Sitting in on this board meeting was surreal. Like some silly dream that made no sense.

Heather stared at Simon, totally amazed at how easily he was controlling the situation with the board. A week ago, his demands would have been unreasonable. Now, he could probably get the board to do anything.

“A vacation?” Heather forced out.

“You don’t want time off?” Simon asked.

“I would love a holiday, who wouldn’t? But it seems so sudden,” she said.

“This vacation won’t be counted as part of the vacation time Dover owes you, if that’s what you’re worried about,” he said. “Consider it part of your promotion.”

“We haven’t agreed to these terms,” Agnes said sharply.

“That’s your problem.” Simon chuckled as he stood up and buttoned his jacket, not bothering to look at any of the board members. He was clearly in control here. “I’ve given you my terms, and you can take them or leave them.” He sauntered towards the door.

“Wait.” Agnes let out a sigh. “Can you give us a week to think it over?”

He shook his head. “You have until the end of the day. After that, the offer is off the table for good.”

Agnes turned her focus to Heather. “Do you agree to these conditions, Ms. Hall?”

Heather swallowed hard. The tension in the room was putting her on edge. After Simon had resigned she thought things might go back to normal. At least, as normal as they could. But now she was being handed a promotion, a raise, and a vacation. Last week she had been facing the prospect of going to prison for a crime she didn’t commit. Now, Dover seemed ready to reward her because Simon had demanded it.

As badly as the board had handled the spying and hacking scandal, Heather knew she wouldn’t have been able to get a better deal if she had pursued a lawsuit on her own. Simon’s power was so expansive that he still called the shots even after he had resigned.

If she refused everything he was offering, Dover would lose him. Which would put all their jobs in serious jeopardy, including hers. There was no way Dover could survive over the long term without Simon’s leadership. Not after a senior board member getting arrested for hacking and stealing ideas from Simon.

“Okay,” she said finally. “I agree to these conditions.”

“In that case, the board is going to need a few hours to discuss this,” Agnes said. “In the meantime, perhaps you can return to your office while we deliberate, Ms. Hall.”

Heather could sense the board’s resentment, but there was nothing she could do about it now. This was corporate politics at the highest level, and she didn’t have the skills for it.

With a nod, Heather headed over to the door and stepped out when Simon opened it for her.

“That went well.” He shut the door behind him and shoved his hands into his pockets.

“Simon, why didn’t you tell me that you planned to do all that?” she asked.

“Because you would have tried to talk me out of it.” He took a step towards her, now standing so close that the heat of his solid body practically burned through her clothing.

She craned her neck to look up at him, but she didn’t have the heart to give him the glare he deserved. Not now that they were alone together for the first time in days. They hadn’t seen each other since the arrest, and just standing near him made her heart flutter.

After days away from him, she had to remind herself that they were at work. He might not be the CEO at the moment, but she still had to be professional.

Heather held up her hands between them, trying to create a boundary so she didn’t do something rash like kiss him. “Do you think they’ll agree to your terms?”

He shrugged. “That depends.”

“Depends on what?”

“It depends on whether they want me as badly as I want you.” His gaze lowered to her mouth, the hungry look in his breathtakingly blue eyes sending a thrill through her. It wasn’t like him to be so intense at work. Simon usually kept his desires in check, maintaining an air of professionalism.

But now that his future at Dover was up in the air, he was looking at her like he was ready to tear her clothes off and devour her.

“Oh.” Her cheeks flushed. “Simon, we’re at work.”

“I’ve missed you.” His voice was a low, seductive growl that turned her insides to jelly.

A soft sigh escaped her and suddenly his hand lifted to the nape of her neck and he guided her closer to him.

“I’ve missed you, too,” she said breathlessly.

His lips hovered so close to hers that they were only a hair’s breadth from actually kissing.

A delicious heat settled in her stomach and all she wanted was to fall into his arms.

“Come away with me,” he said.

Surprise made her head jerk back. “What? What are you talking about?”

“Your vacation,” he said. “If the board lets you take time off and grants me a leave of absence, why can’t we spend that time together?”

Her heart was racing at the thought of finally spending real time with him. Only...

