Yvonne Lindsay - Something About The Boss…

“Yes, me and my younger sister.”

“Are you guys close?”

“Not anymore,” she hedged.

Suzie’s father, Sophie’s much-adored stepdad, had died suddenly shortly after that photo had been taken. With their mother struggling to make ends meet, Suzie had gone to live with her father’s sister. Financially independent and also recently widowed, Suzie’s aunt had an open heart and open arms for her brother’s only child. Contact between the two families had been severed almost immediately—deemed to be in the best interests of the girls at the time. It had been more than twenty years since they’d seen each other and Sophie still felt the emptiness inside, even though she’d long since learned how to mask it.

She thumbed the well-worn edge of the photo before tucking the picture back in her bag. She was doing what she could to reestablish contact with her sister. She had to be satisfied with that. She gave herself a mental shake and locked her handbag away in the bottom drawer of her desk. Even though this was downtown Royal, Texas, Sophie didn’t take chances. It wasn’t her way.

Clearly taking the hint that the subject of her sister was closed, Zach turned his attention to work.

“What’s on your agenda today?”

Sophie briefly outlined what she had planned in her other boss’s absence before asking, “Is there something else you need me to work on instead? None of this is urgent right now, especially with Alex still out of the office.”

Out of the office. She gave an inward sigh. Some euphemism for missing. It had been over a month since her boss had simply disappeared off the face of the earth. Each morning she still hoped that she’d come in and find him in his office, his energetic personality filling the room, but each morning she was disappointed. The police were now involved in the hunt for Alex Santiago and his disappearance looked more sinister by the day.

“Any news from Sheriff Battle?” Zach asked.

She shook her head. Sophie had racked her brain trying to think of anything that could have been a clue to why Alex had gone, and where. But nothing had been out of the usual. The guy had disappeared the same way as he’d arrived in Royal, although with a great deal less fanfare. He was the kind of man who made things happen—things didn’t happen to him. Which made his disappearance all the more puzzling. Surely someone had to know something. Someone, somewhere was keeping secrets, and Sophie had a worried feeling it might be Zach.

The muscles around his mouth tightened slightly, his only tell that something was bothering him. If anyone knew anything about Alex, it should have been Zach, as the two men had become firm friends in the time they’d worked together and shared office space. She watched him carefully. Zach Lassiter had a reputation for keeping his cards close to his chest and only letting you know what he thought you should know, when he thought you needed to know it.

The man was locked tighter than the vault at Fort Knox. Goodness only knew he’d remained impervious to the subtle and not-so-subtle questioning from local men and women alike. All anyone knew about him was that just under two years ago he’d arrived here in Royal with his own investment company and a knack for turning high-risk investment opportunities into sure fortunes. When Alex Santiago had arrived a couple of months later and set up his venture capital business, they’d created the perfect successful partnership.

It hadn’t taken a whole lot of research to find out that Zach Lassiter had been married, not when his ex still called him almost every day, although Sophie had been unable to find any photos online that included Anna Lassiter. It also hadn’t taken a lot of poking to discover that Zach’s knack for turning high-risk investment opportunities into gold had started several years ago with an investment firm in Midland.

But the man himself? What made him tick, what drove him? There was nothing. Dark good looks and urbane charm aside, he could be hiding anything beneath that smooth, sophisticated exterior. It was whether that “anything” involved Alex’s disappearance that Sophie wanted to find out.

“What? Have I got something on my face?” Zach asked, reminding Sophie she was staring.

Color flooded her cheeks and she ducked her head. “No, sorry, I was just distracted for a minute.”

The phone on Sophie’s desk chimed discreetly. Zach’s line. He usually took his own calls, but since he was here with her, Sophie reached for the handset.

“Zach Lassiter’s office, this is Sophie speaking.”

“I can’t reach Zach on his phone. Is he there? Put me through to him,” the woman’s querulous voice demanded, belatedly adding, “Please.”

“One moment please, I’ll see if he’s free to take your call.” Recognizing the voice, and putting the woman on hold, Sophie said, “It’s your ex-wife. You’re not answering your cell phone. Do you want to take it?”

“Of course.” He patted the breast pocket of his jacket. “I must have left my cell in the car again.” He fished his keys out of his pocket and handed them to Sophie. “When you have a free moment, could you get it for me?”

“Sure,” she said, taking the keys and trying desperately to ignore the buzz of attraction that warmed her skin as his fingertips brushed her palm.

She watched as he walked back to his office and heard the deep murmur of his voice through his closed door as he picked up the call. Not for the first time she wondered about the relationship Zach had with Anna Lassiter. She could count on one finger the number of people she knew who were still on speaking terms with their exes, let alone daily speaking terms. As far as she could ascertain, he and Anna had been divorced for nearly two years. She shook her head. He had to still be in love with the woman. Why else would he devote so much time to her?

Sophie fought to quell the pang of envy that struck deep in her chest. What would it be like to be the object of Zach’s devotion? His closed demeanor aside, the man was sex on legs. Or maybe it was that very aloofness that made him so appealing to her. She took a sip of her rapidly cooling coffee. No, it was more visceral than that. To use a more colloquial expression, the man was prime beef. It was no hardship to imagine the lean, hard-muscled lines of his body beneath the tailored suits he wore.

A tiny thrill coursed down the length of her spine, setting a tingle up in her lower back. Lord, she had it bad. Just thinking about him was enough to send her pulse up a few notches and a flush of awareness to heat all those secret parts of her body that were hidden by her office clothes.

Combine a killer physique with a handsomely chiseled face, expensively cropped jet-black hair, green eyes that looked straight through you and a mind as sharp as a tack, and he became a very appealing package. From the first day he’d walked through the front door of the professional suite and taken up the spare office next to Alex’s, Sophie had been mesmerized by him. He carried himself with an air of confidence that made it clear that he was there to succeed at whatever he turned his hand to. And succeed he did. His investment advice had made his client list an exceptionally large and equally wealthy one. Some even said he had a Midas touch and, if his address on the outskirts of town was any indicator, he certainly knew how to put his money to good use.

She also knew that you didn’t get anywhere without hard work and dedication and if she didn’t apply some of that to the list of things she had to do today, she’d have to answer to Alex when he came back. If he came back, whispered a small voice in the back of her head.

* * *

Zach hung up from the call and just for a moment allowed himself the indulgence of resting his head in his hands. He was worried about Anna. She’d always been high-strung, but right now she was acting as if she was stretched to the breaking point. He had to do something, and do it soon. Her parents still insisted there was nothing wrong with her, keeping their heads in the sand regarding any potential mental imbalance.