Barbara Dunlop - A Bargain With The Boss

“I...”

“If you don’t, I’ll only have the systems group reset it.”

He made a valid point. As the acting head of Tucker Transportation, he could do whatever he wanted with the company computer system.

“Fine. It’s ClownSchool, capital C and S, dollar sign, one, eight, zero.”

Tuck typed. “You might want to think about whose side you’re on here.”

“I’m not taking sides.” Though she was committed to keeping her promise to Dixon. “I’m trying to be professional.”

“And I’m trying to save Tucker Transportation.”

“Save it from what?” Had something happened?

“From ruin without my father or Dixon here to run it.”

“What are you looking for?” she asked, realizing that he was exaggerating for effect and deciding to move past the hyperbole.

Tucker Transportation was a solid company with a team of long-term, capable executives running the departments. Even from the top, there was a limited amount of damage anyone could do in a month.

“Clues to where he went,” said Tuck.

Then Tuck seemed to have an inspiration. He lifted the desk phone and dialed.

A moment later, a ring chimed inside Dixon’s top drawer.

Tuck drew it open and removed Dixon’s cell phone, holding it while it rang.

“How does it still have battery power?” he asked, more to himself than anything.

“I’ve been charging it,” said Amber.

His attention switched to her, his face crinkling in obvious annoyance. “You didn’t think to tell me his cell phone was in his desk drawer?”

Amber wasn’t sure how to answer that.

“And how did you know it was there anyway? Were you snooping through his drawers?”

“No.” She quickly shook her head. She was intensely respectful of Dixon’s privacy. “He told me he was leaving it behind.”

Tuck’s piercing gray eyes narrowed, his brows slanting together in a way that wrinkled his forehead. “So he told you he was leaving? Before he left, you knew he was going?”

Amber realized she’d spoken too fast. But now she had no choice but to give a reluctant nod.

Tuck straightened and came to the end of the desk, his voice gravelly and ominous. “Before you answer this, remember I’m the acting president of this company. This is a direct order, and I don’t look kindly on insubordination. Did he tell you where he was going?”

Dixon had given her an emergency number. And she’d recognized the area code. But he hadn’t flat-out told her where he was going.

“No,” she said, promising herself it wasn’t technically a lie. “He needs the time, Tuck. He’s been overworked for months, and Kassandra’s betrayal hit him hard.”

“That’s not for you to decide.”

She knew that was true. But it wasn’t for Tuck to decide, either.

“He doesn’t even know about our father,” said Tuck.

“If he knew, he’d come home.”

Tuck’s voice rose. “Of course he’d come home.”

“And then he’d be back to square one, worse off than he was before. I know it must be hard for you without him.”

“You know? You don’t know anything.”

“I’ve worked here for five years.” It was on the tip of her tongue to say that it was a whole lot longer than Tuck had worked here, but she checked herself in time.

“As an assistant.”

“Yes.”

“You don’t have the full picture. You don’t know the risks, the critical decisions.”

“I know Dixon.”

Tuck’s tone turned incredulous. “You’re saying I don’t?”

Amber’s voice rose. “I’m saying I’ve been here. I watched how hard he’s worked. I saw how much your father slowed down these past months. I watched what Kassandra’s infidelity did to him. He was losing it, Tuck. He took a break because he had no other choice.”

Tuck gripped the side of the desk, his jaw going tight.

Amber mentally braced herself for an onslaught.

But his voice stayed steady, his words measured. “My father was slowing down?”

“Yes. A lot. Margaret was funneling more and more work to Dixon. Dixon was scrambling. He was staying late, coming in early, traveling all over the world.”

“He likes traveling.”

“You can’t constantly travel and still run a company. And then Kassandra.”

“Her behavior was despicable.”

“It hurt him, Tuck. Yes, he was disgusted and angry. But he was also very badly hurt.”

Tuck rocked back on his heels, his expression going pensive. “He didn’t let on.”

Amber hesitated but decided to share some more information. If it would help Tuck understand the gravity of the situation, it would do more good than harm.

“There were times when I heard more than I should,” she said. “I know Dixon was ready to be a father. He thought they were trying to get pregnant. Instead, she was taking birth control pills and sleeping with another man.”

It was clear from Tuck’s expression that Dixon hadn’t shared that information with him. He sat down, and his gaze went to the computer screen. “He still needs to know about our father.”

She knew it wasn’t her place to stop Tuck. “Do what you need to do.”

He glanced up. “But you’re not going to help me?”

“There’s nothing more I can do to help you find Dixon. But I’ll help you run Tucker Transportation.”

“Finding Dixon is the best thing we can do to run Tucker Transportation.”

“I disagree,” she said.

“Bully for you.”

“The best thing you can do to run Tucker Transportation is to run Tucker Transportation.”

Tuck was silent while he moved the mouse and typed a few keys. “You should have told me.”

“Told you what?” She found herself moving around the desk, curious to see what he would find on the computer.

“What he was planning,” said Tuck as he scrolled through Dixon’s email. “That he was secretly leaving.”

She recognized the headers on the email messages, since they automatically copied to her account. “I’m Dixon’s confidential assistant. I don’t share his personal information with anyone else.”

“There’s nothing here but corporate business,” said Tuck.

Amber knew that would be the case. Dixon was always careful to keep his personal email out of the corporate system. And he’d been doubly careful with the details of his secret vacation.

Tuck swiveled the chair to face her. “What would you do if you were mine?”

The question caught her off guard while her brain zipped off on a disorienting, romantic tangent. To be Tuck’s. In his arms. In his life. In his bed.

He rose in front of her. “Amber?”

“Sorry?” She scrambled to bring her thoughts back to the real world.

His voice was rich and deep, laced with an intimacy she knew she had to be imagining. “If you were my confidential assistant, what would you do?”

“I’m not.” She wasn’t his anything, and she had to remember that.

“But if you were?”

If she was Tuck’s assistant, she’d be in the middle of making one colossal mistake. Because that would mean she was sexually attracted to her boss. She’d want to kiss her boss. Eventually, she would kiss her boss. She was thinking about it right now. And if the dusky smoke in his eyes was anything to go by, he was thinking about it, too.

She plunged right in with the truth. “I would probably make a huge and horrible mistake.”

The lift of his brows told her he understood her meaning. And he slowly raised his hand to brush his fingertips across her cheek. “Would it be so horrible?”

“We can’t,” she managed to respond.

He gave a very small smile. “We won’t.”

But he was easing closer, leaning in.

“Tuck,” she warned.