Red Hot Crush: A Steamy Older Man Office Romance Read online

  Reading quickly, I got caught up on the rest of the texts from Gabi and Sierra. Then I sent a message to them both: Let’s go out for pizza tonight. My treat. Ever since Patrick had mentioned pizza, it had been on my mind.

  Gabi: Excellent.

  Sierra: You don’t have to pay.

  Me: I don’t mind.

  Sierra: You’re as poor as the rest of us.

  That was true. I wouldn’t even get my first paycheck from TR Technologies for another few days. But it was my house—well, technically it belonged to my brother and me—and I felt bad. They both paid rent and didn’t deserve the leaky roof, lack of hot water, and the host of other problems we were currently facing.

  Me: MY TREAT.

  Gabi: Since when did you become assertive?

  Sierra: I can’t decide if you’re being bossy or generous.

  Gabi: She’s both. I expect her to be vice president of development any day now.

  Sierra: Yeah, if the CEO even knew she worked there.

  Ugh, that definitely wasn’t what I wanted to discuss. Desperate to change the subject, I said: I got asked out today.

  Gabi: You did?????? To hell with pizza, let’s go get you a new outfit.

  Sierra: Pizza’s cheaper. Who’s the guy?

  I noticed how neither of them assumed it was Tyler. Like me, they knew the score. He was the CEO of an up-and-coming software company that was already making quite a mark in a crowded field. Last month he’d been featured in a 30 Under 30 list of entrepreneurs. Though he was almost thirty-one, so this would be his last year on that list.

  Me: Just one of my coworkers. I said no.

  Gabi: But we promised! At this rate, we’re all going to be alone on Valentine’s Day next year, too.

  Sierra: I’ll have Joe.

  Since she wasn’t around, I couldn’t help snorting. Joe had was more like a deadbeat dad than a boyfriend. Apparently, Sierra noticed that Gabi and I had gone radio silent.

  Sierra: At least I haven’t spent my whole life waiting for one man to notice me.

  Ouch. That hurt. It wasn’t untrue, but it was definitely unkind. Sierra and Gabi knew about my long-time crush, but they usually didn’t bug me about it. Just like Gabi and I didn’t nag Sierra about her boyfriend—usually.

  Sierra: I’m sorry. I had a lousy day.

  Instantly, I forgave her. She’d been through a lot lately. Her job mostly consisted of her calling strangers and asking them to take surveys. Needless to say, most of them weren’t happy at the interruption. Right now, her career showed about as much promise as her relationship. Both caused her immense stress without giving her much in return.

  Me: That’s all the more reason to get pizza. Let’s meet at Louie’s at 6:30 as long as Gabi can hold back the deluge in the hallway.

  Gabi: I’m on it!

  She worked for a temp agency and must’ve gotten home early today. Sometimes that happened—they’d only find a few hours of work for her each day.

  Sierra: See you then unless Joe wanted to do something.

  Let us know, I typed to be nice. But the chances of Sierra’s boyfriend taking her out tonight were almost as low as the chance of Tyler noticing me. In other words, slim to none.

  With a sigh, I went back to my desk.

  3

  Kait

  “This… this is what’s been missing from my life,” Gabi said, staring in adoration at a slice of sausage pizza.

  “I thought men were missing from your life,” Sierra pointed out.

  “Them, too,” Gabi said. “But to be honest, this tastes better.”

  I choked on my beer as I laughed with my two best friends. I’m not usually much of a beer drinker, but this was girls’ night out. You can’t eat an irresponsible amount of carbs and complain with your besties if there’s not alcohol involved.

  “You two have just forgotten how good it can be,” Sierra said.

  As always, my eyes met Gabi’s. To my knowledge, Sierra hadn’t even seen Joe in over a week.

  But her pale blue eyes were dreamy. “He used to look at me like I was the only woman in the world.”

  “Umm… used to?” I prompted.

  “He still does. I just meant, well, I haven’t seen him in a few days. He said he’ll drop by sometime tomorrow. If he does… I mean when he does, would you two mind giving us some time alone?”

