I Do The Boss (Managing the Bosses 5)

"No second guessing today." She got dressed and walked back out to find Mark on the floor, rolling around with Jake. "You're going to wrinkle your shirt."

"And?" Mark smirked. "I heard girls are drawn to guys who look like they need help getting their shit together. If I look all put together and perfect like my brother does, then I'll never find a woman."

"What? That's dumb." She laughed and walked into the kitchen to get a travel mug of coffee. "What does that say about me, then?"

He walked in, brushing his chest as he smiled. "That you aren't going to play maid, secretary, or house- wife for any man. You want him to have his shit together and ready to go wherever you lead."

"Oh, brother." She shook her head. "Where do you get this stuff?"

"Cosmo, duh." He winked and pulled his keys from his pocket. "You want me to drive?"

"Yeah, sure. I almost died on the freeway yesterday. I could use a break from driving." She walked into the living room and grabbed her purse. "Did you and Paul end on a good note yesterday, or is there still a lot of tension between you?"

They walked out into the warm early morning, and Jamie turned to lock the door and set the alarm on the house. Tension in the office sucked no matter who it was between, but Paul and Mark worked closely with each other, and sharing an office couldn't have been much fun in the midst of the drama.

"I don't know. We weren't talking by the end of the day." Mark got in the truck and buckled up as Jamie followed suit. “The guy’s an idiot.”

Men! Toss out some testosterone and they all have to see whose dick was the biggest. Instead of talking things through, they’d rather call each other dummies and avoid having a conversation about the problem. Jamie had a feeling if Mark had just told Paul he was into Kristen; it would’ve prevented the whole scene. Then again, why was Kristen agreeing to go out with Paul if she was interested in Mark? Unless she wasn’t? Or maybe she was trying to make Mark jealous. Okay… women were as crazy as men. "Do you really like Kristen enough to think something is going to come between your and Paul’s friendship?" Jamie took a tentative sip of her coffee, checking the temperature.

"I like her. She's beautiful and a load of fun, but am I willing to fight for her? I don't think so." He let out a long groan. "I thought about it half the night and the thing is, I'm not the kind of guy who wants to fight over a woman. I'm good finding someone else, and will eventually get off my ass and start dating, but when faced with the challenge in the office, I'm all in. I can't stand losing. Is that dumb?"

"It's not dumb, but it's also not worth the effort. It sounds like you're fighting for Kristen so that you don't lose, not so that you win her. That's the prize at the end of the rainbow, right?" She smirked.

"You're so weird sometimes. I love it." He laughed and turned on the radio. "I need to back off of her. I'm honestly not that interested in making things work between us. I was in a shitty relationship for most of my adult life. I need room to breathe and just enjoy this new opportunity. It just gets lonely."

"I understand that." She reached out and squeezed his arm. "I'll talk with Alex about us spending more time together. The three of us."

"I'd like that." Mark tapped the steering wheel and glanced over at her. "That’s not the kind of lonely I was referring to though. Threesomes with my brother aren’t my kind of thing.”

She punched his arm. “You’re sad. Pathetic.” She couldn’t stop the laugh that escaped. “One of these days, Mark.”

“I know… I know. And you’d think women would be throwing themselves at me, two or three at a time.” He grinned and winked at her. “You good with us eating at the Pancake House? I love that place."

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"I don't care. Wherever you want. Just stop by the convenience store for me. I want to grab a paper." She pulled out her wallet and tried to relax. The paper wasn't going to have anything on her, but it would on Alex. The piece that the various magazines were putting into print would be mimicked in the entertainment section of the paper no doubt. She hated the fact that she wanted to see it, but she had to know just how bad the reporters were going to skew all of it.

"You sure you want to do that? I swear you're a glutton for punishment." He pulled into the convenience store and parked before turned his attention onto her. "Admit it."

"Nope. Stop bullying me, or I'll call the Enquirer and tell them it was all your fault. All of it." She got out of the truck with a smile on her face. It was silly and rather childish, but Mark had a way of making her feel calm and playful. Some woman was going to be lucky to have him in her life.

Now to just find her...

Jamie walked through the store, looking everywhere for the paper and coming up empty. She turned and smiled at the clerk as he looked up from his cash register.

"Do you guys have a local paper?"

"We did, but they sold out. Some story about a billionaire playboy has everyone acting a damn fool around here." The guy shrugged. "Sorry. We got magazines over there."

"Okay, thanks." Jamie turned and walked to the magazine aisle, though her interest wasn't in anything but the newspaper. The fear that the reporters in the park the other day were going to twist her relationship with Mark forced a feeling to rise inside of her like panic. Maybe she should have Mark go all over the city until they found a paper.

"Get a hold of yourself. That's ignorant." She glanced up as her breath caught in her chest. The picture of Alex on GQ was stunning. Breathtaking. Incredible. Another magazine called R&S, Rich and Single had Alex out the cover too. It said, “Say good-bye to the R&S Alex Reid. Still R, just no S.”

She reached out and brushed her fingers by his cheek on the cover, mesmerized by the brilliance of his blue eyes. She hasn't been there when they took the picture, but someone knew what they were doing. He was a handsome man, but the image on the cover left him looking like sin itself.

"Wow," she breathed out and picked it up as her stomach tightened. An ache to have him pressed against her tightly left her heart racing, and though breakfast with Mark sounded good, a naughty session bent over her boss’s desk sounded far better.

"Right?" A pretty blond moved up beside Jamie and picked up another copy of the magazine. "This man is so damn hot. Look at him. No woman could ever deserve this, right? And did you see he's getting married?"