Falling For The Boss (8 page)

The next few days were business as usual as I waited for shit to finally come to a head. Erin had told me the agency would be sending someone over. I wondered how she was going to get someone in here who hadn’t been selected by Donna. To cover my end, I had the agency tapped. It took a day to realize that Donna was on the up and up. She wasn’t involved in Erin’s scam. What I couldn’t figure out was why Erin was after me in the first place. She was paid better than most, and when she first started, she had done a stellar job.

My new spy worked overseas and managed to pull a few strings. Although the blog was coming from a server and IP in Kazakhstan, it came back to Chicago. Wanting to make sure I had all those involved, I waited. My contact was going to hit my servers, login in as an IT administrator, and find the cyber trail in-house.

I worked hard as hell to get through each day as fast as I could to get back to Jessica. Every night she ran into my arms, and we made love until well after our dinner was cold.

“Hey, Jess, do you want to come fill in as my assistant for me for the next few weeks?” I asked as we sat on the sofa, watching TV.

“Um, you don’t have a new assistant yet?”

“No. The wench hasn’t found one for me.”

“That means she’s looking for a female, right?”

“That’s what I think.”

“Okay, well then, tell her that you’ve found your own assistant and let her sweat. That’ll force her hand. You want to catch her in the act, right?” she said.

“Yes, but we won’t need to once the guy I hired has the details on her.”

“How long will that take?”

“He told me he’d have everything done by the end of the week.”

“So do you want me to wait to start until the end of the week, so she doesn’t expect anything?”

“Can you do some things for me at the house?” I asked. “I know I shouldn’t even be asking you, but I’m so damn behind.”

“Aren’t we a couple? If you need me there, I’ll be there.”

I kissed her. “Thanks, babe. But I don’t like the idea of you having to work at all.”

“That’s okay. I like it.”

“Yeah, but when the babies start coming, working is off-limits.”

“So I should get some birth control?”

“Hell no!” I growled then leaned over her, pressing her deeper into the couch.

“Are you going to maul me again?”

“Yes.”

She smiled brightly and tossed her blouse off. “I’d take off the rest, but you seem to have me staked to the sofa with your pike.”

“Don’t worry, babe. I’ll take care of that right now.”

I climbed off her briefly to strip off our clothes, but the moment I stood, Jessica surprised me and worked off my boxers. Her tentative lick on the head of my cock almost made me come on the spot. I groaned and threw my head back, letting her know that I wanted more. Hell, I could get used to her like this. She took me deeper; inch by inch, she sucked my cock into her throat. My eyes popped out when I felt her take me all the way down. Pulling back before gagging, she licked around me.

