The Queen's Impossible Boss (The Christmas Princess Swap, Book 2) Page 3

  Maybe he was coming down with some kind of fever because within one second of seeing her this morning, he’d been burning up and hadn’t cooled since.

  She was still responding to that online chaos. Incredibly focused and calm. Too calm. Had he imagined that fiery argument from her this morning? Irritated, he stood to escape the office for a breather.

  ‘You sound different today, Juno,’ one assistant mused.

  ‘I was with some people from Monrova over the weekend,’ Juno answered. But as Alvaro passed her she saw him and a slow flush clouded across her pale cheeks. ‘My accent always becomes stronger then...’

  He tore his gaze from hers and strode out of the office. He barely managed to maintain his smile through the interview as her words from this morning rang in his ears.

  ‘Everyone makes mistakes and most people deserve a second chance, right?’

  Exhausted and stiff, Jade tilted her head to stretch out the tension in her neck and shoulders.

  ‘Why are you still here?’

  Surely, he didn’t mean that? Her heart thudded as she spun once more to face the penetrating amber eyes of Alvaro Byrne. She’d been waiting for hours for him to return from that wretched online interview she’d watched, fiddling with the computer system and avoiding talking too much to Juno’s colleagues before they finished for the day and left her alone.

  ‘I’m glad you agree everyone makes mistakes,’ she said quietly. ‘And that everyone deserves a second chance.’

  ‘You saw the interview?’ His lips twisted. ‘You argued compellingly—are you not pleased I took your thoughts on board?’

  Jade was too tired to be left in any doubt. ‘Does everyone include me?’

  His gaze softened. ‘I’m not afraid to admit when I’m wrong either, Juno. I appreciate everything you’ve done today.’

  But she shrank, because him calling her ‘Juno’ made her feel guiltier than ever.

  His jaw tightened. ‘Look, you weren’t to know, but I’ve been away working on a sensitive deal,’ he said. ‘I didn’t react well this morning and I apologise for that.’

  Oh. His quiet apology almost broke her last defences.

  ‘I know it looked like I’d just walked out...’ She drew breath, determined to be as honest as possible while still protecting Juno. ‘There was something I had to attend to at the weekend. I’m sorry I wasn’t in touch sooner.’

  He gazed at her, too still, too intent, for her comfort.

  ‘Sophy said that before this happened you’d planned to take leave from work this week?’

  She nodded warily.

  ‘Would you mind coming into the office instead? I’d appreciate your input on a couple of project streams and I think the team could benefit from your expertise. Unless you have plans you can’t change?’

  ‘Um—I...’ This nightmare was going from bad to worse, yet she couldn’t seem to say ‘no’ to him. ‘Of course, I can come in.’

  Ordinarily she could maintain a calm facade better than anyone. Ordinarily she would never say ‘um’...but at this moment in front of Alvaro Byrne, she was a breath away from falling apart.

  ‘That’s great. Thank you.’ Though he didn’t look all that thrilled. ‘But for now, it’s late and you’ve had a long day. How are you getting home?’

  Jade had no idea how to answer him. She didn’t even know where home was. She had gone into this without properly thinking it through. Too late she’d realised the utter stupidity of her decision to come into the office this morning. Because while she’d secured Juno’s job today, she was probably going to lose it for her tomorrow. She couldn’t possibly keep this up. And she certainly couldn’t cope with the hot bomb that was Alvaro Byrne.

  ‘You shouldn’t go on public transport this time of night.’ He frowned.

  ‘I can manage,’ she lied.

  ‘Just humour me,’ he growled. ‘You’ve gone above and beyond and been here hours. The least I can do is ensure you get home safely. I’ll call a car.’

  ‘I don’t need—’

  His gaze narrowed again. ‘Company expense, Juno.’

  She really didn’t like him calling her by that name. But she couldn’t tell him not to.

