Her Hero Boss Read online

  Her Hero Boss

  Holly James

  Contents

  1. A Bad Reputation

  2. Yes, Sir

  3. Marry Me

  4. One Crazy Scheme

  5. The Fakery Begins

  6. The Road Show

  7. Fake Marriage, Real Kiss

  8. Admiration

  9. Complications of Sex

  10. He’s a Lying Cheat

  11. In the Dog House

  12. The Mile High Club

  13. What Is This Feeling?

  14. So Happy and Yet So Sad

  15. The Beginning of the End

  16. Be Careful What You Wish For

  17. Heartbreak’s A Bitch

  18. The Deal is Done

  19. Acting Normal

  20. Moving On

  21. A New Plan

  22. Taking a Chance

  23. Making it Real

  Epilogue

  Author’s Note

  About Holly Jaymes

  Also by Holly James

  © Copyright 2019—Holly Jaymes—All rights reserved.

  It is not legal to reproduce, duplicate, or transmit any part of this document in either electronic means or in printed format. Recording of this publication is strictly prohibited and any storage of this document is not allowed unless with written permission from the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  This book is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locations is purely coincidental.

  A Bad Reputation

  Chapter One: A Bad Reputation

  Nate

  “If you want to get rich, Nate, you’ve got to stop fucking around. Literally.”

  I glared at Dave Collier, my lawyer. Feeling contrary, I responded, “I’m already rich, and I like fucking around.”

  As usual, Dave simply shrugged off my attitude, which he probably saw as juvenile, “Then it doesn’t matter that potential investors are worried your fucking around will hurt the company?” He stood like he was going to leave, calling my bluff.

  “Sit down, Dave,” I sat back in my chair, using the heels of my hands to rub my eyes. We were in the offices of Sloane Labs, the pharmaceutical company I founded. I was also the sole owner of Sloane Labs, but now that I had a couple of patents and FDA approved drugs, and the company needed to grow, I was getting ready to take it public. We’ve found a bank and filed the paperwork, but now we’ve reached the point in which I needed to attract initial investors. I was set to travel to major money-hubs around the country to do investment presentations referred to as ‘the dog and pony show.’ According to Dave, my success in this process could be hurt by my reputation as a ladies’ man. I couldn’t deny that I like women, or that I hadn’t dated my fair share. However, I was single, so it seemed unfair to hold all that against me.

  “This isn’t a joke, Nate,” Dave sat again, crossing his ankle over his knee.

  “Why do investors give a shit about who I sleep with?” That’s the most baffling part of all this - what does my dick have to do with my company’s ability to cure disease and reduce suffering?

  “They don’t. They care about the scope and potential ramifications of your philandering. They worry you’ll choose someone that decides to sue you or can hurt your reputation, which by extension will hurt the company, which then can adversely impact stock value. Investors are in it for the money, Nate.”

  “What do they think I do? I don’t have a revolving door on my bedroom,” I knew I had a reputation as a womanizer, but I was certain no man alive could actually achieve what the rumors said about me. Not that I didn’t earn a reputation, but to make the rumors accurate, I’d have to be fucking someone different several times a day.

  Dave gave his usual nonchalant shrug, “The reality doesn’t matter. Perception is everything. Especially now. You don’t want people getting the idea that you don’t respect women.”

  “What? They think I don’t respect them?” I respected women, and I didn’t mean just in the bedroom. I had more women scientists in my lab than other companies. Fifty percent of my executives were women. I bet the numbnuts who worried about my reputation didn’t have as many women on their teams. They were probably fucking their secretaries too, which I’d never do because I never sleep with women who work for me. Hypocrites.

  “That’s the perception people have of a womanizer.”

  “Fuck,” I wouldn’t deny that I liked women, but they liked me back. I was also always careful to pick women who weren’t looking for more than a good time. I didn’t want romantic entanglements or a woman who only saw dollar signs when she looked at me.

  “Who’d you see last night?” Dave asked.

  I shook my head. That was the most fucked up part about this whole thing. I hadn’t been with a woman in weeks, “No one.”

  Dave quirked a brow like he didn’t believe me.

  “Swear to God, Dave,” I held my hands up in surrender. “I’ve actually been a good boy for several weeks. This IPO has taken most of my time.” That and helping my brother Gabe, along with my other brothers Will and Mitch, do some work on our mother’s home. Our father died nearly two years ago, and it had been a long adjustment for all of us. But recently Mom decided she wanted to turn their home into a bed and breakfast, so we were helping her make the necessary changes to the house.

  “Well, keep it up. Not your dick, but your celibacy.”

  I smirked not finding his joke funny, “Except no one seems to know that I’ve been celibate. You didn’t, and you’re my lawyer. I don’t have much time before I’ve got to start schmoozing for investors. What can I do if my behaving isn’t changing people’s opinion?”

  “You could get married,” Dave grinned, knowing I’d hate that idea.

