Cherishing Her: A Protector Office Romance Read online

  Only a true fan of football would ever consider earning a billion dollars being a waste of talent. I snorted, amused and touched by his irascible nature.

  I didn’t say that it was a good job I had for him—he’d had a heart attack, a bad one. One that had left him crippled by medical debts as well as plagued with other health issues.

  Working as a coach hadn’t been an option, and his insurance had only covered some of his debts. My billions had been a lifeline for him, and this job was exactly what he needed. He was too young to retire—at only fifty-eight, he had many good years left in him. But it wasn’t stressful unless you counted traffic jams as stressful, which I guessed they were, but he just swore at them and flipped them off like any native from the city.

  He now had the best insurance, never had to worry about his wife or sons and grandsons, and the 401k was epic—I knew, because I managed it for him myself.

  That he had so much because of those billions and could still bitch about me wasting my talent?

  Fuck, it made me love him even more.

  This man was like a father to me, and it was for that reason alone that I grumbled, “Yeah, I like her.”

  “Thought so,” he said, satisfaction lacing his tone. “She liked you. Skittish, though. Like Bambi or something.”

  My lips twitched at that. “Bambi fits, actually.”

  She was slender and long, a frail air about her that said she could be knocked over by a feather. Add to the vulnerability that constantly shadowed her eyes, something I’d managed to nudge aside for a handful of moments this evening, she was delicate and it showed.

  But, though the desire had never filled me before, it did now—I wanted to protect her.

  “You remember that game against the Lions?”

  Mackenzie grunted. “I remember. Nicky let us down—I always knew I should have picked a different quarterback. He wasted that last try, and it was all down to you to make sure they didn’t score another point.”

  “Well, I want to protect her more than I wanted to protect that ball.” It was the only way I could describe my feelings, the only way he too would understand.

  Neither of us were at one with our emotions. We were men’s men, which meant we used as few words as possible or left things unsaid.

  As a teenager, I’d been lost, only finding myself in two places—math class and on the football field where I could work my crazy arithmetic and help Mackenzie come up with plays that should have been crazy and illogical but had made perfect sense to me. It had helped that I was huge and made a perfect tight end.

  At my words, he whistled. “That much?”

  “Yeah. I don’t know why, either.”

  “She’s been hurt.” Mackenzie hunched his shoulders. “Don’t have to be an expert in women to see that. You’ve always been a champion.”

  It was my turn to hunch my shoulders. “Maybe.”

  “No maybe about it,” he said with a snort. “Anyway, just take it nice and slow and you won’t mess things up. Your money won’t turn her head, even if she does live in the pits.”

  “It was hard leaving her there tonight.”

  “You did right. Anything else and she’d have felt pressured.” Mac shot him a look. “I hope you make it work, kid. But, saying that, when haven’t you made something work when you put your mind to it?”

  There was pride to his tone and it had me perking up, just as it had when I was nineteen and floundering between my job at Giorgio’s, training, classes, and my software.

  More memories flooded me—not necessarily bad ones, but they just made me tired. Remembering those days, I also remembered just how damn exhausted I’d been too.

  “How’s Eileen?” I asked softly, realizing I hadn’t asked over her in a few days.

  “She’s good. She’s invited us over on Sunday, by the way. She’s making pot roast.”

  I perked up at that. “She is?”

  “Yeah,” Mackenzie said with a laugh. “I’m sure she’d like to meet Jessica.”

  Silence fell at his suggestion. “You don’t think it’s too soon for that?” I asked, somewhat hesitantly.

  It had never mattered before, I realized. Whether a date worked out or not with a woman, it hadn’t bothered me. And, I felt like I shit when I figured out why…

  Because if it hadn’t worked out with that particular woman, there were a dozen more who’d leap into her place.

  Fuck, was I as bad as my VPs?

  No. I had never, and would never, force myself on a woman. Would never make them feel they were obliged to do things for me or to me. I respected them as much as I could, but I had taken them for granted.

