Page 32 of Naughty Heart

Once I had it all in the bags, I made my way to the door and looked back at everyone, my gaze ultimately settling and lingering on Malcolm for a moment.

I didn’t know what I was hoping to find there, but I couldn’t continue to stand there like that, or his parents would think I was crazy. I shifted my attention to them and said, “It was lovely to meet the both of you.”

“Likewise, dear,” Mrs. Westwood returned.

Not wanting to risk another thing happening I wasn’t prepared for, I scurried out of the room, across the hall, and into my office, where I ultimately closed the door. Then I set everything down on my desk, rested my palms on the surface of it, and breathed heavily.

Malcolm Westwood liked me, and he wanted to take me to the office Christmas party.

What was I going to do?

Better yet, what was I going to wear?

9

MALCOLM

“This isa cruel game to be playing.”

I hadn’t been prepared.

My sister had stopped in earlier in the day and indicated my parents would be dropping by at some point this afternoon, but I’d been so caught up in Evelyn and the conversation we’d been having that I hadn’t prepared for their visit.

I hadn’t prepared myself for the conversation with them, the one that would take place in Evelyn’s presence, leaving me with no choice but to react on the spot.

All things considered, I had initially thought it went okay.

Now, I wasn’t so sure.

With just that single statement my father had made, it was clear they weren’t feeling as good about it as I had been. There was no question I was now going to have to smooth things over with them.

At this point, I was merely grateful they’d been polite to Evelyn and hadn’t said anything about the ultimatum they’d given me last week while she was in the office. The last thing I wanted was for her to get the wrong impression. Granted, things might have started the way they had, and I might have hired her as a means of self-preservation, but now I realized just how crucial her position was.

“What game?” I countered.

Both of my parents sent me unamused looks, and it was my dad who replied, “Don’t pretend not to know what I’m talking about. I don’t know what you’re hoping to accomplish here, but I’m not convinced it was a wise idea for you to hire Evelyn.”

“She’s an excellent employee,” I argued.

“Was she hired for the right reason, though?” my mom asked. “You’ve never had a personal assistant before, so I hate to say I’m not convinced you aren’t just trying to pull one over on us.”

If only I had believed hiring one person could have sold the issue from the start. “What could you possibly think I’m hoping to accomplish by hiring her? How would I even attempt to pull one over on you?”

Sending an incredulous look my way, she said, “I think you don’t like what we said to you last week. I think it’s possible you want to give us the impression you’re changing your ways, but it’s highly suspect to me that you’ve hired a gorgeous woman as your personal assistant.”

I had to admit I lucked out when it came to that. Evelyn was very nice to look at. “So, because Evelyn happens to be beautiful, there’s no possible way she could be a legitimate employee?”

“I’m not saying that.”

My dad chose that moment to add in his two cents. “I think what your mom is trying to say is that we want to know you’re serious about what’s happening here, and hiring someone like Evelyn when you’ve never had a personal assistant seems a bit strange. We’re just curious about what your plan is here.”

“My original goal was to have someone here to handle the little things to free up my time, so I could focus on the actual work I needed to do,” I explained. “And I’ll be honest, I thought that was going to be the extent of it. But she’s surprised me. Sure, Evelyn is great at handling all of that, but she’s been wonderful to bounce some ideas off of, too. She’s very smart and has provided a lot of useful insight over the course of the last week.”

There was a brief moment of silence before my dad replied, “Well, I’m certainly curious to hear more about that. I have to assume that only time will tell whether you’re right about that.”

“Yes, okay, Larry,” my mom interrupted. “He can tell us all about what he’s worked on for the last week, but before he does that, I want to know how you even managed to hire her. Did she just happen to walk in here on Monday, looking for a job?”

I shook my head. “No.”