  “Of course not,” I said, and Gabi nodded, her dark curls bobbing around her head. I could tell she didn’t think that was a very likely outcome, either.

  “You guys are the best.”

  “Yes,” Gabi said, “we are.”

  “Yep!” I held my glass out and they clinked theirs against it. Foam flowed over the edge of Sierra’s mug. “All for one and one for all.”

  Gabi took a long gulp of beer. “That’s the Three Musketeers. They’re men.”

  Sierra laughed. “Somebody passed tenth grade English.”

  “No, I mean, we’re not supposed to be them. We’re supposed to be the red-hot… something or other.”

  “How about… the red-hot hotties?” I suggested, raising my glass again.

  “Yeah!” Sierra said, missing my glass entirely and sloshing her beer on the pizza.

  Gabi mopped up the beer and a considerable amount of gooey cheese with some napkins. “It’s not about having a name—though I like that one. It’s about doing something. Taking action. Making things happen. Has anyone done anything?”

  “But I already have a boyfriend.”

  “We know,” Gabi said. “But you also have a job you hate. Why don’t you look for a new one?”

  “Why don’t you?” Sierra fired back.

  “I am. There’s not much out there, but I’m trying. I don’t want to be a temp for life.”

  Sierra sulked, tucking a strand of her long blonde hair behind her ear. “Kait’s the only one with a decent job.”

  “So clearly, I’m the only red-hot hottie here,” I teased.

  “Yeah, but the deal wasn’t to have a decent job by next Valentine’s Day. It was to find a man,” Gabi pointed out.

  “Oh,” I said, putting down my beer. “I’m working on that.”

  “No, you’re not. You’re just pining away for whatsisname. The big boss. And in the meantime, you turned down a date from the whatsisname, junior.”

  “I don’t want to go out with whatsisname, junior.”

  “So go out with someone else. Someone who is not your boss and who knows you’re alive.” Gabi squirted some Tabasco sauce on a piece of crust. Eww.

  “He’s not my boss—he’s like my boss’s boss’s boss. And he knows I’m alive.”

  “When’s the last time you saw him?”

  “At work today.”

  Gabi rolled her eyes. “When’s the last time you actually spoke to him?”

  “Umm… at my brother’s wedding.”

  Sierra groaned. “That was years ago. They have a kid now.”

  “She’s only one.” For a moment, I pictured my niece. She was adorable. But then another memory intruded. Tyler in a black suit. Holding his hand out to me at the wedding. It was customary for the best man and the maid of honor to share a dance. Would he have asked me if it hadn’t been? Probably not, judging by how quickly he’d disappeared after the song ended. But, god, the feeling of being in his arms… It was something I’d never forget. Even if it seemed like after that, he’d made a point of dancing with every other woman at the wedding except me.

  “Kait?” Gabi was looking at me sympathetically.

  “Let’s talk about something else. Anything else. How bad were the leaks upstairs today? It didn’t even rain that hard.”

  “Bad enough that it looked like Kermit should be sitting on a log, playing a banjo,” Sierra said.

  “It wasn’t that bad. They’re slow leaks. As long as we keep the pots handy, we’ll be good,” Gabi said.

  “Do you think I should call someone?”

  “It’s a leaky roof. That kind of thing’s got to be expensiv
e,” Gabi said, and Sierra nodded.

  Right. And I didn’t have that kind of money. I looked at my two best friends and my heart sank. They deserved to live in someplace nice. Someplace warm and comfortable. “If you two want start looking for somewhere else to live—”

  Sierra reached over and squeezed my hand. “Of course not. You’re not getting rid of us that easily.” Though she’d been having a rough patch lately, she was still my friend, through and through.

  “Yeah, we’re a team,” Gabi said, taking my other hand.

  I smiled, my eyes suddenly moist. “Of course we are. But maybe all three of us could—”

  Gabi shook her head. “We’re not going to be able to afford someplace else, not with three bedrooms. And I love you both, but no offense, I don’t want to share a room with you.”

