The Perfect Boss Read online

  The Perfect Boss

  Brenda Ford

  Copyright © 2019 by Brenda Ford

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form, including electronic or mechanical, without written permission from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

  This book is a piece of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

  This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This book may not be re-sold or given away to other people.

  If you are reading this book and book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should return it to the seller and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the author’s work.

  Published: Brenda Ford 2019

  [email protected]

  Created with Vellum

  Contents

  Author’s Note

  Blurb

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Epilogue

  Excerpt

  Author’s Note

  Stay connected with Brenda Ford

  Also by Brenda Ford

  Author’s Note

  The Perfect Boss is a full-length standalone novel. At the end, I’ve included an excerpt from my bestselling romance novel Catch-22.

  The Perfect Boss concludes at around 90% on your device.

  Happy Reading!

  XO, Brenda Ford

  Blurb

  She’s completely off-limits.

  But my brother won’t stop trying to set us up.

  I’d been a playboy all my life.

  That is, until she came along.

  Tami Johnson…

  Her curves, and her deep green eyes.

  One-night stands have become a thing of the past.

  She’s all I care about now.

  But she’s innocent.

  My assistant.

  And way younger.

  I’m the last man she should be with.

  At the same time, though…

  I’m the only man who’d do anything for her.

  She’s supposed to be mine.

  I’m way too obsessed to let her go.

  Especially now that she’s pregnant.

  I’ll do whatever it takes to claim my family.

  Chapter One

  Tami

  “I hate him, Ruby,” I moan desperately, my head hitting the table in despair. “He’s so horrible.”

  “I suppose he must be pretty ruthless if he’s the head of such a massive company. But he can’t be that bad… can he?” I give her a painful look. “Okay, so he is that bad, clearly. But you’re only his PA for a week.”

  “A week too long. Then I’ll be back on the creative team with Angelo where I belong.”

  Brad Smith. Brad freaking Smith, the boss of the marketing company I work for. The grumpy, moody, brooding guy who keeps the whole thing going. I have a lot of respect for him, especially since I know he took over caring for his five brothers after their parent’s died when he was young and that he has shouldered the family business too and made a massive success of it… but I much prefer respecting him from afar. Close up, he’s kind of terrifying. I don’t know why his younger brother, Angelo who I normally work underneath, has done this to me. It’s almost as if he wants to punish me for something and I don’t know what it is. I haven’t done anything wrong as far as I know. I’m a bad ass employee who is always on top of everything.

  “Maybe it’s just because it’s the first day, Tami,” Ruby tries to reassure me. “He might be better tomorrow.”

  “I just don’t think he believes I’m good enough to be working for him, that’s all.”

  “Oh, get lost! You kick ass, Tami! He will be able to see that if he’s the ruthless, smart business guy that he seems to be. You finished top in all of your college classes and you’ve done nothing but prove yourself ever since. Personally, I think you’re far too good to even be Angelo’s assistant. You should be running a creative team of your own. Hopefully, your time with the boss will help him to see that!”

  I can’t help but smile at my best friend. “You’ve always been my biggest cheer leader, Ruby, and that’s why I love you so much. But I’m only just twenty two years old. He’s in his thirties. I’m sure that he just sees me as a kid. I might have done well in college, but I probably don’t have enough work experience.”

  Ruby rolls her eyes dramatically. “I might not have a business as big as the Smith’s, but I’m a boss too, remember? And when I see potential, work experience doesn’t matter.”

  “Well, maybe one day when I am running my own accounts, I will take your salon on as a client.”

  “You know that I would love that. I wouldn’t trust anyone to do that but you.”

  I finish the rest of my drink – non-alcoholic because it’s a work night of course – and I lean back in my chair. I’m so glad that I came out for dinner with Ruby. I wasn’t going to because I’m so exhausted, but I needed someone to vent to and now I’m really glad that I did. I have to admit that I do feel a lot better now.

  “Well, let me just survive this long ass week first then we’ll see where my career goes from here.”

  I would love to think that this could be a big step for me and that was Angelo’s plan all along, but I don’t know. I don’t want to get my hopes up for nothing. I don’t want to be let down.

  “Let me see a picture of this arrogant ass,” Ruby suddenly blurts out.

  “What, Brad? You want to see a picture of Brad? I don’t think he has a social media account.”

  “No, but there must be a photo of him on the company website or something like that.”

