The Boss(hole) Read online

  The Boss(hole)

  Penelope Bloom

  Contents

  1. Juliette

  2. Adrian

  3. Juliette

  4. Juliette

  5. Juliette

  6. Adrian

  7. Juliette

  8. Adrian

  9. Jules

  10. Adrian

  11. Juliette

  12. Adrian

  13. Jules

  14. Adrian

  15. Jules

  16. Juliette

  17. Adrian

  18. Juliette

  19. Adrian

  20. Jules

  21. Adrian

  22. Juliette

  23. Jules

  24. Jules

  25. Juliette

  26. Adrian

  27. Jules

  28. Adrian

  29. Camper Carl

  30. Juliette

  31. Adrian

  32. Juliette

  33. Adrian

  34. Juliette

  35. Juliette

  36. Adrian

  37. Juliette

  38. Adrian

  39. Juliette

  40. Juliette

  41. Epilogue - Adrian

  1

  Juliette

  I banged my forehead on my desk a few times. “Why?” I asked out loud. “Why?!”

  Was I being dramatic? Yes. Yes, I was. That wasn’t in the Coleton family code, but daddy dearest was too far away to control me. I could throw a small, uncivilized tantrum if I damn well pleased.

  I heard footsteps and then a small laugh. “You okay, Jules?”

  Instead of picking my head up to face her, I just rolled it to the side. Chloe was leaning against my cubicle wall, arms folded. Her desk was right on the other side of my partition. It was close enough that I could hear her accidentally start the videos she tried to watch all day with the volume on full, then swear and mute them.

  Chloe was comically short, mousy, and had a different pair of glasses every day to match her outfits. Today, she had purple rimmed glasses to go with her scarf.

  Was I okay? That depended. Was it okay to run away from your billionaire father because you didn’t want to be married off like some medieval princess? Was it okay to burn the family credit cards, pawn everything you could, and escape to some random part of North Carolina to hide? Was it okay to change your last name to your mother’s maiden name and hope your father never tracked you down?

  “I’m totally fine,” I said, head still plopped on my desk.

  “Why me!” she mocked, grinning. “Didn’t sound like nothing.”

  “It’s just this email,” I said, sighing. “Maxi has been looking for an excuse to fire me, and I think she just found her way. She’s having me go do a design consultation at Coleton Publishing.” And yes, it was a branch of the family business, even if it was too small for there to be a risk of running into my father.

  “You’ve never done a design consultation,” Chloe said slowly.

  “I’m aware of that, Chloe. So is Maxi. She wants me to screw this up so she can fire me.” I finally lifted my head and sighed. “As I was saying, why me?”

  I left the office for my appointment at Coleton with cautious optimism. Yes, the optimism had been sprinkled with a healthy dose of dread, but I could look on the bright side if I damn well pleased.

  Maybe Maxi saw this as giving me a shovel to dig my own grave, but maybe I could use the shovel to whack her Brazilian lifted ass out and get myself a promotion.

  Yeah, I thought.

  A promotion would mean I might be able to afford to keep up this runaway Coleton gig a little longer. Then again, I was pretty determined to go homeless if that’s what it took to keep from going back to them. After this stunt, my father would have me married to a stuffy old business friend and shipped off within the month.

  No. This had to work, so I was going to find a way to make it.

  I survived a handful of small emergencies and near catastrophes on my way to the Coleton offices. My coat nearly got stuck in the elevator, some lady’s dog tried to bite off my ankles, and I made a baby cry just by looking at it. That last one hurt the most. Even the damn babies were out to get me today.

  By the time I was calling the elevator at Coleton, my optimism had faded. My usually sunny disposition was cloudy with a chance of lightning strikes directly to the groin.

  I got off at one of the top floors and found myself in the reception area for Coleton Publishing, one of many dozens of branches in my father’s Coleton empire.

  A woman in her forties with a bun and huge bags under her eyes smiled at me from behind the reception desk. I smiled back, then saw that something was off with her smile. The eyes were a little too big—the smile a little too wide. Her hands were also gripping the mouse on her computer so hard her fingertips had gone white.

  “Hi,” I said carefully.

  “Welcome,” she said, face practically screaming run while you still can. “I’m Martha. Can I help you?”

  “I’m Jules Adams from Maxi Designs. I have a consultation appointment with Mr. White.”

  Martha flashed that same terrified smile again. “Just a moment.” She walked to the double doors behind her desk and actually put her ear to the crack like she was listening. I stood there awkwardly while she waited several long moments.

  She pulled one door open slightly and we both flinched at the sudden sound of yelling. A man was shouting. I couldn’t make out the words, but he sounded pissed, like he was laying into someone.