She tilted her head, scrutinizing him. “Simon, what are we?”

His eyebrows went up in surprise. “What do you mean?”

“I mean...” She blushed again and chewed on her bottom lip as she grappled to find the words. “I mean, after everything we said to each other last week and over the weekend, I want to know what our relationship is. Are we friends? Are we dating?”

“I thought we’d already settled that.” He frowned, his brow furrowing. “Heather, I love you. I adore you. Can’t you guess what that means?”

“I don’t want to guess, I want to hear you say it,” she chided. They had finally found the courage to bare their souls to each other and declare their love. But she still had to know exactly what he wanted. “I need to know your intentions.”

He pulled his hand away from her neck, the absence of his touch making her heart ache terribly. “My intentions are to love you the way you deserve. But I guess it makes sense for you to ask. We’ve had to face so many obstacles that this chance hardly feels real.” Simon leaned towards her and pressed a warm, tender kiss on her forehead. “I didn’t say anything about our relationship because I figured saying ‘I love you’ meant we were in one.”

“We’re in a relationship?”

“We are if you’ll have me.” He placed his hands on her shoulders and stared deep into her eyes. “Heather, I want you to be my girlfriend. I want us to be together. Just us.”

“Is this your way of asking me to go steady?” She laughed softly, happy memories of their relationship in high school drifting back to her.

He nodded. “Yes. I want us to be exclusive. I want you to be the only woman in my life. And I want to be the only man in yours.”

She smiled coyly. “Which means—”

“Which means you can tell Drew to get lost,” he said gruffly.

“For the last time, there’s nothing going on between me and Drew,” she said. “Anyway, I can’t agree to you being the only man in my life.”

His eyes narrowed dangerously. There was a stark intensity radiating off him that she had never seen before. It was so powerful. So masculine. Clearly, now that he had made up his mind to be with her, he was never going to take no for an answer. “Why the hell not?”

“Because Finn is a big part of my life,” she said gently.

The hard expression on his face vanished. “Heather, I would never come between you and your son. I know he’s the most important person in your life, and there’s no way I’d ever ask you to change that. Finn comes first, and I promise I’ll always honor that.”

His words were making her heart swell with happiness. She let out a sigh of relief and smiled at him. “In that case, I happily accept. Of course I’ll be your girlfriend.” She giggled. “And now I officially feel like I’m a freshman in high school again.”

Simon leaned forward and let his hands slide down to her waist. His touch scorched through the fabric of her blouse, heating her all over. “I want to kiss you right now,” he said in a low voice.

Shock made her eyes go wide. “Simon, we can’t do that. We’re at work.”

Without responding, he took her hand in his and started to lead her down the hall.

“Where are we going?” she demanded with a gasp.

“To my office.” He grinned at her, something devilish glinting in his blue eyes. “You don’t think they’ve given it away already, do you?”

Minutes later they were in his office, and the first thing Simon did was wrap his strong, muscular arms around her. “How about that kiss?”

She giggled in spite of herself and pressed a quick peck on his lips. “How’s that?”

He pulled away from her, but an inferno still raged in his eyes. Simon’s desire was as undeniable as her own. Resisting his charms took so much effort that she struggled to breathe.

“I seem to remember you kissing me backstage at a work conference not too long ago,” he said.

“We weren’t at Dover headquarters,” she reminded him. “I’ve never been that reckless at the office.”

He tipped her chin back with his hand, letting this thumb brush across her lips. “You’re beautiful, you know that? How did I survive all these years without you?”

Heather didn’t know what to say to that. Because she had no idea how she had done the same thing. All those years in a loveless marriage to her ex-husband. Gary had never looked at her the way Simon was now. For most of her marriage, Gary had treated her like something to be merely tolerated. Like a burden he had been saddled with.

But with Simon it was like he couldn’t get enough of her. Every stolen glance between them, every word they had ever exchanged at work, had been charged with an electricity that she and Gary never had.

“Now we have the time to make up for all those years apart,” she said softly.

He turned away from her and approached his desk. “That’s why I want us to go on vacation together.”

“Where on earth would we go?” she asked.

Simon shrugged. “Wherever you want.”

“I couldn’t afford a fancy trip,” she said.