  I felt bad, though. Really, really bad. Like my eyes had been opened to a side of my nature I didn’t particularly appreciate.

  It didn’t excuse shit that I was busy and that those women knew the score. I’d meant what I’d said earlier to Jessica—some women were normal and others weren’t. She was normal, in that she wanted normal things. Others were greedy and grasping, only wanting what they could get out of a man, not caring for anything other than his wallet.

  She wasn’t like that, and that was why I was different around her.

  Since college, with my rep on the field and the gossip being that I’d be drafted by the NFL at some point, chicks had flocked to me. They’d all wanted the tight end, then the businessman, and finally the billionaire.

  They hadn’t wanted Max Greene.

  Shit, Jessica hadn’t particularly wanted Max Greene today. I’d had to coax the date out of her!

  So, no, she was night to their day and that was why she triggered these feelings in me.

  “I don’t see why it would bother her. It’s not like she knows how close we are as a family, is it?”

  I blinked at Mac’s words; family… I had one of my own, even if we were scattered over the States now. We still kept in touch, and were as close as the distance would allow, but I had a family of my own making now.

  Alex and Derek, Eileen and Mac… they were family, I realized, even though I’d never particularly thought of them that way. Not that that came as a surprise. I didn’t think that way anyway. It just wasn’t how my brain was wired, but now he’d said the words? Now he’d said it out loud? I knew Mac was right.

  “Did she call Alex and Derek?”

  Mac snorted again. “What do you think?”

  I had to grin. “Well, let’s do it at my place. I know Eileen loves to cook at my place, and it’s not like my kitchen gets much use!”

  “That’s a great idea, I’ll let everyone know.”

  It looked like my family was coming to dinner on Sunday… and Mac was right, it would be pretty damn perfect if Jessica was there too.

  Chapter 6

  Max

  “What the hell is she doing here?”

  Derek’s words had me staring at him in consternation. “Eileen? She’s making dinner, Derek. And she’s Mac’s wife. Why else would she be here?”

  Derek closed his eyes and did that thing where he tilted his head up as though seeking divine intervention. “Not Eileen, idiot. Jessica!”

  Alex chuckled. “You’re as obtuse as ever, Max.” There was a satisfaction lining his words that I knew stemmed from his amusement, as well as the fact he liked that I rarely changed. He said he could always rely on me to be the same pigheaded dumbass I’d always been.

  “I’m not obtuse,” I countered automatically. “I’m just failing to understand why Jessica wouldn’t be here. I took her on a date the other day, it went well, why wouldn’t I invite her here?”

  “He has a point, Derek,” Alex murmured as he took a sip of beer and settled back into the sofa, looking like he was getting ready to watch TV for the night. Hell, all he was missing was a box of popcorn. Well, that was if his shit-eating grin was anything to go by.

  “Shut up, you’re not helping!” Derek growled, turning on his brother with a fierce glower.

  “Not helping with what?” I demanded, confused as
to what in the hell the problem was. “What’s bitten your ass today?”

  When Alex snickered, Derek heaved out a grunt. “You’re not supposed to date the staff.”

  “Jessica? She isn’t the staff.” I put air quotes around ‘the staff’ just to make that hit home some more.

  “She’s a temp; and she works for me.”

  “Technically, she works for the temp agency who’s co-signed with us. That means she’s not actually our employee but theirs.”

  For whatever reason, that had Alex sitting up. “You thought about this, Max?” he asked me, and I wasn’t sure if he was concerned or just intrigued at my thought processes.

  When he shot Derek a look, one that Derek seemed to return with a ‘see what I mean?’ shrug, I scowled at the pair of them.

  We were in my office; a room I had no desire to be in, not when Jessica was in the kitchen giggling with Eileen and Mac.

  Giggling.

  Giggling.

  I didn’t think it was possible, but it surely is because I’ve seen it with my own two eyes.

  She’d laughed with me, turned soft doe-eyes on me at the restaurant, and in the office, has even sent me shy looks and had bitten her lip a time or two, but giggling?