  Martha set the tablet down and wrung her hands together. “It might be best if you waited just a few minutes. There’s been a small mix-up with the editorial team. If, uh-”

  I checked the time on my phone. “I’m sorry. I really can’t afford to be late.” I was trying my best to keep my cool. This was my one shot to prove everybody wrong. Maxi for thinking she could fire me on some bullshit trick. My father for thinking my only value was to marry me off and get some favor with a friend. And now my chance was in danger because some asshole from the editorial team was throwing a tantrum in there?

  Martha blew out a breath, eyes shifting toward the closed doors again. “You’re sure you want to go in right now?”

  “I have to,” I said.

  “Do you know where you’re going?”

  I noticed a handy little map of the offices by the door with everything neatly labeled. I ran my finger down the directory on the side, then found where the number matching “Mr. White” was. “Yes. I think I can find my way.”

  Martha nodded, then held the door open. I noticed she didn’t take a single step into the room, and I grinned a little. I thought maybe she was playing up her fear for comedic effect. Nobody could really be that scared of a little office drama, right?

  She pulled the door closed behind me as soon as I was inside. I was in a relatively large office with various desks and computers scattered around. All of the ten or so people in the room were hunched over at their computer like they were pretending not to hear the tirade going on.

  The only man standing had his palms on someone’s desk.

  I ignored the fact that he was clearly lecturing someone and very much pissed. My brain shut all that down as soon as I saw the absolute specimen of a man doing the yelling.

  He was dressed in a tie and slacks with his sleeves buttoned to the wrist and a diamond-checkered vest across his muscular torso. He was leaning over the desk and every muscle in his long arms stood against the white fabric. I couldn’t quite see his face from where I stood, but I didn’t even need to. I could’ve looked at this guy’s ear and known he wasn’t born a mortal human. He was delivered to earth via a lightning bolt from some angry god’s ass. And, yes, that method of delivery almost def
initely resulted in a face fit for Greek sculptures.

  “Gather your things,” the man said. He had a deep voice that cut through the room like a steel whip. “I want your desk cleared out within the hour.”

  “I could try to-”

  “I won’t allow you to fuck this up any further than you already have. You have an hour,” he said.

  I wasn’t sure if it was the train wreck of a day I’d been having or maybe temporary amnesia caused by the blinding hotness of Mr. Ass Lightning over there, but something came over me… I was marching straight toward them with pure rage on my mind.

  “Do you have to talk to him like that?” I demanded.

  The man’s face whipped toward me. He stood up straighter, giving me a full, belly clenching view of everything he was working with. From the looks of it, he wasn’t just working with the full kitchen. He’d taken over an industrial kitchen supply store and had more inventory than he knew what to do with. And those cheekbones.

  “Who the hell are you?” he asked.

  “It doesn’t matter who I am. You, though? You’re an insecure, egotistical asshole. I just thought you should know that.”

  “Next time you want to play hero, wear a cape.”

  I opened my mouth in disbelief. “You’re-”

  Thunderbolt Cheeks stuck his forefinger out faster than I could react, pressing it against my lips. If I’d been less worked up, I might’ve bit him to teach him what happens when you assume you can put your hands on a stranger. Instead, I just stood there dumbfounded as I stared into those blazing blue pits of dream juice he called eyes.

  “This is my world,” he said with a voice that probably could slice stones in two. “Make something of yourself if you want that opinion of yours to mean anything.”

  I realized the entire room was staring at us with slack jaws. Even the guy who had been getting verbally reamed looked like he wished I would just stop talking. Why did they put up with this?

  “You know what?” I asked, trying not to take a deep rapturous breath of whatever scent he was wearing. Sex God? Naked on a horse? Black and white lumberjack? Whatever it was, I couldn’t put my finger on it, but I needed to create distance while I still could. “I don’t have time for this. I have a meeting with him.” I pointed to the door to Mr. White’s office, where I saw the silhouette of someone moving around inside. “I bet he’ll love to hear how you’re treating people out here.”

  I walked with as much confidence as I could, following my memory of the map to Mr. White’s office.

  I was going to do my job and get the hell out of there. That egotistical asshole might make an ill-advised appearance in my fantasies going forward, but he wasn’t going to be allowed to talk there.

  I reached Mr. White’s door and knocked twice. A man in a janitor’s uniform answered, nodded his head, and then walked out of the office.

  I almost glanced over my shoulder, but the puzzle pieces had already clicked together. Mr. Ego wasn’t just some uppity manager. He was...

  Oh, shit.

  2

  Adrian

  I hadn’t moved from Walker’s desk yet. Everyone was still as fossils, except the little firecracker who had come out of nowhere. She looked like she’d escaped from a Disney Princess parade float, ditched her outfit, and somehow wandered into my office.

  She was wearing a blue dress that should’ve been conservative, but there was nothing conservative about those curves. There was no hiding that ass. Her body may have demanded attention, but her face commanded it. She had ridiculously big, slightly upturned eyes that were shaped like almonds. Her nose was pert and dusted with freckles, and her lips were full enough to immediately drag my thoughts to a very dark place.

  Focus, Adrian. Remember why you’re here.

