Chapter One

Chapter One

Six months earlier

Stopping at my desk, Hanna regarded me warily. “Uh-oh, your eyelid’s twitching. What’s wrong? Did someone mistake you for the model on the Syphilis Awareness billboard again?”

I narrowed my eyes at my friend and coworker. “No. And I don’t look anything like her.” We’d had this conversation already. But Hanna liked to poke at me in that way that only one of your closest friends would.

“You have the same pale blue eyes and high cheekbones. Her hair isn’t exactly the same platinum blonde shade as yours, but it’s close.”

People always assumed my hair color came straight out of a bottle. In truth, I’d inherited it from my half-Swedish grandmother.

“But she doesn’t have your blunt bangs or Jessica Alba-mouth,” Hanna went on because, yeah, she was a pain in my ass when bored.

“Can we not talk about the model who looks nothing like me, please?”

“Of course.”

“Great. If you’ve come to speak to Dane, he’s not yet back from his lunch meeting, but he shouldn’t be much longer.”

“I came to check on you. A little birdie told me they saw Travis enter the building earlier. The last time the idiot came here, you almost had to call security to remove him.”

And who was Travis? My boss’s sly, smarmy, self-entitled brother.

I sighed. “I’m fine, just annoyed. He wanted to wait for Dane in his office. I said no. He tried flirting with me to get his way. I said no. He claimed he had a migraine and just needed a quiet place to sit. I said no. Then he got all mean and demanded I let him in. Again, I said no. We went around and around like that for a while until, finally, he stalked off—but not before threatening to have me fired.”

Hanna shook her head. “He’s such a weasel. Why do you think he wanted access to Dane’s office?”

“He said he wanted to wait for him in there.” It wouldn’t have surprised me if he’d intended to nose around and sniff out some sensitive material that he could sell to Dane’s competitors. Travis seemed to harbor a deep resentment for his brother. I suspected it was petty jealousy since—in total contrast to Dane—the only thing Travis appeared to be successful at was being an absolute tool.

Hanna tilted her head. “Although he’s a boil on our butts, he generally doesn’t send that eyelid of yours twitching. It usually takes more than that to set it off. Come on, tell me what’s bothering you. You’ll feel better for it. And I’m nosy—help a girl out.”

“It’s nothing, really. I just discovered something about myself that I don’t like.”

“Ooh, I do that daily. So, what’d you discover?”

I clasped my hands together and rested them on my desk. “I can be very petty. See, I’m going to bump into my high school sweetheart today—a guy I was briefly engaged to. He’s rich and successful now. Although I don’t want him back, I want him to look at me, see how much better my life is without him in it, and regret letting me go.”

“Girl, pretty much everyonewants their exes to feel that way. It doesn’t make you petty. It makes you human. And back up … you were engaged to this guy? How is it we’ve known each other for four years and I’ve never heard about this?” She propped her elbows on the desk. “Okay, walk me through how it all went down.”

“Short version—”

“I want the long version.”

“Well, you’re getting the short one. Owen Redford and I grew up together. He was one of my closest friends. We dated during the last few years of high school, and he proposed to me after graduation—it was a gesture to show that him going away to college wasn’t going to change anything between us. But he ended our relationship five months later. He said we’d rushed into getting engaged and that we were too young to make such a commitment.”

Hanna’s face went all soft and sympathetic. “That limp-dicked asshole crushed your teenage heart.”

“Not quite, but he certainly dealt it a few kicks. People always used to talk about how he was made for bigger and better things than the life he’d been born into. We grew up in a real shady neighborhood. A part of me worried he’d leave me behind when his life officially took off … and he did. He asked to remain friends, but I never saw or heard from him again after that.”

“Not even once?”

“No. I bumped into his aunt a few times over the years, so I know he’s married, has a kid, owns a huge house, and has a cushy job.” I sighed. “I’m glad things worked out so well for him. I really am. It’s just made me painfully aware of how little my own life has changed since we last saw each other. Not that I don’t like my life, it’s just become sort of … stagnant.”

I had my health, I had people who loved me, I had a well-paying job, and I never took any of it for granted. But I felt like I was stuck in one place, existing only to eat, sleep, and pay my bills. I didn’t date, didn’t go on vacations, didn’t take much time for myself. I didn’t really have time, since I worked a lot. Being the PA of a workaholic was murder on my personal life. I definitely needed to shake things up a bit.

“Is there no way you can get out of seeing Owen?” asked Hanna.