  The easiest thing to do right now ought to be to say yes, to stop arguing with him. Except oddly it was the hardest task she’d faced all day. Drawing on that mantle of polite courtesy that had been drilled into her from birth was almost impossible.

  ‘Thank you,’ she finally said. ‘That would be wonderful.’

  ‘Wonderful?’ He stared at her for a long moment.

  Jade had the sudden suspicion she’d inadvertently jumped from the frying pan to the fire.

  ‘Oh, sure,’ he muttered softly but so dryly she nearly shivered. ‘Let’s call it wonderful.’

  CHAPTER THREE

  JADE SHRUGGED ON her jacket, extended the handle of her cabin bag and followed Alvaro to the elevator.

  ‘You really were out of range?’ He glanced at her bag as he pushed the buttons.

  ‘I really was.’ To her relief, he didn’t ask for any more detail.

  She was hugely relieved at the prospect of a car taking her straight home too. All she had to do then was unlock Juno’s apartment. She was so tired she might fall into bed fully dressed.

  She exited the lift ahead of him, increasingly desperate to escape his company. He was too tall, too intense, too magnetic and she was too aware of his every movement.

  A sleek black sports car was parked right outside the building. The kind of low-slung roadster, capable of lethal speed, that her father and her protection officers would never let her near. To her horror, Alvaro walked around to the driver’s door and got in. When she didn’t move, the passenger window glided down.

  ‘Come on.’

  ‘I thought you said you called a car,’ she said stupidly.

  ‘I did. My car. The building valet brought it to the front for me.’

  She’d thought he’d meant a taxi.

  ‘You’re driving me home?’ Her audible breathlessness made her wince. If only she could instantly shrivel to ant size. The thought of having to spend more time with him ought to be terrifying, but her suddenly sprinting pulse was actually due to excitement. So awkward. And that restless ache inside was so wrong. She stared at the car and then back at him and tried not to melt in the warm amber of his eyes.

  There was a long pause.

  ‘You know you’re not at risk from me,’ he finally muttered. ‘I’m not in the habit of harassing my employees.’

  And now she was beyond mortified. ‘I didn’t think that you were.’

  ‘So take this as all that it is, an apology and a small service to show my appreciation for your extra effort today. But if you would prefer I get a driver—’

  ‘No, please don’t,’ she said hurriedly. ‘I was just surprised. You’ve had a long day too.’ She climbed into the car and fastened the belt and resolutely stared ahead.

  ‘If you say the address the navigation will pick it up,’ he said blandly.

  Relieved, Jade parroted the address she’d memorised and sat back as the automated instruction began. The car silently glided along and she realised it had an electric engine. As she relaxed into the comfortable seat, tiredness swept over her. She could hardly keep her eyes open, only then—

  ‘Is that your stomach rumbling?’ Alvaro laughingly glanced at her as the mortifying gurgle continued.

  The tension broke and she giggled too.

  ‘You haven’t eaten all day,’ he said reprovingly. ‘You barely left your desk.’

  He’d noticed that? And now he intercepted the amazed look she shot him and countered it with a smile.

  ‘Of course not, you might’ve locked me out if I left the building,’ she answered. ‘And you were in your office all day too.’ She struggled not to reac
t too obviously to his distracting charm—how could he have gone from infuriating to fascinating like this?

  ‘You were watching me?’ His eyebrow quirked.

  ‘I was prudently keeping an eye on a threat, yes.’

  ‘A threat?’ he teased with mock outrage. ‘Little old me?’

  Oh, the man totally knew the impact he had on people—most especially women.

  ‘You were all for throwing me out of the building,’ she said. ‘And I need my job.’

  ‘You’ve saved your job.’ His expression turned serious again. ‘But I had my lunch delivered, whereas you need food now.’

  ‘And I’ll get it. Shortly.’ Though she had no idea if Juno had any in her apartment. Or whether there was a store nearby. Not that she had any cash to buy anything with.

  ‘Push that button.’

  ‘Pardon?’

