Kelly Jamieson - Sweet Deal

Exactly what she was about to do to Andrew.

Bram got off on twenty-four. Shelby stood frozen as the elevator doors closed, staring at the lit-up button for twenty-six, where the executive offices were located. Then she stabbed twenty-five, not sure if she was fast enough. The elevator glided to a stop. She stepped out of the elevator, turned and went into the ladies’ room on that floor.

She set her purse on the counter and took a breath.

Dammit, if she hadn’t already kissed this job goodbye, going above Andrew’s head would definitely do it. Her insides twisted into knots. Firming her lips, she picked up her purse and left the ladies’ room.

Jake glanced at the receptionist and smiled, moved closer to Andrew and spoke in a low voice. “I need to see Shelby.”

“She’s not here. She went home earlier. My secretary said she was sick.”

“She’s not sick. I went to her house. She was just leaving, and she came back here.”

Andrew’s forehead creased then he moved toward the door. “Come to my office.”

Jake followed him through a maze of cubicles to a corner office, glancing into each cubicle, wondering if it was Shelby’s. But he didn’t see her. Andrew paused at his secretary’s desk.

“Have you seen Shelby?” he asked her. Jake recalled sitting with her at the picnic. Uh…Susan, that was it.

She shook her head, looking up at him from behind her desk, her face full of confusion as she saw Jake. “No. She left this morning, remember?”

“Yeah, but she may have come back.”

“Oh, I doubt it. She really didn’t look well.” She squinted at Jake but he said nothing.

Andrew gave a short nod and walked into his office. Jake followed. He looked around. He’d visited Andrew’s office a few times, a long time ago. Weird.

“Did you try her cell phone?” Andrew asked.

“Yeah, but she didn’t answer. She’d know it was me.”

“Let me try.” But she didn’t answer Andrew’s call either.

“You’re sure she’s here?”

“Well. I didn’t see her walk into the building, but she parked in the parking garage.”

Andrew shrugged. “Don’t know what else I can do.”

Jake sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. “Yeah. Short of searching the building, which I guess is a bit much, huh?”

Andrew regarded him thoughtfully. “Yeah. Not that I don’t know how you feel.”

“Andrew, can we…oh.”

They both turned at the feminine voice in Andrew’s open door. Jake’s mouth dropped open to see Shelby standing there, staring at both of them.

She was stunning in a little suit that hugged her curves, killer heels, and those glasses that made her look like the sexiest little librarian he’d ever seen, even though her nose was faintly pink under light makeup.

She glared at Jake. “What are you doing here?”

Shelby stared at Jake, her heart pitching into an unsteady rhythm. Her palms went sweaty, her face hot.

“Looking for you,” he said, not moving.

“Why?” Her eyes flickered toward Andrew and then back.

“I heard about your project. I tried to call you and they said you’d gone home. I went to your place and saw you coming back here. So I followed you.”

“I don’t understand. How did you hear about my project?”

“From Andrew.”

Her head whipped around to stare at Andrew.

He ran a finger inside his shirt collar. “Uh, yeah. I went to see Jake this morning.”

“Why?”

“We had some issues to talk about.”

“As do you and I,” Jake added. “Shelby, we need to talk.”

She frowned. “I don’t think so. Besides, I’m working and I have business to discuss with Andrew.” She lifted her chin and looked at her boss. “If you have time.”

He met her eyes and nodded. “Yes. I have time.”

Jake stared at her for a long moment. “Business, huh.” He nodded slowly, rubbed his chin. “What are you going to talk about?”

What? What? “Business!” she snapped.

And then he smiled. A slow, kind of sad smile, but a smile. She blinked at him.

“Okay. Good.” He walked toward her, stopped right in front of her and spoke right into her ear in a low voice. “Stand up for yourself, Shelby Rose. Don’t let the past mess up your future. You don’t have to drag that crap around with you forever. You’re smart and talented and you can do this.” He brushed his lips over her cheek.

Her mouth fell open as she watched him walk out of the office, closing the door behind him.

She turned to Andrew.

“What is it you wanted to discuss, Shelby?” He regarded her with an expression on his face she had a hard time identifying. Probably felt sorry for her. Dammit.

“Um.” Her mind was a snarl of confusion. “I…ah…didn’t get a chance to finish telling you my solution to the project problems this morning.”

“I had another meeting to go to. I’m sorry.”

