Millionaire Boss (Freeman Brothers 1)

“No,” she said. “I like looking at it like this. Most of the time people aren’t going to be looking at social media on their computers. I mean, they definitely do, but if they’re out and about, they’re going to have their phone or a tablet. So, I make sure to check the mobile view and what it looks like on different devices.”

“It’s different?” I asked.

That was probably a stupid question considering she had literally just explained to me it was.

“Yes,” Merry said matter-of-factly.

I nodded through an awkward silence.

“Well, I came by to tell you we’re having a team meeting, and I want to make sure you’re there. There are some changes coming up for this season, and I want you to stay in the loop so you can keep everything updated,” I said.

“Sure,” she told me. I stared at her with expectation, and her mouth fell open slightly. “Oh. Now?”

“Yeah. I was actually headed that way,” I said.

“Oh. Sorry. Yeah, let me grab my things.”

She sounded flustered, which I thought was cute in spite of myself. Merry gathered a few things and followed me out of the office. We walked in silence to the meeting room, and when we got there, the rest of the team was already in place.

“All right,” I said, walking to the head of the table and setting the folder I was holding down in front of me. “The first race is right around the corner, and now it’s time to really buckle down and get ready for the season. I want this to be the best one yet, and that’s going to require hard work from all of us. To that end, I want to talk about the changes to the team. Greg and Darren will both be racing this season. That’s an exciting development for all of us, and I’m really looking forward to seeing how the dynamic plays out. But it’s important everyone realizes this will mean we need all hands on deck.”

As we talked about the coming season and how we were going to manage having two riders in the races, I glanced over at Merry. I had expected that she wouldn’t know what we were talking about and would probably be confused, but I immediately noticed she was taking notes on her tablet. It made me even more sure of her work ethic, and I liked that. As the meeting broke up, I took a step toward her.

“Merry, could you stay after for just a bit?” I asked. “I want to discuss everything with you one-on-one.”

Her eyes widened slightly, but she nodded.

8

Merry

“Sure, no problem.”

I wasn’t sure how I was supposed to react when Quentin asked me to stay after the team meeting to talk with him. My brain went in several different directions and couldn’t figure out which one to settle on.

I figured it was a good thing that he was asking me to come to the team meeting. Even if seeing him at the door to my office put more butterflies in my stomach than I would want to admit to. He was my boss.

I had no business thinking he was as stupidly hot as I thought he was. I’d hoped having that sort of response to him it was just a primal, snap sort of reaction that happened because I wasn’t expecting it.

At least, that’s what I told myself. I tried to convince myself it would go away, that I would get used to him and soon he would just be another guy working at the complex. Or my brain would wrap itself around the fact that he was my boss and I couldn’t have that attraction to him. But that hadn’t happened yet. Two weeks after starting at Freeman Racing, I was still deep in the throes of thinking the owner of the company was absurdly attractive. Not that I could or would do anything about it, but it constantly hung over me.

I wasn’t sure I was ready to be alone with him again. It wasn’t just the intense and inappropriate attraction. Quentin still intimidated me. I wasn’t going to admit that, of course, but the idea of working one-on-one with him made my stomach do flips. But I managed to keep that to myself. No matter what was going on in my mind or how I was feeling about him and being alone in a room with him, I was going to woman up and do my job.

If I pushed aside all of the inconvenient and awkward feelings and emotions going through me, I was actually looking forward to working directly with Quentin and finding out more about the upcoming race. I was excited about seeing my first bike race and finally finding out what all the hype was about. In just the short time I had been managing the social media accounts for the company, I’d learned the fans were truly devoted. I might go so far as to say some were rabid. The races obviously stirred something up in them, and I was excited to find out what that was.