Sex And The Single Braddock

“Malcolm? What’s up? I was just on my way out to grab some lunch.”

“What’s up is exactly what I’d like to know. I’m still trying to figure out what possessed you to take a job at Stewart Industries.”

Rolling her eyes, Shondra told her brother to hold on while she closed her office door. She was located only a few feet away from the quadrant of cubicles where the secretaries sat. If gossip traveled through this office the way it had in her previous ones, all of her business would be the late-breaking news within the hour.

Returning to her desk, Shondra resigned herself to missing lunch. Appeasing her oldest brother could take a while. He saw himself as the family protector, now more than ever.

“Okay, I’m back. And as for my new job, I’ve already spoken to Tyson about this. I thought he’d filled you in.”

“I spoke to him, but I’m interested in hearing it from you. What exactly do you hope to accomplish?”

“Well, I’m their new CCO, so I’m in the process of designing new internal controls for—”

“Stop it. You know what I’m talking about.”

Wincing, Shondra could scarcely believe this was the more laid-back version of her oldest brother. He’d mellowed quite a bit since he’d begun dating Gloria Kingsley.

Just not quite enough to stop checking up on her as though she were still twelve instead of twenty-eight.

“You and Tyson wanted to know what Dad had to do with SI. Now I’m in the perfect position to find out.”

“Don’t you think taking a job there is a bit rash? Why didn’t you discuss it with us before you took such a prominent position within the company?”

Shondra stared out her window, wishing she could climb out of it. “Because everything moved so fast. And because I don’t need your permission to change jobs.”

“Shawnie, you have no idea where this could lead. What if someone working there was involved with Dad’s death? Don’t you think the Braddock name will stand out? It’s entirely possible that you’re putting yourself at risk.”

“Don’t worry, Malcolm. I’m an expert at risk management.” She’d hoped to lighten the mood, but her brother wasn’t having any of it.

“Don’t get cute. I’m just trying to make sure you’ve thought this through and that you’re being cautious.”

Shondra had taken into consideration that if someone at SI had been involved with her father’s death, her family name could put her in danger, as well. But she felt that was a chance she had to take.

To her way of thinking, it was much more significant that the anonymous warning had come from SI. She hoped that her presence would encourage that person to make contact again with more information.

“What you should be asking—” she was hoping to rush through the rest of this conversation “—is if I’ve found anything.”

There was a long pause on the other end of the line, as though Malcolm was trying to decide whether or not to encourage her. “Did you find anything?” he asked with obvious reluctance.

“I spent a good bit of time looking through contracts today. I still have more to do, but I’m getting the feeling that if Dad had dealings with someone here, it wasn’t related to oil.”

Malcolm blew out is breath. “That’s what I was afraid of.”

Shondra finally got off the phone five minutes before her next meeting. Her stomach was grumbling loudly, which was the last thing she needed before tying herself up in a conference room for a couple of hours.

She knew the fifth floor had a snack machine. At least she could suck down a few chips and quiet her stomach. She was in the process of deciding between corn chips and pretzels when she heard someone come up behind her.

“A snack-machine lunch? I thought you were some kind of health nut.”

The back of her neck tingled as she turned to face Connor. “It wasn’t my first choice, but it’s been a busy day. At this point, it’s either junk food or office supplies.”

Connor shook his head. “I’ve tasted the pencils. I can’t recommend them.”

Shondra laughed, feeling nervous now that she knew what his lips tasted like. And it was hard not to focus on those lips right now. He looked great today in his dark gray suit.

Feeling her skin heat, she realized she was staring. Grateful for something to do, she spun away, thrust her coins into the machine and punched J5 for the pretzels.

And, of course, they got stuck on the coil. She slammed her palm into the glass to no avail.

“Here, let me help you with that.”

Shondra started to move aside, but Connor had already trapped her against the machine with his body. He was now close enough for her to smell the clean, fresh scent of his soap. Her heartbeat sped up, and she hoped she wasn’t perspiring, because she was feeling really hot.

Gripping both sides of the vending machine, Connor gave it a vigorous shake, bringing his body into contact with hers. Shondra sucked in her breath. The whole exercise took less than thirty seconds but she felt as if time had been moving in slow motion.

Without stepping back from her, he reached down and plucked the bag from the tray. “Here you go,” he said, placing it into her hand while his other hand slipped down to rest on her waist.

Shondra turned in his arms and for a split second she was tempted to let him kiss her.

But her sanity returned as she realized they were standing in the alcove of a busy corridor. Someone could pass through at any moment.

Face flaming, Shondra eased out from between Connor and the machine. “Thanks,” she squeaked, and rushed down the hall to the elevator.

Connor laughed to himself as he watched Shondra run off. Good. She had it as bad as he did. If he didn’t have a meeting himself, he’d go after her and really make her squirm.

She’d been on his mind all weekend. They had agreed not to get involved, but Connor didn’t think she wanted that any more than he did. And if they both wanted it, why should they both suffer?

