The Boss Too: Billionaire Romance (3 page)

Alex wasn't in the office the next day. When Jamie checked the office’s messages, he left an abrupt one to say he wouldn’t be in and to take care of things while he was gone. No explanation. No details on how long. No contact information. Nothing.

She managed the day, but there was no news from him the next day or the next.

Jamie spent most of her time at work cancelling appointments and fielding calls to cover for him. He was losing money, clients and deals. Not that it probably mattered with his billion-dollar company but still, it didn’t look good. And judging from the worried looks from Gina, this wasn't normal.

He wasn’t at his house either. She didn’t notice his car, or him, at the house. When she knocked on his door no one answered either. She had a key to his house but didn’t dare use it. She bumped into Murray one morning as she left for work and he mentioned that Alex had asked him to keep making her meals but to wait until he contacted him when he would need more.

Friday at lunch, Jamie talked to Gina. She tried to sound nonchalant, "Has Mr. Reid contacted you?”

Gina shook her head. "He's not answering his phone either. I haven't heard anything from him at all. What's going on? Did he say anything to you?”

“Just to say he would be out.” She stared down at her sandwich, refusing to mention anything about Alex’s brother coming in or the unprofessional comments she’d made to him. She was an idiot to try and make suggestions about him and his family. It was none of her business.

“It’s incredibly weird.” Gina crumpled her napkin. “Work’s everything to him! He hasn't missed a day in all the years I've been here. Hell, he's come in when he's been throwing up."

“I don’t know when he’ll be back. He hasn’t said anything except to hold calls and cancel meetings.” Jamie shrugged and played with her salad.

"I think something’s going on with his family." Gina leaned closer to her. "I mean, Mark was in the office the other day and then Alex disappears?” She shook her head. “It doesn’t make sense.”

Jamie’s phone dinged with a reminder. She checked it and swallowed. “Whatever it is, I hope he’s at the office when we get back,” she said. “He scheduled a meeting with a new firm of big-time investors like two months ago and it’s this afternoon. He’ll lose over a million dollars if he doesn’t make it.”

Gina paled as her eyes grew big. “Shit! There’s no way Alex won’t show up for that,” she said, sounding like she was trying to convince herself along with Jamie. “He lives to make money. Nothing would keep him from losing a deal like that.”

They picked at their food a little longer in silence. “I think I’ll head back to the office.” Jamie dumped her half uneaten salad into the trash.

“Maybe you should call him,” Gina said. “Just to make sure.”

She had several times. Only from the office phone, not her personal cell. She pulled it out. “I’ll try.”

Gina dropped her fork and it clattered onto her plate. “I’ll try his pager too.”

It didn’t matter. Alex did not reply to either of them. “I’m going to head back to the office and prepare.” Jamie slipped her coat on.

Gina nodded. “I’ll keep trying his cell phone. I’ll check and see if anyone at the office has heard from him, without raising any alarm. I promise. I won’t make the employees worry.”

Jamie nodded. “Okay.” She took her hair out of the bun on the top of her head and let out a shaky breath. This was too important of a meeting to cancel. “I’d better get ready to save Alex’s ass.”

An hour and fifteen minutes later Jamie took a deep breath to calm down. Gina had seated the investors in the conference room and there was still no sign of Alex.
I’m going to have to take over. Shit!
She had been through the pitch a thousand times with all of the statistics and facts memorized. Of course, she had gone over it to help Alex perfect it at the time, not herself, but that hardly mattered now. She couldn’t blow this meeting. She checked her appearance one more time in the mirror, making sure there wasn’t a wrinkle on her blouse or a hair out of place before heading into the conference room.

Ten men in thousand-dollar suits sat around the table, looking unhappy and impatient. They were all men like Alex, they weren’t used to waiting. As she strode around the long conference table, she forced herself to appear calm and indifferent. They definitely weren’t in an investing mood and it was her job to change that. She smiled pleasantly at them, mustering all of the authority and polish she could. “Gentlemen. Welcome.”