  Alvaro leaned across, reaching past her to touch a discreet button. The glove compartment slid open with controlled smoothness and a light automatically illuminated the interior.

  ‘Oh. Wow.’ She stared at the incredibly ordered contents in the surprisingly large space.

  ‘Help yourself,’ he invited.

  ‘You get hungry?’

  ‘What kind of a question is that to ask a man my height?’

  She resisted the urge to feast her eyes on his physique yet again. She was already far too aware of his height and muscularity and doubtless he did need a tonne of food to keep his...energy up. And she needed an immediate distraction from her shockingly inappropriate thoughts.

  ‘What’s this one?’ She pulled out one bright rectangular package.

  ‘Protein bar. They’re pretty much all protein bars.’

  ‘Do you carry them on you too?’

  ‘Sure. I go too long without fuel, I get ugly.’

  Laughter bubbled out of her before she could stop it. The concepts of ‘Alvaro’ and ‘ugly’ were absolute opposites of the reality spectrum. ‘So, an endless supply of protein bars?’

  ‘And fruit bars, sometimes chocolate bars...’ He shrugged.

  ‘This isn’t just a bar at the bottom of your bag.’ She gazed at the compartment again. There had to be at least twenty different bars in there. ‘This is like survivalist mode.’

  ‘Like I’m prepped for the zombie apocalypse?’ He reached past her again and picked one with a scarlet and black wrapper, expertly tearing it and taking a bite while still driving.

  ‘You ever gone hungry for days on end?’ he asked after a moment.

  ‘No.’ She’d never gone without. Her meals had always been perfectly nutritionally balanced affairs, carefully prepared by the palace chefs. They still were. And she still put up with the annoying monthly medical checks with the palace physician—as she had all her life—because her advisors expected it. It was, now she thought about it, ridiculously over the top.

  ‘It’s not a nice feeling,’ he said.

  She gazed at him, but he didn’t add anything more, he was too busy chewing. Deliberately avoiding answering her unspoken questions, she realised. A horrible sensation washed through her. Alvaro knew that feeling of hunger well. And she’d just been mentally moaning about her privileged palace food.

  ‘Go on, try it,’ he encouraged after a while, nodding to the bar she still held. ‘Don’t be polite, I know you’re starving.’

  For diversion from those horrible thoughts as much as anything, she unwrapped it and took a bite.

  ‘Well?’ he asked, that laugh back in his voice.

  ‘It’s actually...not bad.’ She nodded.

  ‘I know.’ He laughed. ‘Take another for later.’

  ‘I can’t do that.’

  ‘Why not? As you can see, I have plenty.’

  ‘Do you get through them or do they get old and go to waste?’

  ‘None go to waste.’

  She heard that hint of history again in the serious edge of his answer.

  ‘I give them away if they start to get too old. I don’t throw food out.’ Alvaro shook his head, regretting the small truths escaping him the way air escaped through the smallest tear in a once-tight seal.

  He never discussed personal things, never answered to anyone, never hinted at what had once been... His past was irrelevant; his reasons for his action remained his own.

  Yet here he was, telling her little truths that added up to a horror story. She wouldn’t know that though. She’d think he was just a perpetually hungry man mountain.

  He tried to clear his head, but the scent of vanilla permeated the air. It wasn’t from the stupid snacks, it was her. He’d noticed it before and now, in the close confines of the car, it tantalised—making his mouth water and his body tense. He liked vanilla, a lot.

  She’d fallen silent again, apparently focused on the road he was taking. Ironically her reticence bothered him more than the lapse of his own. She’d smiled at him before with that same open smile he’d seen first thing this morning when, oblivious to his presence, she’d got to her desk. When she’d turned it on him, it had almost caused him to veer off the road. But now she’d stilled, masking those turbulent emotions. He itched to brush the veil from her eyes so that mobility of expression was revealed. Because it was there. She was more sensitive, more volatile than he’d expected and yet, most of the time, so controlled.

