Training Tessa (Hot Texas Bosses BDSM Erotica)

Copyright 2012 Lyla Sinclair

With the exception of quotes used in reviews, this book may not be reproduced, transmitted, or used in whole or in part by any means without written permission from the author at
[email protected]
.

All rights reserved. The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, with or without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.

This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely coincidental. The characters are products of the author’s imagination and used fictitiously.

Chapter One

I sat in the waiting area of Maddox Brothers, Inc., unable to control my nerves.

My insides shook. My legs shook. My hands shook as I held my resume up and skimmed it one last time.

“Tessa Greer,” it said at the top.

Tessa. It sounded like a childish name. Not responsible enough to earn the kind of money Maddox was offering. But I couldn’t put my full name up there—the one my unbalanced mother had given me. “Contessa Marionetta Greer.”

Yes, that was on my birth certificate. Even before the mental problems had taken complete control, she’d had delusions of grandeur.

Now she lived in her own cheerful deluded world full-time. No medications had made a dent in her psychosis without causing terrible side effects. No amount of affection from her three children could coax her back into reality.

All we could do for her now was scrounge up enough money each month to keep her in a nice private facility, so she could live out her days in a safe, attractive environment.

And we were doing pretty well before the economy took a dive. My brother managed to hang on to his job, my sister took a ten percent pay cut, with the possibility of worse in her future.

But the company that had treated me so well as their office manager had gone belly up, unable to compete with the pricing of bigger companies.

The job market had dried up in Michigan, but I saw quite a few employment listings online for Houston, so here I was.

The door I’d come in through opened and a tall thirty-something man entered, wearing a dark gray Armani suit, fancy boots and a cowboy hat. That surprised me since my roommate Jill had informed me that practically no one in Houston wore cowboy hats to office jobs anymore.

The man paused inside the door when he saw me, his dark eyes boring into me with such force I stopped breathing for a moment. Whoever he was, he didn’t look happy to see me.

He raised his eyebrows. “I’m Mason Maddox. Can I help you?” he said, coldly.

This was Mr. Maddox? He’d sounded nicer on the phone.

I swallowed hard and stood shakily on my high heels. I had the urge to run my hand down my straight hair to ensure it was still in place, but that would look too much like fidgeting.

“I’m Tessa Greer,” I said. “I have an interview…for the ‘Receptionist Plus’ position.” He stared at me, so I stammered on. “The woman from the next office saw me waiting and let me in with her spare key. She said you wouldn’t mind.”

He grabbed a smart phone from a case attached to his belt and hit some buttons. “I don’t see an appointment here.”

My heart sank. Jill had told me I could stay with her for two months to look for a job. The time limit was due to the fact that she was getting married and moving out of town with her new husband.

Even if her apartment was available, I couldn’t afford to stay in such a nice place, and I was nearly six weeks into our arrangement.

I needed a job today that would pay me in about two weeks so I could get an apartment. Even then, it was pushing things, time-wise. I might have to sleep in my car for a few days.

Not to mention the fact that if I didn’t come up with some cash in less than a month, my mother would be out on her ear. No one in the family could afford to pick up my part of the hospital bills.

“I can wait here…if this isn’t a convenient time,” I said hopefully.

He grunted at his phone. “I assume my brother Dixon made the appointment and forgot to tell me…again.”

That rang a bell. No wonder he didn’t sound the same. “Yes. I’m sorry. It was Dixon Maddox I spoke to.”

“Figures,” Mason said. “And, as usual, he’s nowhere to be found at 9:00 AM. I don’t know why he keeps scheduling appointments he isn’t going to keep.”

Shit.
What was I going to do if my interviewer was a no show?

“I…um…am very interested in this job.” I tried not to sound too desperate, but I was pretty sure it showed.

He lifted his chin, but allowed his eyes to skim down my body and back up to my face. I wondered if I was dressed correctly in my black pencil skirt and grey and white striped blouse.

Should I have worn the jacket? I didn’t want to look like I expected to be the boss. Did I look too somber? Maybe I should have put on a colorful blouse…or western clothes, not that I owned any.

