Bidding On Her Boss

But if nothing else, tonight Faith Crawford had achieved one thing she’d set out to achieve—she definitely had his full attention.

In fact, he was having trouble looking anywhere but at her.

* * *

Faith added another peony to the arrangement and tried to ignore the prickles on the back of her neck that told her Dylan was watching her again. Of course, that’s what the whole night had been engineered to achieve, but he was only sometimes following what her hands were doing. At other times...

Heat rose in her belly as she thought about the way he’d been staring at her mouth a few minutes ago. She couldn’t remember the last time a man had looked at her with that much hunger. Especially a man she’d been wanting to wrap herself around and kiss as if there was no tomorrow ever since he’d stepped out of his sex-on-wheels car.

And that it had to be Dylan Hawke, the CEO of the company? Well, that was fate playing a cruel joke on her. So she pretended that she wasn’t wildly attracted to the man in front of her and that he wasn’t sending her the same signals. She focused on the flowers. Which was working out fairly well, except for the prickles on the back of her neck.

But she needed to concentrate, to stop letting herself be distracted. Ruthlessly she reminded herself of what was at stake: getting this right could mean a fantastic boost to her career. She turned the arrangement with quick flicks of her wrist, checking for symmetry. Just a few stray leaves to trim. She snipped them away carefully. It looked good, balanced in color and form...but was it special enough to go into the catalog? She’d controlled her wilder artistic urges and gone for a safer conservative arrangement to impress. Butterflies fluttered mercilessly in her stomach. For the first time, she realized how much Mary’s criticism had dented her confidence in her creativity.

She reached out to touch a crisp green leaf. This arrangement was finished—but still she hesitated.

“All done?”

She jolted at the sound of Dylan’s voice so close to her ear. Last time she’d been aware of him, he’d been on the other side of the bench. She tried to move to the side. Her foot caught on something and she felt herself begin to fall. A hand closed around her arm, and her almost certain tumble was averted. She closed her eyes, and then opened them to find Dylan staring at her. The picture of him on the company website was nothing like the living, breathing man before her.

With him so close, no more than a hand span away, his scent surrounded her. It was dark and mysterious, surprising. She’d have expected something lighter, more recognizable, perhaps one of the expensive name-brand colognes. Yet this had undertones of a night in the forest—earthy, secretive and alluring. A shiver ran down her body to her toes. Dylan stilled.

Her breath caught in her throat. She could feel the heat from his body reaching out to envelop her. The world receded around her and all she could see, all she could feel, was Dylan. His eyes darkened and she swallowed hard. She should step away, not let her body lead her into temptation. But, oh, what temptation this man was. She could feel her pulse thundering at the base of her throat and saw Dylan’s gaze drop to observe the same thing.

“Faith,” he murmured, his breathing uneven.

She closed her eyes, fighting the effect of hearing her name on his lips, and when she opened them again, he was closer than before, his breath fanning over her face. Her hands found their way to his chest, so solid and warm.

A shudder ran down his body at her touch.

“Please—” she said, and before she could finish the thought his mouth was on hers. A small part of her mind told her to pull away, but instead, her hands fisted in his shirt, not letting him go.

He groaned as she opened her mouth to him, and his arms wrapped around her, holding her close while pushing her back against the workbench. His tongue was like nothing else as it stroked along the side of hers, leaving her wanting more. To be closer. So much closer.

She was lost.

Two

As Dylan drew away, Faith tried to catch her breath. It seemed as if he was doing the same. Except she wasn’t sure she’d ever get her breath back again—that kiss was unlike anything she’d experienced before. In fact, if she just leaned forward a little, she could experience it again...

And then the enormity of the situation hit her, sending her knees wobbling.

She’d just kissed her boss.

No, not her boss—the big boss. She’d just kissed the man with ultimate responsibility for every single Hawke’s Blooms store.

Or he’d kissed her—she wasn’t sure about the details of what had just happened. All she knew was she’d never been kissed with that much hunger. That much passion. That much mind-numbing skill. That it had been her employer, someone she shouldn’t have been kissing in the first place, was a cruel twist of irony. If she’d screwed up her well-ordered plan or caused him to not take her seriously, she’d never forgive herself.

