That Boss Of Mine

“It’s Mr. Rush,” he replied automatically, wearily, his irritation at having his last name used as his first rising nowhere near as quickly as it usually did when that happened. Which was often. “Wheeler Rush,” he added under his breath. When no one came forward at his summons, he cranked up the volume on his voice a few decibels. “I’m in here!”

Just as he shouted the announcement, a woman’s head appeared in the open doorway, about halfway down, as if she were bent at the waist. A shock of blue-black curls was caught at the very top of her head, a few errant corkscrews dangling about her face and neck, the rest of it bobbing wildly from the source of its confinement at her crown. Huge, round sunglasses covered her eyes, and her lips, the color of autumn apples, formed a perfect O.

“Can I help you?” he asked on a halfhearted sigh.

The woman smiled and straightened, then stepped into the doorway. He stifled a gasp when he noted her attire. A very brief, very snug, very red miniskirt hugged her hips, and an even briefer, even snugger, even redder sweater clung to her torso. The combination was big enough to cover what a woman needed to cover in polite society, but not big enough to hide a bare strip of creamy flesh that peeked out between the top and bottom parts of her ensemble. A huge red straw bag, sheer red stockings and red high heels completed the outfit

Wheeler blinked a few times, as if doing so might tone down the color a bit. But when he opened his eyes to consider the woman again, she was still...red. Really, really red.

“Actually,” she said, her smile growing broader, “I think it’s me who’s going to help you.”

Try as he might, he couldn’t for the life of him pull his gaze away from her legs. But then, seeing as how just about every inch of leg was visible—and quite a number of very shapely inches there were, too—that wasn’t altogether surprising.

“I beg your pardon?” he finally managed to ask.

As he watched, those legs began to approach him, the miniskirt at their tops hitching higher and higher with every step forward the woman took. When he darted his gaze back down toward her ankles, he noticed, too late, that she was heading straight for a bump in the lavender-and-yellow dhurrie rug that must have sprung up when Bruno and company left with the last of his repossessed furniture. Before Wheeler could warn the woman to watch her step, her toe connected with the bump, and her body went sailing forward.

She had been extending her hand to him in greeting when it happened, and as she fell, she must have instinctively bent her fingers as if groping for something to grab onto. The action resulted in what basically amounted to her punching Wheeler right in the stomach before she crashed to her knees before him.

He doubled over—more from surprise than from pain—at the impact of her fist driving into his belly right about the same time she began to push herself up from her position on the floor. As a result, their two heads collided with enough force to send the woman back down to her knees and Wheeler snapping backward.

With a quick shake of his head to clear it of its stars, he reached down—gingerly this time—to lend her a hand. But she chose that moment to glance up at him, an action that would have resulted in him poking her in the eye had it not been for her ridiculous sunglasses. Instead he only knocked them from her face, and they went clattering to the floor between them.

Wow.

That was the only thought that came into Wheeler’s head when she looked up at him again. Whoever this red woman was, she had the greenest eyes he’d ever seen. Pale green, like the shallowest part of the ocean, but deep enough to drown a man if he wasn’t careful. Framed by long, sooty lashes and topped with elegant ebony brows, they completely overpowered the rest of her face.

For a long moment he could do nothing but stare at those incredible eyes. Then finally he managed to recapture his balance and the presence of mind to take in the rest of her features, as well.

Pretty.

That was the second thought that went through Wheeler’s mind when he considered her. Really, really pretty. Her ivory complexion was smooth and flawless, a hint of pink riding high on her finely chiseled cheekbones. Her lips—as red and inviting as her outfit—were full and ripe and luscious. And something inside him knotted tight at the sight of her, kneeling there before him in a manner that was in no way appropriate for two strangers. With no small effort, he finally kicked himself into gear and extended a hand cautiously toward her.

As if she were feeling just as wary as he was, she scooped up her sunglasses, then slowly lifted her hand to tuck her fingers into his. Gently, Wheeler tugged her back to a standing position, then pretended he wasn’t noticing as she shoved her skirt and sweater back into place. But he couldn’t quite ignore the scant inch of bare skin that peeked out at him from between the waistband of her skirt and the hem of her sweater. And whatever had knotted tightly inside him grew even more taut, nearly cutting off his breath, wrenching a strangled sound from deep inside him.

“I’m sorry,” she said softly as she gave her sweater one final yank.

