“You really should get out of those clothes,” she said in a breathy voice.

Simon Diesel frowned. Actually, Heather had spoken in a disapproving tone. The huskiness in her voice was pure imagination on his part. Because nothing was ever innocent when it came to his personal assistant.

“The clothes again?” He furrowed his brow in frustration. “What is it with you and my clothes?”

And what was with her always wanting to get him out of them? He pushed that inappropriate thought away. Letting his personal feelings surface wasn’t going to help them. Not now that they were about to be summoned to an unexpected board meeting. His media relations officer, Linda, had managed to send him a warning text earlier in the morning to prepare him for the chaos that was in store for him.

Heather Hall reached for the zipped-up garment bag on his desk. She had dragged the bag into his office moments earlier, much to his annoyance. “Look, if what Linda told you is true, you and I need to look professional. We have to look like we take our work at Dover seriously.” She unzipped the bag and pulled out a dark suit.

“No,” he said firmly. Take our work seriously? He owned the company. Of course, he took it seriously.

“You haven’t even tried it on,” she scolded.

“Where did you get that thing anyway?” he demanded. “A funeral parlor?”

“Your old assistant always had extra clothes lying around here for you in case of emergency.” She sighed in exasperation. “Simon, it’s perfectly fine. The board might actually take you seriously.”

“They will. And it doesn’t matter what I’m wearing,” he said with a growl. “It’s my damn company, after all.”

“What I mean is, you have to look like you’re ready for them,” she said. “You can’t make it look like they’ve taken you by surprise.”

“You’re taking this very well,” he murmured. After he had shown Heather the text from Linda he’d expected his assistant to panic. Instead, she had sprung into action, and started coming up with a plan to deal with the board. That probably shouldn’t have surprised him. As messy as their personal lives had recently been, Heather was great at her job. She could buckle down and get through anything without looking even a little flustered.

Her lips thinned. “One of us has to. Besides, I’m your assistant. We can’t let personal indiscretions get in the way of our work.”

Personal indiscretions. That’s how she was describing their affair. Their almost relationship.

What he wouldn’t give to go back in time and stop Heather from closing her front door on him. Instead of walking away, he should have banged on the door and demanded she open it. Demanded she hear him out instead of giving in to her fears. After everything they’d been through, he knew they deserved a chance. A relationship with her would have been a huge risk, but she was worth it. And so much more.

But he hadn’t banged on the door.

He’d just walked away.

How could he demand anything from her? Heather had only just gotten her son back from her ex-husband. Forcing her to talk about taking their relationship to the next level under those circumstances wouldn’t have been fair. She’d gone through too much because of that asshole of an ex-husband. It was best to let her heal.

A month had gone by since she closed the door on them, and now it looked like the board had gotten wind of their affair. Simon was a little shaky on the details, but Linda had sent a text warning him that the board had somehow gotten information from accounting about a potential relationship with Heather. Apparently, they’d gotten wind of the booked single room on the business trip. Maybe they thought it had been done on purpose. It was the only excuse he could come up with.

The room booking has been a mistake, not done on purpose. A simple mistake from the hotel, not theirs. What happened behind closed doors... well, that was a different issue altogether. One that still made him loosen his tie when he thought about it.

“No, we can’t,” he said stiffly. “Our personal indiscretions are in no way related to our work.” He glanced down. “What’s wrong with what I’m wearing anyway?”

She motioned to him, shaking her head. “Jeans?”

“I wear jeans every day,” he said.

“That’s just it—you can’t go into this board meeting looking casual,” she said. “They’re about to accuse you of...”

“Sleeping with my assistant,” he finished in a blunt tone.

Her cheeks turned pink and she lowered her gorgeous hazel eyes. Those bewitching eyes made his heart speed up every time his eyes locked on hers.

“It wasn’t an affair,” she insisted. “We made a mistake, is all.”

“We made that same mistake three times.” He raised his eyebrows and watched her intently.

“Four, actually.” That only made her blush deepen, the tell-tale sign that she hadn’t completely moved past the relationship that almost was. She chewed her lower lip and he forced himself to tear his eyes from her. There were times when he caught himself staring at his assistant. Staring and enjoying every line and curve of her slender body. Mentally peeling away every stitch of clothing she had on.

Walking into this board meeting with a hard-on was probably not the best way to go, so he cleared his throat and took the bag from her. “Fine. I’ll put it on,” he muttered.

She nodded. “I’ll make some calls to reschedule your other meetings in the meantime.”

“Thanks.” He headed into the adjoining private bathroom and started to change.

When he finally had the suit and tie on, he looked at his reflection in the bathroom mirror. If he was the kind of CEO who gave a damn about all those men’s magazines that constantly pestered him for interviews, he’d say he looked pretty damn good. Professional. In control.

But he didn’t care. He just wanted to get this nightmare over with so that he could get back to what he did best. Work. Create. Make obscene amounts of money for the company he’d sacrificed everything for.

He stepped back into his office and found Heather rummaging through her handbag, mumbling under her breath.

It looked to him like her professional veneer might be starting to crack. He cleared his throat and waited for her to notice him standing in the office.

Heather turned her attention to him, eyes wide. “Wow. It fits you perfectly. You look so handsome. Like a celebrity.”

Simon arched an eyebrow. “Sounds like damning praise.”

“It’s a compliment.” She walked over to him and started adjusting his tie.

“Are you saying I don’t look good otherwise?” He averted his gaze, trying not to stare at her as she put her hands on him in the most familiar way.

“Oh, please.” She paused a moment, focused on his tie. “You work out enough to know you look good.”

“I just like hearing you say it.” He grinned.

“Simon, don’t tease.” Her hands slid away from his tie, wandering down his torso.

