“I’m still waiting for you to take Maggie up on the offer for Russo’s,” Xander said.
My nose wrinkled at the reminder of the girl Declan had been with. God, she’d been beautiful. But they hadn’t seemed like a couple at all. Then who was she? And why did I care?
“You know, it’s not like we’re poor,” I reminded Xander. “We could just make a reservation and go one day.”
He laughed, and when he saw the confusion on my face, he laughed some more. “Oh, sweet naïve child. Do you know how long the waiting list is for a reservation at Russo’s?”
I purposefully waited until I pulled out the bread and turned off the oven before looking at him. “I’m assuming by your condescending attitude that you know I have no clue.”
“It’s a billion years long,” he said easily. “So, like, unless you’re Declan Moneybags Dark or maybe the mayor or—or president, then you’re not going to get in any time before next year.”
“Then I guess we put our names in for next year,” I told him with a smile. “Maybe for your birthday, you old geezer.”
“Six months,” he reminded me. “I’m only six months older and—”
My phone started ringing from the table and he looked down.
“Is that mine?” I asked.
He nodded. “Unknown number but wait…it’s tracking.” He peered at his computer screen and then his mouth opened in surprise. “It’s Declan Dark.”
My heart jumped. “Wait—like, like my new boss?”
“No, the other Declan Dark—”
“How did he get my number?” I asked, then horror filled me. “It’s not my old number, right? Or—or, I mean, my real number.”
“No, it’s Samantha’s number.” He jerked the phone from the cord and held it out. “Answer it.”
“What? No, I can’t, I—”
“It’s your job, Samantha,” he said firmly.
Dammit. I jerked the phone from his hand and pressed the screen to answer the call.
“Hello?”
“Miss Thompson?”
His deep voice reached my ear and sent a shiver of desire and anxiety down my spine. My heart raced in my chest.
“Yes,” I said cautiously.
“It’s Declan Dark.”
“Mr. Dark—of course. I… What can I do for you?”
Xander waved at me, trying to get me to pay attention to him. Put it on speaker, he mouthed.
I frowned and walked to the living room to give myself some space. Xander followed me with his glass of wine and sat on the couch, watching me like I was on television.
Yeah, great entertainment. Me, making a joke of myself in front of my new boss.
“I meant to call you earlier in the weekend, but things got busy,” he said, voice still serious.
I wondered if the man knew how to laugh. Or even smile. Maybe he’d been born grown-up and his father, who I’d heard was even more serious, had threatened to take away his inheritance if he even cracked a joke.
“Um…that’s okay?” I frowned at Xander, confused. Why had he needed to talk to me over the weekend?
Oh, shit. He wasn’t going to give me the job after all.
“I have a request,” Declan said, surprising me again.
“A request.”
“Yes.”
Oh, my God. For a busy man, he sure wasn’t in a hurry to get to the point.
“Care to share it?” I asked after a second.
Xander grimaced, making me grimace.
But Declan only continued. “Right. I can see you’re just like me. I don’t like to waste my time.”
Sure. I was just like him all right. Two peas in a pod. Hold on, let me go find my butler.
1 waited for him to continue. Some things just didn’t need to be said.
“We have a new project on the horizon, and I want to do some on-site research,” Declan said.
“Oh.” Wow, I was getting better and better with words. “I’m sorry, a project?”
Xander’s eyes were nearly bugging out of his head and he’d almost finished his glass of wine. He was acting like he was watching a movie.
“I’ll go over it more clearly tomorrow on the way there,” Declan said. “But, because of where we’re going, it’ll benefit you to dress down some. Maybe jeans and boots. And a jacket as well.”
What. The. Fuck.
I’d just embraced Samantha Thompson and the hooker heels from hell and now he wanted me to be plain old Royal Patterson?
“I can do that,” I started, but I could hear the doubt in my voice. “I’m a little confused, though.”
“Elaborate.”
I snorted, then covered my mouth with my hand. “I suppose I figured I’d be interning with…your secretary or—”
“Executive assistant.”
“Right. Her.”
“Him.”
Xander was bent over in laughter like he could somehow hear both sides of the conversation and it was clear I was the entertainment portion of tonight’s show. He was cut off. No more wine for him.
“Miss Thompson,” he said, voice low and sexy, totally throwing me off my game, “I hired you, so you’ll be working directly for me. It’ll give me a better chance to assess your talents and weakness in order to know where to place you elsewhere in the company when the time comes.”
When. He meant if, right? When the time came, I was getting the hell out of there.
But I had to fake it till I made it, so I infused confidence into my voice. “Of course. I’m looking forward to tomorrow.”
“Good. I’ll see you tomorrow morning.”
“See you.”
“Goodnight, Miss Thompson.”
The phone went silent, and I could tell he’d hung up.
Holy fuck, that was intense. Just a conversation with him had me sweating.
“I can’t tell if you’re verging on hyperventilating or having a climax,” Xander said.
I walked over and smacked him on the back of the head. “You’re disgusting.”
“You’re the one who had that look on your face.” Xander followed me to the kitchen. When he grabbed the