Something inside him rejoiced, however, when the sweater bobbed back up again, once more exposing that sleek line of flesh. “No problem,” he replied automatically.

The woman lifted a hand—which he noted absently was decorated with long, red nails and two big Band-Aids—to the curls still dancing wildly about on her head. Then she smoothed her fingers ineffectually over the mass, which bounced right back the moment she completed the gesture, and smiled. “I’m Audrey. Audrey Finnegan? I’m the office temp you requested.”

Wheeler was so caught up in contemplating her flat abdomen that he scarcely heard what she said. “Office temp?” he repeated idly.

“From One-Day-at-a-Timers,” she clarified. “You called them Friday needing someone to start on Monday? Today, I mean?”

It was a question not a statement, and vaguely, way back at the back of his brain, he realized she was waiting for an answer. But, still far too preoccupied by the sight of Miss Audrey Finnegan, all he could manage in that respect was, “I called them Friday?”

Somehow he nudged his gaze from her body to her face, and he realized he’d been doing her a grave disservice to focus on her midsection. As appealing as her torso was—and mind you, it was extremely appealing—her face was infinitely more interesting. Even when she was squinting at him in utter confusion the way she was now.

“Didn’t you call them Friday?” she asked. “Isn’t this Monday? And isn’t this Rush Commercial Designs, Inc.? Or did I come to the wrong place again? I’m pretty sure this is Monday? Isn’t it?”

Did he? Had she? Was it? Oh, yeah, Wheeler finally recalled, shoving his libido to the side. This was definitely Monday, and she’d certainly come to Rush Commercial Designs, Inc. At least, it was still Rush Designs, Inc., for the time being. And he had called for a temp Friday. Right after he’d given his regular secretary, Rosalie, her walking papers and two weeks’ severance. That on the heels of letting go his two associates last month.

As much as he’d hated to lose his staff, Wheeler simply wasn’t able to pay their full salary and benefits anymore. Hell, he couldn’t even pay his own salary and benefits anymore. It was going to strain his newly reworked—and very minuscule—office budget just to have a temp working. But he didn’t have a hope in hell of salvaging his failing business by himself. He was going to need someone to run the day-to-day basics of the office while he focused on his clients and accounts, even if that someone was just a temp.

Clients and accounts, he muttered to himself. Yeah, right. Like he was going to have any of those left by month’s end. They were disappearing faster than leisure suits.

He still couldn’t figure out where he’d gone wrong. When he’d been employed as a commercial designer by a much larger conglomerate, Wheeler had had more work to keep him busy than anyone else at the firm. His designs had been very much in demand, and he’d risen fast and far on the corporate ladder. So fast and so far, in fact, that one day, a year ago, he’d decided to strike out on his own. Hey, he’d built himself an excellent reputation, he’d reasoned then. Why give all the credit to a company that wasn’t his own?

So he’d struck out solo, bringing a number of his old firm’s clients with him. And at first, everything had gone fabulously well. He’d exploded with creativity, had introduced design after design that was cutting edge and savvy. He’d garnered new clients in addition to the old, and had expanded to handle all the new business, hiring two associates to help field their accounts. Rush Commercial Designs, Inc. had left the starting gate at an amazing pace and had been trotting effortlessly right toward the finish line. Until a few months ago, the future had been rosy and warm.

Then...

Well, Wheeler still wasn’t sure what exactly had gone wrong. He’d come home from a long business trip with the flu and had been out of the office for two weeks. In his absence, however, his associates had fared just fine. At least he’d thought they were faring just fine. But upon his return, things hadn’t seemed to run quite as smoothly as they had before. Granted, it had been January, something of a slow month for the business, but still...

His work shouldn’t have come to such a grinding halt the way it had. He’d tried to tell himself it was just one of those slumps that occurred in all types of businesses every now and then, and that they would ultimately pull through it none the worse for wear.

But they didn’t pull through it. The slump became a downturn, and the downturn became a stagnation. One by one Wheeler’s clients had become disenchanted with his ideas. And with every parting account, he had started to feel less and less creative. Ultimately his brain—once a playground for generating original, clever ideas—started to dry up. What few concepts emerged from the muddled pool of his creativity were tired, standard, cliched. And then, even his most faithful clients began to slink quietly away.