“Probably not. His boss arranged a meeting with Dane months ago. I had a brief chat with the guy’s PA earlier via phone, and she told me that Charles would be bringing two of his ‘rising stars’ with him. I almost fell off my chair when she said Owen’s name. And since Dane usually likes me to sit in on these sorts of meetings and take notes, it’s highly unlikely that I can avoid seeing Owen.”

“Shit.” Straightening, Hanna waved a hand at me. “Well, you might not be married, rich, or live in a flashy house, but you’re a smart, confident woman who anyone would respect purely for working as Dane Davenport’s PA for a full four years. Not many people could work so closely with a corporate psychopath. At least not without having a breakdown.”

I sighed. “Granted, Dane’s … a little difficult at times, but he’s not a psychopath.”

“You’ve not noticed the power-hunger, lack of empathy, absence of a conscience, or that he is a control freak? None of his previous PAs lasted longer than six months—they were either fired or left in tears. Dane is not anyone’s idea of a nice guy. Not that I’m complaining. There’s something real yummy about a bad boy. The whole cold and ruthless thing works for him.”

Okay, so he liked power. Didn’t most CEOs? And, yes, he could be a little insensitive and careless with people’s feelings. He was also ruthless, sure, but … “He’s not cold or without a conscience. And he doesn’t lackempathy.” Well, not totally anyway. “He just doesn’t always bother to call up any emotional tact.”

“He made Gibson cry yesterday. Sweet, fresh-faced, quick-to-laugh Gibson.That’s like kicking a puppy. Which is something Dane probably often did as a child—being mean to animals is textbook for psychopathic kids, you know.”

I sighed again. “He’s not a psychopath.”

“Come on, he even has that hunter stare they’re known for having. Look me in the eye and tell me it doesn’t make you want to squirm. The hairs on my nape stand up every time.”

Yeah, I didn’t fare much better against it. There was always a dangerous glint in his dark, steely eyes. They could focus on you like a laser, pin you in place, and direct so much intensity at you that your personal space felt invaded.

Even after four years of working for him, I was not immune to that unflinching, relentless, apex-predator stare. Not at all. It was like being watched by a jungle cat. A big, badass jungle cat who wondered what an insignificant little thing like you was doing in its domain.

“Anyone can perfect a stare like that if they try hard enough,” I said.

Hanna squinted, and her mouth curled into a smile. “You know something? I think you like him.”

In all honesty, I’d had a harmless crush on my boss for years now. I didn’t give myself a hard time about it. There was no way to remain unaffected by Dane Davenport. “Good-looking” was too tame a term for him. Tall, dark, and supremely male, he exuded a raw sex appeal that could shake any girl’s equilibrium.

It wasn’t just his appearance that made him so lethally seductive. It was the entire package—his powerful personality, innate aura of authority, unshakable self-assuredness, and the untamed air about him that spoke of danger.

He was effortlessly desirable, and he was very much aware of it. He didn’t flaunt it, though. He did, however, make no bones of exploiting the impact he had on the female gender. He flitted from woman to woman, never taking the time to romance them. For Dane, nothing and no one came before work. He’d built a life that seemed designed to keep people out.

Sometimes, I couldn’t help but feel that he had an empty spot inside him. One he tried so hard to fill with work but never quite succeeded.

Despite being offhand and rude at times, he’d secured himself a vast network of clients, partners, and allies. He had a sort of … cold charisma. A powerful, masculine, irresistible presence that wasn’t tempered by warmth but still drew you into his orbit like a magnet. And I, sadly, was not at all immune to it.

I didn’t pine for him, though, for two reasons. First, I was a realist. I knew there would never be anything between us, and that surety enabled me to box the whole thing into my mental fantasy drawer. A drawer I only ever opened when I was spending quality time with my vibrator.

Second, even if he wasn’t too much of a workaholic to be fully invested in a relationship, he’d be too difficult a partner. In business, things were never good enough for Dane—he was always moving the marker, always driven to have “more,” always finding imperfections. I suspected he’d be the same way with his partner; that he’d never feel truly satisfied. That kind of relationship did not appeal to me.

Really, Dane was far too professional to get involved with one of his employees anyway. Would I ever consider a one-night stand if he gave me any indication that he’d be up for it? No. I valued my job too much to lose it over an “indiscretion.”

“You do have a thing for him, don’t you?” pushed Hanna.

Like I’d share that with Hanna, who couldn’t hold in her own pee. “It’s not that, it’s just … he gave me an opportunity that not a lot of people would have.”

Understanding flashed across Hanna’s face. “And so you’d feel disloyal saying anything negative about him, I get it.”