“Faith,” he said, his voice a rasp. “I’m sorry. That was completely out of line.”

Honesty compelled her to point out the truth. “You weren’t there alone.”

“But I’m the one who’s the boss.” He winced. “It’s my responsibility not to cross the damn line. You shouldn’t feel pressured or uncomfortable in your workplace, and I apologize.”

“I don’t feel uncomfortable. Well,” she amended, looking down at her hands, “I didn’t feel uncomfortable or pressured then. I guess I’m uncomfortable now.” She glanced back up, meeting his wary gaze. “But you should know, I wanted to kiss you. Then.”

His head tilted to the side. “But not now?”

“No.” Which was a lie. She definitely wanted to kiss him again. Wanted it more than almost anything. The key was the almost. She wanted a flourishing career more than she wanted to kiss Dylan Hawke again.

He blew out a breath. “That’s a relief, but it’s not enough. It was selfish of me to kiss you when you wanted me here for a completely different purpose. I give you my word it won’t happen again.”

“I appreciate that,” she said, trying to conjure a professional facade.

He was silent for a couple of beats, his gaze assessing. “You seem quite certain, considering you just said you’d wanted me to kiss you only a few minutes ago.”

She wasn’t sure where he was coming from—it didn’t look like flirting, but she couldn’t read him well enough to know. Maybe he was testing her, wanting to ensure she wasn’t going to change her mind and make waves in the company. Whatever it was about, she had to be absolutely clear so he understood her position.

She drew in a breath and lifted her chin. “Boyfriends and lovers aren’t hard to come by, Mr. Hawke. What I need more than a man is someone to appreciate my talent. I hope this isn’t offensive, but I want you professionally more than personally.”

He flashed her a self-deprecating smile. “Understood. Which means I’d better have a look at this arrangement.”

She stood back to give him some room. Everything she’d done recently, from making the plan to attending the auction to spending most of her savings to meeting Dylan here tonight, had led to this moment. It was the do-or-die moment, and all she could do was step back, cross her fingers and hope he’d still give an honest assessment after he’d kissed her.

Dylan dug his hands in his pockets as he faced her arrangement. He moved around, looking at it from several angles before straightening with a grimace.

“That bad?” she asked, her stomach in free fall. “You’re grimacing.”

“No, it’s not bad.” He leaned back against the bench and crossed his arms over his chest. “If I’m not smiling it’s because I really wanted to put your arrangement in the catalog.”

She felt the words like a slap. Tears pressed against the backs of her eyes, but she wouldn’t let them form. “But you’re not going to.”

“I’m sorry, Faith,” he said, his voice gentle. “Especially after...” He gestured toward the other end of the bench, where they’d been when he’d kissed her.

She bit down on her lip. She might feel bad, but she didn’t want him to feel bad as well. He was only doing his job. “Don’t apologize. If it’s not good enough, that’s my problem, not yours.”

“The thing is, it’s good, really good, but it looks a lot like the arrangements that are already in the book. If we add something new, then it needs to be unique. It has to offer our customers a genuine alternative to the options already there, and this arrangement, though beautiful, is—”

“Too much like what they can already choose,” she finished for him, understanding his point, but still deflated.

He moved closer and laid a hand on her shoulder, his eyes kind. “But I’ll reimburse the money you paid at the auction. You shouldn’t have to pay to have an appointment with someone at the head office.”

Her back stiffened. He wasn’t going to wriggle out of this that easily. “I won’t take the money back. I have two more dates left and I plan to use them.”

There was no way she was giving up this direct line to the head of the Hawke’s Blooms stores. It had been a good plan when she’d made it, and it was still a good plan...as long as she hadn’t blown her chances by kissing him.

Sure, tonight hadn’t been the raging success she’d hoped for, but there were two more dates yet. When she set her mind to something, she didn’t give up until she’d achieved it. She’d impress him yet and get one of her arrangements in the catalog.

He dropped his hand and sighed. “The thing is, Faith, I can’t force you to take the money back, but it would be easier for me if you did.”

