Crazy About The Boss

She looked in the full-length mirror on the closet door to check her appearance, then gathered up her notes on the dresser beside Jack’s gift. She’d forgotten to give it to him yesterday so she grabbed it, too. The door separating her room from the shared living space was in front of her and she tried to tell herself that this was no different from going to the office in Manhattan every day.

But herself didn’t buy the lie because she knocked once. She never knocked when she entered her office. “Ready or not, here I come.”

“I’m ready.” Jack was sitting on the sofa where he’d been last night. His laptop was on the coffee table and in the dining room there was an array of food ranging from scrambled eggs and bacon to pastries, croissants and fruit.

“This is very nice of you, Jack,” she said, looking at the spread.

“I’m a nice man.”

Like his father. But he wouldn’t want to hear that and he was looking like the old Jack. No need to bring out the dangerous side of him that thrilled the part of her susceptible to his type.

She set her notes and his gift down on the coffee table and helped herself to eggs, a croissant and fruit, as well as a cup of coffee. Moving back to the sitting area, she took the same space she’d occupied the night before and settled the plate in her lap and the coffee on the table.

She picked up the gift and held it out. “Here. This was in my suitcase. I didn’t get a chance to give it to you last night.”

He hesitated to take it. “Maddie, I— You shouldn’t have.”

“Why? We exchange gifts.” She took a bite of croissant, then a forkful of eggs.

“That’s just it. I—”

“You left my visa gift card in New York?”

“Well, yes,” he admitted. “I don’t have anything for you to open.”

“It’s all right. You brought me to London.”

“Under protest.”

“About that,” she said.

“What?” His gaze narrowed suspiciously.

“I may have slightly exaggerated my plans with that someone special.”

One dark eyebrow lifted questioningly. “And yet you were still annoyed.”

“Besides the whining, how do you figure?”

He held up the plain-wrapped package. “No dangling candy canes. Or snowmen. No cute little santas or reindeer.” He shook it gently as he studied the wrapping. “And the paper isn’t shiny.”

Yet another Jack Valentine revealed. He noticed and remembered how she wrapped Christmas packages. That was endearing and she’d never figured him for the endearing type. It was information that wouldn’t help to snuff out her emerging and disturbing feelings. But he had apologized for spoiling her plans so the least she could do was be gracious.

“I was annoyed at your timing, Jack. And the fact that you think you can say jump and I’ll ask how high. But I’m over it now. I sincerely mean that. Now open your present.”

He ripped off the paper and nudged up the lid on the box, then lifted out the eight and a half by eleven butter-soft leather portfolio with his initials embossed in the bottom right corner. His gaze jumped to hers. “This is beautiful, Maddie.”

“And it’s personalized so you can’t take it back,” she pointed out. She finished her fruit.

“I wouldn’t dream of it.” He looked sheepish and darned if it wasn’t charming. “This makes me feel even worse about not giving you a gift. I’ll make it up to you.”

“Not necessary. You promised me London.”

“Thank you for this,” he said, then set it on the table beside the laptop. “So, let’s get to work. Old business first.”

“Okay.” She set her empty plate aside, then took a sip of lukewarm coffee before handing him the file on a software company they’d been nurturing. “They just signed a deal for shelf space in one of the country’s largest office supply stores.”

He scanned the notes, then looked through the spreadsheet. “Excellent. The internet sales are good, too.”

“Yes. The company is performing better than we expected.”

“I see that.” He looked through every file. The results were all positive.

“Good work, Maddie.” He put the folders on the table. “What else have you got?”

“We had twenty proposals submitted and I whittled them down to five for market evaluation. I have the top three for you to look at.”

He took the first file she handed him and read carefully. “Mothers of Invention.”

“I’d like to start a company to market the creations of problem-solving mothers.”

His gaze captured her own but she couldn’t read the expression in his eyes. “Mothers who solve problems?”

“You sound surprised by the concept.”

He just shrugged in reply. The brooding look was now back and Maddie decided not to ask any further questions. If anything, it was silly to be disappointed that he didn’t elaborate. Knowing more had made her hug him. And he’d kissed her. It would be better not to know more. She needed to concentrate on business and forget the dangerous man she’d glimpsed last night.