Ours to Love

With a nod, he disappeared into his office, shutting the door behind him. She quickly completed all the items on her checklist, stunned by the shiny new laptop and all the first-rate supplies in her desk. He’d thought of everything and then some. The matching desk set looked both feminine and expensive. The desk phone was light and state-of-the-art. Her three-hole punch wasn’t mere plastic. With its sturdy metal base, it appeared strong enough to transform a tome into a binder-ready document in a snap.



After sending the e-mail with her phone number, she picked up her signed forms, along with a pad of paper and a pencil, then knocked on his door.



“Yes.” From the little vertical window along the wall separating them, she could see that he hadn’t even looked up.



Hesitant, she opened the door and walked to the far side of his desk. “Here are the forms all signed. I understand completely.”



She set them on the desk between them, and he reached for the papers, scanning each for her signature. “Thank you.” Just then, his e-mail dinged, and he looked at his computer screen, a little smile hovering over his lips. “And your cell number. Excellent.” He input it into his own phone, then looked at her expectantly. “Anything else?”



“I have plenty of supplies. Thank you, sir. I’m settled and ready for work.” She sat gingerly in the chair opposite him and lifted her pad and pencil. “What can I do for you today?”



Javier sighed, then paused, clearly sorting through a mental list a mile long. “The first thing I need in order to successfully work remotely from the rest of the company is a better communication method with some of my head R & D researchers. Find me a secure video-conferencing service that isn’t terrible and won’t cost me half my fortune, if you can.”



She jotted the note. “Any service you’ve tried and ruled out?”



He rattled off a few names, and she noted those as well. “I’ll get right on that.”



“Work on this, too.” He tossed a file folder across the desk at her. “The head of security is having a conniption about this list of spare system log-ins, but the VP of R & D says they need all these. I haven’t had time to sort it all out. Why they’re coming to the CEO with their squabbles, I have no idea. Would you also read through last year’s statement to our board of directors. Our next one will be due in a month or so. The previous one was a hot mess. Last June wasn’t good for me.” He cleared his throat, clearly dismissing the topic. “This year, I’m determined to make the report spectacular.”



Hadn’t Kata said that Javier lost his wife about a year ago? If he’d been grieving, of course the report hadn’t been his best work. Why hadn’t someone taken that off his plate? “Do you have reports from previous years that you’d like me to emulate?”



“Not really. Put your own stamp on it. I’ll give you the name of a contact in our public affairs department who can help you compile the numbers and facts you’ll need. She’ll work with you to format something. But if it looks or reads anything like last year’s, please change everything. I’d like to see a draft in two weeks.”



London gave him a shaky nod. “Understood. Anything else?”



“Not at the moment.” He returned to looking at the stacks of papers on his desk.



She frowned. “Didn’t I file those during my interview?”



“Most of them, yes. I keep referring back to them.” He peered closer, dropping his massive shoulders, then pulling back to bring the pages into focus. “But they’re damn hard to read.”



Hmm. She hadn’t had that problem. “Maybe I should scan them for you so you can view them on your monitor and make them as big as you’d like. Squinting at them is bound to give you a headache.”



“Good idea.” He scooped all the papers up and handed them to her. “When you’re done, you can file them again.”



“I’d planned on it.” She stood and hovered awkwardly. “When was the last time you had your eyes checked, sir? I could make you an appointment.”



“I may be older than you, but I assure you, I’m not ancient.” His expression warned her not to speak another word in that direction.



“I wasn’t—”



Javier cut her off by holding up a single finger. “That will be all, thank you.”



She closed her mouth, feeling somewhere between chastised and frustrated. But she couldn’t get into an argument with her boss on the first day. Normally, she didn’t have much of a temper . . . but at the moment, she resisted the urge to stamp a foot and at least demand that he let her finish a sentence. It was for his own good.



London pivoted on one heel and stalked toward her desk. “Bossiness runs in the family.”



“I heard that.” He sounded like he was laughing.



Turning back, she leaned into the doorway. “It’s true.”



Something passed over his face. “You have no idea, little one.”



That comment made her shiver. Xander had said something very similar. What the hell did it mean? She had the feeling he’d hidden a wealth of meaning there and that if she dug for it, she could open a proverbial Pandora’s box. “Before I work on the items you gave me, should I bring you coffee?”



He gave her a longing look, then shook his head. “Tyler—have you met him?”



She nodded. “A couple of times.”



“Yeah, he’s been appointed as my personal trainer while I’m in Lafayette. He’s . . . an aerobic sadist who’s got me on so much organic and natural food, I think my body’s gone into shock. If I drank coffee, he’d only have me run an extra few miles.”



London tried to hold it back, but it was no use. She laughed. “You poor man. I’m sure it’s better for you or something. I’ll think of you while I imbibe my caffeinated battery acid.”



“If I smell it, you’ll regret it.”



He tossed the words back playfully, but somehow she rather thought he meant them.



Shaking her head ruefully, she shut the door between them and made her way back to her desk to begin work. The video-conferencing problem wouldn’t be solved in ten minutes, but it didn’t take her long to find a few viable options. She gathered information from all of the possible vendors, then compiled it, planning to present it to Javier at the end of the day. The folder of security’s beefs was a bit harder to understand. Why on earth were they bothering a CEO about extra log-ins to the company’s major database that hadn’t been deactivated? Someone very zealous in the security department had looked at each account and flagged a few with what he called “suspicious” activity.