It made no sense. In addition to being talented, smart, ambitious and driven, Wheeler Rush had always been just about the luckiest man alive. He’d been born into a close-knit, loving family, one that had never hurt for financial well-being, one whose members were all intelligent, successful, attractive. Not a day of his life had passed that he hadn’t reflected on what a genuinely fortunate person he was. He’d never wanted for anything. He’d always achieved whatever he set his mind to achieving, effortlessly at that. Never once had it crossed his mind that he would be anything but a massive success in life.

At least, it hadn’t crossed his mind until his business had started to go belly-up. Then he hadn’t been able to avoid thinking about his potential for failure. Miserable, humiliating, vicious, rotten, crummy failure.

But that was all about to end, Wheeler told himself now. He was sure of it. Well, pretty sure, anyway. Sort of. In a way. Yes, he’d had to make some serious sacrifices to keep himself from going under. He’d been too overconfident in the beginning, and he wasn’t going to make that mistake twice. He’d pared down what had been an excessive office budget from the start. Hey, you had to spend money to make money, right? Wrong. His newly adopted motto was you had to save money to make money. And that was what Wheeler would do.

Hence, Miss Finnegan. At minimum wage and no benefits, she was a real bargain. The minute he got his business up and running again—and Wheeler vowed then and there that he would get his business up and running again—he could hire back his old staff at their old salaries, provided they were available. If not, he’d hire some new blood. Hey, maybe if Miss Finnegan worked out, he thought magnanimously, he could keep her and Rosalie both.

For now, however, Rush Commercial Designs, Inc. was going to have to work with a two-man team. Or rather, a two-person team. If there was one thing Audrey Finnegan most definitely was not, it was masculine.

“So, where should I start?” she asked when he still had offered no clear answer to her question. Evidently she had decided for herself that she was needed here.

Wheeler looked around. Yeah, he could understand how she would feel that way. No furniture, no clients in the waiting room, no phones ringing off the hook. He definitely needed something. Or somebody.

What the hell, he thought further. For now, Audrey Finnegan would do.

As Audrey stood waiting for an answer to her question—and an answer to any of her questions would do, she thought as she waited some more—she took in her new boss from the tips of his Italian loafers to the tousled dark brown hair atop his head.

What a cutie, she thought. Truly tall, dark and handsome, with broad shoulders, trim hips and chocolate-brown eyes to just curl up and die for. Maybe after twenty-eight years her luck was about to change.

Nah. Who was she kidding? Audrey Finnegan was the most totally jinxed person on the planet, and a new job wasn’t likely to change that. She should know. She started a new job just about every month, and they all ended the same way—badly. But she’d been unlucky all her life—at cards and at love and at everything else—so she wasn’t going to stand here and try to kid herself that things would ever change in that department.

Just this week alone she’d lost her job, her boyfriend, her apartment, her car and her cat. Roxanne, the silver tabby she’d adopted a few months ago, had taken up with a no-good tomcat and hadn’t come back. Audrey’s car had been totaled after the emergency brake had finally given out when she’d parked on a too-steep hill—the old VW bug had rolled downdowndown, crashed into a power pylon and gotten fried into blackened Beetle au gratin.

Then, as if that weren’t enough, her basement apartment had been flooded during a surly spring downpour, ruining all her furniture and forcing her to shack up temporarily with her best buddy, Marlene, with whom she’d never really gotten along. And although Audrey thought she’d been doing great at her job as a grocery store cashier, coming up short fifteen thousand dollars and change that night just didn’t look good on a person’s permanent record.

And as for her boyfriend, well, she would just as soon forget about him. There was nothing like having a guy tell you you were cold as a dead fish to make you think twice about getting involved again. Of course, Brad hadn’t exactly been a pep-rally bonfire himself, Audrey reminded herself, which was only one of the many reasons she’d avoided becoming too intimately involved with him. Still, a woman liked to think that a man would have some regrets about dumping her. But Brad, evidently, would always think of her as sushi.

So with all her bad luck of late—and of her whole life—Audrey didn’t really expect that a change of jobs would do anything about the dark cloud of misfortune that had followed her everywhere she’d ever gone from the day she’d been born—breech and thirteen days late. It was a family curse, common knowledge. All the Finnegans were unlucky, all the way back to her great-grandmother Fiona Finnegan, who fell off the boat that arrived in New York Harbor at the turn of the century.