Three hours later, Jamie paced around her apartment trying to calm her shaking nerves with a glass of whisky and ice. It wasn’t helping. She hated public speaking but with much on the line, she didn’t have a choice today. Now all she wanted to do was hide in her room and get drunk. Really drunk.

She kicked her shoes off and then pulled her skirt down, drilling it at the wall. “You asshole!” she shouted to the empty room. Another sip of the burning liquid and she undid the top button of her blouse. She’d managed through the meeting and hopefully convinced the investors to stay with Alex. If they didn’t, it wasn’t her fault. She wasn’t the one who had run and hidden away. She’d faced them head on, and kicked ass, right?

A knock on the door answered her question. She spun around and stomped toward it, forcing a smile on her lips. Murray had bumped into her when she came home from work, all frazzled from the meeting and impossible day. He was probably checking up on her. “I’m okay, Murray,” she called, reaching for the handle and forgetting she was only in her blouse. She glanced down in a panic and only opened the door a crack to pop just her head out. “I’m fi…”

The words died on her lips as she spotted Alex on the other side. Her smile disappeared. “You!” Glaring, she swung open the door and poked him in the chest, hard. “Where the hell have you been?” She stepped forward and poked his muscular pec again. “I was worried about you.
Gina
was worried about you! You had a freakin’ important meeting today and your ass was nowhere to be found. Do you realize—”

“I know,” Alex cut her off, his eyes running down and then slowly up her. He swallowed hard before meeting her glaring eyes. “May I come in?”

“You have some serious explaining to do,” Jamie grumbled. She crossed her arms over her chest and stomped back into her apartment.

Alex looked around the apartment with a smirk. “One would think you moved in yesterday,” he joked. “You have absolutely no decorations here at all.”

“I don’t entertain guests so it’s never been an issue.” Jamie flipped her hand and marched over to the counter to finish her ridiculously expensive whisky that tasted like shit. She poured herself another glass, purposely not offering Alex one. “I come here to sleep. It doesn’t matter what the walls look like when I’m snoring.” She shook her head and pointed a finger at him. “You’re redirecting. Where’ve you been?”

Alex sat down on her couch. “I needed to get away for a few days,” he said simply as he spread an arm over the back of the couch and crossed an ankle over his knee. “Sort some things out. I went to the Hamptons.”

The freakin’ Hamptons? Really?
“Why didn’t you tell anyone?” Jamie walked over to the freezer and grabbed two more pieces of ice for her drink. “You could’ve been murdered for all I—we—knew.”

“I’m sorry,” he said, trying not to smile as he watched her. Jamie could see the corners of his mouth twitching and it infuriated her. “It was unfair of me. I just—”

“Needed to get away. I know.” Jamie took in Alex’s appearance and realized for once it was not immaculate. He smelled of perfume and there was a very distinctive lipstick smear on his collar. Anger washed through her again. “With a girl, apparently,” she snapped.

Alex had the grace to look embarrassed. “That’s none of your business.” He sighed. “I needed some… company.”

“Yeah, that’s apparent.” Jamie swallowed a large gulp of her drink, it burned something fierce as it ran down her throat. She refused to cough. “You reek of cheap perfume. So, unless you have a habit of cross-dressing, it is my business when you walk into my apartment.”

“You’ve no right to be upset with me about wanting some… some companionship,” Alex snapped.

Companionship? What the hell? Are we living in the 1800s?
“I don’t care! Have sex with some bimbo, Alex. Fuck ten of them, I don’t care!” Her face heated up. “But I do care when you take off and don’t bother to answer calls. I don’t own a billion-dollar company but you can kiss my ass if you think leaving me in charge of it isn’t going to have any catastrophic effects!”
Take that ass-hat!
“So help me, if you fire me because—”

“Your job was never in any danger, Jamie,” Alex cut her off and smiled faintly at her, but it never came close to reaching his eyes. “I take full responsibility for the meeting being bombed.”