  He couldn’t shake the suspicion she was somehow vulnerable—which was stupid when she could clearly take care of herself. She didn’t need him getting all unnecessarily gallant... But he couldn’t stop his acute awareness of her, while a million and more questions mushroomed in his mind. Because while he couldn’t put his finger on it, something was off. Maybe the feeling was merely a residual hangover from that social media mess.

  He should’ve cut himself free of that old app a while ago, but it had been his first success and he’d been loath to lose anything from his arsenal of enterprise. Back when Plan A—to be a professional sportsman—had been destroyed when the ligaments in his knee had been torn, that little idea he’d had, when he’d been captain of the school basketball, football and volleyball teams all at once, had come into its own. He’d been desperate not just to survive, but to succeed at getting out of the poverty hell he’d been in for ever. To escape that insecurity and lift his elderly foster carer, Ellen, with him. And he had. All on his own—with the determined independence he still treasured.

  ‘This is where you live?’ he asked.

  It was his navigation system, not Juno, who confirmed it. And his discomfort grew. The run-down building on the edge of Queens looked as if it needed a better landlord. It was hardly a palace for a princess. Alvaro pulled over in front of it, his muscles clenching as he glanced around the darkened neighbourhood.

  ‘Thank you for the lift. I so appreciate it,’ she said with slightly haughty dismissiveness.

  But he was already out of the car. It was too late and the corners too dark for him to leave her yet. He used to meet Ellen and they’d walk home together from night shifts. He’d never leave anyone to walk streets like this alone. He picked up Juno’s case, followed her up the stairs and waited while she fished in her purse for the key.

  ‘What’s wrong?’ he asked eventually.

  ‘Nothing.’

  The raw edge in her answer set his nerves on edge. Something was wrong. He leaned past and saw her struggling with the door. ‘Can I help?’

  ‘I just...’ She looked mortified. ‘It sticks sometimes.’

  So, the last thing she wanted right now was to accept more help from him? Frankly, that put him out. ‘Let me have a go.’

  Silently she held out the key.

  ‘You don’t have any security guard or anything?’ He glanced down the side alleyway, loathing the still shadows and the thought of her arriving here alone night after night.

  ‘No,’ she murmured.

 
‘But you’re a bona fide princess.’

  ‘Not really.’ She sounded choked. ‘They changed the line of succession after my mother and I left.’

  ‘And cast you out into the world, alone and defenceless?’ he muttered as he forced the key to turn in the half-rusted lock. He didn’t know too much about the situation in her home country, but it didn’t sound right.

  She stiffened beside him and he heard her sharply inhale.

  ‘I can take care of myself,’ she said valiantly.

  Jade cringed as she stepped over the threshold. It was such a lie. How could she claim that when she didn’t even know which of these doors off the vestibule led to Juno’s apartment?

  Panic rose. She couldn’t pull this off. She didn’t have any cash, didn’t know where to get food or how to even order a damn pizza. Now she had to go into the office for another few days and pretend she was the capable, smart and savvy Juno. It was mortifying.

  She’d never made a meal in her life. Everything had been brought to her. She was the definition of spoilt—to be so incompetent in all basic life skills? She’d been supposed to come here and eat pizza and doughnuts without being judged, to walk around sightseeing, blending in like any other tourist, childishly soaking up the Christmas lights and candy... It was supposed to be her secret escape, a few days of anonymous freedom. Only now?

  Alvaro’s mouth compressed as he gazed down at her as she stood frozen in the open doorway.

  ‘It’s not right to deny someone their birthright. To take away their identity and place in the world,’ he said roughly.

  Once again, his tone held an emotional, personal edge she didn’t understand and hadn’t expected. What did he know of identity and loss? Obviously something, because he was right.

  ‘I know,’ she said huskily.

  She burned with guilt at lying to him, yet his empathy drew her to him at the same time. She had the most appalling urge to lean close—not for the safety or the security a big strong man like him could offer. But for quite the opposite—something far more tempting, far more dangerous.