Wicked boss, p.1
Wicked Boss, page 1
WICKED BOSS
AN AGE GAP ENEMIES TO LOVERS ROMANCE
A J SUMMERS
CONTENTS
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Epilogue
A gift for you
Copyright 2022 by A J SUMMERS - All rights reserved.
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CHAPTER 1
LAURA
I am calm.
The mantra on a loop in my head was supposed to be motivational, but it was starting to fall flat. Thankfully, I was in line to get the pick-me-up I knew would work like a charm.
Coffee.
Staying up all night had made stopping for coffee a must.
I decided to unpack the boxes scattered around my new apartment to settle my nerves last night. After that, I obsessed over what outfit to wear on my first day.
New York was a world away from the tech scene in San Francisco, and I wanted to make a good first impression. Once I’d narrowed down the options from five to one and a backup, it was one a.m.
I was ready to call it a night at that point. But the pile of clothes on my bed that I’d unpacked but not put away made that impossible.
So, here I was. At 7:30, standing in line for coffee. I hoped it would work a miracle and calm the jitters I had about starting the job at BuzzTalk.
Finally, I shuffled to the front of the line and peered up at the chalkboard menu. I gave it a cursory once over, knowing I would order a latte. As I always did.
The first day at a new job was no time to break tradition.
“What can I get started for you today?”
“An iced oat milk latte with an extra shot, please.”
With my coffee paid for, I moved down the length of the counter to wait for the barista to call my name. While I did that, my eyes roamed over the occupants of the coffee shop.
I’d chosen this place based on convenience. It was a perfect distance from my new office. I would have time to enjoy enough of the latte before walking inside the building and facing my new reality.
Butterflies took flight in the pit of my stomach once again.
They wouldn’t have hired you if you weren’t qualified.
My best friend’s words echoed in my head, and while I had to agree, I was still nervous.
I knew I was qualified. Even over-qualified. Knowing that didn’t change the fact that this job was a change. A huge uproot-your-life-and-move-across-the-country change. And change always had a way of exciting and freaking me out at the same time.
“Iced oat milk latte with an extra shot for Laura!”
Thrilled that my order was ready, I stepped forward to grab it. A tall man in a black peacoat stepped in front of me to grab a cup sleeve.
I took the first sip of my coffee and let out a sigh that erased most of my body’s tension.
Satisfied with the taste and looking forward to the buzz it would give me, I started toward the door and got halfway there before disaster struck. Something—or somebody—knocked into my shoulder with the force of a truck and sent my left arm flying.
The cup I was holding sailed into the air before my eyes and crashed against a dark backdrop.
It was only after I blinked a few times that I realized the backdrop was a man wearing a black peacoat.
“No!” I wailed as if I had lost a family member rather than an iced cup of goodness. But that coffee was my lifeline. The only hope I had for starting my day on the right track. And now it was splattered across this man’s clothes and the ground. But mostly, it was decorating the stranger’s black coat while he looked at me with eyes colder than the ice scattered across the coffee shop floor.
“My coffee,” I groaned. The man continued to stare at me with a mixture of indifference and mounting annoyance on his face.
“Aren’t you going to apologize?” I asked, agitated by his lack of remorse.
“Why should I?” His cool eyes turned accusatory as he looked me up and down. “You weren’t looking where you were going, and now your coffee is all over my coat.”
“It wasn’t my fault.”
“You were standing in the middle of the walkway, blocking the door. Maybe next time you’ll take your coffee and go.” His voice was as calm as his demeanor. While there was no inflection in his tone, he still sounded reproachful.
“You owe me six dollars for a new coffee!” I declared, not caring about the audience we were drawing. People in line wore amused smiles as they watched my meltdown.
I didn’t even care about the money. It was the principle of the matter. Especially since he puffed at my remark without a single ounce of remorse.
“Sure, and you owe me about ten times that for my dry-cleaning bill,” he said, looking down at the damage.
“I– wh–” I sputtered, trying to find the words, only to see him raise an eyebrow at me while shaking his head.
There was no way he was turning this on me.
“Watch where you’re going next time.” It was his last little piece of advice. Before I could say anything else, he was out the door and climbing into the backseat of a black SUV.
“You’ve got to be kidding me.”
What an asshole.
I didn’t have the emotional capacity to get upset about it. I huffed and turned on my heels to throw my now-empty cup in the garbage.
A coffee shop employee was already on their way with a mop and a ‘caution’ sign.