  But all I did was focus on the rest of her. The blonde hair worn in a braid on one side and straight on the other. She had miles of curves, and I wondered how long I would’ve kept staring in complete silence if the sound of her knocking on my office door hadn’t brought me to the present.

  This was too perfect. The meeting she so self-importantly announced was with me. I couldn’t wait to see the look on her face when she realized.

  I pulled the knot on my tie, rolled my neck, which was still a little stiff from the shit night of sleep I’d gotten, and strode across the room.

  My employees finally started resuming their work once I was moving, as if they had been too worried I might notice them and annihilate them right along with Walker if they so much as clicked a mouse.

  “Excuse me,” I said, reaching past the escaped Disney Princess to pull my door open. “I have a meeting.”

  She stared at me with those huge blue eyes. I knew it had been far too long since I’d given my body what it needed. Looking at this woman was making me hum with molten heat.

  I walked inside my office, then pulled the door closed, even though I knew damn well she was here to see me.

  I went behind my desk, folded my ankle over my knee, and waited patiently.

  It was nearly a full minute before a hesitant knock sounded at my door.

  “Come in,” I said.

  The woman walked in. I expected her head to be hanging and her to look like she was ready to lick my boots clean for the bullshit she’d pulled out there. Instead, she looked defiant.

  “I didn’t realize you were the one I was meeting,” she said.

  “Clearly.” I gestured for her to sit in the chair across from my desk. I found an odd beat of satisfaction when she moved to obey without question. She wasn’t entirely hopeless, at least. “What’s your name?”

  “Juliette. Er, just Jules. Jules Adams.”

  “I’m Adrian White,” I said. It was the first time I’d used my real first name at a company. But Coleton was the grand prize, the final destination. Some part of me had always wanted Russ Coleton himself to hear that Adrian was the one who destroyed his empire from the inside out. But if I was going to get there, I needed to keep it together. I’d only just begun the journey, and Coleton was by far the biggest corporation my team and I had ever set out to bring down.

  The woman opened a little folder with a Maxi Designs logo on the front. “I was thinking we could start with colors, if you have a pref-”

  “Oh, no,” I said, chuckling. “I only wanted you to know who was going to be making sure you never worked in this city again. We’re done. That stunt you pulled out there in front of my staff? I’ll be sure to tell Maxi exactly why she just lost her biggest client and is about to have to hire a publicist to salvage her reputation.”

  I expected tears. I was used to tears. I didn’t enjoy being a ruthless prick, but I’d never been one to shy away from the most effective methods. I got what I set out to get because I never compromised. I never took the easy road. I did exactly what it took, no matter how many “feelings” got hurt along the way.

  But Jules clenched her jaw and her eyes flashed with rage. “You’re a coward.”

  I actually laughed in surprise. Definitely didn’t see that coming.

  “You can’t handle being questioned, can you?” she asked. “Did I give your precious ego a boo boo when I stood up to you out there? Do you feel like you have to make an example of me so you can still stroke that swollen pride of yours when you go to bed tonight? Well, go ahead, asshole. Ruin my life if you want. I started over once. I’ll do it again if I have to.”

  To tell the truth, she was making me think about something else that was in danger of becoming swollen. I liked her backbone, even if it pissed me off. I leaned back in my chair, rubbing my chin as she got up and reached for the door. “Or,” I said. “My secretary put in her notice a few days back. You could work for me.”

  “What?” she asked. “One minute you want to make sure I never work again and the next you’re offering me a job? So you’re a narcissist and insane?”

  The more I thought about it, the more I agreed with her. Yes, it was complete insanity to hire this woman. It was true that I va
lued backbone and grit. I could use someone who wasn’t afraid of confrontation. Coleton Publishing was just the first stop on a long journey to the head of the snake, and I needed to collect every capable body I could along the way.

  Except part of me knew that was bullshit. Part of me was very much aware that I was already finding this woman distracting. She pulled me out of the illusion in dangerous ways. She made me feel like Adrian Terranova, the man who set out to do something completely insane ten years ago—the man who had been neglecting his personal life and desperately needed a good fuck.

  A few minutes ago, I was completely willing to keep putting that off. But one look at the rogue princess here and it had all gone out the window. My body was practically humming with need and hiring her was the last thing I should’ve been considering. It wasn’t just a bad idea. It was a potentially disastrous one.

  “Why would I work for you?” she asked. “All you’ve done since I walked in this room was show me how horrible a boss you are.”

  “Take the job and I’ll go tell Walker out there he’s un-fired. And if you care so much about protecting those people out there from me, what better way than to stick around?”

  She shook her head, eyes searching the floor. Her hand was still on the doorknob. “What happens if I say ‘no?’”

  I folded my hands in front of my mouth, leaning forward. I’ll keep thinking about you until it drives me crazy. “Then you get to go back to your boss and tell her how you fucked up the contract at Coleton.”