  “Me either. Besides, what would I do when Joe comes over?”

  “Die of shock?” Gabi muttered under her breath.

  I laughed, squeezed their hands, and let go. “You’re right, we’re in this together. But I’ll think of something. After all, we can’t live a red-hot life if we’re cold and damp all the time. I’ll think of something to do.”

  “Like sleep with your boss’s boss’s boss?” Gabi asked.

  “Or at least talk to your boss’s boss’s boss?” Sierra suggested.

  “I’ll do something about the house,” I said, rolling my eyes. But I couldn’t even pretend to be frustrated with them—I loved them like sisters. They deserved better. We all did.

  Somehow, I was going to see that we got it.

  It was a little before midnight by the time I got back to the house, skirted the pots of water in the hallway, and collapsed on my bed. Pulling out my phone, I checked the time. It was mid-afternoon in Japan.

  After a few seconds, a face appeared with warm brown hair the color of my own “Hey, sis!”

  “Alex, I’m glad I caught you.”

  “I teach a class in thirty minutes, so perfect timing. What’s up?”

  His eyes were kind, and they made mine tear up for the second time this evening. I missed him so much. I’d only seen him once in the two years since he’d moved to Japan. He and his wife had flown me out a few weeks after the baby was born.

  “You okay? You look tired.”

  “I am, actually. It was a long week.”

  “How’s the new job?”

  “It’s great,” I said truthfully. And it really was. It wasn’t TR Tech’s fault that entry-level people got the boring assignments. I was determined to do my best and work my way up in the company. It was a good place to work, but I’d refrained from telling my brother exactly where I worked. I wasn’t sure if he and Tyler still talked, but it was likely. They’d been as close as brothers throughout high school and college. “How’s Megumi?”

  “She’s great, especially now that Yuka is sleeping through the night.” I nodded sympathetically. Alex could sleep through anything my sister-in-law couldn’t.

  “I bet that’s a relief. How many words is my brilliant niece saying now?”

  “About a dozen.”

  “In English or in Japanese?”

  “Mostly English. A few seem to be in a language not yet known to mankind.”

  “She’s just too smart for you.”

  “Probably,” Alex said with a chuckle. “Now tell me what’s wrong. Not that it’s not great to hear from you, but come on. I know something’s up.”

  I sighed and leaned back on the bed, propping my phone up on a pillow. Alex was eight years older than me, yet we’d always been close. Even when he was on the other side of the world, he knew when I needed him. Grimly, I told him about some of the repairs the house needed.

  When I was done, Alex was silent for a moment, his expression clouded. Finally, he spoke. “How much money is in the maintenance fund?”

  “Not a lot. I told you how we had to have a plumber out twice in March, right?”

  “Yeah. Listen, for the next month or two, put Sierra’s and Gabi’s rent checks straight into the maintenance fund, okay? I wish I could send some, but the cost of living is so high over here.”

  “Are you sure? This is your house, too. You’re supposed to be earning rent from it.”

  “Don’t worry about that. If the whole thing collapses to the ground, it won’t be earning rent anyway.”

  I nodded, my eyes closing briefly more from feeling overwhelmed than sleepy. When I spoke, my voice was quiet. “I-I’m not sure what to do. It needs so much work, I don’t know where to begin. And I don’t know much about home ownership.” I’d lived in the dorms during freshman and sophomore years in college. Then when our parents were killed in a car accident, Alex and I inherited the house. At his urging, I moved back in along with Sierra and Gabi. We’d been living together ever since. I loved it here, but that didn’t mean it was always easy. “Maybe we should’ve sold it after… after the accident.”

  Alex’s voice was full of sympathy. “Does it bring you bad memories?”

  “No,” I said, surprised by the idea. “If anything, the opposite.” I’d lived most my life here with people I loved. My roommates. My parents. My brother… and his best friend Tyler. “But… I just don’t know what to do.”

