Teaching The Boss Read online

  “So you want me to focus on the other three? I don’t know Delia or Jackson well, but they’ve always seemed nice enough. Matthew started four months ago. Do we have any idea how long Donald’s been getting info on you?”

  “He’s seemed to know my every movement since I was ten,” muttered Sam. “But the only concrete proof I had that there was a leak was when Donald showed up at your apartment a whopping twelve hours after you quit.”

  “Okay then. I’m not making any promises, but I’ll try my best.”

  Sam nodded, but his lips remained tight as he looked down to the floor.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “I don’t know. This feels awkward, asking you to dig around for info.”

  Well, it wasn’t as if she was looking forward to it. “Don’t think of it that way. Just think of it as me getting to know my new/old coworkers and then filling you in on the gossip after work. Normal boyfriend and girlfriend stuff, you know?”

  Sam’s head jerked up. “Wait. I’m your boyfriend?”

  Suddenly heat rushed to April’s face and she knew she was blushing again. “Well, we did, um, and you, um—”

  “April,” he said, saving her from her stuttering mess of a response.

  “Sorry,” she muttered and forced herself to meet his gaze.

  “Will you go out with me?” he asked with a smirk.

  She snorted and rolled her eyes. “You’re mocking me now.”

  “No! Well, kind of, but I do want to go out later. After work, we can grab some dinner and…”

  She raised a brow. “And go back to your place?”

  “Maybe.” He shuffled a bit closer. “I just got a new sofa, and I’d love to show it off.”

  “Smooth, Hunt. I thought you were supposed to be some sort of legendary playboy.”

  He held up his hands. “No tricks, no games. Go out to dinner with me tonight. Please.”

  “I’ll let you know.” April made her way to the door. “I’m starting a new job today and I heard the owner of the company is a real hardass.” She winked as she slid out of his office.

  ~~~~~

  April obediently followed Gavin as he weaved through the hallways and cubicles.

  “Normally I’d take you around on a tour,” he said. “But you already know everyone and where everything is.”

  “I actually helped design the layout,” she chirped. He stiffened and she inwardly groaned. She’d only been gone a few weeks yet had somehow already forgotten how touchy Gavin could be. He hated to be reminded of her seniority over him. He’d never said anything rude to her, but his body language spoke louder than words.

  “Like Sam said, I’m here to help out any way I can. My last final is in two weeks and then I’ll have my bachelors. So I’m basically an entry level. I’ve already done a few odds and ends for the accounting department. I’ve been working over at Hunter Enterprises for almost a month and I worked on a few easier reconciliations over there. I’m here to help.”

  “Part-time help,” he reminded her. Gavin always had been particular about how things were worded, but his attention to detail was one of the things that made him so good at his job. He sure looked the part of a stereotypical accountant: his tall, lanky body dressed well in a button down, pale green shirt and his hair in an easy to care for buzz cut. But once she’d gotten to know Gavin, April realized there wasn’t much stereotypical about him.

  He was an avid Yankee fan, but he was also very involved in a few cancer charities and had been ever since his sister had passed away years ago. He might be a pain in the ass, but April could deal with it because she knew he just wanted the job to be done right.

  April decided it would be best not to argue about the “part-time” quip. She didn’t expect her unofficial position as liaison between Sam and Donald would take up much of her time, nor did she think the men should be using a liaison to talk in the first place. But that was their business, and she’d prefer to keep their feud as far away from the conversation as possible.

  Besides, she’d be spending half the morning onvincing Donald to do a press conference anyway, so she didn’t want to assure Gavin he’d have the majority of her time and then blow him off for the first few hours.

  They came to a halt in front of an empty cube between two of the suspects, Delia and Matthew. At least this way she could overhear their phone conversations easy enough, but she doubted either would be stupid enough to say anything incriminating while in a cubicle.

  But they were nice cubes, damn it. April had made sure she got six-foot walls to give a decent feeling of privacy while working, and the walls were a beige fabric over metal, so plenty of personal items could be hung for everyone to see. She’d been rather proud of these cubes.

  Not to mention she’d always hoped she’d end up out of the secretary desk and in one.

  “We’re all in the middle of close right now and Delia’s knee-deep in accounts payable right now, so when she gets a free minute, she’ll give you some items to help out with. Your old computer is on the desk for you, so no passwords or usernames need to be set up. If you need anything, you know where my office is.”

  “Sounds good.”

  He gave a quick nod before he turned away and headed back to his office. April slunk down into her office chair and glanced around at her new workspace. It was nowhere near as nice as Sam’s office and was about on par with her cube at Hunter Enterprises, but a huge grin filled her face anyway.

  She had a cube at HuntCorp. Now she could be knee-deep in the appliance business. It probably sounded boring to most, but she’d been living and breathing this for years. Here she was with her own cube and a date with Sam in eight hours. When the hell had things started going so right?

  Her phone beeped loudly from her purse and she jumped at the sudden intrusion. Crap. The obvious downside of cubicle living was that everyone could overhear everything. She’d have to remember to turn her ringer off before she got into the office from now on. She’d always left it on when she’d worked for Sam because he’d call her on it half the time.

  It had been annoying at first, but once HuntCorp paid her bill, she was perfectly happy to take her demanding boss’s calls.

  With a glance at the screen, her happy mood was burst. Donald was checking in.

  How are things going? Has Sam mentioned setting up any meetings?

  April had never gotten a text message from the mogul before and had to admit she was amused by his more formal writing. It was good that he contacted her, though, considering she’d wanted to speak to him anyway.

  Can you take a call in fifteen minutes? She made sure to spell out all the words fully so she could match his style. She wasn’t going to be the one to introduce Donald to texting lingo.

  Half an hour would be better.

  Great. This was one of the most influential men in the city. What were the chances she could get him down to HuntCorp for a press conference in five hours? Sounds good.

  She spent the next few minutes setting up her laptop and settling in a bit, but as soon as she could, she tucked herself into an empty conference room and thought over the many ways she’d never be able to get Donald to agree to speak to the press he hated about a son who hated him.

  She just wanted to get the call over with so she could tell Sam she had tried her best. He knew how stubborn Donald could be. He’d understand. Probably.

  If not, maybe she could try the whole sex thing… He did say it worked both ways. April snorted at the dirty direction her thoughts had taken. Way to see the silver lining. She might never be able to convince father and son to reconcile, but on the bright side, she might get some office sex!

  But then her thirty minutes was up and there was no more delaying. She called Donald and waited for the rings, almost hoping it would go straight to voicemail. No luck.

  “April. How’s your day going so far? What mood does Samuel seem to be in?”

  She shook her head. What mood did he think Samuel would be in? But at least
this let her get straight to the point. “He’s on damage control. Sam is still planning on going public in a few months and he wants everyone to think this was a planned buy-in. He’s scheduled a press conference for two p.m. today and it would add a lot of credibility to the company you both own if you were there too.”

  She kept her tone firm and calm, not wanting to let on how nervous talking to Donald made her. Especially when she was giving him news he might not want to hear.

  “Two seems like rather short notice. Are you sure this can’t be scheduled tomorrow?” asked Donald.

  April’s brows drew together. Of the many things she’d done for Sam, she had no idea how to put together a press conference, let alone delay one. “The sooner the better. If you want the public to believe this isn’t a family drama unfolding in a boardroom, they’d expect that there was already time set aside to address the media.”

  April quickly replayed the words in her head. Yep. That sounded like it made some sort of sense.

  “I’ll make sure to move some meetings around. I’ll plan to arrive at HuntCorp at one forty-five.”

  Blinking rapidly, April moved the phone from her head and stared at it for a few seconds. Did Donald just agree? Without any argument or snide remarks about Sam at all?

  Not that he’d made many rude comments about his son in the past. In fact, he’d been nothing but polite where Sam was concerned. But that was before he’d sabotaged Sam’s company and bought half of it right out from under him.

  “I’ll make sure reception is expecting you.”

  “Great. See you then, April.”

  “See you then,” she repeated as he hung up.

  Well. At this pace, she’d find the mole by lunch.