Well, it would be disloyal. When I’d first come to work at o-Verve Pro Technologies, I’d been hired as a secretary for one of the low-level staff. Clint was an arrogant, egotistical, narcissistic chauvinist who was prone to throw tantrums and believed that everyone was out to sabotage him.

I’d been nothing short of mortified when I realized that the CEO had overheard me telling Clint to “Stop being a precious little man-child and quit with the drama before you give yourself an ulcer. Oh, and don’t think I’m going to clean up that mess—you swiped the stuff off the desk, you can put it all back.”

It was not a great way to speak to your boss, no, but I’d found that Clint responded well to my teacher-addressing-an-unruly-student tone. It always snapped him right out of his tirades.

When I’d gotten called into Dane’s office later that day, I’d been sure he meant to fire me. Instead, he’d informed me that he’d be moving me to another department within the building. Namely, his …

Shocked as all shit, I stared at him. “I don’t understand.”

“I need a new PA,” he said, lounging in his leather chair. “I did a little digging after overhearing your … conversation with Clint. I learned a lot of things about you. You’re meticulous. Dependable. Highly efficient. Hyper-organized. You don’t balk at hard work, you have a positive attitude, you’re good at multi-tasking, and you’ve been a great right-hand person for Clint.And I saw—or, more precisely, overheard—that you can handle difficult characters. I need all that in a PA.”

“Don’t you already have one?”

“Yes. She can’t deal with the workload and would prefer to spend her time flirting with me. Needless to say, she doesn’t have a future as my PA.”

I licked my lower lip. “Not that I’m trying to talk myself out of a job but, well, my way of handling ‘difficult characters’ isn’t always in a calm, professional manner.”

“But if Clint could have been handled using a calm, professional manner, you’d have gone down that route, wouldn’t you?”

“Yes.”

“I don’t need someone who’s always polite. You’ll come into contact with a lot of strong, demanding, self-entitled characters—me included. If you’re sweet and agreeable and can’t handle yourself, they’ll eat you alive. I need someone who won’t be railroaded.”

He leaned forward and rested his elbows on his desk. “I’m good at recognizing talent and skills in people; at knowing where and how they’d be useful within my company. I believe this position would suit you. But, be warned, it isn’t a dream job. I’m not an easy man to work for; I’m a perfectionist who has little room for error. By doing the amount of jobs—big and small—that I’ll be requiring you to do, you’ll be expected to be ten people at one time. I need someone who can keep on track with everything, who won’t need any direct supervision, and who isn’t going to start sniffling if I’m not nice to them. I believe that’s you. So, care to take a chance and see if I’m right?”

I’d taken the chance. He hadn’t lied. A lot of pressure came with the job, and he could be a nightmare to handle sometimes—mostly because he had very strict standards for others and himself, and he had no tolerance for anyone who couldn’t keep up. He could also be inflexible and overly detail orientated. Any displays of laziness, inefficiency, or a bad work ethic from his employees were met with chillingly insensitive putdowns.

He also tended to forget that, unlike him, not everyone was married to their job. But in many other ways, he was a good boss. He paid well, looked after his employees, rewarded hard work, and didn’t tolerate any workplace bullshit.

Moreover, he’d once been my fucking hero—he’d stepped in when I thought everything would come crumbling down around me and he’d fixed the situation without batting an eyelid. For that alone, I’d always be loyal to him. Of course, he’d made it clear that he hadn’t done it to be “nice” and that he’d call in a favor one day but—

“Speak of the psychopath …”

At Hanna’s words, I snapped back to attention. My gaze flew to the elevator and, sure enough, Dane came walking out with that purposeful, sexy as hell, alpha-male stride. He looked so self-possessed and implacable it made my pulse skitter and my hormones sigh in appreciation.

The dark tailored suit looked damn good on him, but no suit could hide the menace that seemed to lurk just beneath the very controlled surface he showed to the world. That menace occasionally flared in his eyes or deepened his voice.

“We’ll talk later.” Hanna pushed away from my desk. “I want to hear how it went with the ex.” She hurried away, bidding Dane a good afternoon as she passed.

I was pretty sure he grunted by way of hello, but it was hard to tell from all the way over here. Taking in his default unimpressed expression, one might think he suffered from chronic indifference. It tended to make people nervous; they often seemed compelled to try to please or amuse him. The latter was truly a waste of time. In all the years I’d worked for him, I’d never heard him laugh. Not. Once.

I flashed him my receptionist smile as he neared me. “Afternoon, Dane.”

