“What the hell just happened?” Allyson closed the office door behind her.

Dane leaned against his office desk and crossed his arms. He was caught somewhere between frustration and anger. “The board decided to vote its own way.” After a curt congratulations to Nicholas Dane had headed to his office, desperate to figure out a way to contain the mess the board had just created.

“But they can’t just vote for whoever they want,” she said desperately. “They all agreed on the three candidates you suggested.”

“They can,” he muttered. “As long as the person they vote for is a current Prescott Global employee, they can vote for whoever they want. It’s just never happened before.”

“So, what do we do?” She crossed the office and approached him.

The flowery scent of her feminine perfume was so arousing it almost short-circuited his brain. She was sinfully beautiful. Even with all the chaos around them she still distracted him. But now she was going to be working for Nicky Handel. It wasn’t fair to be jealous. He trusted Allyson completely. And for all his flaws, Nicky Handel didn’t harass women. If they weren’t interested, he immediately moved on. Nicholas had dated his fair share of women, and he was often in the British tabloids for dating some British beauty. Allyson wasn’t Nicky’s physical type as far as he could tell, but Dane knew how alluring his girlfriend was. She was charming, effervescent, sexy.

He trusted Allyson, and yet a sinking feeling settled in his gut. The thought of her spending her days with Nicholas Handel was already driving him crazy. “Maybe you can keep an eye on Nicholas,” Dane finally said.

“You want me to spy on him?” She straightened, clearly startled.

He shoved his hands into his pockets. “It sounds ugly when you put it like that.”

“Well, how else would you put it?”

“I don’t trust Nicholas,” he said carefully. “This is the second time he’s managed to get one over on his father, and if he can betray his old man I’d hate to see how he’d betray Prescott.”

Her full red lips curved down into a frown. “You think Nicky Handel did this intentionally?”

“Yes. There’s no way the board just came up with the idea of picking Nicholas on its own. He orchestrated all of this.”

“So, you want me to spy on him because you don’t trust him. Is that it?” Her voice took on an irritated edge.

“It would be helpful if you reported anything out of the ordinary.” She was going to be ticked at him but he had to think of his family’s business.

She turned from him and sat down in the leather chair facing his desk. Defiance flashed in her eyes as she threw her shoulders back. She crossed her arms and then, most distracting of all, she crossed her long shapely legs. Her tight dress hiked up even higher as she moved, the slit at the side revealing a tantalizing glimpse of her thigh. “You expect me to spy on my new boss.”

The accusation in her tone made him bristle, but he reminded himself to play this as carefully as possible. His demand was an extreme one, even by his standards. But Nicholas Handel was dangerous for Prescott. The younger Handel didn’t give a damn about workers, and he had no problem cutting corners to create inferior products. The entire company might end up paying the price for one selfish man’s desperate grasp for power.  “It’s for the greater good of the company,” he said. “If Nicky plans on dragging Prescott down to soothe his ego, it’s best for me to know beforehand.”

“But you’re stepping down so you can focus on your family,” she pointed out. “If I keep you in the loop, you’ll still be spending an awful lot of time obsessing about work.”

“You think that’s what this is?” he demanded. “You think I’m obsessed with work?”

“I think you’re obsessed with me,” she snapped. “You fight every single person you think is a threat to me.”

“That’s ridiculous.” He paused. “Fuck it. It’s because I care about you.”

“Yes.” She frowned. “It’s also because you’re stubborn, arrogant, and territorial. I’m not one of your properties, Dane. I’m not your company. I’m not even really your assistant anymore. It’s not okay for you to just order me to do something unethical because you have a weird feeling about Nicholas.”

Dane stared at her in absolute shock. “I’m not ordering you—”

“You’re trying to convince me to do something wrong,” she cut in. “Which might as well be you ordering.”

“So that’s a ‘no’, then.”

She lifted her chin defiantly. “That’s a ‘hell no.’”

The way she said it let him know there wasn’t going to be an argument or a debate. Somewhere beneath his suspicion about Nicky was a strange sense of pride for Allyson. Pride and frustration over how stubborn she was being.

“We’ve told enough lies,” she continued. “It’s nearly cost us everything. I don’t want any more gossip or scandal. I’m tired of getting strange looks from staff. Everything needs to be above board from now on. I have to be honest and loyal. My new boss needs to be able to trust me.”

Dane narrowed his eyes. “You shouldn’t trust him.”

“Let me find that out for myself,” she countered.

“I’m only trying to protect you,” he said coolly. “I failed to protect you from my mother early on—and I suspect Nicky is ten times worse than she is. High society is a shark tank and the Handel siblings are just about the worst kind of sharks.”

She let out a resigned sigh. “I get that you’re trying to make up for how your mother’s treated me, but you should focus on your parents right now. I’m not from high society, but that doesn’t mean I can’t learn. And the only way for me to learn is for you to let me learn.”

Dane realized that she was giving him permission to let go. To let go of trying to protect her so relentlessly. Letting go of Prescott Global was one thing. But letting her just walk into whatever the Handel siblings were probably planning didn’t sit well with him at all. “Fine. I won’t ask you to spy.”