“Perhaps,” she said and smiled sweetly. “But it wouldn’t be easier for me.”

“Look, can I be honest?”

He thrust the fingers of both hands through his hair and left them there, linking them behind his head. This wasn’t the same man who’d kissed her moments before, or the man who ran an entire chain of retail stores, or even the man who’d confidently strutted the stage at the auction. This one seemed more real.

She nodded. “Please.”

“I’m in the process of trying to rehabilitate my image.” He gave her half a smile, and she tried not to laugh at how adorable he looked now.

“From playboy to the future brother-in-law of a princess?”

He shifted his weight to his other leg. “Yeah, something like that.”

“So to stop people seeing you as a playboy, you auctioned yourself off to the highest bidder?” She jumped up to sit on the bench, enjoying his discomfort more than she would have expected, but also enjoying seeing this private side of him.

He coughed out a laugh. “Yeah, when you put it like that, it sounds crazy.”

Suddenly she was more than intrigued. This man was a mass of contradictions and she wanted to know more. To understand him. “Then how would you put it?”

“I’m throwing myself into our new charity. The auction was only the first step, but I’ll be involved every step of the way.”

“A respectable, upstanding member of the community.” She could see him pulling it off, too. Going from a playboy to a pillar of the community.

“So you can see that the very last thing I need is a scandal involving a staff member, especially given that we have a policy about management being involved with staff.”

A scandal? She frowned. What, exactly, did he think she wanted from those other two dates? “Dylan, I’m not expecting romance on the other dates any more than I expected it on this one.”

He shrugged one shoulder. “But image is everything.”

That was true. She cast her mind around for a solution. There was no way she was giving up her remaining dates without a fight. “What if no one knows? We could do them in secret.”

“That boat pretty much sailed when the auction was covered by the media,” he said and chuckled. Then he sobered and let out a long breath. “But it’s more than that.”

Understanding dawned. “Our kiss changed things.” She said the words softly, as if acknowledging the truth too loudly would make a difference.

He nodded, his gaze not wavering from her eyes. “And it’s very important that I see you only as an employee, and you see me only as a boss.”

“I won’t have any trouble with that. Are you saying you will?” She arched her eyebrow in challenge, guessing Dylan Hawke was a man who didn’t shrink from a challenge.

One corner of his mouth kicked up. “If you can do it, I can.”

“Then it looks like we don’t have a problem, do we?” Knowing he was trapped in the logic of it, she jumped down from the bench and grabbed the trash.

She felt him behind her, not moving, probably assessing his options. Then finally he took the trash can from her and began to sweep stem cuttings together with his free hand.

“It appears you’ve won this round, Faith Sixty-Three,” he said from beside her.

She flashed him a wry smile. “Dylan, if I’d won this round, my design would soon be featured in the catalog. All I’ve done is kept the door open for another round.”

“You know what?” he said, his voice amused. “Even though I know I shouldn’t be, I’m already looking forward to the next round.”

She turned and caught his gaze, finding a potent mix of humor and heat there—something closer to the real man she’d glimpsed earlier. Quickly she turned away. This was going to be hard enough without seeing him as anything more than the head of the Hawke’s Blooms stores. And she had a sinking feeling it might already be too late for that anyway...

* * *

Two days later, Dylan pulled into the parking lot of the Santa Monica store. He hadn’t done an all-day inspection for a while. It used to be part of his management style—show up in the morning unannounced, hang around in the background and help out where he could. Nothing beat it for getting a good feel for how a store was working and what needed improvement.

He’d been meaning to start doing a couple of these a month, so his office staff hadn’t thought there was anything strange when he’d told them to clear his schedule for today. Of course, they weren’t to know what he was trying to deny to himself—that he hadn’t stopped thinking about one of the Santa Monica store’s employees since the moment he’d dropped her home that first night.

Under different circumstances, there was no question he’d ask her out. That kiss had been beyond amazing and had been on an automatic replay loop in his mind ever since, but he’d also enjoyed her company. He never knew what she was going to say or do next, and that made her fun to be around.