“Yeah. Well. I didn’t feel you were very open to hearing about it. Since you’ve already assigned the new project to someone else.”

He said nothing, but his mouth tightened and he gave a short nod. “I’m open to hearing whatever solutions you think you might have.”

So she laid it all out for him, including her cost benefit analysis and the research she’d done. Her projections for time, money, resources. He looked over the documents she showed him and listened.

Finally he leaned back in his seat. She waited, breath suspended for his reaction. Then he nodded. “It could work.”

She let the air seep slowly out of her. “I think it definitely could.”

“Such a simple solution, really.”

“The best ones usually are.”

He grinned. “True.”

“What would you do about the other project and Brad?”

He bit his upper lip briefly. “He could still manage it, but it would mainly be monitoring the work of the consultant. It would give him time to work on other things as well.”

She nodded slowly. “And I could keep this project?”

His eyes flickered. “Yes.”

Relief flooded through her and her head went light. “Thank you.”

“Shelby. We need to clear the air about some things.”

Her body tightened. “Okay.”

“I know about what happened at your last job.”

“You know?” She blinked rapidly.

“Jake told me.”

“You two had quite the conversation apparently.” Her mind raced.

Andrew gave a huge sigh and sank down into a chair. “Yeah.”

She caught her bottom lip between her teeth briefly. “Oh. Anyway. So you know what happened at my last job. It might’ve…uh…made me a bit paranoid about…some things.”

“Ya think?” He gave her wry smile. “I was never trying to sexually harass you, Shelby.”

Oh Jesus, he knew everything. An inferno roared to life beneath her suit, scorching her cheeks. “Oh.”

“Let’s just get it all out,” he said. “If we’re going to work together, we need to clear the air here. I went out on a limb to hire you because I thought you had a lot of talent. You’re smart, experienced, you have great technical skills and people skills. That’s rare in this business.”

She gaped at him. “Uh, thanks.”

“I wanted to make sure you succeeded here at Gold Shield. So I spent some extra time with you.” He rubbed his forehead. “I never gave you projects I didn’t think you could do, Shelby. I wanted to challenge you. I had faith that you could do it.”

“Oh.” Her mouth fell open even more as she watched and listened, her mind racing to process it all.

“I never realized the impression I was creating. Jake filled me in on that too.” He winced.

“Oh,” she said again.

“I’m sorry about that. You’re so easy to talk to, I came to enjoy having coffee with you. I like talking to you and you always seemed to have good advice about Gianna. But I want you to know that I love my wife and I had no intention of starting anything with you other than a mentoring relationship.”

Relief mingled with embarrassment inside her.

“And this morning…okay, I apologize for that too. I didn’t have time to listen to your suggestions. But seriously, Shelby, I would have listened if you’d come to me later.”

“I’m sorry.” She twisted her fingers together in her lap. “I was just so afraid it was happening again. My last boss destroyed my career at RBM.”

“Do you think that little of me?” he asked, almost looking disappointed.

What could she say? “No. I don’t. I’m sorry. I do like working for you, Andrew. I’ve learned a lot. You’re a good boss. I was just paranoid, like I said.”

He nodded. Took a deep breath. Let it out. “Okay. Let’s start fresh. Your idea for how to continue with the project does sound like it would work. Your business case was well thought out. So let’s see if we can do it.”

She grinned. “Okay.”

“We don’t need to be friends to work together,” he said. “But we need to be honest with each other.” He met her eyes and she nodded her agreement.

“I agree.”

“I’m sorry you felt like you had to lie to me about having a boyfriend.”

More hot embarrassment washed over her at that. What could she say? “Well. I’m sorry I did it.” She rolled her eyes. “You have no idea how sorry. Are things okay with you and your wife?”

His eyes shadowed. “I don’t know.”

Anger at Jake spiked again. “Jake’s an asshole for doing that. He shouldn’t have used me to get back at you. To try to steal your wife away from you.”

“He wasn’t trying to steal my wife away from me.”

Her chin dropped again. “He wasn’t?”

“No. Though maybe he could have. She wouldn’t talk last night, but after I saw Jake this morning, I went to her office and we had it out. She was the one who instigated that. She says she’s confused. After she saw Jake at the company barbecue, she started to wonder if she’d made a mistake.” He looked like someone was squeezing his testicles, but he kept going through gritted teeth. “I guess I should have known that someone who’d ditch one guy for another would probably do the same to me.”