He seemed to be looking at my hair. It was brown with red undertones and layered nicely, but was it big enough for Texas?

“Well, since my brother dragged you downtown…”

“Thank you,” I said breathlessly, before he could finish his sentence.

He jerked his head in the direction of the hallway and I followed him into a huge office. I cringed as I glanced around the place.

Mason Maddox was obviously into hunting in a big way. Deer and moose heads were mounted on the walls, various birds and furry creatures stood atop tables in the room, and a mountain lion bared his teeth at me from the corner.

I grimaced, but reminded myself that today I didn’t have the luxury of an opinion about killing defenseless animals. In fact, if he was so into it, I needed to show interest.

“Wow, this is an impressive collection. You must spend every weekend out hunting.”

He glanced around. “No, I don’t hunt. I just collect interesting ones.”

Oh-kaaay…
Was that creepier or less creepy than killing them himself? I wasn’t sure.

As Mr. Mason sat down behind his desk in his black leather chair, the severe look on his face made me wonder whether my head could end up mounted next to the gazelle.

It was a handsome face though, with a long straight nose and a strong chin. If he could only lighten up a little…

“Sit down.” It sounded more like a command than an offer.

I sat and, when he reached out, I handed him my resume over the desk.

“Michigan.” He said it as though the word annoyed him. Was he always like this? “Was your husband transferred down?”

“No. I’m not married. The company where I worked for four years went out of business.”

He looked up and his hard eyes startled me, yet again.

“Not my fault,” I blurted out. “Going out of business, I mean.”

“Hm,” he grunted.

I had no idea what that meant, but I didn’t know what else to say.

After reading through my resume, he made eye contact again.

“I’m sure you noticed the pay for this job is well above that of a typical receptionist.”

“Yes I—”

“There’s a reason for that. We often have situations arise that need to be…handled. This can be a very
hard
job.”

“What kinds of things do you need done?”

“Every situation is different. We need the kind of person who will go to any lengths necessary—”

“What the hell? You started without me?”

I turned in my chair as an even taller man in a cowboy hat strolled in. I knew he was Dixon Maddox because he was the spitting image of his brother.

Well, not exactly. He was obviously younger, a little broader across the shoulders, and a bit slimmer at the waist than Mason.

He came around and propped his ass on the edge of his brother’s desk.

My eyes traveled from his brown cowboy boots, up his long, jean-covered legs to his blue striped button down shirt that showed off his tanned chest, since the top few buttons were undone. When I finally met his gaze, I noticed his eyes were a twinkly blue, instead of the dark brown like his brother’s.

I glanced at Mason for comparison and followed his line of vision directly to Dixon’s ass. I had a feeling he wasn’t staring for the same reasons I was.

“We have chairs,” he murmured.

“You must be Tessa,” Dixon said, as he took off his hat and tossed it onto the nearest set of horns.

 “Yes.” Mason sighed in obvious annoyance. “Your nine o’clock appointment.”

“Sorry.” Dixon directed the apology to me, completely ignoring his brother. “Thought people from up north were always fashionably late.” He winked.

My heart fluttered.

Mason pursed his lips and gave his brother a disapproving look. He focused back on me.

“Whoever takes this job will answer directly to my
late
brother. And will likely have to give him a wakeup call from time to time and help pick up his slack around here.”

“Slack? You won’t find any slack here, Tessa.” Dixon flipped his eyebrows and I felt a flush creep through my body.

Okay, I had to admit it, potential boss or not, he was the sexiest man I’d ever seen. And, I was sure the two of them together would make a hell of a Calvin Klein ad, even with the permanent scowl on Mason’s face.

“Did you already talk to her about the job?”

“That’s what I was doing when you came in. Of course, you already know she’s qualified…on paper.”

“And I really want the job,” I added.

This seemed like a do or die moment with the two of them here. They owned the company. They could give me the job right here, right now.

“We’re not looking for someone who wants the job,” Mason said. “We’re looking for someone who needs the job. Someone who’ll go the extra mile.”