“I’m so sorry,” I said, but he just shrugged it off. I felt worse about him having to clean up my mess than I did about spilling my precious latte all over that guy’s coat.
His boorish attitude had been enough to wipe away any remorse I felt about ruining his coat.
Not a drop of his coffee had spilled when mine tumbled to the floor. He should have been the one apologizing to me.
But work was waiting, and the longer I stood in this coffee shop, the later I would be.
One small problem remained: I was coffee-less. And to remedy that, I needed to get back in line.
Except the line was now spilling out the door and onto the sidewalk. If I chanced to get back in, I’d be late. Something I refused to be on my first day.
So, no coffee it was.
Outside the coffee shop, I paused and took a moment to consider the bright side of things. I may have been leaving without coffee, but at least my outfit was intact.
The office was nicer in person than what I had seen online. I’d spent enough time stalking the social media accounts of people who worked here. None of their videos did it justice.
The open layout was modern, with small nooks for coworking. The offices and meeting spaces were tucked away behind glass walls. They offered privacy without taking away from the contemporary feel of the office.
BuzzTalk occupied the top five floors of a twenty-floor office building in Lower Manhattan. The square footage was impressive. But I expected nothing less from a company like BuzzTalk.
I took it all in until the woman giving me a tour stopped in front of an office with blinds blocking the view inside.
“This is your boss’s office. His name is Tom Knight, and he asked to see you as soon as you arrived. I’ll be waiting for you when you’re done to show you to your workspace,” the woman I only knew as Sue filled me in.
“Right,” I said, eyeing the door.
Tom Knight was etched across the nameplate. Along with three little letters to denote his not-so-little title. I knew the name from the research I’d done. And while he hadn’t been present for any part of my interview process, I knew he was who I’d work under. Technically, everyone worked under him.
“Good luck,” she whispered, giving the door a soft rap with her knuckles since I’d failed to do it.
“Thanks,” I sucked in a deep breath just as she disappeared down the hall, and the door was pulled open.
I painted on a smile I hoped was professional and watched as the man behind the nameplate was revealed.
My mouth fell open at the sight of my new boss in a beautifully tailored suit with shrewd eyes and just a hint of salt along his temples.
No.
Oh, no.
The asshole from the coffee shop.
What is he doing here?
Apparently, I’d done more than think the question. I’d vocalized it. And the disproval clouding his features told me that this day would keep getting more interesting by the minute.
“Come in.” He turned on his heels, not waiting for a response, and left me no choice but to follow suit.
As I stepped into the office, a masculine scent overtook my senses, making it difficult to focus on anything except the sensations it set off. He’d smelled too much like coffee in the coffee shop, but without the cloak of his soiled coat, he smelled…mouthwatering.
“Close the door behind you.” The command broke me out of my lustful haze, and I sprang into action.
When I got to his desk, he was s
How the hell had I overlooked how good-looking he is?
“Laura Sharpe,” he said, acknowledging me as I stood awkwardly across from him.
“That’s me.” It was a lame follow-up but the best I could do. My brain was too busy processing the information that had just been dumped in my lap.
“Have a seat, Laura.”
In ten seconds flat, I’d jumped from nervous excitement to a feeling of impending doom. Could this day get any worse? I prayed for my sake that it couldn’t.
CHAPTER 2
TOM
I didn’t appreciate distractions. Most of the time, I could maintain my focus. But on rare occasions, certain things—or people—slipped through the cracks and commanded too much of my attention for it to be considered healthy.
Now felt like one of those times.
Because as much as I liked to believe my tunnel vision was impenetrable, an exception had just been delivered to my door.
The clumsy blonde from the coffee shop just so happened to be the new hire.
I stared at the woman in front of me. She looked just as happy to be sitting across from me as I was to realize who she was.
I hadn’t given her more than a glance over my shoulder in the coffee shop, but now that she was directly in front of me, I found her irritatingly attractive.
Expressive blue eyes bounced from object to object displayed in my office. Whether she was interested in the gadgets or was avoiding eye contact was up for debate.
When I realized she was the new hire who’d just arrived from the West Coast, her freckled, golden skin made sense.
She looked young, but I trusted her ability to add value to our team because she would have never landed in my office if she wasn’t competent. Our headhunter said she’d worked for our biggest West Coast competitor. Her insights would be more than valuable with our new software rollout in the works.
I decided I wouldn’t question her skill until she gave me a reason.
“So when you’re not spilling coffee on strangers, you moonlight as a software engineer?” I finally threw it out there.
