Page 19 of Boss with Benefits (Boss of Seduction #6)

Jessica couldn’t wait to see Brady. After their talk earlier that morning, she was worried about him.

She hadn’t pushed him on the issue of his father and had asked about his name instead, because it was obvious he couldn’t talk about his childhood with her.

Not yet. She knew how to read between the lines.

His father must have been abusive, and it still weighed heavily on Brady.

She decided to make it her job to get him to open up to her.

He was putting his life on hold in order to save her son from her ex.

The least she could do was help him deal with memories of a bad childhood.

When she got off the elevator in their office building, Mona said, “Brady has been asking for you.”

“Good. I want to talk to him.” She took a second to ask the receptionist, “How have things been with you?”

Mona dropped her gaze. “F-fine. I’m g-good.”

Jessica hurried into the inner sanctum and found things running smoothly as usual.

Their sales guy was on the phone with a client, talking while tapping his bobbleheads with a pencil to make their heads bob; the ad writers were tapping away on their computers; the accountant was working on her calculator and jotting numbers down.

Katherine jumped up from her desk the moment she saw Jessica and made a direct path straight to her. “He’s in a foul mood today, and he’s looking for you.”

“Mona told me.”

“Did she also tell you he fired Chuck this morning?”

Jessica’s jaw dropped. “Our new intern. Why?”

“Beats me.” Katherine whispered. “You’re his wife, and you need to do something about him before he fires someone else. I need my income to pay for all the gifts I give my grandchildren. I spoil them rotten. It’s my right, despite what my son says.”

Jessica blinked. “What am I supposed to do?”

“I don’t know. Lock his office door and have some alone time, if you know what I mean. That would put a smile on his face.”

“We have a meeting with Anderson in less than an hour.”

Katherine winked. “Make it a quickie.”

Jessica’s cheeks burned, and she gave the other woman a withering look. Her gaze traveled to his closed door. She had been anxious to talk to him, but not with a crowd of curious onlookers.

The employees pretended to be caught up in their work; they peeked at her in imaginative ways.

Vinny coughed into his fist while glancing her way.

Joan used a mirror to check her lipstick.

It conveniently caught Jessica’s reflection instead.

Mary ‘accidentally’ knocked a book off her desk.

When she reached for it, she took a moment to check out Jessica.

If it was a contest, the winner would definitely be Neeka. The beautiful mother of two brought Jessica a waiver to sign. She couldn’t help but notice how Neeka’s eyes went to her left hand and stayed there. Looking for a wedding ring?

Darn Brady. He’d been right about Katherine.

She’d obviously told everyone about their secret wedding.

Jessica had mixed feelings about it. The good news was they could testify that the two of them had wanted to keep their marriage a secret.

Bad news? The employees were going to be staring at them, gossiping about them behind their backs, and probably asking a lot of nosy questions.

“It’s on a chain around my neck,” Jessica blurted out.

Neeka blinked. “Pardon?”

“You were searching for a wedding ring.” Jessica pulled the gold chain free from her blouse and let it rest against the creamy silk fabric. The shiny gold band dangled on the end. “There. See?”

Neeka shook her head. “It’s nothing to do with me. I didn’t ask.”

The woman returned to her desk with a satisfied smirk.

Jessica realized everyone in the office was openly staring at her now. Enough was enough. She hurried inside Brady’s office, shut the door, and leaned back against it. “I feel like I’m unraveling.”

He glanced up from the paperwork spread across his desk. “Would you please start this conversation over so I can join in? I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“I feel like a goldfish swimming around in a small glass bowl. They just keep staring at me. Why am I so much more interesting to them now that we’re married?”

The word ‘married’ brought a scowl to his face. “Ignore them.”

“You fired Chuck. Why?”

“He messed up. Again.”

She took a deep breath and tried to keep the volume of her voice down. “So you made a business decision without consulting me? Again?”

“You never want to fire anyone no matter how much they screw up.” He sighed and rubbed his forehead. “If you want me to give him another chance, I will. But I’ll have to fire him again in a week or two. Or maybe I’ll make you fire him.”

Jessica decided not to ask him to give the intern his job back. He was right about Chuck. The guy was sweet, but he made too many mistakes. So she changed the subject.

“What did Jill say about the models we’re using for their coffee ads? You did call her this morning, right?”

Switching to business eased the tension between them and gave her permission to breathe normally again. His posture relaxed as he leaned back in his chair, an easy grin on his face. “She loved it. Does that surprise you?”

Jessica shrugged. “Until I hear from a client, I’m always on edge about new ads.”

“How can you have doubts after all these years? You and I are magic together.”

Was he still talking about business?

She swallowed convulsively as naughty thoughts filled her head. If they didn’t have a client meeting coming up fast, she might follow Katherine’s suggestion to lock Brady’s office door. They both needed some stress relief.

His eyes narrowed. “What are you thinking about?”

She nearly choked on her saliva. No way was she telling him what images were running through her mind. He would lock the door before she rattled off the reasons for them not to give into their mutual attraction.

“Work,” she said. “Just thinking about work.”

“You’re cute when you lie.” He stood and placed a quick kiss on the tip of her nose. “Let’s get ready for the meeting.”

Relieved, she nodded.

He had his secrets, and she had hers. It wasn’t good for a marriage when the couple kept things from each other, but they didn’t have a real marriage.

If he decided he wanted to keep it going after the custody battle, he would have to open up to her.

Until then, she was fine with keeping quiet about past mistakes and present feelings.

She needed to stay focused on the most important thing: her son.

It made her nervous that she hadn’t heard anything from Randy or his lawyer yet. Maybe he’d changed his mind about seeking custody. Wouldn’t that be great?

Too bad she wasn’t that lucky.