He flicked up his brows ever so slightly—his usual way of greeting me. Well, it was more than a lot of people got.

Grabbing some papers from my desk, I followed him into his sleek, spacious, masculine office. The glossy, cognac-brown wooden flooring perfectly matched the ergonomic desk, the full-wall shelves, and the coffee table in the seating area at the far side of the room. Two black leather sofas framed the table, and I could attest that both were delightfully comfortable.

Dane sometimes held one-on-one meetings in the seating area, but he mostly used conference rooms. I got the sense that he didn’t like having many people in his private sanctum. Not that anything in the room revealed much about him. There were no mementos, no knickknacks, no clutter. Even his kickass desk was surprisingly sparse. There was only his desktop computer, laptop, landline phone, nameplate, and a single coaster.

There were two things I envied about Dane’s office. One, the private bathroom. Two, the floor-to-ceiling windows that boasted an incredible, skyline view.

“Coffee?” I asked once he’d settled in his chair.

“No.”

In the beginning, I used to bristle at his curt manner. Now? I was used to it. I knew not to take his rudeness personally. Dane didn’t put much effort into sparing the feelings of anyone.

After relaying some important messages to him, I placed the papers on the desk in front of him. “You need to sign these.”

He only grunted.

I gave him a bright smile. “I like these little chats we have.”

He gave me one of those droll looks I’d become accustomed to over the years.

I headed to the door. Reaching it, I looked over my shoulder as I said ever so casually, “Oh, and Travis turned up to see you.”

Dane’s eyes narrowed as he studied me hard. “What did he do?”

I blinked. “Who says he did anything?”

“What did he do, Vienna?” Dane repeated. He very rarely raised that smooth, low-pitched, authoritative voice … as if never doubting that he had his conversationalist’s full attention. From what I’d observed, he was right not to have such doubts.

I really didn’t like tattling on people, but I figured Dane had a right to know that his brother might have been up to something. “Travis wanted to go into your office even though you weren’t here. I wouldn’t let him, so he kicked up a fuss. When it didn’t get him anywhere, he left. He also wants you to call him.”

“Define ‘fuss.’”

“He whined and yelled and growled and promised he’d have me fired.”

“Did he touch you?”

“No.” But he had threatened to. I decided not to mention that, though. It would only piss Dane off, and he was even more of a pain when he was in a mood.

“Hmm.” He made that sound far too often. It was infuriating, because it could mean everything or nothing.

Moving swiftly on … “Don’t forget you have a meeting in an hour. The agenda is on your desk, and I emailed you the materials that you’ll need to review for the meeting.”

His gaze on the laptop screen, he said, “You’ll attend it with me.” An order.

“That’s fine,” I said, nothing in my voice betraying that it was far from okay.

He went very still, and his eyes flew back to mine. “Is that going to be a problem?”

Seriously, the guy was a warlock or something. It was next to impossible to get anything past him. “Of course not,” I replied. “Are you sure you don’t want coffee?”

He didn’t answer. He just fixed me with that hunter stare. The only reason I didn’t squirm or avert my gaze was that I’d had plenty of practice at acting unaffected.

The cell phone he’d placed on his desk began to ring.

“I’m sure,” he finally replied, reaching for the chiming phone.

“Okay. Buzz me if you need anything.” With that, I left the office and returned to my desk. It was clean and tidy but, unlike his, far from sparse with a computer, printer, landline, stationery, and the fake cactus that my foster mother gave me. Melinda knew I’d accidentally kill a real plant.

I didn’t have time to dwell on the upcoming meeting—I had too much shit to do. As the founder and CEO of an incredibly successful analytical software company, Dane maintained a schedule that was never anything but hectic, and his workload was never anything but heavy. That meant my workload was just as heavy.

There was never a lull in the activity during the day. It started off at full throttle and remained that way until the business hours finally came to an end—and sometimes even longer than that. But I liked working in such a fast-paced environment. Each day was similar yet different.

Luckily, Dane wasn’t one of those bosses who asked his PA to do ridiculous shit like buy him condoms or cater to diva-like whims. In fact, he never sent me on any personal errands, as if preferring to keep his personal life separate. He was an intensely private guy, and I’d long ago given up trying to get to know him.

He rarely sent me out of the office on errands, though he did occasionally ask me to courier sensitive documents to other buildings. He also used me as a sounding board on occasion, which I liked. Mostly, though—in a nutshell—I handled his calendar, kept things running smoothly, and freed up as much of his time as possible by taking care of tasks that didn’t require his personal touch. I also made sure everyone else was in sync with his calendar of meetings, trips, and conferences.