Connor walked into his office whistling. He loved the chase. After gathering his projections for the new oil well, he headed to the conference room to review the figures with his stockholders.

Pushing through the double doors, he stopped short. His father was sitting in his position at the head of the table. He ignored the rows of eyes on him as he stood over his father.

“There must have been a miscommunication, Carl.” He couldn’t stand calling the man “Dad” in front of his colleagues. “I thought I was going to be running this meeting.”

Carl Stewart straightened in his seat. “You are, Connor. I’m just sitting in.”

Trying to hide the radical spike in his blood pressure, Connor settled himself in the seat next to his father’s.

The sixty-six-year-old man resisted aging at every cost. As a result, his dirty-blond dye job and string of young companions fooled many into thinking that Carl Stewart was a modern man. But the reality was that he was still a traditionalist who clung to the old ways like a life preserver.

He always did this. He was supposed to be phasing out of the company, making room for Connor to take the helm as CEO. But, typical of their relationship, his father just couldn’t let go.

As long as he attended all the meetings and held tight to the company reins, Carl could ensure that things continued to be done the way they always had been. That meant more vetoes for Connor’s ideas.

As long as his father showed up to work in the morning, the employees would continue to defer to him. How could they respect Connor as their boss if his father continued to act as if he needed to monitor his son at every turn? That’s why Connor spent as much time as he could on oil rigs. Out there, the employees respected him.

With gritted teeth, Connor barreled his way through the meeting despite his father’s constant interjections, anecdotes and questions. He wanted nothing more than to confront the elder Stewart about the situation, but it wasn’t the time to make waves.

His father would never retire if Connor couldn’t convince him that he could run the business with a cool head. That included finessing the old man.

If he bided his time, everything would go as planned. Carl Stewart would retire, and Connor would finally be free to run the company on his own.

At least that’s what he told himself. He could play his father’s game for a few more months, Connor reassured himself as he stalked past his executive assistant into his office.

But not without a little distraction for himself, he thought, picking up his phone to dial Shondra’s extension.

By Thursday afternoon Shondra was beginning to wonder if she’d gotten herself in over her head.

It took a lot of energy to rebuff Connor’s flirtations and do her work. No less than once a day she received phone calls, voice mails or e-mails, and although she found these to be the brightest spots in her day, they were distracting enough that she had to stay late in the evenings to keep ahead of her workload.

As if that wasn’t enough, anytime she found a spare moment she tried to do a little investigating.

Tomorrow she’d be boarding a plane to South America to tour another SI facility and look into their compliance issues. She wanted to make some progress today because she wouldn’t be back in the office until Tuesday.

For all the documents and files she had to sort through, she was coming up with exactly nothing. Worse yet, she was starting to count on Connor’s distractions to get her through the day.

He often called with silly questions to get her caught up in mindless banter. He was quick with words and their verbal sparring was more fun than it should have been.

And when he wasn’t calling, he managed to “run into her” in the break room, the elevator or even the deli where she liked to go for lunch.

The only place they hadn’t crossed paths—

There was a knock on her door.

—was her office.

“Come in.”

Connor slipped through the door and immediately came to tower over her desk.

“What are you doing here?” Shondra’s spine snapped straight. He’d caught her off guard. At that moment her desk was piled with files she’d snuck from a fifth-floor filing cabinet that she had no business accessing.

She wouldn’t be able to explain herself if Connor realized she was snooping around where she didn’t belong.

He circled her desk until he could lean against the edge, looming in her personal space. “What am I doing here? Is that any way to greet your boss?”

Shondra pushed back until her desk chair hit the wall at her back. She needed air and a means to distract him. The last thing she needed was for him to focus on the contents of her desk.

Her heart was racing in her chest. She hoped she didn’t look nervous. Fortunately she suspected that if she did, Connor would thank his masculine charms before he looked elsewhere for an explanation.

“Technically, your father’s my boss.” Shondra noted a pained look on his face that was gone before she could analyze it. “Is there anything I can do for you, sir?” she said with mock sweetness.

Shondra held her breath as he turned and looked over her desk. He grabbed a pencil out of her organizer and pretended to inspect it. “I just dropped by to make sure you weren’t snacking between meals.”

Shondra snatched the pencil away. “Thanks, but I haven’t had to resort to eating the office supplies yet.”

Connor leaned closer. “I’m glad to hear it. But I’ve noticed that you work through lunch quite a bit. That’s not healthy. I take the proper nourishment of my employees very seriously, so I’m going to take you to lunch today.”

Shondra shook her head. That was all she needed. So far, no one had noticed their little interactions around the office, but if they went to lunch, people would start to notice. She couldn’t stand the idea of being the object of office gossip and she told him as much.

“Besides,” she added, “I’m actually having lunch with Sarah today. So you don’t have to worry about me after all.”

Connor frowned. “You’re having lunch with my executive assistant? Why?”

“Because she’s nice and we hit it off.” Which was true; they’d run into each other a few times in the break room and had a lot in common. But she also thought a lunch date would give her a chance to find out if the woman had ever received any calls from her father.

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