Jamie raised an eyebrow. “You think it went that badly?”

“They are always tough sells, Jamie. Don’t be too hard on yourself. I’m not even sure I could have gotten the million.”

“You really don’t think you could have?” It made her feel better that even he wasn’t sure he could seal the deal. Wait… did he say just a million. She took another slug of her drink. She felt light headed. Maybe the drink was starting to hit her. She suddenly wanted to giggle.

“No.” He shook his head and sighed, suddenly looking exhausted. “We’ll just get more investors. It’s okay.”

“We’re going to need more investors?”

“Hell yes. Our clients made it clear they want at least a million dollars in investors, not my money, if they commit. You didn’t get a million dollars, did you?”

“No,” Jamie admitted and dropped her head. She quickly snapped it back up and smirked. “I got two.”

For a second he stared at her, confused, and then his face broke into a grin. “You got two million?”

Jamie nodded, feeling giddy from the drink. She leaned back against the counter. “I can be very persuasive.” She laughed.

He watched her with raised eyebrows, his eyes roaming down her hungrily. “You got that right.”

She glanced down and suddenly straightened. She’d been so mad she forgot all she had on was her white blouse and black panties. She moved behind the counter, trying to hide and make it look like she had planned it. She grabbed him a crystal glass and poured him a drink.

He stood and strode over to her, staying on the other side of the counter as he reached for his glass and raised it. “You’re the very best personal assistant I’ve ever had.”

“I’m the only personal assistant you’ve ever had.” She laughed.

He took a sip and made a noise of appreciation at the back of his throat. “Even if I’ve had a hundred personal assistants, you’d still be my favorite.”

Jamie smiled. “You’re lucky I don’t want a raise, Mr. Reid.”

“You deserve a raise after this week,” Alex murmured. “I don’t even know how I can thank you.” His eyes seemed to say he knew a few ways, but wasn’t going to mention them aloud.

“You should wait until you get back to work before you start making decisions,” she said. “One good meeting doesn’t mean your company didn’t lose money when you were gone. There were plenty of things that went wrong and I’m pretty sure there are some only you can fix.” She shook her head. “Honestly, I thought everything was going to fall apart while you were gone. You would think it could run somewhat when the boss is away.”

“I don’t see why it would,” Alex said, his gaze eying her cleavage. “After all, I’m rarely away from the office.”

Jamie raised an eyebrow. “You never take vacations?” Her face heated as his eyes created a burning in her tummy way better than the whisky.

He shook his head slowly. “I’ve never felt a need to. I love my job.”

“Sure, but you must get burnt out.” She swallowed hard.

Alex shook his head. “Not at all.”

Jamie stopped herself from reminded him that he had to hire a personal assistant because he couldn’t handle it all on his own anymore. “Well, that’s impressive.” She moved around the counter. “Excuse me a moment.” She hurried to her bedroom and grabbed her cotton pj pants at the end of her bed. She couldn’t continue this conversation with no pants on. Talk about unprofessional!

She returned. “Sorry.” She knew she was blushing something fierce, her entire face, even her ears, felt like they were burning. She hurried around the couch and her foot caught on the hem of her pj bottoms. She stumbled another step before smacking down on the ground. Her arm caught the corner of the end table, instantly hurting.
Shit!
He’s going to think I’m falling
for
him.

“You okay?” Alex reached down to help her up.

“Yes. Just tripped. Stupid feet.”

As he pulled her up, Jamie’s foot got tangled again in her pants, and much to her mortification she felt them slip down to around her upper thighs.
Freaking perfect!

She jerked away from him and quickly pulled up her pants. “Sorry about that.” She laughed nervously. “I’m really clumsy tonight for some reason.”
Probably because I’ve dropped two sizes and I haven’t gone shopping yet. It has nothing to do with two and a half glasses of whisky. Not wayyy above my limit at all.