  No.

  She was totally at ease, and after seeing her flinch at her own shadow, that was a luxury I wasn’t happy about missing out on.

  With a sigh, I perched my ass on my desk.

  I wasn’t sure why I had a study when I did all my work at the office, but Alex and Derek’s mom, Sandra, who’d helped me not only buy this apartment but kit it out, had said I needed one.

  When I’d told her I worked at the building downtown, she’d just patted my hand and said, “You’ll thank me one day, sweetheart.”

  Now, with Jessica in my home, could I understand? Was that what Sandra had been referring to? That suddenly everything might change with the right woman?

  I’d never believed in the ‘right woman’.

  Never really thought about it enough to give it much of my time or attention.

  But Jessica? She felt right. And even worse, she felt right, here in my home.

  I liked seeing her in my kitchen, liked seeing her with my friends and, as Mac had said, my family. I wanted to watch her giggle, wanted to see her spread out on the large L-seater sofa in the den watching TV. I wanted her, even more, spread out on my bed, but hell, that might have been taking things a step too far.

  We had to walk before we could run, and somehow, her being here at all felt like we’d already taken part in a marathon, and we’d seen each other out of the office only a handful of times!

  I couldn’t imagine what it would feel like on the tenth date or fifteenth.

  I blinked, the realization hitting me and stunning me that I wanted there to be fifteen dates.

  Shit, I wanted there to be more.

  Curling my hands around the side of my desk and feeling the carved wood of the plantation desk bite into my palms, I murmured, “I don’t want to talk about this.”

  “Why don’t you?” Alex asked, sounding shocked.

  “Because it’s none of your business?”

  Silence fell at my words, then, Derek hissed. “You like her, don’t you? The one woman you had to like and she works for us. You know what will happen after all that sexual harassment shit last year, don’t you?”

  “No, I don’t,” I told him, bewildered. “I have no intention of sexually harassing Jessica. What the hell made you even think I would?”

  Derek closed his eyes again and blindly stared up at the ceiling once more. “When you split up, she can use your time with her against us. Say you started something with her that was inappropriate.”

  “I have no intention of doing anything inappropriate with her,” I retorted with a huff, folding my arms across my chest for good measure.

  “You disappoint me, Maxy boy,” Alex said on a guffaw that had Derek rounding on him with another glower.

  “Shut the fuck up. You’re not helping. You said you’d help.”

  Alex clambered to his feet, just as huge as I was as he approached me with his hands held out like he was offering surrender. “Sorry, Der. Yeah, Max, little bro over here wanted me to make sure you knew what you were doing?”

  I blinked at that. “When don’t I know what I’m doing?”

  Alex snickered. “He has a point, Derek.”

  “Again, not helping.”

  I smirked at the pair of them. “Why are you so worried about my love life?”

  “Mostly because you just said you had a fucking ‘love life’,” Derek half-screeched. “Since when have you had a love life? You have women you fuck. That’s it. Simple. Now, after her, you have a love life? What the fuck, man?”

  Alex winced. “Shit, Max, I can see why Derek is flustered now. You really like her, don’t you? I mean, really?”

  I hunched my shoulders. “Yeah. She’s different.”

  “She’s staff, that’s what she is,” Derek snarled.

  “I’d ask what you boys are talking about, but we can hear you all the way down in the kitchen,” Eileen’s soft voice declared from the doorway making the three of them spin around to gape at her. Though her voice might have been soft, her words were hard. “Either keep it down, or stop being rude and talking about one of the guests like she isn’t even here.” To me, she turned glittering eyes my way. “I expected better of you, Max.”

  “What? And there’s no hope for Derek or I?” Alex retorted, stacking his hands on his trim hips.

  “Nope. You were both a lost cause a long time ago. Only Max is worth saving,” she told us all, tilting her head up so her nose was in the air as she trundled off back to the kitchen.

  “Well, that was just mean.”

  I ignored them both as I stood up straight. “I’m going back to the kitchen. I don’t want Jessica to think we’re talking about her.”