“Fuck, Jessica. You’re going to make me come,” I panted. My body pulsed with the need to come as her mouth and hands made love to my cock.

~~~~~

We lay in bed after another night of loving.

“So tell me about your mother,” I said. “I know it’s hard for you, but I want to know as much as possible.”

“She was amazing. There wasn’t anything she couldn’t do. She took me everywhere—the museum, library, and zoo—on her days off. It was important to her that I got to experience everything I could even though I didn’t have a regular family. It was like she tried to make up for me not having a father. I always told her that I loved her, and I didn’t need one though. With her, I had everything. Her death broke my heart even though I knew it was coming. We spent days laughing and reliving the past before she lost consciousness for the last time.”

“I didn’t mean to make you cry,” I said, wiping away her tears.

“It’s hard to think about her and not cry. She was perfect to me. I hope that I’ll be a tenth of the mother she was.”

“You’ll be the same, but without the need to struggle. I won’t ever abandon you or our babies. They’ll know what it is to have both parents and a life full of love.”

It was Thursday when Jess called me at the office.

“Hey, babe. What’s up?” I asked. She knew I was busy, so I hoped nothing bad had happened.

“Are you in your email at the moment?” she asked.

“No, I had to go into the meeting. I told you that you have access for the next hour. Why? Is something wrong?”

“Yes, someone else is in it. It’s not me, and you told me that guy wasn’t going to hit your email yet.”

That meant someone was hacking into it. “What the fuck! Baby, hold on for a moment.”

I ran to my office and entered my email. A memo was being typed. With the office phone, I called IT while I kept Jessica on the cell.

“Derek, can you trace who’s logged into my email right now?” I asked. There had to be a way to trace that shit. If not, I needed better software.

“Yes. Give me one minute,” he said. I could hear him typing away. “Sir, I accessed the backend data and located which IP is accessing your emails. I have your email open at your house and, for some reason, in HR.”

“Whose desk?” I growled.

“The HR director,” he said solemnly.

“Is there a way to keep a printout of the IP information?”

“Yes, sir. Do you need anything else?”

“No, thanks, Derek.” I went back to my cell, where Jess was waiting on the line. “Hey, babe. Thanks for catching that.”

“I’m sorry that this is even happening to you.”

“It’s okay, baby. You just keep running at me when I get home, and I can get over anything else.”

“Should I list that under my tasks?” she playfully asked.

“Nope, you can list it under the perks,” I countered.

“Well, I can’t argue with that.”

She had the ability to make me laugh even when I felt like smashing in someone’s head. “I love you, Jess.”

“I love you too. I can’t wait for you to come home. Please stay safe.”

“I will,” I promised.

Once I hung up with her, I decided to call the police then confront Erin. There was no way she was getting out of this. I had to get shit done before she got away. I knocked on Erin’s office door. She was sitting at her desk, typing away.

“Come in, Nate. How can I help you?” she asked, standing from her chair.

I could tell she was nervous, but I had called the police already. I didn’t have much time to confront her. “Erin, you’re fired.” There was no need to mince words or anything.

“What? Why would you fire me?” Her eyes fill with sadness and pain.

“Why? Because you’re a fucking lying traitor. You’ve ruined my reputation and tried to destroy my company.”

“I didn’t mean to!”

“You didn’t mean to? You posted that I was fucking all my assistants after they quit or got fired for being useless. You ran Jessica off. What the fuck could you mean you didn’t mean to destroy my life?”

“Are you still on about her? You’ve been miserable since she left. Dammit, what will it take for you to notice me?” She tugged at her hair then slapped her hands onto her waist. She glared at me in pure rage.

I wondered just how fucking nuts she was. I had never shown any interest in her, and I never would. “Are you fucking serious? This is about you wanting me? I don’t, nor will I ever want you. Jessica is the only woman for me. That’s it. You’ve cost yourself everything for nothing. I wouldn’t have wanted you even if you’d painted me as a total bastard to the public. I haven’t wanted anyone until Jessica, and now, with no help from you, I have her back. So pack your shit and get the fuck out.”

She was sobbing into her hands. It hurt me, but the damage she had caused was way worse than the guilt I felt. Erin was fucked in the head. She could have made me become my father.

Apparently realizing that crying was getting her nowhere, she stopped sobbing and started to pack her things. Just as she was getting the last few items, security came up to tell me the police were there.

I turned back to her, but it was too late. All I felt was burning pain then nothing.

When an email went out about the building going on lockdown due to shots fired, I hoped to God Nate was safe, but he wasn’t. It took three hours before we found out what had happened at the office. After I’d hung up with Nate, he went to confront Erin. At first, she accepted her firing with grace, but when someone mentioned that the cops were there, she pulled out a gun that she’d had hidden in her purse, and she shot Nate in the head. No one had expected that.

I stared at my phone in the hospital waiting room, as if Nate was going to call me. I twirled the phone around, tapped it on my thigh, hoping that this was just a mistake. Maybe it wasn’t him they’d brought into the hospital? I knew it was, but I didn’t want that. My strong muscle-bound protective beast wasn’t fighting for his life; he couldn’t be.

I heard Layla’s sobs coming from next to me. She was in John’s lap, being cradled as I needed Nate to do for me. Layla sobbed loudly again, but as much as I wanted to care, all I thought about was Nate.

“I can’t lose him too,” she cried.

“You’re not going to, love. Your brother is a hardheaded ass. He’s going to be just fine,” Moriarty said. “Baby, didn’t you tell me about the time he fell from rock climbing, and you didn’t think he’d make it? But he pulled through. He’s a strong SOB. He’s going to make it.”

“Yeah, and he promised never to try something so dangerous again. This shouldn’t be a high-risk job. I want him back. I need to say I’m sorry. I love him.”

I listened to their conversation, hoping they were right and he was a strong, hardheaded bastard. I needed him to be. Living without him didn’t seem like an option now. He was everything to me, and our life together so far had been too short.

One of Nate’s surgeons came up to us. “You’re Mr. Hendricks’s family, correct?”

“Yes, we are. How is he?” I asked. Layla may be his sister, but he was the love of my life.

“He made it through surgery. There’s a lot of swelling on the brain, so we put him in a medically induced coma.”

I gasped. I didn’t trust doctors after my mother’s botched surgery, and this was more medical intervention than I would ever be comfortable with. But if it helped him, I had to be okay with it. “Can we see him?”

“I’m sorry, but not at the moment. We want to give him some rest. His body has been through a great deal.”

“So when can we see him?” I asked.

“Just give it a few hours, please.”

When they finally let us in to see him, I collapsed to my knees at the door. Seeing him with all those tubes and bandages, knowing that there was a high probability that he wouldn’t make it, hurt me. But the doctor had made it clear that I needed to be calm if I expected to see Nate, so I regained my composure and fell at his side, placing my head on his bed. It took all I had in me not to shake him to try to wake him.

“Is she the girlfriend?” the doctor asked.

“They’re engaged,” Layla said quietly.

“Okay. Well, it’s late. I’m sorry, but you can’t stay overnight. At this point, it’s best if you come back in the morning.”

“We understand,” John said.

I didn’t understand. I didn’t want to understand. We’d slept in each other’s arms every night for almost a week. Had it not even been a week? I sobbed, gripping his hand.

“Come on, Jess. We have to go.”

“I don’t want to leave him. I can’t leave him.”

Before I could do anything else, Layla removed my hand from Nate’s and John picked me up.

“Let’s take her to our place. I think it’s best if she’s away from their bed,” Layla said.

“Whatever you want, my dear.”

Dammit, I didn’t want John carrying me, but I didn’t fight it. If I did, I’d race back to Nate’s side. It was the longest night in my life.

