Chapter Four

Time flew by quickly for Amy as she became more and more comfortable in her new job. After her intense moment with Lucas the day of the party, she’d been afraid she wouldn’t last much longer as his executive assistant. Thankfully, he’d been professional since then, instead of firing her on the spot.

She found that Lucas was out of the office most of the time, and communication was mostly done through email. What she couldn’t figure out was why that bothered her. She should be relieved to have him away, not be the slightest upset he wasn’t around.

She barely knew the man but he was stirring all kinds of different emotions inside her. Lust was certainly on the very top of the list. She’d always been the good girl, skipping parties to study, putting off relationships because she worked, and saving herself for the right man. Well, she was twenty-four years old and still hadn’t met “the one,” so what did that say about her?

She still remembered listening to the girls giggling in the school library about their romantic dates the night before. Amy had felt twinges of jealousy that they managed to have time for fun along with their studies, but she’d never felt she was depriving herself of anything. One month in close quarters with Lucas Anderson, and all that was changing.

She suddenly found herself fantasizing about her incredibly good-looking boss, wondering how he’d look if he loosened his tie a little, undid the top button of his fitted trousers. Her imagination was becoming increasingly inappropriate and she had to stop. Having an affair with her boss wasn’t part of her future plans.

“Sorry to interrupt you, Amy, but Joseph Anderson is here to see you,” Tom said through her phone, startling her.

“I’ll be right out,” she said after a brief pause.

“Don’t bother, he’s on his way back, love.”

Lucas had fired the blonde receptionist, thrilling Amy, as the woman had shot daggers at her every time Amy came in and out of the office. Amy hadn’t sent Lucas any longing looks or tried to flirt with him in any way, and she wanted to tell the fake blonde she could have at him, just to get her to back off. The jealousy that thought inspired irritated her to no end.

The new receptionist Joseph had hired to take her place was a great guy. With the boss gone, when she had spare time, she’d sit with him, chatting about everything going on in their lives. She’d only been working with him for a couple of weeks, but he was quickly becoming her best friend.

“Thanks for the heads-up,” she said, then quickly straightened up her desk before her doorway was filled by Joseph’s massive frame.

“Good morning, Amy. I was down here and thought I’d stop in and see how you’re doing.”

“That’s very kind of you, Mr. Anderson, but I’m fine.”

“I guess I’m going to have to visit every day until you’re comfortable enough to call me Joseph,” he said with a chuckle as he sat down, looking intent on staying a while.

“Okay, okay, I’ll go against everything I was ever taught and call you by your first name. I just want you to know that it sounds disrespectful to me,” she said with a laugh. It was hard to argue with Joseph.

“I can be hard when I need to be, but I’ve found that most people respond to a much friendlier approach. When I was young like my sons, I tended to be a bit of a horse’s ass, arrogance radiating off of me in waves. My beautiful wife, Katherine, cured me of that. She never allowed me to get too out of hand.”

“Your wife sounds like an amazing and smart woman.”

“That she is, indeed. We’ve been married for over thirty years now, and I thank God for her every day. I only want the same for our sons,” he said, looking straight into her eyes.

Amy felt a moment of panic as if he were sending her some kind of message. She finally laughed, shrugging off his comment. He was just being himself, a friendly guy. It’s why she enjoyed his company so much.

“I’m sure they’ll each meet someone in their own time. I know as I was finishing school, then looking for work, relationships were the last thing on my mind. Your boys probably feel the same way, especially with Lucas taking over your old job, and your other two doing whatever it is that they do,” she finished lamely, realizing she had no idea what his sons, Alex and Mark, did.

“Oh, those boys have plenty of spare time. I think they just refuse to marry because they’re too busy playing. I’m not worried, though. It will happen,” he said as if he were sharing a secret with her.

“That’s a positive attitude.”

“I’ve found that life is just too short to be anything other than positive. When something isn’t going the way you want it to, then you have to switch gears and make a change,” he said. “Look at my youngest son, Mark. He helps out when we need him to, but he was never meant to be a part of this corporate world. He followed in his grandfather’s footsteps and became a rancher. Still, he couldn’t hide from the Anderson desire for success. He’s made the family ranch thrive. Alex likes to travel the world and does most of our international business, and he’s really good at it, too, constantly bringing in more business. Then, of course, there’s Lucas. He followed right in his great-grandfather’s steps, and mine, too. Each of us has a driving need to be number one. The one thing my boys all have in common, though, is they have hearts of gold. When they fall in love, it will be for the long haul. That’s why they’ve been waiting, a bit too long, in my opinion.”

His voice was mesmerizing as he talked about his family. He was always louder than the average person, but as he spoke of his children, his tone changed, obviously showing a great love for his wife and sons. Amy had to fight the sudden melancholy wanting to envelope her. One thing she wanted more than anything else was family. It was something she’d been denied, and she knew when she had children of her own, she’d love them as much as Joseph loved his. How much she longed to have a father like him to be there for her.

She shook her head, pushing the thoughts away. She’d learned long ago not to dwell on what she didn’t have. It was much better to focus on the things she could change, and all she’d accomplished. Wallowing in self-pity was counterproductive.

Before Amy realized it, an hour had passed and she found herself laughing at another of Joseph’s stories. She felt a twinge of guilt as she realized how much time she’d visited with him instead of working. She shouldn’t feel bad, since she was fully caught up, but still…

“I could sit here and talk with you all day long, dear, but I’d better let you get back to your job. Thank you for indulging an old man for a while,” Joseph said as he stood.

“The pleasure was all mine, Joseph. Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to chat. I could easily forget everything else while you’re talking,” she told him sincerely.

“You’re a true sweetheart, Amy. I’m so glad I was lucky enough to find you,” he said, and then to her surprise, instead of shaking her hand, he reached out and gave her a hug. Amy had to fight the sudden tears wanting to spring up as his gentle hands reached around her and the comforting scent of peppermint invaded her senses.

Thankfully, he didn’t expect her to say anything further. He released her and walked from the room. She fell back in her chair, not knowing how long she stared at the empty doorway before her buzzer sounded again.

“Amy, darling, it’s lunch time. I need to get out of this place before I go insane. Let’s head out for some far too greasy pizza and soda,” Tom’s energetic voice said through her speaker.

“Give me five minutes, and then I’m all yours.” Amy knew she should probably just stay there during her lunch break, considering she’d spent so much time with Joseph, but she needed to get outside and take a walk. Joseph had stirred a lot of emotions inside her, and being around a very energetic Tom would help her push them back down.

She came out of her office, smiling when Tom threw his arm around her as they headed for the elevators. The metal doors slid open just as he was leaning into her in what would seem like an intimate moment to an outside observer. Just her luck, it was at that exact moment when Lucas stepped through the open doors.

“What’s going on here, Amy?” he asked with ice in his tone and expression. “Have you forgotten this is a place of business? I’m gone a couple of weeks, and you think you can parade your boyfriends in and out of here? What if I’d been a customer?” Amy was too stunned by his behavior to utter a word. What was wrong with him?

Amy caught the slight smile on Tom’s face before he turned so his new boss couldn’t see. Amy frowned. She wondered if she should just cancel her lunch and get back to work.

“Hello, Mr. Anderson. Ms. Harper and I were just stepping out on our lunch break. We already set the phones and will be back in one hour.” With that, Tom pulled her into the elevator, and they were gone before she had a chance to blink. Oh, she knew she was going to catch hell for that. Lucas wasn’t exactly the type of man who liked to be so easily dismissed. She was slightly afraid of what his reaction would be when they came back to work. It was too late to do anything about it right then, though.