A jolt went through him. She hadn’t touched him like this in weeks. Ever since the night she had shut the door in his face, they had taken to being friendly while maintaining a professional distance. Hell, they hadn’t even talked about their fling in weeks, until this morning. They had gone on as if nothing had happened.

But there hadn’t been a day that went by that he hadn’t thought about her. Fantasized about her. Every day he spent with her and couldn’t touch her felt endless. The sleepless nights were even worse.

Suddenly, she pulled her hands away. She shifted uncomfortably on her feet.

She was obviously more nervous than she’d let on. And no wonder. Simon wasn’t even sure there was really going to be a meeting. He only had Linda’s panicked text to go on:

The board knows about you and Heather. Apparently it’s been leaked to the press. They’re about to blow the lid on it. Meeting scheduled for this morning. Be prepared.

The problem was that they had almost no time to prepare, and their reputations were now on the line. His company’s reputation and Heather’s. That’s what worried him. Simon hadn’t told Linda anything about his affair with Heather, but he could read between the lines from her text. It was obvious they were going to be hauled up for their indiscretion.

Like a pair of teenagers caught in the gymnasium. Hadn’t that almost happened to them once, too?

“Let me do the talking during the meeting,” he said, trying to reassure her. He couldn’t let the stress of the situation show. Heather needed him to project certainty and confidence, even though he was bristling at the thought of his own board combing through his private life.

“This is as much my fault as it is yours,” she said.

Simon placed his hands on her shoulders and looked down at her. “I’m the one in charge. This is on me.”

“What if they force you to step down?” She shut her eyes. “I couldn’t bear it.”

He smiled, refusing to let out the chuckle behind it. That would never happen—he owned the company. They couldn’t ask him to step down. But he appreciated her apprehension for him. “I’m more concerned about you,” he said instead. “Whatever happens in there, I’m going to save your job.”

Heather opened her eyes. “I’m still up for evaluation.”

“Right,” he said with a nod. “And I got a board member to do your three-month evaluation, remember? You’re safe for another month at least, and if I have to force them to keep you working after that, I’ll force them.”

Typically, he’d be the one in charge of evaluating her first three months on the job, but after they’d had sex he’d made sure he put that task in someone else’s hands. That had been the ethical thing to do, and he was determined to make sure she didn’t pay for his screw-ups. Heather had been working for him for less than three months, but already he knew she was the best assistant he’d ever had. She deserved to work at Dover.

She sighed, pushing her glasses up her nose. “I’ve made such a mess of things.”

“No, you haven’t,” he assured her. “This is something I have to fix, not you.”

“I should’ve let you just tell the board about what we had done,” she said miserably. “You wanted to tell them, but I begged you not to. Now I’ve made you look like you can’t be trusted. Like you’ve been trying to hide the truth.”

He shoved his hands into his pockets and forced out a deep sigh. The truth was so much more complicated than she realized.

The one woman he wanted was the one woman he couldn’t have. Things had gotten so out of control so fast. How had this innocent, nerdy woman managed to upend his life so completely?

Heather was the most unassuming woman he’d ever met. She liked to stay out of trouble. And even though she had come out of her shell since he’d known her in high school, she was still very much a wallflower.

This morning, like all mornings, her auburn hair was pulled up into a severe bun. The freckles on her face made her look even younger than she was. More innocent. But Simon knew that beneath that innocent, reserved exterior was something else entirely.

Everything about her surprised him. Fascinated him. No matter how hard he had tried over the past four weeks, he couldn’t get his assistant out of his head.

“I had wanted to tell the board about us,” he admitted. It was company protocol to reveal any kind of romantic relationship between Dover colleagues to the board. Dover Inc. took ethics very seriously and so did he. But Heather had begged him to keep their relationship a secret, and after it fizzled out he hadn’t seen any reason to reveal the truth to the board.

For the past month he had been convinced that nobody would ever find out. They’d put the past behind them, and Heather had acted like nothing had happened between them. It hurt to go along with the charade, but he had done it.

“I had wanted to,” he repeated, “but—”

A knock on the door made Heather jump back, startled.

“Come in,” he called out.

One of the company’s executive assistants waltzed in, her phone in hand. “Simon? The board is having an impromptu meeting this morning and they’d like to see you—”

“We know,” he said tersely.

The executive assistant blinked. “Oh. Right. Well, you’re to follow me. Along with your assistant.”

He nodded. “Fine. Let’s get this over with.”

They filed out of his office and made their way down the hall, towards one of the conference rooms.

It was crazy, but as they walked Simon couldn’t shake the feeling that all the employees were staring at him. Staring and whispering about the scandal that was about to blow up in his face. For ten years, his reputation at Dover had been spotless. That was about to end abruptly. His position as CEO was on the line. It was a risk he had been willing to take to be with Heather. But she hadn’t wanted that. Hadn’t wanted to start a real relationship. Somehow that hurt a hell of a lot more than the prospect of losing his job.

When he stopped at the conference room door he opened it, letting the executive assistant walk inside. Before Heather stepped in after her, he gently touched her shoulder.

“Remember, let me do the talking,” he said. “Go in ahead of me and keep your head up. You have nothing to be ashamed of.”

She bit her lip and nodded. “Okay.” Inhaling sharply Heather swept inside, leaving him behind.

He lowered his hands to button up his jacket, preparing himself to project the same confidence he always did. This was his company. It was time to show the board that he was still in charge.

Simon stepped inside the freezing conference room, keeping his face expressionless. Whatever they wanted to say, he was prepared. He could handle this. He swallowed. So why did he feel so nervous, then? He had nothing to worry about, right? Except, this was it. The moment of truth.