Forever the Boss: Billionaire Romance ~ Hot and Steamy (Managing the Bosses Series Book 10) (8 page)

Alex had hoped that Jamie would be in a better frame of mind the morning after her mother’s unexpected visit, but she didn’t seem to be much happier.

“Dad has been trying to get the divorce for months. She finally agrees,” she said as she poured him a cup of coffee, “then she waltzes in here expecting me to help her drag him to court and squeeze everything she can out of him before she finally releases him from her clutches. It’s unbelievable. Or it would be if the woman was actually human, but I’m not convinced she’s actually capable of that kind of emotional complexity.”

“Your father has a good lawyer,” Alex said, his hand on her shoulder. “Even if she does take him to court to try to take money from him, she’s not going to get very far. Not if she had to borrow cash from us just to get a decent place to stay. She’s not going to be able to afford a lawyer who’ll be able to take your father’s on and win.”

“It doesn’t mean she won’t try,” Jamie said darkly. “The government’s going to say she’s entitled to half of what he has, even if she’s already taken it. She’ll go after more. His retirement package, everything. I’m surprised she’s not suing us and trying to get your money.” She shook her head and huffed. “If I—”

Alex caught her in his arms and turned her to face him, leaning down and silencing whatever else she had been about to say with the press of his lips against hers. For an instant Jamie was stiff in his arms, and then she melted against him, pressing her body as close as she could get it. When they pulled apart, they were both breathing harder.

“It’ll be okay,” Alex said, firmly. “I promise, Jamie. Trust me. Even if I have to pay for a top-tier legal team out of my own pocket, your dad isn’t going to lose anything.”

For the first time since her mother had dropped in, Jamie smiled. “I love you,” she said, wrapping herself around him again. “I really do, Alex Reid.”

Alex held her close, his hand against her back, feeling her heart beat against his chest. “I love you, too.”

What they needed, Alex reflected as he drove to work, weaving carefully in and out of traffic, was a way to keep Jamie’s mom out of everyone’s life for good. Some method that wouldn't be upsetting to Jamie or Christine, though, and that was the trouble. He couldn't pay her off: she'd only be back for more money. Having a restraining order put out against her was an option, but Alex didn't think Jamie would appreciate it, and a judge likely wouldn't sign it. She hadn't done anything that could be considered criminal.

He hadn't come any closer to a conclusion on the best way to deal with the issue by the time he pulled into the office parking lot, and he put it out of his mind as he made his way upstairs. There were other things he had to focus on.

“Mr. Reid?”

Alex turned to look at Justin, who was standing behind the secretary's desk looking uncertain. “Yes, Justin?”

“There's someone here to see you. A Mr. Nate Thompson. He's in the bathroom right now, I think. He tried to get into your office to wait for you, but of course I wouldn't let him.”

Nate Thompson? The only Nate—Oh, shit. What was Jamie’s mother’s boyfriend doing at his office? Alex's jaw tightened, and he nodded, a quick jerk of his head. “That's not a problem, Justin. I'll deal with it. Tell him to come through to the office when he's done with whatever it is he's doing.”

Just one more thing that he was going to have to deal with, it seemed.

With a sigh, Alex took a seat behind his desk and started his computer. A moment later the door opened without even a knock, and the young man he remembered from the last time Jamie's mother had dropped by for an unannounced visit stepped through.

“Mr. Thompson. What can I do for you?”

The young man smiled at him in a way that was anything but trustworthy. Maybe he thought it was attractive. Alex thought it was slimy. He'd dealt with this type before and likely would again. It didn't mean that he enjoyed it.

“You can call me Nate. I’m going to be your father-in-law. And,” Nate said, dropping into a chair on the opposite side from the desk, “I was thinking that you and I might be able to help each other.”

“Help each other,” Alex repeated flatly.

“Yes.” He leaned comfortably back in the seat. “You see, Alex, I'm about to marry Jamie's mother, and you and I both know that Jamie isn't exactly happy about the idea. I'm sure Christine isn't either. And I also know that you don't particularly care about her. But you do care about your wife's happiness. And what she wants is her father and mother back together.” The smile that he was wearing widened. “So, what I'm proposing is that you make it worth my while to disappear. Without a younger, hotter guy in the way, Jamie's mother will likely be willing to go back to her father, and there you are.”