  He was right. I shivered at the thought. Not that I had anything against marriage. My parents had a great one. My brother Gabe and his wife Samantha seemed completely content, but I couldn’t imagine picking just one woman to spend the rest of my life with. At least so far, I’d never met a woman that made me want to leave the marketplace. Not that I didn’t care for the women I spent time with, but I’d never been in love. Not like my parents or Gabe.

  “I know the idea makes your skin crawl, but it wouldn’t hurt for you to settle down.”

  “You’re not joking?” I was horrified.

  “I was joking, but you’re thirty now, Nate. It’s time to leave those frat boy ways behind and take your company to new heights,” Dave leaned forward, and for the first time in a long time, his face held a passion. “What you’ve got here is the potential to not just make a ton of money, but to really help people. Your womanizing takes away from all the good you’ve already done. No one thinks of Nate Sloane as the guy who created cutting edge medication to help in the treatment of Parkinson’s Disease or as the guy hard at work developing something to treat multiple sclerosis. Nope, all they think of is the guy who has bedded nearly every Victoria Secret model.”

  “Not every.”

  He sat back and smirked, “The details don’t matter. Just the per—”

  “I know, perception.”

  Dave nodded.

  “Am I totally fucked?”

  “No,” Dave said, “but if you want to raise the most capital possible during this IPO, you need to make people see Nate, the businessman, not Nate the lothario.”

  I wasn’t sure how to do that. Laying low didn’t seem to be working. Perhaps someone in the PR department would have ideas on how to get media coverage regarding the business and away from my personal life.

  “You can start by attending the Madison event this weekend in D.C.”

  “Madison?”

  “It’s a fundraiser for a school in Afric
a or something, but there will be a lot of potential investors, including Janine Madison. She likes to invest in pharmaceuticals and is good at it. You get her, Nate and others will follow.”

  I nodded, “Do I need an invite?”

  “I’ve taken care of it,” Dave reached into his briefcase and pulled out a piece of paper. “All the details are here. You’re on the list to attend. You just need to behave - no picking up a waitress or anybody else.”

  I rolled my eyes, “I’m not that out of control.”

  “Perceptions,” Dave closed his briefcase and stood. “I’ll be in touch about the dog and pony show. You ready to travel? We’ve got New York first.”

  I nodded, “Yes.”

  “Good,” he headed to the door of my office. “If you need anything, call.”

  When Dave left, I blew out a breath and stood to stretch. I looked out the window of my office. Outside the heat and humidity from the hot summer beat down on Northern Virginia. Fortunately, my building was well cooled. Along with pharmaceuticals, I had an interest in the environment, and so my building was outfitted with all the latest energy-saving and earth-friendly systems - as was my lab located south of here.

  It was easy to be annoyed and feel like I was letting down my company at Dave’s insistence that I change my image. Truth be told, I was proud of what I’d accomplished career-wise. Starting out after college, I took my chemistry degree and got a job in drug research and development. Even in that job, I liked to enjoy my evenings and weekends with women. I was a single man, dating was what men like me did.

  Starting my own business hadn’t changed my interest in women. What had changed was my drive to eradicate suffering without bankrupting people. I found it odd that my private life would hurt my company when there were pharmaceutical companies out there who were price gouging and even one that was viewed as the source of the opioid epidemic. How were my dating habits worse than that?

  There was little I could do at this point to change people’s perception of me. Maybe Dave was right that it would mean less capital raised during my IPO, but I could live with that if I got enough to expand my resources - more researchers and a better lab. Success would lead to stock prices rising, so in the long run, my love of women shouldn’t get in the way.

  I returned to my desk, ready to get to work. I looked through the files my assistant Hallie Thorne had left on my desk. Hallie was the perfect example of how well behaved I was. Despite my reputation with the ladies, I did have rules, and one was that I never got involved with women who worked for me. There were several women over the years who I might have asked out but didn’t because of my no-fraternization rule. Hallie was the only one that made me regret that policy.

  I’m not sure what it was about her that attracted me to her from the first time I met her during her job interview a few months ago. She wasn’t like the lithe, willowy women with hair extensions and lots of makeup that I was usually drawn to. Hallie was curvy and natural. She also wasn’t a woman to hold her tongue, which annoyed me, and yet I admired this quality about her because I needed people around me to tell me the truth. She worked hard and was able to anticipate my needs, except, of course, my more physical ones.

  I shook my head. Do not think of her like that. It was a refrain I had to chant regularly.

  I refocused on my work, checking out the status of current research, looking at where in the FDA approval process a couple of our new drugs were in, and the latest sales figures from currently marketed medicines.

  Next up was to prep for this event that Dave wanted me to go to. I needed research on Janine Madison and the specifics of the fundraiser. I’d have to make a donation, so I hoped he was right that the charity event was for an African school or something that actually helped people in need.

  To get this info, I needed Hallie. I poked the button on my phone.