  ~~~~~

  For the first time in her life, April didn’t knock on Sam’s office door. It was six thirty and nothing he was doing was more important than her plopping down on his sofa as soon as possible.

  Of course, as soon as she pushed open the door and fell into the plush cushions, her mind was flooded with all the very important phone calls and meetings Sam had late into the evening in the past.

  “Hello there,” he called.

  Well, he didn’t sound mad. “Hey you. Ready to go?”

  “Just finishing up reading this article. It looks like the plan is working.”

  It took her a second to sort out the “plans” in her mind. So far she’d had no luck sniffing out a mole, but if he was reading an article, he was probably talking about the plan to convince everyone the buy-in was intentional.

  “They have articles printed already?” She sat up to look over at Sam.

  “When Donald Hunt speaks, people listen. I’m reading through some of these comments.”

  She shuddered as she thought about what the comments would say. “I don’t even want to know.”

  “Probably not, but it’s not too bad. Donald backed up our story and, if I do say so myself, I think I did a good job. I kept smiling and at no point punched my dad,” he said with a smirk.

  “You were perfectly charming. The boys wanted to be you and the girls wanted to be with you.” She grinned. In truth, the whole thing had been rather uneventful. Donald arrived right on schedule and was immediately ushered to Sam’s office, where the two didn’t say a single word to each other. April tried her best to keep conversation going with Donald to break the awkward silence, but luckily the select few reporters were there right on time. By two, Donald, Sam, and she were all in the executive meeting room with about fifteen members of the media. It was a rather informal thing, and Sam did all the talking. He and Donald stood close together and smiled and threw off the exact relaxed vibe they wanted the press to pick up on.

  And as soon as it was over, Donald was gone and Sam acted as if his father had never been in the building. “I didn’t think I was that good.” Sam shut his computer and collected his things.

  “Maybe I’m biased, but I know I was thinking about being with you.”

  “Really?” He picked up his bag and made his way to the couch.