But if our encounter at the coffee shop had taught me anything, it was that she was excitable and prone to tantrums. I got further proof of this when her eyes ballooned to twice their normal size while she raised a brow at me.
“I told you, spilling that coffee wasn’t my fault! You nearly knocked me over and left me to clean up the mess.”
My lip twitched because I knew there was no way the staff at that shop had left the cleaning to her.
I went there almost every morning. And because of that, I’d witnessed my fair share of unlucky customers spill their coffee before they made it out the door. I’d always had the fortune of watching it from a distance. Until today.
“And yet, you still made it to work on time.”
Laura squinted her eyes at me as she folded her arms across her chest. “Would it kill you to apologize? You’re the reason I didn’t get to have coffee before my first day of work.”
“I’m also the reason you have a job,” I said, my tone flat. “I think one of those trumps the other.”
This time, instead of addressing me directly, she mumbled something under her breath.
I may not have been able to decipher what she said, but I had no problem interpreting the way her gaze narrowed at the coffee cup sitting near my monitor.
A beat passed before she said anything else. “You’re right. I guess I should be thankful.”
Her wry tone wasn’t fooling me. But I was too amused by her to say anything.
“Forgive me for not falling at your feet in gratitude. I’m not myself without caffeine.”
Who was this spitfire of a woman? And why was stupid banter with her making my heart race?
“There’s a coffee bar on the top floor of the office.”
“I’m aware. I saw it on my tour.”
“Then what’s the problem?”
She gave the sexiest roll of her eyes and exhaled. “As I said in the coffee shop, it’s not the coffee. It’s the principle of the matter. But I don’t expect someone like you to get that.”
Someone like me? What did that mean?
Too much time passed in silence before I grabbed the folder on my desk and extended it to her. The sooner I explained why she was in my office, the sooner she would be out of it.
“A digital copy of this has been sent to your new company email.”
Laura nodded and leaned forward to take it from me. The only problem was that our fingers brushed during the exchange. Laura jumped back as if she’d been struck by lightning while I lifted a brow at her odd reaction.
“Are you okay?”
Straightening her shoulders, she leaned forward again to grab the folder that had fallen on my desk and nodded. In the interest of time, I wrote it off as nothing. All the while, I tucked the detail away in the back of my mind.
Something about this woman I couldn’t put my finger on intrigued me more than I cared to admit.
She’s my employee.
The reminder seemed appropriate, considering I was currently trying to pinpoint the exact combination of floral notes hitting my nose.
Laura cleared her throat and finally spoke, “Yes, everything is fine. Tell me more about what’s in this folder.”
A frown I couldn’t control took over my face at her directive. I didn’t take orders from anyone, least of all a new employee who was too attractive for her own good. Not for the first time, I got a glimpse of how bossy she could be.
Reeling in my instinct to correct her, I leaned back in my chair and filled her in on the project we’d be working on together.
“BuzzTalk has been a social platform for the better part of a decade now.” I paused and continued once she gave me a slight nod in return. “While access to these platforms has largely benefited corporations and consumers, responsibility comes with it. A responsibility that too many companies don’t take seriously.”
“I agree,” Laura chimed in, her voice barely audible as she waited for me to go on.
“We want to change that. Starting this week, we’re beginning the development of software that will detect, flag, report, and remove abusive content from our social platform.”
“Wow, that sounds…incredible, yet complex. There’s so much inappropriate content shared on social media that normal users aren’t even aware of. Not to mention that the only reason some people use social media is to share the type of content you’re planning to erase. This could be groundbreaking.”
“It will be,” I said confidently. There was no doubt in my mind that this would be transformational. The execution was the crucial part, which is where she came in.
“There are many nuances to this conversation. And we can certainly get into those details later. But for now, I wanted to make you aware of your first project here as a new hire.”
“Right,” she said, thumbing through the documents.
Although it wasn’t how I usually preferred to do business, talking to the top of her head was infinitely easier than making eye contact.
It made no sense for me to feel this flustered. I came across—and slept with—attractive women on a regular enough basis to not be fazed by these things anymore. But something about this beautiful woman had my full attention. As soon as she left my office, I’d have time to dissect exactly why that was.
“Your reputation as one of the best coders on the West Coast precedes you. I’m not saying this project will be easy, because it won’t be. Your full commitment and follow-through are expected. It’s a perfect fit for your skills.”
She nodded, jostling the blond curls on top of her head. Before I could stop it, a vision of those same curls splayed across my pillow derailed my focus.
I shoved the lewd thought out of my mind.
Fuck’s sake.