He sighed and stepped from his car. No use wasting energy wanting what he couldn’t have. She worked for him. End of story.

But that didn’t stop him from wondering how this particular store was doing. Despite rejecting Faith’s arrangement himself, he’d been left wondering if her manager was doing all she could for the advancement of her staff if Faith had put in twenty applications to the catalog of standard arrangements and not one had made it through to the head office.

Sure, he’d rejected the one he’d seen last night, but given Faith’s enthusiasm and skill, a good, supportive manager should have found a way to guide her toward a more appropriate arrangement by now. Perhaps even submitted one or two just to encourage her. Yes, it was definitely time he had a closer look at how this store—and the other stores—were doing.

As he stepped through the front door and removed his aviator sunglasses, the manager, Mary O’Donnell, looked up and waved enthusiastically.

“Mr. Hawke!” she called, her voice obsequious. “So good to see you. Here, Faith, take over this arrangement. I need to talk to Mr. Hawke.”

At the mention of his name, Faith froze, then looked up like a deer caught in headlights. Her tongue darted out to moisten her lips, and he was assailed by memories of her mouth. Of how incredible it had felt under his. Of how it had opened to allow his tongue entry. Before he could forget all the reasons not to kiss her again, he determinedly drew his gaze to Mary O’Donnell.

“No need,” he said. “I’m here for the day. Don’t stop what you’re doing—I just want to get a feel for the store.”

“You haven’t done an all-day inspection for quite a while.” Mary shot a suspicious glance around the room. “Is there a problem?”

“Just continuing a procedure that worked well for us in the past. I’ve let it slip a bit as we’ve grown, but I’ll be working my way around to all the stores in the coming months.”

“And we’re first?” she asked, pride beaming from her features.

“Yes, you are.” He’d let her think it was a compliment. Plus, it was a much more professional reason than the fact that he hadn’t been able to stop thinking about one of her employees.

“Well, in that case, let me introduce you to the team.” She grabbed a middle-aged blonde woman by the wrist and dragged her over. “This is Courtney. She’s our senior florist. If you want any bouquets made to take home at the end of the day, Courtney’s your woman.”

“Good to meet you, Courtney,” he said, shaking her hand.

Courtney smiled openly. “Nice to meet you, too, Mr. Hawke. Though, if you don’t mind, I need to finish this order before the courier arrives in a few minutes?”

“Of course,” he said and watched her go back to work on one of the long benches. She seemed efficient and nice enough, and the arrangement she was working on was good.

“And this is our other florist, Faith Crawford,” the manager said, pointing in Faith’s direction. He watched the reactions of the other two women closely, checking to see if they knew Faith was the person who’d won the bid at the auction, but neither gave anything away. Interesting. Faith obviously hadn’t told them, and the company grapevine hadn’t caught up with the news yet. Most of the staff from the head office had been at the auction the other night, but even if they’d managed to get a good look at Faith in the dim light, it seemed none had recognized her.

He glanced over at her now. She had a bright yellow Hawke’s Blooms apron covering the halter top he could see peeking out from underneath. Her curly red hair was caught up in a clip on the top of her head. She looked up and he paused, waiting to see her reaction. Her eyes flicked to her manager, then back to him. He wasn’t comfortable with an outright lie to his employees—it was probable that the information would circulate around the company at some point, and he didn’t want to be caught in a lie—but that didn’t mean he had to share all the details of their short history.

“Ms. Crawford and I have met before,” he said as a compromise.

The manager’s eyes darted between them, looking for snippets of information, so he cut her off at the pass. “Do you have an apprentice in this store?”

“Oh, yes. Sharon. But she’s not in until lunchtime on Mondays.”

He nodded and took off his sport coat. Instead of his usual work attire of a business suit, today he’d worn a polo shirt and casual trousers—closer to the clothes the staff in-store wore. “Before she gets here, I’ll do the sweeping and answering the phone. Wherever you need an extra pair of hands.”

Unbidden, his gaze tracked to where Faith worked at her bench, and he found that she’d looked up at him at the same time. Wherever you need an extra pair of hands... He could still feel his hands in her hair, cupping her cheek, under her chin.

