Chapter 3
Chapter Three
Rafe pushed his desk chair away from the computer and rubbed his eyes wearily.
He’d been looking at the screen for so long, the numbers were starting to blur.
Grandpa’s dog, a five-year-old Chihuahua named Cricket, lifted her head from where she lay on the floor near his feet.
Cricket didn’t weigh eight pounds soaking wet and looked more like a scruffy, oversized rat than a dog, but she’d been completely devoted to his grandfather, and it was obvious the sweet animal missed him.
“Should we take a break?” Keeley asked, looking over at him from the table they’d set up on Monday afternoon as her temporary workstation. “Or call it a day? It’s nearly five. I could check with the boss, see if he’s okay with us knocking off a bit early for the weekend.”
He grinned at her joke. Keeley had shown up Monday morning at nine on the dot, and the two of them had created a list of job duties, negotiated a salary and benefits, and come up with a job title as well.
She was now officially the Marketing Director for Baros Corporation, a small company that consisted of a restaurant, a nightclub, a used bookstore, a flower shop, and three apartment buildings.
There was no rhyme or reason to his grandfather’s ventures. It felt as if all his business decisions were based on impulse buys. He saw something he liked, and he bought it. A workaholic widower, Grandpa had filled his days—and coffers—by acquiring struggling businesses that he’d managed to revive.
Of course, it helped that Grandpa had the Midas touch. Every business he’d bought now operated well within the black, turning huge profits and adding to his fortune.
Or at least they had. Until Grandpa’s cancer diagnosis and subsequent illness. His grandfather had attempted to manage work affairs from his bed the last four months of his life, but pain had distracted him, left his brain too fuzzy to fully concentrate.
So the majority of the day-to-day operations had been handed over to the managers of each business.
Without guidance, things had been allowed to slide, slip into disarray.
After crunching a few numbers, Rafe was even starting to suspect the manager at Eclectic was skimming money off the top—which was why he’d given Keeley his grandfather’s office there for her marketing work.
Not that she spent much time there—yet. Until the hoard was beaten down, she was spending most of her time at the mansion.
He’d asked Keeley to try to get a feel for Rick, the manager, when she did work from that office because she was very good at reading people—something he struggled with—and he trusted her instincts.
Grandpa had been gone six weeks, and it was well past time for him to step up to the helm properly, rather than riding along on a wing and a prayer.
When Rafe first learned he’d inherited the company, he’d felt completely overwhelmed and out of his element.
He wouldn’t say his stress was gone, but with Keeley on board, he had someone he trusted to consult, and what had felt like a never-ending pressure on his chest had lessened.
In just the last few days, she’d already helped him see past the mounds of work, suggesting ideas for the future and ways to expand Baros Corporation.
Keeley hadn’t looked at the business and seen an obligation. She’d seen potential—and she’d opened his eyes to it as well. He suspected he would have gotten there eventually, but grief and stress had been standing in his way.
“I think the boss could be convinced,” he said, reaching back to rub some of the tension out of his neck. Maybe he should consider getting a massage…or seeing a chiropractor.
“Phew, good. Because while I was ready to offer sexual favors to get my way, I’m feeling a bit grungy from all the dusty boxes.”
Rafe laughed, realizing that was the first time this week she’d reverted back to old Keeley, the one who was a constant, funny flirt. “We’ve made a lot of headway this week. I can’t believe how much, actually. I couldn’t have managed half of this on my own, Kiwi.”
“This probably makes me sound like a lunatic, but I think it’s actually fun work. Every box so far has hidden a golden egg. I can’t wait to go through the rest to see what else we find.”
She wasn’t kidding about the treasure. In addition to the cash they’d pulled out of every single box—which had so far added up to tens of thousands—they’d discovered the title to a house in the Outer Banks, a key to a safe deposit box—which they hadn’t had a chance to go to the bank to open yet—and five hundred shares of original Microsoft stock.
Grandpa had attached a handwritten note to the stock, explaining that he’d won it in a bet but considered it worthless because… computers.
Every single box had yielded something fun and valuable.
