I Do The Boss (Managing the Bosses 5)

"Hey, baby." His voice was deep and filled with weariness.

"Hey. You coming home soon?" She turned onto the freeway and put the heater on, cold, though she shouldn't have been.

"No, but I'll snuggle up to you when I finally do get home. I'm working up the numbers for the accountants who are coming by tomorrow. It's almost time for second-quarter reporting." He let out a sigh. "You at home?"

"Just leaving my parents’."

"How’d that go?"

"About the way it always goes. Horribly. My mom is thrilled for the attention from the media, and my dad's disgusted."

"Jeez. Were Stephen and Christine there?"

"No, which is probably a good thing. I probably would have taken a kitchen knife to him. Sorry bastard. How dare he lash out like this? I never did anything to him, Alex. Never." She pressed her fingers to her mouth and tried hard not to let herself tumble headfirst into depression.

"People who are jealous do crazy things. Take Nicholas for instance. He got Gina to turn her back on me completely. The woman had been with me since the day I opened the damn doors. It's sick, but they crave attention, and they'll get it no matter what they have to do. Stephen is obviously sick. We're not going to let him get the last word, though. I spoke with my attorneys today, and they're drafting the lawsuit. I'll put in a call to him shortly and let him know that I'm after him."

"Let Stephen know?" Jamie felt an arrow of concern drive through her center.

"Yes. He's my old friend. Asshole. He isn't just attacking you, baby, though that would be more than enough to have me come after him. He's attacking me too. You're mine and by making you look like something you aren’t; he's painting a picture about me too."

Jamie let out a sigh and pulled into the circle drive in front of their house. "Why can't we just have a normal, quiet life? Why is everything about our reputation and yet half of it isn't within our control?"

"Because I've worked hard to turn nothing into something. That always gets people's attention. I wasn't trying to collect accolades or be in the spotlight. I just wanted to prove to myself that even though my childhood was shit, I could rise above it, and I have. I hate that all this drama comes with it, but it does. You knew that when we started dating. Just hang in there with me, and we'll figure it out as we walk through the minefield together."

She turned the car off and let her head drop back as she closed her eyes. "Okay. Anything for you."

"There's my girl. Sleep naked and I'll wake you up when I get home."

She chuckled and got out of the car. "You always know just what to say to save yourself, don't you?"

"Most paupers do, love."

Chapter 6

If Alex touched Jamie when he got home that night, she wasn't aware of it.

She woke to Mark banging on the back door fifteen minutes before her alarm went off, though, which left her crabby and grumbling under her breath about anything and everything as she walked to the back door. She tugged her robe on tighter and jerked the door open.

"What?" She barked at him.

"Nice to see you too. Get dressed. Let's go for breakfast and then we'll get into the office." He walked into the house, moving past her and heading to the kitchen. "I'll make you a cup of coffee while you jump in the shower. Hop to it."

"What? Why?" She followed him into the kitchen as she pressed her palms to her eyes and rubbed softly. "You're usually leaving right now. What's going on?"

"I just wanted to talk to you about Kristen. She's driving me crazy, and I got into three tense conversations with Paul yesterday. It’s fucking ridiculous." He shooed her off. "Go get dressed and we'll talk in the car. Seriously, I don't want to give the paper any more ammo about us."

"Us?" She started to turn, but paused. "What do you mean?"

"Remember in the park the other day? I'm sure they were taking pictures to implicate us having a relationship outside of the great friendship we have." He shrugged and worked on getting the coffee started.

"No way. I don't believe that." She rolled her eyes, turned and walked back toward the bedroom.

"You're naïve. Prepare for the worst and you'll be pleasantly surprised the very few times it doesn't rear its ugly head," he called after her.

"Okay Negative-Nancy." She closed the bedroom door behind her and got into the shower, enjoying the hot spray as it washed over her. Alex hadn't come home the night before, of if he had it was only for a short period of time. Chances were, he'd fallen asleep on the couch and never even made it into the bedroom with her.

It was all part of being with a man who was married to his job. It was a damn good thing he was so attentive and loving in the times that he wasn't consumed by work. It was enough to keep her feeling important and not worrying that their relationship was less than it was.