The most trying part of my job was screening Dane’s emails, calls, mail, and visitors. Everyone “needed” to speak to him, and everything was a “priority.”

One of the things I most liked about being his PA was that I often accompanied him on business trips. They weren’t necessarily fun, since my time was rarely mine during those trips—I ran on pretty much the same schedule as him. Still, I got to travel on private jets, stay in luxury hotels, and attend exclusive events.

I was part way through an expense report for his last business trip when Dane came striding out of his office, and I realized that almost an hour had gone by. My stomach sank. All too soon, he and I were heading to one of the conference rooms for the meeting.

I was so annoyed with myself for caring that Owen would be there. I didn’t want it to matter. Didn’t want him to matter. He didn’t deserve to. Not that I was still hurting after what he’d done. But I didn’t like being reminded of that time; of how small he’d made me feel when he’d not only dumped me but dropped me from his life like I was a bag of crack.

Maybe it wouldn’t have hurt as much if we hadn’t been friends for so long. I didn’t trust easily, but I’d trusted Owen. I’d never thought he’d ever cut contact between us like that. And it stung that he’d so easily been able to do it.

As we reached the conference room, Dane stopped at the door and turned to me. “Is there something I should know?”

I blinked. “I’m sorry?”

“You’re uncomfortable. Why?”

Yep, he was a warlock. “I could tell you, but it involves talk of feminine products—”

“I don’t need to hear it.”

I almost snickered.

Dane entered the room first. The three men gathered at the long table instantly rose to their feet. Once they’d all exchanged greetings and the visitors were done metaphorically kissing Dane’s ass, he gestured at me and said, “This is my PA, Vienna.”

A tall, well-groomed figure moved aside to get a better look at me. Owen. Karma clearly hadn’t caught up with him yet, because he was even more good-looking than he’d been seven years ago. He had more muscle definition now and carried himself with more confidence, but he didn’t make my heart skip a beat the way he used to.

He blinked. “Vee? Jesus.” He stepped forward as if he might hug me, but Dane’s body shifted ever so slightly to the side. It was enough to make Owen halt, though he didn’t spare my boss a glance.

I gave him a professional, distant smile. “Owen, it’s good to see you.”

“You … you look great. It’s been a long time. Too long. I didn’t realize you worked at o-Verve.”

Well, why would he?

One of the other men cut in, “You two have met?”

“We were childhood friends, but we lost touch.” I shrugged. “It happens.”

Dane quickly introduced me to Owen’s companions and then said, “Shall we sit?” Really, it was an instruction, not a question.

As usual, I sat on Dane’s side of the table and silently took notes on my tablet. During internal meetings, I often contributed. But when Dane met with people from outside the company, like other CEOs, stakeholders, or potential clients, I left the discussion and negotiations to them.

As the meeting went on, I pretended that Owen wasn’t casting me way too many looks, just as I pretended that Dane wasn’t watching both me and Owen very closely. If I focused hard enough on the screen of the tablet, I could even pretend I was alone and that their voices were coming over a speakerphone.

I couldn’t help but note that the visitors seemed a little in awe of Dane. It wasn’t unusual. In matters of business, he was brilliant. He was a master at getting to the heart of an issue. When seeking a solution, he never gave up and moved on. No, he rose to every challenge and pushed his goals forward.

What others would think of as a pipe dream he’d make a reality in a few precise, well-executed moves—overcoming any obstacles or setbacks. He was also hell-on-wheels in the boardroom. His reputation as someone who couldn’t be pushed around by competitors was well-earned.

All things considered, I’d expected for it to feel as though the meeting lasted forever, but the time flew by. Soon, people were shaking hands and saying their goodbyes.

Owen gave me another smile. “It was real good seeing you again, Vee.”

“Same to you,” I lied.

Once we were alone, Dane pinned me with those steely eyes. “How well do you know Owen? There’s more to it than you two being childhood friends. He made you uncomfortable. Why?”

Ugh. “We were engaged for five months when we were teenagers. It was a little awkward to see him again after all this time, that’s all. Not that I’d expect you to understand, Mr. Dauntless. Has anyone ever made you feel uncomfortable?”

“No.” He grabbed the door handle. “You and I need to talk later.”

“Sounds ominous. Are you going to fire me?”

“Is there a reason I should fire you?”

A memory of me earlier flipping off his brother flashed in my mind. “Probably.”

The corner of his mouth almost twitched. “Your job is safe. For now.”