders, giving them a heads-up to impending opportunities. A press release also goes out today, and late next month, we’ll have a cocktail party/dinner for current and prospective investors.”

“Who is helping you plan the dinner next month?”

He shrugs. “No one.”

Frowning, I grab a chair and pull it beside him. “Pull up your calendar.”

“What?”

“Humor me.” I elbow him and flash a small smile.

He logs into his computer and pulls up his calendar. It is packed. Meeting on top of meeting starting in forty-five minutes. Of course, he has Coulter’s calendar overlaying his. I grab the mouse and click a few buttons, revealing his calendar after his brother comes back from his honeymoon. Even without Coulter’s meetings, his calendar is packed to include a ton of travel.

Gawking at the computer screen, I shake my head in disbelief. “Camden, you need an assistant.”

He sighs. “I need to get through the next two weeks without fucking up everything Coulter’s built. That’s all I need right now.”

“I can help you plan the dinner, invite the investors, schedule out-of-town accommodations, etc. You shouldn’t be doing all this on your own. It doesn’t make any sense.” When I’m met with silence, I pull my eyes from the computer screen to look at him. I mean, really look at him. He’s tired—his bloodshot eyes and normal jubilance muted and gray. “Being the CEO is really stressing you out, isn’t it?”

Leaning back in his chair, he draws in a deep breath and lets it out slowly. “You know, compared to Coulter, I’m a complete fuck up.”

“What?” I scoff. “That’s ridiculous.”

“Coulter’s the golden boy. Always has been. While he was busy getting an MBA from Harvard Business School, I was barely graduating with a marketing degree from CU. He’s a big picture guy and has been since we were kids.” He chuckles darkly. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m a fucking overachiever compared to our father, but my accomplishments are nothing compared to my brother’s.”

“Wow.”

“What?”

I lower my voice. “I’ve never seen this side of you.”

“The pathetic side?” He arches his brow, and I can’t stop myself from reaching out and smoothing my thumb over the wrinkles in his forehead, brushing back the longer hairs that have fallen over his eyes.

“Humility. Who knew Camden Manning had one humble bone in his body? I thought you were pure arrogance down to the marrow.”

“Women don’t want weak men, Margot. They’re attracted to confidence. And beautiful women, such as yourself, findeau du arrogancethe sexiest pheromone of all.”

I roll my eyes and drop my hand, but he catches and brings it to his lips, placing gentle kisses against my fingertips. “Am I wrong?”

---