~~~~~

One month later…

“Any news today?” Layla asked, barging in just as I opened the door to my apartment. “Nothing’s changed. He’s still in a coma. When they stopped the forced coma, I thought he would open his eyes, but he hasn’t.”

“How is my niece or nephew?” she asked, pressing her hand to my flat belly. I could tell she was nervous and scared as much as I was.

“Missing their dad.” I sobbed.

I had been trying not to cry because I had a lot to do at the company. Nate’s VPs of finance and operations had met with the three of us to help manage the company. I took care of the emails mostly from my place. I was glad that I hadn’t given it up because going back to the house without Nate seemed impossible.

Layla gripped my biceps tightly. “Dammit, Jess, don’t do this to that baby in there. Don’t give in. Don’t do what my father did. Nate deserves more than that.”

I could see the pain in her eyes, but I didn’t know why they didn’t speak about their parents. I felt out of the loop. “What did your father do?”

“Nate never told you about the past?”

He’d told me that he would tell me one day, but I didn’t press. Whatever upset him about his father ran deep. Causing him more pain was the farthest thing from my mind. “No. We were focused on the future.”

“Well…” Layla plopped down on the couch and patted the seat next to her. I did as she suggested and took a seat. “My dad loved my mother madly. More than anything—more than us. When she died from cancer, he realized he couldn’t live without her and killed himself. I was little, so I don’t remember them as well as Nate does. My mother’s death was tragic but unavoidable. My father’s was selfish. He left Nate to take care of me. It wasn’t easy for us. He struggled so often to keep food on the table, but Nate never gave up. At eighteen, he had to become a real man and a father. And just like a father, he got on me about everything and he sacrificed everything. You were the only woman he even dated in twelve years. I thought he was insane, but he was dedicated to making a good life for us and well… he never thought he could trust himself not to become my father.” Layla sighed, looking close to tears herself. I understood how much she loved her brother.

“When you left him, he changed. The hardworking, sweet man was gone. In his place was a gym rat with a frown and a beard. He was so damn miserable; I was beyond worried. I was so damn afraid I’d lose him that I hated you. But after learning the truth, I couldn’t hate you, and after I knew you loved him, I trusted you to protect him. I’m telling you now, don’t give up. Nate wouldn’t accept it.”

“I would never do that. Should the worst…” It took me a moment to get myself together before I said, “The baby and my memories of him would be all I had left. This baby is a part of Nate. I can’t abandon him or her.”

“Thank you.”

“No, thank you. I needed to hear that. Some days are harder than others. Especially because that bitch didn’t die. Her trial is tomorrow. Like there’s really a reason for it.” I crossed my arms and slumped back in defeat.

Layla huffed. “I know. You know she’s trying to claim insanity by reason of mental defect or some shit?”

“I’ll give her a mental defect. All I need is a gun. I hate her.”

“Take it easy. Remember stress isn’t good for the baby.”

“Are you doing the same?” I arched an eyebrow at her.

“Yes, I am. I have John. He takes the stress away.” She winked suggestively with a big-ass grin.

I couldn’t even stop the laugh that poured from my lips. It was the first time I’d laughed since I got that dreaded email.

“That’s a start, Jess. It’s a start.”

~~~~~

I didn’t want to attend the trial, but I couldn’t help it. I wanted her to pay for Nate. Losing him was more than I could bear. If it weren’t for his baby growing inside me, I didn’t know what I would do. I was sitting beside Nate’s bed, holding his hand and steeling myself for the trial beginning in an hour.

The hospital room seemed so quiet except for the beeping of the machines. It was hard to listen to just the sound of my voice, waiting for a tiny hint of him returning to me. I rubbed my belly then stood up. Bending over, I kissed Nate’s cheek. “I love you, Nate. Please come back to me.”

John and Layla drove me to the courthouse. When I walked into the courtroom, Erin was already sitting beside her lawyer. She gave me a snide look, and it took everything in me, and John, to hold me back.

The trial lasted a full day, and it only took the jury an hour to find that fucking cunt guilty. When I got back to the hospital, it was late. I whispered to Nate what happened. I knew he couldn’t respond, but the doctors said he could hear me, so I talked to him the way we did every night before and after we made love.