He gave her a hard stare. “I’m not asking you to pay. It’s all on me. Or Dover. They can foot the bill.”

“I can’t take more of your money—”

“Heather, I love you.” He sat down at his desk and turned on the desktop computer. “If you’re going to be my girlfriend, there are certain rules you’re just going to have to accept.”

She crossed her arms. “I don’t think I agreed to you bossing me around.”

“I’m not.” He frowned. “You don’t have to go on this trip with me if you don’t want to, but you still have to follow my rules.”

Her eyes narrowed dangerously. If he thought he was going to get away with being arrogant, he could forget it. “And what rules are those?”

“The rule that says I get to spoil you,” he said. “Spend an obscene amount of money on you. Shower you with gifts. Take you to all the places you’ve dreamed of going. Whatever you want, you can have. It’s about time someone took care of you.”

“Simon, you hate spending money,” she said.

“Yeah, on myself. But I’m working on changing that. Plus, I’m going to love spending money on you. Besides, you’re the reason I had the guts to invest in Dover in the first place. This place wouldn’t exist without you,” he pointed out. “So, do you want to come away with me?”

“A trip sounds nice and all, but I can’t leave Finn.” She had gone on business trips for work, but she couldn’t imagine leaving her son to go frolicking on some vacation. Even if it was a trip with Simon, she would miss Finn way too much.

“So, we bring him with us,” he said.

“What?” She paused. “You’d really be okay with bringing a six-year-old along on your vacation?”

“Sure. It could be like a family trip,” he said. “We can go somewhere that has all kinds of fun activities for kids.”

Butterflies fluttered in her stomach at the word family. She took a step closer to study him. His eyes met hers and she could see that he meant what he said. Simon was actually willing to go on a trip that would probably be frequently interrupted by a kid. Was he really thinking of them as a family? Already?

“I don’t think you know what you’re taking on,” she said. Believing that Simon could actually be up for all the things that dating a single mom entailed was utterly naïve. He’d agree to bring Finn, and hours into the trip he would probably regret it. Not that she’d blame him. Finn was a sweet kid, but Simon barely knew him. And he definitely wasn’t the fatherly type at all.

“So, let me find out. I’ll never know if I don’t try.” He paused. “Look, if you don’t want Finn and me to meet officially yet, I totally get that. I’m not trying to pressure you. I just want you to know that if Finn is important to you, then he’s important to me.”

Her throat tightened; a swirl of emotions threatened to overwhelm her. Tears pricked the back of her eyes. “He’s the most important thing to me and I want you get to know him. But Gary might not like it.”

“Will he ever like the fact that you’ve moved on with your life?” Simon asked. “Because it looks to me like Gary resents you for trying to be happy, and I don’t think that’s okay, Heather.”

“It’s not okay,” she conceded, “but he’s still the father of my child. How can I turn my back on that?”

“You’re not,” he said gently. “Moving forward with your life after the divorce doesn’t mean that you’re throwing Gary away. I think you’ve been remarkably patient with your ex-husband while he’s tried to take Finn away from you and dragged your name through the mud to do it.”

She sighed. Even with her newfound happiness she still had to deal with Gary trying to get full custody of her son. Court proceedings hadn’t been scheduled yet, but she knew it was only a matter of time before Gary dragged her in front of a judge to defend herself.

A twinge of fear squeezed at her heart. What if she lost Finn? There was no way she could go on without her son.

The tangle of emotions was almost too confusing for her. Part of her wanted to go on this trip with Simon and Finn, so they could all get to know each other. But the other part of her was terrified because it might only make her vengeful ex-husband even angrier, or make Simon realize he had made a huge mistake in jumping into a relationship with her. Either way, she still had to fight to keep Gary from getting full custody of Finn. There was no changing that, and Gary would probably always resent her happiness no matter what she did with her life.

“Finn is close to summer vacation, but we’re getting ahead of ourselves,” she said finally. “The board hasn’t agreed to your terms yet.”

“They have until the end of the day,” he reminded her.

“Right. So let’s wait and see what the board decides,” she said. “If they agree to your terms, we can all go on vacation together. You, me, and Finn.”