  “Hallie, can you come in?”

  “Yes, sir,” Hallie was a modern woman who held onto southern traditions of manners as well as the soft accent. In Virginia, the level of twang heard varied depending on the location and whether the speaker was urban or rural. I’d pegged Hallie to have grown up south of here but not too far. She had an accent, but it wasn’t too pronounced.

  A few seconds later, she knocked and then poked her head in. Her long red hair was down, with one side tucked behind her ear. Her green eyes looked at me inquiringly.

  “Come in,” I motioned for her to enter.

  She stepped into the room and strode toward my desk. She wore a simple navy dress, and yet the way it hugged her curves made it look custom made. I wondered what she looked like without the dress - just her creamy skin, red hair hanging loose, and dazzling green eyes. I shook my head to rid it of inappropriate thoughts.

  “Have a seat. I need you to do a little research for me.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  I bit my lip as an image of her writhing under me came into my mind.

  “Do you want this?” My dick was ready to fill that luscious body.

  “Yes, sir.”

  Jesus, I was going to hell. Focus Sloane. Taking a deep breath and willing my dirty brain to behave, I got to work.

  Yes, Sir

  Chapter Two: Yes, Sir

  Hallie

  The one thing that kept me from leaping over my boss’ desk and ravishing his hard, sculpted body was that I knew I’d repulse him. Nate preferred skinny, tall, blondes, and I was a curvy, average redhead. And, I liked to think I had enough self-respect to not allow myself to become a notch on his bedpost. But if I were stuck on a deserted island, he’d definitely be on the list of who I’d bring.

  “Can you do some research on Janine Madison?” he asked.

  “Yes, sir.”

  Nate’s lips always quirked up a little bit when I called him sir, so I said it often. It made me sound very prim and proper, but it was worth it to watch his lush lips. Sometimes, too often, I wondered how those lips tasted or would feel.

  “She’s having some sort of event this weekend in DC. I need to learn more about that as well.” He handed me a piece of paper that a quick scan told me was about the event, “I’ll need you to go with me as she’s a prospective investor.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  This time Nate frowned, “Seriously? You don’t have any other plans for Saturday?”

  “No, plus this is work, right?” I’d get paid, and I needed all the money I could get since my house was damaged by fire a few months ago. It was still sitting burnt to a crisp because I couldn’t get the rebuild going yet. I’d felt fortunate that I’d been able to get a job with Sloane Labs because the extra salary would help a lot.

  He nodded, “You don’t even have to check your calendar or anything?”

  What did he care about my personal life or my lack of one? “Nope, is it formal?” That could be a problem. Since my clothes all smelled like smoke and whatever firefighters used to put out the fire, I had to buy new ones. Most I got second-hand, like this plain navy dress. I wondered if they had formal wear at the consignment shop?

  “Yep, I’m wearing a tux, for sure.”

  Crap. I knew there was a second-hand store in the affluent area around Vienna. I could go there and see if there was a fancy dress in my size. It was the size that was always the challenging component of finding nice clothes. More often than not, the dresses I liked were too small, and the ones in my size were like mumus.

  “No problem.”

  He sat back and studied me. I tried not to shift under the scrutiny.

  “You enjoying your job, Hallie?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  This time he snorted, “You know you make me feel a hundred years old when you call me sir.”

  This time my lips twitched, “Yes, sir.”

  He grinned, picked up his pen, and tapped it on his desk, “I’m okay to work for?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  This time he frowned, “Do you ever say more than ‘yes, sir’?”

  “Yes, sir,” I paused a
nd added, “You should ask open-ended questions if you want more than a yes or no answer.”

  “Open-ended. Okay. How do you like working for me?”

  “I like it very much.” The pay was good, the staff was friendly, and Nate was nice to look at. I might tell him the first two but not the last. Besides, he probably already knew that.

  “Good. What do you think of me?”

  I think I’d like to see your chest without your starched white shirt on. “What do you mean?”

  He shrugged, “When you think of me, what comes to mind?”

  Well, I couldn’t be honest about that because what came to mind wasn’t appropriate for work, “Intelligent. Friendly.”

  “Womanizer?”

  I seesawed my head side to side, “You do have a reputation for enjoying the ladies. I haven't actually seen any evidence of that, but you know what they say - perception is everything.”

  “Hmmm,” he made a face suggesting he didn’t like my answer. “How would I fix that?”

  “Stop liking the ladies so much?” Since I wasn’t sure what he was looking for in an answer, I didn’t know what to say.

  “I have, but no one has noticed,” he stood and went to his window. He crossed his arms, and from the back, the way his shirt pulled tight on his shoulders showed off his muscles. He must work out, or maybe they were strong from his frequently being in a missionary position over a woman. “Dave said I should get married. Do you think that would help?”

  Was he serious? Did people really get married today for business? “Philanthropy might be an easier and faster option.”