  I pull my cell phone out, wondering what the hell Ruby is planning now, and I head to the website. I find the page about Brad and wait a second for it to load. As his face fills my screen I can actually look at him with a feeling like his gaze is piercing deeply back into me, and my heart skips a few beats.

  “You aren’t going to do anything silly, are you?” I check before I show her anything.

  “Of course not! I just want to see what he looks like, that’s all.” I hand the phone to her and immediately her whole expression changes. “Oh my God, he’s gorgeous! Wow wee, no wonder he’s arrogant. I bet he carries himself like a sexy as fuck boss. Woah, I wouldn’t mind working underneath him.”

  “Ruby!” I exclaim in shock. “I just told you how I don’t want to work for him…”

  “Well, I don’t understand why not. He’s hot. Even if he is an ass, he’s good to look at.”

  “You have a fiancé
, Ruby. I don’t think you should talk about another man like that.”

  She rolls her eyes and snorts at me. “So, I can’t say that another man is good looking? I don’t think so. I can admire, and this man is sexy. Tall, dark, handsome, clearly takes care of himself…”

  “Not your type at all, Ruby!” I honestly don’t get what all of this is about.

  “No, but he might be yours. Don’t you think?” She wiggles her eyebrows suggestively. “Don’t you think that it’s time you start considering popping those V plates of yours?”

  “I am not losing my virginity to my boss!” I hiss while snatching my phone back. “Have you lost your mind?”

  “Why not? Daniel kept stringing you along for years and it never happened, so maybe it’s time…”

  I squirm in my seat, not wanting to think about my ex, Daniel. The boy I met in high school who I had stupid dreams of spending the rest of my life with. I thought he was ‘the one’. We never slept together in school because we didn’t feel ready. Then we had to keep things long distance as we went to college because he moved so far away. But that was okay for me, I wasn’t in any hurry. I just loved him. I would have waited forever…

  Until the last year of college when he accidently video called me while in the middle of sex with someone else. I was left watching the whole show in shock. The worst part was the lack of apology. He didn’t even care, he just said that he needed to sow his wild oats before settling down with me… like I would ever want to stick with him after that. I was done.

  Over. I was never going to go back. Even if I loved him still…

  But that was over a year ago now and I’m truly over him and the pain he caused me. I think I might even be ready to move on and to be with someone properly… but not my boss. That’s just crazy!

  “I don’t think so.” I shake my head hard. “Not Brad. He isn’t the one for me.”

  “He is very handsome though. You can’t deny that. I mean, look at him. He’s a serious hottie.”

  “Maybe.” I shrug, trying to play it down. “I don’t know. Whatever.”

  Ruby gives me a look, almost as if she can see that I feel more for Brad which isn’t the truth. He’s just some guy who owns the company that I work for and that I have been forced to work closely with this week. Nothing more. Maybe he is good looking, I don’t know. I haven’t ever noticed him before and that isn’t going to change now. All I have to do is get through this week with some dignity intact. That’s it…

  “Stop looking at the website,” I complain to myself as I stare at my phone screen again. “What is wrong with you? Why do you need to keep obsessively looking at pictures of your boss all the time? It’s weird.”

  Almost as weird as standing in my bedroom in my pajamas, talking to myself. It has to be Ruby’s fault. Her words about Brad have stuck with me and I can’t handle it. I don’t want to think of the man that’s been pissing me off all day long as sexy, but I suppose he is. I just haven’t ever really looked at him before. He has striking features. Beautiful dark warm eyes and a nice body. He seems to have a depth to him as well which I haven’t really noticed before… but I still shouldn’t be thinking about him like this. Especially when I have four more days putting up with him. The last thing I want is to still be attracted to him…

  I slide into bed and close my eyes, trying to block all thoughts of Brad, but of course he remains as if he needs to torture me further. Not only is he in my mind, but he’s leaning towards me as if he’s about to kiss me.

  “Fuck, stop it,” I mutter. But my body likes it. Butterflies flap in the pit of my stomach and there’s a pulsation in my panties. “Brain, what the hell are you doing? I don’t want this…”

  But imaginary Brad grabs me, and his mouth claims me. He kisses me with the sort of fiery passion found only in movies, his hands sliding down over my butt, flames igniting all the way through me. I’m foggy, heady with need, desperate to get the much needed release that’s already building up.

  “Stop this,” I whisper as I light up all over. “Just stop it already.”

