Employed by the Boss (Managing the Bosses 7)

“Your brother is…”

He could feel her turn to look at him, and Mark glanced at her again. “My brother is Alex Reid. Owner of Reid Enterprises. He’s financing the building of the club house.”

“Wow. That’s nice of him.”

“He’s got the capital,” Mark said. “I’ve got the potential source of more revenue. It works out.”

They merged onto the highway, and for a while there was silence in the car except for the sound of the wheels on asphalt, the other cars rushing by or falling behind on either side.

“What is this, right here?” Erica asked, tapping a place on the blueprint.

Mark didn’t take his eyes off the road. There was a car up ahead that had decided speeding through traffic was the best way to go, and he didn’t feel like ending up at the back of a pile-up. “I’m going to have to look at it in a minute. Sorry.”

“Oh. No worries.” She laughed a little. “I didn’t think about the fact that you’re driving. It’s this open spot on the course here.”

“Oh, that.” Mark smiled. “That’s going to be a gazebo; I just didn’t get around to drawing it in. We figured that people might want a shady place to rest, or to get out of the rain.”

“Makes sense,” she said, going back to the plans.

A little while later, Mark pulled into the lot at the course. It already looked different than it had when he came with Alex, he saw as they stepped out of the car. Standing at the top of a rise that looked down on the shallow valley where most of the land lay, they could see the start of construction on the club house.

“That’s going to be big,” Erica said.

“We want it to be able to hold plenty of people,” Mark answered. “What we’re looking for is kind of ostentatious all around, to be honest. We want to get the richy-rich in here playing. Alex’s sort of people.”

She laughed. “A real country club, huh?”

“Real as they get,” Mark said, starting down the little rise and onto the course.

Erica followed.

As they walked, Mark pointed out places where they were going to start improving the course, and Erica occasionally spoke, offering her opinion on the proposed expansions and improvements and suggesting a few of her own. She definitely knew what she was talking about, which was a plus. He kept getting distracted by the curve of her hips, or the way the sunlight fell against her skin, but he managed not to be obvious about it. At least he hoped he wasn’t obvious about it. She hadn’t given any sign that she’d noticed and been offended, so Mark was taking that as a positive.

When they returned to the car, Mark leaned back against the edge of the hood and looked out at the parts of the course they could see from the lot. He really wanted her to like it. “What do you think?”

“I think it looks great,” Erica said, and he turned his gaze to her to find her smiling. “I’d love to work here, honestly.”

“I’d love for you to work here,” Mark said. “Honestly.” He grinned at her. “I think you’ll be a great fit for what we’re trying to do.”

The smile on her face was worth hiring her just by itself.

Chapter 7

&n

bsp; Jamie was sitting in the office, working through a few emails, when her phone rang. She picked it up, glancing down at the screen to check who was calling, and hit the answer button.

“Hey, Dad,” she said, smiling into the phone. “How are you?”

She heard her father sigh on the other end of the line, and her smile drooped. Was it some kind of bad news?

“Everything okay?” she asked.

“Everything is fine,” her father said. “Or as fine as it can be, I suppose.”

He hesitated, like he wasn’t sure how to say the next words, and Jamie’s heart beat a little faster in her chest. Had something happened to Christine? Jamie hadn’t really spoken to her in a few days. Not since she’d last been out to watch the twins. She’d begged off coming out today. “Dad?”

“Your mother is back in town, Jamie.”