  “We are talking about her. We need to talk some more about her, dammit,” Derek insisted, but I ignored him again and brushed past him.

  When he tried to block me, I growled. “Are you seriously trying to get in my way, Derek?”

  “Yes. What you’re doing hurts us all, Max, you need to think about that before you do anything stupid.”

  “Stupid, like what? Be nice to her? Treat her well? Take her for nice meals and show her that not all men are scum-sucking bastards?”

  Derek sighed, so I carried on my way, heading out into the hallway and down toward the kitchen. When Alex and Derek started arguing, I tuned it out, but at the same time, winced because you seriously could hear everything they were saying.

  When I popped my head around the kitchen door, I saw Jessica had flushed cheeks as she sat there, slicing tomatoes at the kitchen table.

  “Hey,” I said softly, hating that when she muttered the greeting back to me, she didn’t raise her head.

  Eileen sniffed at me, and I looked over at her, seeing her glare as well as the weird nod-like gesture she made with her chin, hustling me over Jessica’s way.

  I frowned at her in misunderstanding, then when Jessica didn’t say anything else, stepped nearer to her. Placing a gentle hand on her shoulder, and loving that she didn’t flinch at my touch—already! Dammit, that had to bode well, didn’t it?—I crouched down at her side. My jeans creaked with the motion and her gaze flickered over to see the source of the noise.

  When she looked down into my eyes, I murmured, “Ignore them. They’re boneheads.”

  “They’re also right. We shouldn’t be dating.”

  I licked my lips, uncertain now. “Is that what we’re doing?” I asked, my curiosity stirred. Then, other things stirred when her cheeks turned a faint rosy peach before she blanched. I watched in confusion as she tried to pull away from the table after having dropped the knife with a clatter, but I placed my other hand on her knee and kept her in place. “Where are you going? Jessica, I was just clarifying. I didn’t think you would be calling ‘this’ anything, that’s
all.”

  Her face puckered with confusion; that pale creamy skin of hers crinkling as she stared down at me. “You can’t be that naïve, can you?”

  “Oh, trust me, he can be,” Eileen grumbled with a snort, making both of us jerk in surprise at her intrusion. Jessica looked over at the other woman, and I watched her stare in wonder as Eileen grumbled, “Boy is like a ten-year old in some things. Just never thought it would be where women are concerned. Not with his rep.”

  That had Jessica licking her lips—but I knew it was to hide the smile that was twitching along the luscious swell of her Cupid’s bow.

  “I-I’d like to think we’re dating. We’ve been on two, after all.”

  Her shy hesitation had me squeezing her knee. “There’s no rush, Jessica. No pressure.”

  Her shaky breath whispered between us. “Trust me, I know, Max. I read that the other day, and I’m reading that now. I-I just don’t want to cause you any trouble with Derek or, you know, the board?”

  I shrugged at that. “They can screw themselves. Derek too. Although, he’d probably like that,” I told her with a wink that had her shooting a wry smile at me.

  “You can’t say that. It’s business. Your business. It’s important; it matters.”

  I shrugged again. “I’m not intending on hurting you; if things did go south and we stopped seeing each other, I wouldn’t move you to another office to avoid you, and I wouldn’t make you feel crappy for things being over. I wouldn’t leer at you or say inappropriate things. Why would it cause a problem?”

  Something glanced over her features, something that had her eyes shuttering, and I had a ‘Eureka’ moment.

  “You’ve had that before, haven’t you? With a boss?”

  She cleared her throat. “I don’t want to talk about it.” Her words had turned stony, and she shifted focus back to the tomatoes.

  “No, maybe you don’t, but maybe you should.”

  Another shaky breath slipped from between her lips. “Even if I wanted to, I can’t.”

  “You can’t? Or won’t?” I asked, seeming to hear that she was choosing her words carefully.

  It slipped into my awareness, not for the first time, that she’d specialized in contract law. Words were her forte and she wielded them with the same precision I had no doubt Samurais once had with their swords.