His words were met with a raised eyebrow from her. “That’s it? You’re really going to let this go?”

“It’s what you want, isn’t it?” His mind started going into overdrive, thinking of a way to keep her safe.

“You don’t give up easily,” she replied. “Plus, I can see the wheels turning in your head.”

“Look, I’m not just being territorial here,” he said. “If Prescott is being run properly then that means I have more time to devote to just being with my family. I wanted to put Prescott Global in good hands, but I don’t think that’s happened.”

She chewed her lower lip. “I get that, Dane, but the board could still fire me for talking about things that are confidential. Besides, you wouldn’t want me to do that to you, so why is it okay for me to do that with my new boss?”

He turned to slump down in the chair at his desk. “It’s not okay. But it’s the best chance we have to protect the company from Nicky and Katherine. I don’t know if those two are working together, but I don’t trust any of this.”  

Her brow furrowed. “I don’t have to spy. If I see or hear something strange going on I might not be able to report to you, but maybe I can take care of it and do something about it.”

“That actually puts you in more danger, not less.”

“You have to let me learn,” she said softly. “Your family needs you right now.”

“I need you.”

Admitting something like that out loud didn’t come naturally to him. But Allyson had a way of knocking his defenses down. A long time ago she had gotten under his skin. Now she was a part of him. As essential to his life as air. Weeks ago, when they had been summoned to the country club, he had known that someday marriage would be in the cards for them. He was that serious about her. Dane knew Allyson was faithful, would never stray. Yet being his girlfriend was different from being a wife. Their relationship might as well not exist for all the protection it gave her. All she had was his word. Nothing more. She deserved more. And he wanted to give her more. Wanted to give her everything. His heart, his soul, his home, his name.

“I’m right here.” Her husky voice dragged him from his thoughts and he found her sitting on his desk, her perfect legs dangling over the side. Dane looked up at her, and a hunger took hold of him. She leaned forward, grabbing his tie, wrapping the silk around her hand. A seductive promise flashed in her green eyes.

Dane couldn’t think of what to say. Didn’t want to. His mouth found hers and her soft lips yielded to him. He crushed her lips against his, her sensuous mouth inviting him in. Their tongues collided. Dane wrapped his hands around her waist and pulled her down into his lap, never breaking the kiss. As her ass brushed up against his crotch, he groaned. He was painfully hard, his mind in a haze of lust.

He tore his lips away to end the kiss. They hadn’t had sex since the weekend before his father’s heart attack. That hadn’t stopped them from fooling around at his place, but he had kept her waiting long enough. Dinners at his apartment weren’t enough anymore. It wasn’t right for him to just take her in his office like this. She deserved better and, even though they couldn’t go public with their relationship just yet, he was still going to make it up to her.

Her full red lips were glistening from their kiss. Her breasts were heaving like she was breathing as heavily as he was. “Dane...”

“Let me take you out tonight.”

“We can’t go out,” she protested. “We’ll be seen.”

“Then I’ll take you to the one place where we can be seen together,” he said. “The Prescott Hotel. I’ll make the staff think we’re there to meet some clients, and even if you just got a new boss I’m still in charge.”

“They’ll think we’re there for a meeting,” she murmured.

“Right.”

Her lips found his, and suddenly they were kissing again. His hands traveled up her blouse, skimming over the lacy bra covering her full breasts. She ran her hands through his hair, her tongue swirling into his mouth.

He felt his phone vibrate and he pulled the phone out of his jacket pocket. Reluctantly, he pulled away from her to check the new message while she clung tightly to him.

“It’s Nicholas,” he said dryly after reading the message. “He wants to see you in his office.”

***

After racing to the bathroom to adjust her lipstick, Allyson headed downstairs to her new boss’ office. It wasn’t as spacious and luxurious as Dane’s, but it still had a fantastic view of New York City and was certainly bigger than most other offices at Prescott Global headquarters.

She found Nicky on the phone, barking orders to someone on the other end. The harsh lines of his gorgeous face seemed to disappear when he spotted her and smiled. He abruptly hung up the phone and stood up. “Ms. Smith! Allyson, thank you for coming down so quickly.”

She approached him. “Of course. I want to help make this as smooth a transition as possible for you, Mr. Handel.”

“I’m sure Dane had a lot to say after this morning’s vote,” Nicky said smoothly. Too smoothly.

“I think we should focus on you now,” she said, trying to keep the conversation professional. Just like she refused to betray Nicky’s trust and spy on him for Dane, she refused to betray Dane’s trust as well. Whatever Dane told her was always in the strictest of confidence, and she wasn’t about to let Nicholas Handel make her betray her beliefs.

“You’re diplomatic,” Nicky said. “I like that. Still, I have a question that I hope you’ll be able to answer.”

“Oh?”

“What does the staff think of me? I’d like to know where I stand with them.”