  But it’s practically out of my control. My fingers travel down towards my panties regardless. I imagine that it’s Brad’s commanding hands, his expert touch coming for me. My back arches off the bed, my hips roll towards my fingers, I take myself as if it’s this man controlling me.

  “Oh fuck,” I burst out as I feel my wetness. “Fucking hell, Brad.”

  I graze my fingers over my throat, picturing his lips there, sucking and licking. Then I tweak my nipple, his teeth tugging and teasing me, driving me wild. I plunge my other fingers deep inside of myself as if it’s him taking me. This isn’t a sweet virginal fantasy. It’s raw and intense, full of passion and desire. It’s hot and sweaty, wild, primal, animalistic. The sort that I never got with Daniel, even when things were good.

  He never wanted me like that, I can see that now or it would have happened with him. I know now that I want the person who I give myself over to, to feel like he might die if he can’t have me. Someone like Brad who knows what he’s doing, who knows how to fuck, how to use a woman’s clitoris to make her feel everything…

  “Oh shit!” I scream out as I balance myself on the knife edge of desire, my touch flickering wildly as I touch myself in the way that I just know I love. I might be a virgin in reality, but in fantasy I’ve been with all kinds of men. “Brad, fuck me. Just take me already.”

  I see him teasing me, driving me over the top and pulling away just as I’m about to fall. Being the boss in the bedroom as well as the board room. Shoving me as far as I can before I really lose my mind. The intense pressure consumes me, filling me up, fizzing through my veins until I can’t handle it for another second longer… until I fall. I can’t contain myself for another second longer.

  As I tumble, head first into the swirling, powerful, fiery pleasure, my body bucking and writhing wildly, I can’t even curse Ruby aloud for making me feel this way because right now it’s fucking incredible. I can just imagine that actually being with him would be just as amazing.

  Chapter Two

  Brad

  “You’re late,” I point to Oliver as I find him at the computer in his office. “Lots of number crunching?”

  He glances up and smiles at me, bleary eyed from staring at the computer for too long. “Oh yeah, you know what I’m like. I find it really hard to delegate because I want to get it all right.”

  “That’s why I’m glad to have you here working all the numbers. I wouldn’t cope without you, bro.”

  Oliver is next in line in the long list of my five brothers, but there is still a thirteen year age gap between me and him. I was born a long time before the others which is why it was left for me to take care of them when our parents died. I was nineteen years old and they ranged from two to six years old.

  It was also left to me to take over the family company and each of my brothers was given the chance to work for me but only Oliver and Angelo chose to do so. The others are chasing their own dreams.

  “Why are you still here? It isn’t like the big boss man to stay as late as me.”

  I chuckle and take a seat on the other side of his desk. “I’m just sorting stuff out. You know how it is. Actually, I’m glad that you’re here now. I need to talk to you about Angelo. Angelo and his new plan.”

  “Are you talking about Tami?” He immediately knows exactly what I’m talking about.

  “Yes, I am. I don’t get why he’s made her to be my assistant for the week. I don’t need her, and he knows that. She’s a creative, just like him, so I don’t get what she can do for me.” I throw my hands in the air in frustration. “He basically forced her on me, and I don’t know what to do about it.”

  “Surely, there are things she can help you with! You have so much filing…”

  “I like to do it myself. I’m like you, Oliver. I don’t like to delegate.”

  “But you are the boss.” He shrugs. “You are supposed to delegate. This is probably a go
od thing. Maybe that’s what Angelo is trying to tell you. I mean, we all see how much you throw yourself into this business, but maybe you’re doing that a little too much. You don’t have any time for other things.”

  “What the hell is that supposed to mean?” I groan. “I am sick of you lot talking about my love life…”

  “Why? We’re only wanting what’s best for you. We only want you to be happy.”

  I roll my eyes. “Well, I am happy. I don’t need a girlfriend for that. Plus, it isn’t like any of you have amazing love lives to talk about, is it? Angelo is the only one with a girlfriend that I know of. And before you say it, yes, I know that I’m older than all of you, but that doesn’t mean I need to settle down right now.”

  Oliver doesn’t say anything for a beat too long. He really does believe that I need to be toed to a woman. Yes, deep down, I would like to meet someone and start my happy ever after, but that isn’t my main priority.

  “Brad, maybe that’s why Angelo has asked Tami to be your assistant. He has been talking about knowing the perfect woman for you, hasn’t he? Maybe his assistant is the one and that’s why…”