  “Me either.” Alex sighed. “I spoke to the lawyer after the funeral. I asked about selling. He said we’d need to do a lot of work—and put in a lot of money—to get it ready to go on sale. And I didn’t have that kind of money. Still don’t, unfortunately.”

  I nodded. Our parents hadn’t been rich. They’d already put Alex through college and graduate school and were in the midst of putting me through college. This house was their biggest asset.

  “Besides,” Alex continued, “I couldn’t stand the thought of losing them and the house. Even though I’d already moved out, it still felt like home. It makes me happy to know that you’re still there. But not if you’re miserable. Do you want to find someplace else to live?”

  “No,” I said. “Like you said—it’s home. Maybe someday you’ll bring Yuka here and we can put the tire swing up out back.”

  “She’d like that. And so would I.” Alex smiled, and for a moment, it felt like he was right here next to me in the room. “Hang in there, kiddo. It’ll get better.”

  The warmth in his voice made me smile. “I will.”

  “Call anytime.”

  “You too.”

  After hanging up, I thought about what my brother said. The rent checks from Sierra and Gabi would help a little, but it wouldn’t be enough for even one of the major repairs this place needed.

  Sleep remained elusive as I mulled over the problem in my mind. Finally, by 2:00 a.m., I had a plan. Sierra and Gabi were right. No more waiting around for good stuff to happen. If you wanted your life to improve, you had to make it happen yourself.

  And on Monday morning, that’s what I’d do.

  4

  Tyler

  “Boss?”

  A knock on the door made me look up from my computer. A fuzzy person stood in the doorway. Jesus, I needed to spend less time looking at screens. I’d been working on a special program all morning.

  I blinked until my assistant, Monica, came into focus. “Come on in.”

  She came in, kicked off a shoe, and folded one leg under her as she sat across from me. Nobody was very formal around here—least of all me.

  Monica gave me a rundown of how the various departments were doing. Since TR Technologies now had over fifty employees, I didn’t have time to check in with my department heads as often as I used to. Monica was my eyes and ears—and very often my brain. I paid her an enormous salary to stay on top of everything that went on here, and she was worth every penny.

  I rubbed my eyes as we spoke. It wasn’t often that I had time to work on new software myself anymore. Next time it came up, however, I was going to have to set a reminder to step away from the screen every so often.

  When Monica had finished updating me on all the departments, I rose to find some coffee,
but to my surprise, she stayed put. “Is there something else?”

  “Yeah… an update on the newest employee down in programming.”

  “Oh?” I said, hoping that Monica would continue, but instead she looked up at me slyly.

  “You know the one I mean… the young woman you won’t speak to but feel perfectly fine stalking?”

  I rolled my eyes, sitting back down. “I’m not stalking her. She’s an old family friend, and I want her to do well in the company.”

  “So how come you don’t check in with her directly?”

  “Because I have you,” I said. Trying to win a debate against Monica is usually impossible, but I always try.

  “Then how come you’re not having me check up on other new employees? Want to hear what Patrick Finn has been working on? Or Becca Trent over in Customer Support?”

  I waited until she finished and then gave her a long-suffering sigh. “Just tell me what’s going on. I thought you said that Bill said she was doing well?” Bill’s her immediate supervisor.

  “She is.”

  “Then what’s up?”

  “She spoke to Payroll this morning.”

  “She did?” That was a surprise. Entry-level positions here paid the industry standard, maybe a tad better, and there was ample opportunity for advancement after as little as a year of employment. “What did she want?”

  “She asked for an advance on her salary.”

  “An advance?” I realized I was echoing Monica, but I couldn’t help being surprised. Kait was single, lived in a house that was paid for, and had roommates. It didn’t seem like she should be having money problems, but who knew. I spoke to Alex often, but he was on the other side of the world. Maybe there was stuff going on in her life that he didn’t know about. “See if you can find out why.”

  “I’m not going to dig into her financial life or her private conversations,” Monica said, sounding a bit exasperated.