A pink flush crept up Faith’s neck to her cheeks, and he knew she was remembering the same thing. He cleared his throat and looked away.

If he was going to make it through the day without letting everyone know he’d kissed his employee, he would have to do better at keeping his thoughts firmly under control.

* * *

It had been two hours since Dylan had appeared in the doorway, looking as if he’d just stepped off a photo shoot for a story entitled “What the Suave CEOs Are Wearing This Season.” She’d spent those two hours trying to pretend he wasn’t in the room, just so she could get her work done.

But every time he swept up the clippings from where she was working, or he handed her a slip of paper with an order that had come in over the phone, she lost the battle and was plunged back into those moments when they’d been in this very spot, at night, alone.

And occasionally, when their eyes met, she thought she saw the same memory lurking in his.

But she couldn’t let herself be sidetracked. She needed to impress the businessman, Mr. Hawke, not the red-blooded Dylan who’d kissed her senseless. Men came and went, but this particular man could help her career. It was Mr. Hawke she needed to impress with what she could do.

They’d had a steady stream of orders in person, over the phone and on their website, and she was glad. It gave her an excuse not to talk to Dylan—no, Mr. Hawke—just yet. He’d sat with Courtney earlier and had a cup of coffee, asking her about her job and ideas for the store, and said he’d be doing the same with all the staff members.

The bell above the door dinged, and she looked up, smiling to see one of her favorite customers.

“Hi, Tom,” she said, heading for the fridge. “How was your weekend?”

“Not long enough,” he said ruefully. “Yours?”

Her eyes flicked to Dylan, who was thumbing through their order book, his dark reddish-brown hair rumpled, his sport coat gone and his tie loosened. His hand hesitated and his chest expanded as if he’d taken a deep breath.

“How about I go with interesting,” she said, turning back to her customer.

Tom laughed. “Sounds as if there’s a story there.”

“My life is never dull.” She reached into the fridge and drew out the assorted foliage she’d put to the side earlier. “I found some fresh mint at the markets this morning, as well as these cute little branches of crab apples. How does that sound?”

“Like a winner. Emmie loved the daisy and rosemary bouquet last week.”

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Dylan watching the conversation and then moving to her elbow. He put his hand out to Tom. “Hi, I’m Dylan Hawke, CEO of the Hawke’s Blooms retail chain.”

“Wow, the big boss,” Tom said, winking at Faith.

Dylan turned to her. “You bought crab apples and mint yourself for this bouquet?” His tone was mild, but his focus had narrowed in on her like a laser pointer. “This sounds interesting. Can you talk me through the thinking behind your plan?”

Her stomach clenched tight. She’d wanted the attention of the businessman side of him, and now she had it, which was great. But if he thought what she was doing was too bizarre, then she might have lost her chance to win his approval. A second strike against her in a row might be too much to overcome.

All she could do was paste on a smile and do her job.

“Tom comes in each Monday to pick up some flowers for his wife,” she said, her gaze on the work her hands were doing. “Emmie is blind, so I always put some thought into combinations that she can enjoy.”

“You picked up the mint on your way in?” Dylan asked, his tone not giving anything away.

She nodded. “Monday mornings I leave home a bit earlier and drop in at the flower markets, looking for some inspiration. We usually go outside the standard range of flowers that the store stocks to get the right elements for Emmie’s bouquet. I like something fragrant—” she picked up the mint “—and something tactile—” she pointed to the crab apple branch “—along with the usual assortment of flowers.”

She cast a glance at the buckets bursting with bright blooms around them, looking for inspiration. Something white, perhaps?

Dylan raised an eyebrow and she hesitated. Maybe he didn’t like florists going this far off the beaten track? Her manager hadn’t been particularly supportive and always complained if she tried to get reimbursement for the extras from petty cash, but Faith loved the challenge of something new each week, and the fact that Tom wanted to do this for his wife always melted her heart. Were there other men like Tom in the world? Men who were so dedicated to bringing a smile to the faces of the women they loved that they’d go the extra mile every single week? That sort of constancy was a beautiful thing to be a part of.