Romance: Edge of Desire (8 page)

Bonus Chapter:

Romance: Her Boss

Kelli Sloan

Carter Stevenson is disciplined in all things; his world is neat, controlled, and focused on making money. When he is forced to hire a girlfriend to impress his investors, he finds Ella Graham falling into his office.

He tries to resist her innocent charm, but instead is swept up in a wave of emotion he cannot understand and cannot fight. Unlike any woman he has known before, shy, kind, and smiling Ella seems to see right through him - past the business, the money and the penthouse lifestyle to Carter’s cold, lonely soul.

But will Ella’s charm open Carter's heart… or push him away forever?

Chapter 1

Carter

“It’s the only way, Carter.”

“But I don’t want to do it, Tanya.”

“Carter, you and I both know that the only way you are going to continue to have the backing of the investors is if you start a stable relationship,” says my assistant.

I stand from my desk and rub my hands through my hair. “I just don’t see why this is such a big deal to them. Having a woman isn’t going to solve all of this company’s problems.”

“No, but it will solve the problem that you have with investors. I know that you see what goes on with these other billionaire bachelors. They’re all running crazy and with a different woman every night. You can’t blame the investors for wanting to be cautious,” Tanya argues. “They want to give their money to a stable person – not to some playboy billionaire without a care in the world.”

“But I’m nothing like that!” I yell as I slam my hand on the desk. “I’m getting tired of being stereotyped for what these playboys are doing. I am not a player!”

“You look like a player, Carter. You have the looks, the swagger, the cars and the body. Everything about you says ‘player’.”

“That is so frustrating.”

“You know how it is, Carter. All of the men that sit at the top of the investment firms are married, stable and calm. Like your father - he was married to your mother.”

“Yeah, and he divorced her too.”

“Carter, I know that this business means a lot to you. Since we lost your father five years ago, this business has been your life.”

I nod. “I’ll do anything for this business.”

Tanya knows this business like nobody else. She is in her early sixties and she was my father’s personal assistant, and since he passed away, she has been by my side, helping me guide this business to success. But we are having a bad year, which is normal for a business in the stock-market, and the investors are getting nervous.

“The question as to be - are you ready to lose this business?”

I sigh. “No, but I’m not ready to get into a relationship to keep it either. I don’t even know anyone I would be interested in.”

“Why don’t you date one of the other personal assistants?”

“Other than you, I don’t even know any of the personal assistants. I don’t even think I can remember their names. Why would they want to date a guy who can’t even remember their name?”

“Every girl on the planet would love to date you. But this doesn’t have to be a real relationship, Carter. Just a fake one until you get what you need out of the investors.”

“Go on. I’m listening…”

“The investors want stability… and
real
relationships are too fragile and unpredictable… And what could be more stable than a person paid to do a job?”

“Did you have someone in mind?”

“Ella.”

“Ella?” I ask.

“I think she is the obvious candidate. She’s level-headed, shy and pretty, and I think that she is just the woman you need to pull this off.”

“There are three other female personal assistants, right? Why not the others?”

“Because the others are a little flighty, and you would have to put too much energy into trying to calm them down when your main focus should be the investors. You need someone who will compliment you and not take away from what you’re doing. It has to be Ella.”

“You’re really a fan of this Ella girl. Are you sure you’re not trying to play matchmaker?”

Tanya laughs. “Ella and I rarely have any conversation, but I know from by the way that she carries herself at work that she won’t be a problem for you. And I’m more concerned with keeping my job than playing matchmaker for you.”

“So how do you know that this Ella girl doesn’t have a boyfriend?”

“I don’t know, but you can find out when you ask her to do this for you.”

“And what if she says no?” I ask her.

She laughs. “I doubt that she will say no. Do you know who you are? Any woman in the world would want to be your girlfriend, and if she does say no, then we will just have to find someone else for the position.”

“You’re really serious about this, aren’t you?”

“Absolutely.”

“Interesting… A fake girlfriend…”

I’ve done a lot of things for the lure of money, but this is new.

But if it means securing the investors into my business, then I’m willing to date anyone…

Ella

“So you’re really breaking up with me?” I yell at my boyfriend, well now ex-boyfriend, Kyle. He’s standing in my living room trying to give me these sad excuses of why we don’t work as a couple.

“It’s not you…it’s—” he starts to say, but I cut him off.