  April leaned on her elbows to push herself up, trying her best to look sexy…pushing her breasts out a tiny bit and lengthening her neck. “I was thinking about it the entire time.”

  “You know, I have this awesome new sofa at my place…want to check it out?”

  She gave him her best sultry smile. “I happen to be fascinated by new couches.”

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  April rubbed her eyes as the elevator made its way up the thirty stories to Sam’s apartment. After a twelve-hour day at work, there was nothing she wanted more than to fall into his plush king-sized bed and pass out. But with her graduation ceremony two days away and a long weekend coming up, she needed to stay late and make sure her projects were all completed or she had someone qualified who could take them over.

  The past three weeks had been a blur of taking finals and adjusting to her new position within HuntCorp. Luckily, she wasn’t called on to mediate relations between Sam and Donald, so it was only her one job and school that caused her lack of sleep.

  Well, sleeping over at Sam’s constantly didn’t help. But she figured the time she spent, um, awake in his bed was downplayed by the extra half an hour of sleep she got every morning. When she stayed with Sam, she was able to hitch a ride in his car to the office instead of the subway. Though he would always make sure to grab a coffee before he entered the office so they weren’t seen arriving together.

  And Sam had been…amazing. He managed to give her space when she needed it for work and school, but when they were together, he was the funny, handsome, attentive man she’d been so infatuated with for years.

  And his smiling face was exactly what she needed tonight. Her last few finals had been killer. Even though they were over for good now, she wouldn’t mind a nice bear hug from Sam.

  The elevator doors opened and April shuffled to Sam’s door. After some careful juggling of her book bag and purse to find her key, the door was open and she slid through the opening and set her purse and bag in the entryway.

  Sam’s apartment had this strange effect of being cold and welcoming at the same time. It was decorated in a mixture of grays and blacks, with lots of hard angles and modern furniture, but she couldn’t help but smile at the massive space. She always got a little rush when she knew she was about to see Sam. He could make even some barren space like this feel inviting.

  Though, at the moment, she didn’t see any sign of him. She glanced around the living room and kitchen, which in total were bigger than her tiny studio. “Sam?”

  “April Morgan, I presume,” said a deep voice from behind her.

  She twisted around, coming face to face with a tall, striking man.

  She glanced over his shoulder to see whether any more strange men were going to sneak up on her. “Um, yes. And you are?”

  He took a step forward and held out a hand to her. “Simon West.”

  “The consultant, right?” She shook his hand and made sure to match his firmness level. “I’ve heard wonderful things about you.”

  “Sam’s spoken rather highly of you as well.” Simon sat back down.

  April’s brows drew together at the note of consternation in his voice. Did that mean Sam hadn’t said good things about her or that Simon didn’t like what he heard? For that matter, how much did the consultant know about her and Sam? She was working on the Donald situation and April was intimately involved with Sam and the buyout, so she had to assume he knew everything. The thought of him knowing all the dirty details only increased her unease.

  She studied the hotshot consultant Sam was practically pouring money on. He was obviously handsome, but there was a definite edge to his gaze that gave her pause. It was almost as though there was a buzzing energy that was barely contained.

  “Is Sam around? I didn’t realize he had company.”

  “He wasn’t planning on it. I just invited myself over.”

  April nodded, but worrisome thoughts raced
through her mind. Was Sam even here? Was she alone with a strange man? Simon was probably not dangerous, but she’d been raised in a modern age where women were always on edge. It wasn’t okay for him to just come over. Sam must be around. How else would Simon have gotten in?

  She tried to wipe all the worries off her face. “Would you like something to drink? I think Sam has water and a few types of soda.”

  “I actually wouldn’t mind some water.”

  “Sure. I’ll be right back.” As she was really starting to get nervous, she heard the familiar sound of Sam’s footsteps pounding down the stairs that led to the bedroom level of his apartment.

  He reached the bottom right as she crossed the mouth of the stairs to get Simon his water. “April. Hi. I didn’t hear you come in.”

  “I guess I’m sneaky like that,” she said as Sam leaned forward to place a kiss on her cheek. Her brows drew together. Her cheek? Okay…Simon already knew they were in a relationship. A rather intimate one, considering he knew she had a key to Sam’s place. What was Sam trying to prove with a slightly chaste kiss?

  She shook off her curiosity. “Did you want anything to drink?”

  “I’m good. Thanks, hun.”

  Simon and Samuel moved into the living room. April quickly pulled down a glass and got some ice and filtered water from the fridge before she followed the men. If there was a late night, super-secret meeting, she wanted in on it.

  Sam sat on the sofa while Simon leaned on the armchair on the other side of the coffee table. April silently set down Simon’s water and sat down next to Sam.

  “Thanks for that.” Simon took a sip. “So have you two found anything out?”

  Simon looked to her as he asked and suddenly she was on the spot. “Um, I haven’t found out a thing. No one’s been spilling their guts and no one’s even asked about the Donald and Sam thing lately. My investigative skills, or lack thereof, have been a complete dead end.”