Frowning, she called the man, Doug Maynard. He explained the situation. London tried to grasp everything he said.



“Mr. Maynard—”



“Doug,” he corrected.



“Thank you. I’m at a bit of a loss here. If R & D is using these log-ins, and they say having the extras is necessary, why are you lobbying so hard to have them taken down?”



“How long have you worked here?” Doug asked sharply.



Well, hell. “Today is my first day.”



“So you’re not yet familiar with how seriously we have to take security here. We’re dealing with government secrets and top-secret military equipment. Many of our projects are for weapons and their systems that won’t be seen by others for three to five years, sometimes more. Not only do we have to worry about possible espionage from hostile countries, there’s also a genuine issue with corporate espionage. We’re a top-tier company in a cutthroat business. We’ve been the target of many a corporate spy wanting to sell our secrets to competitors. It’s not like we’re just worried about the KGB or Interpol these days. We’ve had attempted breaches from everyone from the Taliban to General Dynamics. So our systems being accessed from outside our firewall by untraceable IPs is troubling, don’t you think? We have to run a tight ship or we will get our asses handed to us and soldiers lose their lives. The sooner you learn that, the sooner you’ll be an asset to this company. Until then, don’t question me again.”



London sat back in her chair, blinking rapidly. Doug had a point—many of them. But really, she’d had no idea. Her innocent question had sparked a tirade. It wasn’t her fault she’d just started today. Even so, shame crawled through her.



“I’m sorry. I didn’t know. Mr. Santiago asked me to look into it, and I’m trying to understand—”



“Stop wasting my time,” he shouted, and she was pretty sure people in Siberia could hear the conversation. “We need Santiago’s authority to pull the plug on these log-ins because R & D has thrown such a hissy. So be a good little girl and tell him that we’re doing this to keep the company safe. I already suspect that we’ve had a few secrets about Project Recovery make it out the door. Tell Santiago that. We’ve invested millions in that, and I don’t care if you have to give him the blow job of a lifetime to make him pull his head out of the past and focus on this company.”



She opened her mouth to reply—no idea what she’d planned to say—when she saw Javier standing in the door, looking thunderously angry. No doubt, he’d heard every word of Doug’s diatribe.



“Give me that.” Javier strode toward her, hand outstretched impatiently for the desk phone currently pressed to her ear.



She muted the call. “I can handle this. I’ll take care of it.”



“Not this time. Close your ears, little one.” He grabbed the phone out of her hand. “Don’t be a stupid motherfucker, Doug. And don’t ever talk to my assistant like that again. She’s been here two hours, and she was following my directive. If you’ve got commentary above yes or no, you take it up with me. If you suggest one more inappropriate activity between London and me, I’ll take your head off personally.”



He hung up on Doug, then speared her with a stern glance. She had the oddest urge to apologize, but she hadn’t done anything wrong. She met Javier’s gaze. “He’s really upset that, in his eyes, you’re jeopardizing the company by leaving us open to attack—”



“I know exactly what he’s upset about, and I’ll deal with him.” Suddenly, he sent her a considering stare. “This is a high-testosterone environment. There are a lot of loudmouths around here. You can’t let them eat you up or you won’t last.”



A little prickle of fear stabbed at her. “I told him that I hadn’t been here long and that I didn’t know.”



Javier was shaking his head before she even finished her sentence. “With that, all you said was, ‘I don’t know anything so tell me what to do.’ Never give anyone that much ammunition to project themselves as the voice of authority over you. What you should have said was that you simply had a directive and you expected him to respond properly and responsibly. Put any further commentary in writing to you and copy me. Don’t get in a dialogue with most of these windbags. They are convinced they’re right and nothing you say otherwise will make them change their minds. If you hadn’t guessed, I run everything with a bit of an iron fist.”



She blinked up at him. That shouldn’t be sexy. But everything about him was. The way he protected and watched out for her. The way he tried to teach her how best to survive in this company.



London cocked her head and regarded him with more curiosity than she should. “Do you always help your assistants this much or are you just giving me all this advice because you think I’m helpless?”



Javier stared at her with blue eyes, so dark and focused. His stare drew on, and she had to ignore her pounding heart. Finally, he inhaled sharply, as if he’d reached a decision. “The HR-appropriate response is that, while it’s your job to assist me in performing my work functions, I feel it’s my duty to make sure that you’re given a work environment that’s professional and tolerable, so I apologize for my profanity earlier. And I’ll just apologize now for any and all of my lapses in sobriety.”



Yeah, that was a fairly appropriate response that HR would mostly approve of, minus the alcohol, but she had a feeling that didn’t have a lot to do with it.



“And the truth?” she whispered.



He leaned closer, and God his closeness made her downright dizzy. The heady, musky scent of his skin wafted toward her, and she had to hold in an audible sigh.



“The truth.” He regarded her with another of those unreadable stares. “Your confidence is lacking, little one. If you work for me more than five minutes, you’ll need more spine. I’m troubled by the thought that you don’t quite realize your value yet, and I’d like you to see that, first of all, no one has the right to treat you so rudely in the workplace. And second, that you’re every bit as smart as Doug. You just haven’t had the opportunity yet to learn everything you need to do the job well. That will come in time. I’m hoping your confidence will, too. You’re far too smart, efficient, and . . . pleasant not to hold your head high. Next time you encounter Doug or another jerk like him, I expect you to politely put him in his place.”