Counting the Days (Counting the Billions 1)

“You,” Abby said.

I sighed and looked away from her. There it was. I had thought she was different from the rest of the women, that she was interested in the business more than swayed by my celebr

ity. But she was just like the rest of them. She had read all about me in tabloids while she was in school, and now she thought she knew me.

The trouble was, that wasn’t me. “I don’t know what you’ve read in those stupid magazines,” I began,

“but—”

“I don’t read that crap,” Abby interrupted.

I turned back toward her, frowning. “But you just said that you had studied me,” I reminded her.

“I did,” Abby said. “And sure, your, uh, youthful shenanigans? They may have been mentioned. I think everyone in the city knows a little bit about those. But what I mean is, we looked at some of your business decisions and tried to assess why you had made the choices you had made.” She blushed a little, although it was difficult to tell in the dim light of the bar. But her embarrassment was clear from the way she turned her face away from me. “Don’t let it go to your head, but you’re pretty damned brilliant.”

I stared at her for a beat too long and then forced myself to laugh. “Thank you,” I told her, surprised to find my heart thumping in my chest. It wasn’t just the compliment but the way she said it.

I could have any woman in this city, pretty much. That was what I reminded myself. Abby was the worst possible choice of someone to take home with me. First of all, she wasn’t particularly interested in sleeping with me, from what I could tell. But more than that, she was my employee. I couldn’t sleep with her.

There was nothing in her contract that said we couldn’t sleep together, of course. I knew there were some offices that made a big deal about that sort of thing, employee-to-employee relationships. It was especially tricky from an HR perspective since Abby was still on probation until I saw whether she really fit into this role with McGregor Enterprises.

But there was more to it than what we could write on paper. I could picture the news stories even now. I knew that Abby wouldn’t want to be caught up in that sort of scandal, especially not if she was hoping to work her way up to CEO of a company one day. And beyond that, I had no desire to have everyone in my business think I had done something improper. I didn’t want them to lose their respect for me.

Plus, if I did have to hire someone to replace Abby, or to replace anyone else around the office, I didn’t want to encourage the bimbos who falsified information on their resumes in the hope that I would take them out to dinner once I saw how “attractive” they were.

Abby was beautiful and smart and sexy and everything I might have wanted in a woman. But anyway, I wasn’t a relationship man, and a one-night stand would only complicate things between us. I had to rein in my feelings and just focus on her advice and her role with the company. I could do that; I knew I could. There was a reason I’d been able to build this company up so far since I had taken it over.

I forced myself to look away from the long curve of her throat as Abby tipped back her beer.

Chapter 10

Abby

I KNEW THAT THIS WASN’T a date, but there was something about getting drinks with Daniel that felt...strange. I tried to push those thoughts away, though, and focus on the fact that he was my boss. And a pretty interesting businessman to follow around, I had decided. Of course, I knew from everything I had studied about him that he was cunning and innovative. But there was something different between reading about him online and actually following him from meeting to meeting and seeing the way that he interacted with the people he did business with.

I had been surprised to see him shake hands with everyone in each of the meetings. He really got to know the people he did business with. And I supposed that made sense. But in a lot of the companies I’d worked for in the past, business was business and relationships had nothing to do with it anymore. It was all about that bottom line.

Not so with Daniel, I didn’t think. There was something honorable about the way he did business, and I liked that. I liked working for him.

The first day had already been challenging. I might have done my research on McGregor Enterprises, at least as much as I’d been able to, but there was something different about actually being in the room with all these people. There was a certain amount of context that I was missing, and I felt in some ways that I was perpetually scrambling to keep up.

But every time Daniel asked for my opinion on something and I gave it to him, I could see him considering what I had said. He didn’t always go with what I had advised him, and I respected that. He had opinions of his own about what would work. To be honest, I was surprised he followed my advice as much as he did, and I wondered if it was meant to be a hard learning experience for me. Maybe he wanted to show me, in a week or a month, however long it took, that my advice was ruining things that he had taken a long time to build up. Maybe I was just some sort of pawn.

It didn’t feel that way, though. It felt like he really did respect what I said to him. That was more than I could have hoped for, and that in itself made me want to learn more about his business so that I would be better able to advise him in the future.

I had wanted this job to be challenging, and it was proving to be everything I had hoped for.

I just wished it were a little easier to focus on the job rather than Daniel himself. I had focused on my notes all day, trying to concentrate on those and not on how sexy it was to watch Daniel confidently talk to the rest of the guys in each meeting. There was that first time he asked for my advice too. When he had leaned back against the table beside me, looking relaxed but somehow predatory. Dangerous.

And when he had invited me for a drink later, he had looked almost nervous, like he thought I might tell him that I didn’t want to go. Almost like this really was a date.

He was hot as hell, and he was charming, and he was kind. And I liked the way that he conducted business. One day in and I already felt like I was in over my head.

He certainly wasn’t the asshole I had anticipated him being. No, he wasn’t what I had expected. He did want my advice, and he didn’t try to put the moves on me. And that honestly made me want him even more.

I thought back to everything I had ever heard about him from the tabloids. That wasn’t the guy that I was seeing around the office, and it wasn’t even the guy that I was seeing here at the bar. I knew there were three very attractive brunettes in the far corner who kept looking over and giggling, no doubt recognizing Daniel. But far from playing up to their attention, he seemed oblivious to them.

It made me wonder about him. But it wasn’t like I could ask about any of that. His personal life was his own business. And I was still on probation. It wouldn’t be right for me even to ask if he had a girlfriend, as much as I was dying to know.