“If you give me the whole, ‘it’s not you, it’s me’ speech, I swear I will slap you,” I yell at him.

Is he serious?

He rubs his hand through his hair and I can see that he’s trying to be careful with his words because he doesn’t know what my reaction will be. “Okay, well how about I found someone who makes me happier?”

“Oh, and who is this someone?” I ask.

The only person I know him to spend time with is…and then it all starts to make sense.

“Lidia,” he mumbles.

At first I want to believe that I didn’t hear him right, but I know that I did. Lidia is one of my friends, but I’ve never been able to trust her. She has her sneaky ways, which is why I always watch what I do and say around her. So this doesn’t really come as a surprise to me. Or at least not as big of a surprise as it should be. 

“So you’ve been messing around on me with Lidia? My alleged friend Lidia? You know, you two are real pieces of work. I thought that you were better than that.”

“It sort of just happened. It’s not like I had intentions of messing with her while I was with you.”

“You don’t sort of start messing around with someone, Kyle, so I know that it didn’t happen. Just go ahead and tell me the truth.”

He sighs, but I’m not going to let him talk his way around this. If he wants to break up with me, he is going to do it like a man and that’s that. It’s not like I’m even upset about the whole situation. I’m actually more upset about how he is trying to talk himself out of it.

“Well, at first she was just keeping me company because you work all of the time and I was bored and lonely. But then as time went on we started to become attracted to one another, and then the next thing I knew we were messing around and in love with each other. I honestly thought that I was just going to bed her, and then it would be over, but it got complicated. She doesn’t want us to hide our relationship anymore, and I think that she has a point, especially since there is nothing between me and you anymore.”

“So you’re in love with Lidia? Exactly how long have you two been messing around?”

He sighs. “About six months, but I didn’t fall in love with her ‘til about three months ago.”

“So you’ve been lying in bed with me while messing around with her on the side? And to make matters worse you’ve been in love with another woman while still occasionally having sex with me? Like, really, Kyle? Were you two having sex in my bed?”

“A few times, but most of the time we had sex at her place because she didn’t want to be here because it reminded her of you.”

“I’m sure that it would remind her of me, considering that it’s my apartment. My boyfriend should have reminded her of me too, but I can see that you clearly can’t think past that little head in your pants.”

“I didn’t mean to hurt you, Ella. It just all happened so fast. I’m sorry.”

I sigh. “Whatever, Kyle. Just take your stuff and leave, okay? You’re not sorry for doing what you did. You’re only sorry that you actually have to sit here and explain it to me.”

“You aren’t going to threaten to burn my stuff and try to fight me?” he asks, shocked.

“For what? You’ve made your decision, and right now I could care less. Just go before I do decide to throw something at you for being a complete asshole. I don’t want to have to deal with you or this situation any longer than I have to.”

“Well, if it makes you feel any better we are going to be moving to Canada, so you won’t have to worry about seeing us around or anything like that. It’ll be as if we were never in your life to begin with,” he says as he rolls his suitcase to the door.

“Afraid I might hurt you or something?” I ask him.

He smiles. “No, I think that it just might be a little too hard on you, that’s all.”

“Whatever, just leave,” I say. “And don’t worry about it being as if you were never in my life. You were, Kyle, the moment Lidia’s name slipped from your lips. I wish you the best of luck because, trust me, you are really going to need it dealing with a bitch like her. But you two really do deserve each other. A jerk of a boyfriend and a sorry excuse for a friend. I think that’s a match made in heaven, if you ask me.”

He looks at me one last time as if he wants to say something before he rolls his suitcases out of the door. I want to feel sad that he’s gone, but I don’t. I thought that I loved him, but the truth is we stayed together out of convenience. I’m attached to my job and don’t really have time for much, so I really only ever saw Kyle when I went to bed or on the rare occasion that we shared a meal together. I remember when I first met him, I was immediately drawn to his icy blue eyes and almost white hair. He was every girl’s dream guy, and I didn’t have the time for him, so if Lidia genuinely makes him happy, then I’m glad for him. On the bright side, I won’t have to see him around town, and it will be as if our relationship never happened. I walk into the room because I have to get ready for another long day at work tomorrow.

Hopefully it will be a lot better than today.

But I have a feeling that the worst is yet to come.

They always say, ‘When it rains it pours,’ and I have a feeling that this is just a drizzle.

Romance: Her Boss

Kelli Sloan

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