Alex's hands folded together on top of the table until he thought he could feel his knuckles creak under the strain. Was this idiot serious? He had the balls to come into this office and try to weasel his way into Alex’s wallet or his family. Alex pressed his lips tightly together. “You're asking me to pay you to leave Jamie's mother?” His voice was even, despite the rage coiling in his chest.

“Well if you want to put it like that, sure. The lady's twice my age. I wasn't exactly planning on sticking around for the count. Just the sex. The woman’s a little wildcat. Except now she's going on about marriage, and I figured the way to salvage this sweet little family was to offer something you couldn’t say no to. You know what I mean?”

“No,” Alex said, and this time he let the boiling anger rise to the top. “I don't know. Because I, unlike you, have a sense of decency. And a conscience. I wouldn't go begging a stranger to give me money so that I could leave a woman I've been dating and proposed to. And for the record, Mr. Thompson, the last thing Jamie wants is for her parents to get back together. I have no doubt Jamie's mother lied through her teeth to you, but it was Jamie’s father who started divorce proceedings.”

For a moment, the young man on the other side of the desk sat silent, obviously realizing he'd made a massive calculation error somewhere along the way. “Well,” he said, slowly. “I...”

Alex's eyes narrowed, and he leaned forward slightly in his chair, bringing the full force of his gaze to bear on the man sitting across from him. “You what, Mr. Thompson?”

There was a cough, and then the younger man was getting up from the seat that he'd claimed without invitation and moving for the door. “I'm just thinking that maybe this whole thing was a bit of a mistake,” he said.

“I'm thinking,” Alex said, “that maybe you're right. You want to leave Jamie's mother? No one is less surprised than I am. But I'm not going to pay you for the privilege.” He stood up, straightening to his full height. “Now get out of my office.”

The young man's hand scrabbled for the door handle, and then he swung the door open and backed out into the main part of the office space.

“If,” Alex said after him, “you bother me or my wife again, I'll make sure that you don't get a third opportunity.”

There was no answer. The other man was gone.

For a moment, Alex sat staring after him through the open door, and then he shook his head and sat back down in his chair. Unbelievable. He hit the intercom button that would connect him to the front desk.

“Justin,” he said, “please close my door.”

The door closed, and he turned his attention back to the files in front of him.

Time to get to work.

The club had closed for the evening, and Mark was making his last rounds through the building, ensuring that everyone who needed to be out had gone, and nothing seemed to be on the verge of going catastrophically wrong.

In the front room, he stopped.

A younger man with blond hair was leaning against the reception desk, his coat thrown over it at his side. He looked, Mark thought, like just about every young man who came through Little Lake, obviously well above the median income, with a smile that screamed expensive dentist. But it was also a nice smile, and Christine had her head tipped back so that she could look up at him, a smile on her lips, too. She looked truly happy, a state that Mark wasn't sure she’d ever achieved. He found himself smiling at the sight. And, of course, despite the time that had passed since they last ran into each other, Mark recognized him.

“Paul?” Mark said, surprised. Alex had mentioned that he was going to be bringing the younger man back to work for him, but Mark hadn't exactly expected to find the man standing in his country club.

Christine jumped a little, her expression abruptly guilty, and he almost felt bad about interrupting them, but she relaxed when she saw that it was him. “Hey, Mark.”

Paul turned the smile he was wearing on Mark. “Hey, man. It's so good to see you!”

He offered a hand and Mark reached out and took it. “Good to see you, too. Have to admit that I didn't think I'd run into you here of all places, but it's nice to see you all the same.”

“Well,” Paul said, still smiling, “I'm just getting settled into the job uptown, but I thought I'd drop in and say hi to Christine today since I got off work a little early.”

Mark laughed. “You're working for my brother and you got off work early? Is the apocalypse coming?”

“No apocalypse. Just trading off days that we get to go home at a reasonable time. I don't get most of them, but I don't mind that. As long as I get a few.” He turned to look at Christine again, and it was impossible to miss that he was totally head over heels for her.

