Page 42 of Boss with Benefits

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.

Chapter Ten

Four days later, Brady stepped off the elevator with a big bouquet of flowers for Jessica. He had bought them on a whim from a vendor down the street for two reasons. One: He wanted to do something sweet for her, something that would put her beautiful smile back in place. Two: It would be a romantic thing for his employees to see and possibly testify to later.

He headed for her office. Before his hand reached the knob, the door swung open, and she leaped into his arms. He managed to move the flowers half a second before she plastered her body against his. Her arms made a tight loop around his neck, and tears fell on his shirt.

“Hey,” he whispered in her ear to keep the employees from hearing. “Why are you crying?”

“I just got off the phone with Mr. Haverdash.” She barely managed to get the words out between sobs. “Randy’s lawyer has filed for custody. They’re really doing it. It’s happening. They want to take my son away from me.”

“It’s okay. We’ve got this.”

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