Daring to Trust the Boss

“I know. But trust me. This guy isn’t even slightly attracted to me.”

Her mother huffed out a breath. “You think. But you’re a pretty blonde—”

“Who doesn’t have the right clothes or makeup or manners to attract a guy like him.” She laughed, remembering the way he liked stinky Maria purring up to him. “Seriously, Mom. I’m perfectly safe with him.”

They ended the call, and she settled down on her pillow. Exhausted, she immediately fell asleep and didn’t stir until her alarm woke her the next morning.

She showered, headed for her closet and stared at her clothes. She had three pairs of taupe, tan or beige trousers, one pair of dark brown, one pair of gray and one pair of black, as well as seven or eight mix-and-match tops and two summer sundresses that she saved for “good.”

Her gaze rolled to her bedroom door. Across the hall was the queen of clothes. Eloise had everything from business suits to ball gowns. They were the same size. She could borrow a nice dress or a fancy blouse and probably fit better into Tucker Engle’s world—

No, damn it. She refused to let some condescending socialite bully her into trying to be somebody she wasn’t. She was a simple girl. Someone who wanted to prove herself based on her skills and abilities, not her looks. And after her mother’s reminder that she should take advantage of this time to prove herself, she’d decided that’s how she’d endure these eight weeks. She’d prove herself with her work. Not dress like somebody she wasn’t.

* * *

When the elevator door outside Tucker’s office door opened, he glanced up and saw Olivia Prentiss entering. Today she wore gray trousers with a gray blazer and some kind of clunky sandals. He stifled a laugh. After the way Maria had treated her, he’d wondered if she’d change the way she dressed. He gave her credit for not buckling under to Maria’s insults. In fact, he gave her points for that. He hadn’t hired her to be pretty or fashionable. They had work to do.

He hung up his phone and walked to the outer office. “Good morning, Miss Prentiss.”

She slid her worn backpack to her chair. “Good morning.”

Her soft voice told him she didn’t want to be here. If she stayed this unhappy, it was going to be a long eight weeks.

He headed for his desk. “We have a busy day today.”

She followed him. “Should I get a notebook?”

“No.” He paused for a second then made up his mind. Working for him had its boring elements. But he also did some fun things. Maybe if he took her to his signing that morning, she’d see the value of being his assistant. “I need you to study certain files before we go to a meeting.”

“We’re going out?”

He fell to his chair. “Yes. I’m signing papers this morning to buy a controlling interest in a startup.”

Her eyes lit. “Really?”

A zing of pleasure ricocheted through him. He wasn’t the kind of guy who needed his employees to be daft with joy all the time. But he did love enthusiasm. And he had made her smile. Which was probably the reason for the zing. Her whole beautiful face lit when she smiled.

“I don’t want any snags. So, just in case, I want you and Betsy’s laptop with me.”

“What am I supposed to do?”

“If there’s a question or a problem and I need information, you must be able to find the document and the information in the document.”

“From the laptop?”

“Yes.” He leaned back in his chair. “I don’t keep my files in the company network. It’s all in that laptop or my personal internet storage. Betsy had a very simple filing system. You should be able to figure it out quickly. Everything is in a folder called Jason. There will be subfolders under that with names like Legal Documents, Agreement, Financials, Personal. Peruse everything. Get familiar enough that you can find what I need when I need it.”

“Sounds simple enough.”

“As I said, I don’t think there will be a problem. The agreements are already written and preliminarily approved. But just in case.”

She nodded and left the room. He stared after her. Her pretty pink top outlined a slim torso. The gray trousers hugged a shapely bottom. Today her long hair cascaded down her back, a shiny strawberry blonde waterfall.

Even dressed like an office worker, she was a knockout. But something was definitely off about this woman. He understood that with her blue-collar background she wasn’t quite as classy as most of the women he knew. But that wasn’t it. There was something more. She was too cautious.

Shaking his head, he went back to his call list. As long as she did her work, whatever was wrong with her wasn’t any of his business.

* * *

Vivi spent the next hour skimming files, agreements, financial reports.

A little after ten, Tucker came out of his office, carrying a briefcase. “My car is waiting.”

Anticipation stole through her. She probably should have been embarrassed to be so thrilled, but Tucker Engle made superstars out of upstarts, and she would be at one of his agreement signings. She would see what he said, how he behaved. If nothing else, she would see a sharp, savvy guy in action.

They rode down in the private elevator in silence. With the strap of the laptop case over her shoulder and standing straight as an arrow in her gray pants and blazer, she felt like an executive.

The elevator door opened and she followed Tucker Engle to the revolving door and the waiting black limo. He motioned her in first and she slid across the plush leather seat. He sat beside her.

Her blood virtually hummed with joy, but a knot of fear shadowed it. She’d found the files, familiarized herself with the agreements, the background financials and the sub-agreements over things like whose name would be where as well as the side perks given to the two founders of Jason Jones, a search engine that did simple background checks for real people. She was as ready as she’d ever be.

“Jason Jones is an interesting concept.”

Vivi couldn’t believe she’d actually spoken, but her excitement had gotten the better of her. And now Tucker Engle would reprimand her.

But he surprised her by chuckling. “When I heard about it, I couldn’t believe I hadn’t thought of it myself.”

“You think you should have come up with it?”

He shrugged. “I would have liked to have thought of it.” He peeked at her. “But the best inventions come from ordinary people.”

“Really?”

“Yes. People with problems get frustrated looking for answers and sometimes invent or create something with universal appeal.”

She nodded.

“Take our startup for instance. Jason Jones is the code name for a private investigator who followed the ex-girlfriend of one of the founders, watching her until he found sufficient evidence to have her convicted of stalking.”

She gasped. “One of the founders was stalked?”

“The woman nearly ruined Ricky’s life until he realized he had to be proactive and hire a private investigator. The fees were exorbitant. Ricky knew he could have avoided the whole mess if he’d been able to search her on the internet before he asked her out.”

“But he could have done that.”

“No. He could have done a search but not necessarily gotten access to the information that would have saved him. He investigated the systems and Elias Greene wrote the programs. Now innocent men and women everywhere will be able to know a prospective date’s complete history for fifty bucks and the click of a few keys.”

“Amazing.”