Mark swallowed a grin. Christine deserved every bit of happiness she got from the guy, but she probably wouldn't appreciate it if Mark looked like he was laughing at her relationship or her new boyfriend. “I'm sure Jamie’s glad to see Alex getting a few early nights, too.”

“Jamie’s very, very glad,” Christine said laughing. “I think she was about ready to start tranquilizing him and dragging him home every night if he wasn't going to come on his own.”

“That sounds like something that Jamie might actually come up with,” Mark agreed. He turned to look at Paul. “Other than the occasional early night, how are you enjoying being back at Reid Enterprises?”

“I'm actually liking it a lot more than I did last time,” Paul said. “Or, I guess the better way to phrase it is that I'm enjoying life outside of work better than last time. I never actually had a problem with the job. But I did miss having people to interact with outside of that.”

“And now you've found someone?” Mark nudged.

“And now I've found someone,” Paul agreed. Christine's cheeks went pink.

“I'm happy for you,” Mark said. “Really.”

“Thanks. And what about you? I left before you really had a chance to get your country club idea off the ground. Now that you've been doing it for a while, what do you think of it?”

Mark ran a hand through his hair, considering his answer. “It's harder than I expected it to be, actually. I wasn't thinking it was going to be a walk in the park, but I didn't expect it to be quite as high maintenance as it’s ended up being, especially in the beginning. It was really bad before I got some managers in to take care of mediation when I can't be around.”

“I can only imagine,” Paul said. “Reid Enterprises is a lot bigger, but on a mechanical scale it probably works much like a country club. There are all kinds of hierarchies and systems that kind of keep things in check. And it's been around for long enough that it's got patterns. When you're just getting something off the ground, it's going to be a total pain in the neck.”

“Pretty much exactly that,” Mark agreed. “Don't get me wrong. I'm happy here. I love what I do, and I'm especially proud of all the renovations that we're putting in before the pro tournament comes through here in a few months, but I could have been a little better prepared than I was.”

“I'm pretty sure no one is ever as prepared as they could be. But maybe that's just wishful thinking, and I don't want to believe that I'm the only one who isn't.” His tone said the words were a joke.

“Well, seeing as I've just confessed to not being prepared, I think it's safe to assume that you're not,” Mark pointed out.

“True,” Paul agreed. “Glad to hear that it's going well now, though. What's this about a pro golf tournament? I heard it on the news and then couldn’t believe it when I realized it was this place.”

“We're having the Fed Ex Cup through here in a few months. It's been kind of a mess getting ready for it; we've got all kinds of renovations going on, but I think they're going to be worth it in the long run.”

“Here's hoping they are.”

“I hate to interrupt,” Christine said, voice soft. “But I think that if we don't get out of here pretty soon, Paul and I are going to be late.”

“Somewhere to be?” Mark asked.

“Got a date tonight,” Paul said, sounding more than a little smug about the idea. “And I've actually still got to get dressed.”

“Better go do that, then, before you get in trouble,” Mark said, grinning at Christine. “I know she looks innocent, but I wouldn't be surprised if she's got a bit of a bite.” Christine gave him a look that said he was going to learn just how much of a bite she had if he didn't shut his mouth. Mark just laughed. “Go,” he said again. “Get out of here. I'll take care of closing everything up.”

The glare Christine had been going for softened. “Are you sure, Mark? I can help. There’s—”

“No. I'm sure. Go. Get out of here. Have fun.”

She smiled as she stood up and stepped around the counter and then, impulsively, she stepped forward and pulled him into a hug, holding him for just an instant before she stepped away.

Mark didn't even have time to hug her back. He looked at her, a little bemused.

“Thank you,” she said. “Not just for this. But for everything. I can't tell you how much I appreciate it.”

“Of course. That's what I'm here for.” Mark reached out and laid a hand on her shoulder, squeezing gently before he withdrew it. “Go and enjoy yourself.”

They hurried away then, whispering to each other under their breath, their heads bent close together as they walked. Mark watched them go with a smile. Good for Christine.