Boss On A Leash: A Single Dad Billionaire Romance by Kara Hart (good books to read for beginners txt) 📗

First, we dodge the cameras. Then, we smash through the elevator doors right before they close. I hear Jim shout my name, even see his mustached mouth turn to the side, but I manage to get away in the nick of time.

The upstairs is harder to navigate. The main bosses are Sandra and Brian, but Jim will be out for revenge in a couple of minutes. Mark my words, he’ll comb through the cubicles, overturn chairs, and bark my name like a faithful watch hound. There’s no avoiding this.

Unless…

If I time our movements just right, I can manage to hit all three targets at different intervals without the others catching it. I’ll need to separate from Ali as soon as Jim makes eye contact with me. That way, he’ll get a look at her from the bar. He’ll want to talk to her, which at that point, we’ll have already discussed all of the no-no’s I’ve been freaking out about for days. If I’m successful, I will have pulled off the most complicated heist in the history of dating.

Suddenly, I’m feeling more confident.

As the elevator doors open, my staff proves me right. I’m met with a loud applause, and I give a few humble head turns and waves. There are pictures Brian shot hanging on the walls like they’re great works of art. The main focus is a brown station wagon with decaying stickers near an abandoned gas station with strategically placed prop tumbleweeds scattered around the nearby desert. There’s even a dog, but it’s a Labrador. The replica is never the same, I guess.

I think I know what they’re trying to recreate, but it was nothing like how it went down. Luckily, they did a bad enough job at recreating the submitted idea that Ali doesn’t seem to notice the connection to our chance meeting. She simply points at the station wagon. “Hey, it looks like the piece of crap I left in your driveway.”

It’s just a test run. They still need the model, the content – her story. But they’re never going to get it. And when everyone finds out, I’m either going to lose my job or lose the woman of my fucking dreams. Who knows? Maybe I’ll lose both.

I push through the wild crowd, unable to focus. The party is bumping. People are already far too drunk. I quickly pull her toward a waitress with some champagne flutes. “A toast to you,” I say, handing her a glass.

She scrunches her nose in that cute way again. “To us.”

I look into her eyes and drink the whole glass. It tastes more refreshing than water, so I grab another and knock it back as soon as Ali turns away.

So far, so good. But I can’t count on things to roll through in the smoothest way. Things are bound to go wrong. Lines have been made, but paths are crossing. I could end up with the trifecta of a conversation with Brian, Jim, and Sandra talking Ali’s ear off. I can only imagine what they’d say about me.

Sandra and Brian are positioned at opposite ends. They never could stand each other, so they avoid taking the same path. It’s perfect.

I make eye contact with Brian first, but Sandra takes the opportunity to smash through his line of attack. Brian deflates and cuts in the opposite direction, successfully avoiding my hyper-managerial team leader.

Ali looks at her with contempt. I return my team leader’s very business-oriented lock on me with a head nod. “Sup.”

“Sup?”

I shrug. “Yeah. Sup.”

Her face sags. “Don’t patronize me with bullshit small talk, Marc,” she says. “I’ve been working twenty-four-seven to give you what you need.”

I grab another flute of champagne, trying to relax as best I can. “I wasn’t aware I needed this.”

“Yeah, well, Jim has called looking for you over—”

Not wanting to listen to this rehearsed speech inside Sandra’s head, I cut her off. “Yeah, I know. He’s called me something like fifty times. I’m just not in the mood to deal with it, Sandra. The thought of it almost makes me sick.”

At work, I’m not as honest as I can be. I used to think it might cost me to share my true feelings on the business. Amanda helped clear that gap. Ever since I had that little talk with Ali’s teacher friend, I’ve felt able to remove myself from the business drama. Then again, I’m still here.

“You’re not in the mood?” Sandra asks.

And then, to my shock, Ali gets defensive. “Do you have to repeat everything he says?”

Sandra looks between both of us. She’s malfunctioning like a broken computer. No one stands up to my team leader, except me.

Sandra has had an easy time calming my outbursts in the past. That’s part of why I hired her. Now, I just need her to shut up and leave me alone for the night.

Thank God, for Ali.

Sandra shoots her head forward like a chicken. “Excuse me?”

Ali faces Sandra with the tenacity of a WWE fighter. “You’ve been eyeing my man ever since he walked in the room. He’s doing everything you want. What else could you possibly ask him to do?”

Unsure if I should butt in, I try to take Ali’s hand. She flings it away. “No. I’m tired of this woman always coming after you when you gave her everything and more.”

This could get heated if I don’t intervene. “Sandra, Ali’s right. I’m here, at the party I dreaded going to. Can you just find it within your heart to relax? We’ll talk in a few days when Mama Bear is thrown in the shit-can with the rest of my moronic ideas.”

Sandra huffs. She puffs. And then she tries to blow my house down. “I was there for you when all that shit went down seven years ago. I was there when the company almost went bankrupt in 2009. And I was there when you stopped caring about your