Rafe looked around his grandfather’s—no, his—office.
They’d started working their way through the boxes in here, determined to clear it out so that they would have a decent work space for the two of them.
After this room was finished, they were starting on the other three “box rooms,” as they’d begun to call them.
At some point, he’d move the operation of the business out of this house—rent or buy proper office space—but for now, it was easier to tackle everything here, since everything was here.
While his grandfather had kept an office in every single one of his businesses, he’d always done the lion’s share of work right here from the house.
Keeley rose and walked over to his desk, leaning her hip against it.
“I think we make a good team,” she said.
“We do,” he agreed readily.
Over the past week, he’d learned a lot about Keeley he hadn’t previously known.
He’d spent the last decade accepting her proscribed role in his life.
She was Kayden’s little sister. She loved to tease and had a fun personality.
Her laugh was always the loudest, and her voice was the one he always heard over the din.
She flirted with him and Gio because, one, it drove her brother insane—which ranked very high on the list of Keeley’s favorite things to do—and two, it was safe.
She could say audacious things, wink, giggle, flip her hair, and generally be her silly self because neither he nor Gio would cross the line.
But since Saturday night, after the party, Keeley had put the flirting away and revealed two new sides to him.
That night, the confident woman had revealed a vulnerable side…
and it called to him in a way he’d never experienced before.
He’d wanted to reach out and hold her that night, just take her in his arms…
and never let her go. That was the part that had shaken him.
He’d never looked at any woman and felt the slightest inkling of possessiveness.
And throughout this week, she’d shown him her professional side as well. She was seriously smart and creative and driven. Every single day, she’d found a new way to impress him.
When she’d questioned his decision to offer her a job at Penny’s party, he had claimed to need sunshine in his life.
He could see now just how true that was.
They’d worked side by side for hours this week, and it was the first time in ages that he’d felt…
God, the only word he could think to use was happy.
Though he wasn’t quite sure what that emotion felt like.
He’d always been too serious, a big ball of anxiety since birth. Happiness didn’t come naturally to him.
But with Keeley…
She was easy to be with, and while they’d done nothing but work, it hadn’t felt like that because she’d been there, sharing the load, telling him all her dating stories, singing along to the music she always had playing in the background, and making him laugh with her quick wit and humorous observations about the world going on around them.
He rose, trying to ignore the pain in his back that told him he’d been sitting too long.
Suddenly, his desk slid several inches to the left.
Keeley, who’d still been leaning on it, was caught off guard, her arms flailing as she fought to keep her footing.
He caught her, gripping her waist before she tumbled to the floor. Keeley clenched his upper arms, steadying herself.
“What the hell?” she exclaimed. “I wasn’t even leaning on it that hard.”
Rafe had observed the same thing. More to the point, the desk was heavy as fuck…yet it slid away from her like it weighed practically nothing.
“Strange,” he observed. Then he realized his hands were still on her waist. And she’d lied about being grungy because in truth, she smelled fantastic, like citrus and flowers.
Keeley tilted her face up to his, and for a moment, it felt as if she was inviting him to kiss her.
They were standing closer than normal, but they didn’t step away, and he felt her breath on his face.
She’d found a stash of his grandfather’s cinnamons, and he could smell that spicy, sugary sweetness as well.
He waited for her to make one of her flirty jokes. Actually, he needed her to make one. Because right now, he was thinking things he shouldn’t be thinking.
He closed the distance a scant inch more, recalling the way Gio had kissed her. How hot he’d gotten from watching the two of them, how much he’d wanted to step forward when Gio stepped away, to steal his own kiss.
Keeley didn’t move, her eyes locked with his, and he realized both of them had stopped breathing.
He lowered his head, his lips just about to touch—
“Hey! You guys in the office?” he heard Gio yell out from the front door. He and Keeley moved apart quickly, but not before Rafe noticed the flush on her cheeks that proved he wasn’t the only one affected by what had just passed between them.
“Sorry,” she whispered hastily, the spell suddenly broken.
“No,” he said. “That was on me.”