As far as Allyson knew, the staff was generally wary of the Handel siblings, but that was to be expected for newcomers. “I don’t think they know enough about you to make hard judgment calls. I suspect they’ll miss Mr. Prescott, but time will tell,” she replied. “From this morning’s vote, I think it’s clear that you have the board’s confidence.”

He rose to his feet, his height making him tower over everything. Looking at him, she was reminded of how gorgeous her new boss was. Nicky was tall and lean. His face had aristocratic bone structure, with high cheekbones, long lashes and a full, harsh mouth. “Well, I’ve been working on that for the last couple of weeks now.”

She paused. “What do you mean?”

He walked over the huge office window and stared out at the city. “What I mean is I’ve been fighting for this position ever since Alfred Prescott fell ill.”

There was something about the way he said those words that set her on edge. Made her almost nauseated. He was so matter-of-fact. As if taking advantage of a man’s heart attack was normal. “That’s...”

“Cunning? Inappropriate?” He turned back to her, a sly smile on his lips. “You know I welcome your opinion, Ms. Smith. You were willing to do anything to get us to sign that merger deal and I respect that kind of initiative.”

“I—”

“Did you get some kind of reward for playing along? Or was it your idea all along but Dane wants to take the credit?”

“What we did was wrong.” She was already flustered. Nicky had a way of ambushing people with the unexpected. It was probably one of the reasons he was so successful. He knew exactly how to push people’s buttons to get what he wanted. Katherine, his younger sister, shared that same trait.

“But it worked. Don’t get me wrong, I was angry at first when I realized you’d conned us. But I respect results.” His deep brown eyes raked over her.

That made her blush. She wasn’t interested in him, no matter how good-looking he was. But he had a way of making her feel like he understood a hidden part of her that nobody even knew existed. A lot of high society people thought she was a pushover because she was middle class. Nicky seemed to respect her, even if it was for the wrong reasons.

“I admire you.” He walked back over to her and stared down, his dark eyes hypnotizing her. “Nobody here understands just how much Dane needed you. He’s nothing without you.”

“That’s not true—”

Nicky waved his hand dismissively. “He only started getting successful after he hired you. I know because I checked. You’re more than just his assistant. You’re more like his right hand. It was your ideas that got my father to visit New York before the merger. You charmed my father into convincing me to sign that deal.”

“Dane is very good at his job,” she insisted. “It’s not me.”

“He is. But he has one weakness.”

That made her hold her breath. She knew that she was Dane’s weakness, and if Nicholas had figured that out he could use her against Dane.

“He takes things personally,” Nicky continued. “He cares too much about people. He’s too beholden to communities and the staff.”

“Mr. Prescott is a good man,” she said firmly. She had to be loyal to Nicky now, but she wasn’t going to let him slander her old boss. Maybe she was letting her feelings for Dane get in the way, but she didn’t care. Dane was a good CEO because he cared. Prescott was more than just a company to him. It was a family. He took care of his people and there was no shame in that.

“I respect your loyalty.” He smiled again. “You know, I’d love to go to dinner with you, if you’d be comfortable with that.”

Her face heated. “I’m flattered—”

“I’m not asking you out on a date. This is business,” he assured her. “But feel free to tell me to piss off and I will. I just wanted to lay my cards out on the table because it’s better to be up front in the beginning. Why let feelings simmer for years when you can just get on with it?”

Her eyes widened. Did he know? The way he spoke made her wonder if he knew about Dane, and her years’ long crush on him. Nicky was clever enough to strong-arm the entire board. Maybe he’d found out the truth and knew she and Dane were dating. But that was impossible. The only other people who might have an inkling about her relationship with Dane were her family members. “That makes sense.”

“So, what do you say?” he pressed. “This has no bearing on work, and we’ll leave anything personal out of the office. And no hard feelings if you’re not interested.”

She stared up at him. He really was gorgeous. Charming in a very dark and wicked sort of way. She suspected if she was younger, and never met Dane, she might go on a date with Nicky. Just to see what it was like to date a gorgeous British playboy who was just a little too dangerous and immoral to be trusted. She opened her mouth to turn him down, but then stopped.

Her mind raced. She had refused to spy on Nicky, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t gather information from him. There was no telling what he might know about her relationship with Dane, or what he might be up to at Prescott now as CEO. Besides, he surely knew a little about what his sister, Katherine, was up to. If he had secrets she might get out of him, showing some interest might be helpful in the long run. Dane had said high society was a shark tank. It made sense to be as cunning and ruthless as the sharks.

“May I think about it?” she asked in a low, husky voice.

“Of course you can. I don’t want to put any pressure on you, so take all the time in the world.” He paused. “Unless, you’re already seeing someone.”

Anxiety coursed through her. Maybe he had just asked her out to confirm his suspicions. Maybe he was toying with her and already knew she was with Dane. If the truth got out again before Dane had a chance to tell his father, she knew Dane would never forgive himself for putting his father through that pain again.

Allyson’s response caught in her throat as the office door opened. When she saw a pair of familiar green eyes staring back at her, she almost fainted. There she was, standing in the doorway of Nicky’s office. Her sister. Monica.