Bidding On Her Boss. Rachel Bailey

Shaking his head, he set the keyless lock on his car, followed her into the store and closed the door behind them. He had no idea what she had planned or what she really wanted out of this date, but for some reason that didn’t bother him. This woman was piquing his interest on more than one level—something he hadn’t experienced in a long while—and he realized he was enjoying the sensation.

      “Who are you, Faith Sixty-Three?” he asked, leaning back against the counter and appreciating the way her dress hugged her lush curves.

      She faced him then, her cheeks flushed and her warm brown eyes sparkling. “I’m a florist. My name is Faith Crawford and I work for you in this store.”

      Faith Crawford? That name rang a bell, but he couldn’t remember any specifics. He narrowed his eyes. “Mary O’Donnell is the manager here, isn’t she?”

      “Yep, she’s my manager,” Faith said over her shoulder as she turned the light on in the storeroom in the back of the shop.

      He wrapped a hand around the back of his neck. This had gone past Woman of Mystery and was fast becoming ridiculous. Why would an employee want to spend a purseful of money on a night or three with the boss? Could she have an axe to grind? Was she hoping to sleep her way to a promotion?

      He blew out a breath. “How long have you worked for me?”

      She turned to face him, standing a little taller. “Six months, Mr. Hawke.”

      “So you know Hawke’s Blooms has a no fraternization policy.” A policy he wholeheartedly believed in. “Managers can’t be involved with anyone who works for them.”

      She didn’t seem fazed. “I’m aware of that, yes.”

      “Yet,” he pressed, taking a step closer and catching a whiff of her exotic perfume, “you still paid good money for a date—well, three dates—with me.”

      A small frown line appeared between her brows. “Nowhere was it specified that they were supposed to be romantic dates with the bachelors.”

      Dylan was about to reply, then realized he was losing control of the conversation. “Then what do you want from me?” he asked warily.

      She grabbed a clip from her handbag and pulled her hair back. “I want you to spend the evening here with me.”

      “Doing what, exactly?” he asked as he watched her clip her red curls, which burst out the top of the clasp in copper-colored chaos.

      “Watching.”

      He felt his eyebrows lift. “I have to warn you, kinky propositions still fall under the no fraternization policy.”

      Faith rolled her eyes, but he saw the corners of her mouth twitch. “I’ll be making a floral arrangement.”

      Right. As if he didn’t get enough of that in his average day. And yet, he thought, glancing at her pale, long fingers, there was something appealing about the idea of watching Faith at work. Her fingers looked as if they’d be gentle yet firm. He could almost feel them on his jaw, then stroking across his shoulders. His skin tingled...and he realized he was getting carried away. This was not a path he could take with an employee—which he’d only just explained to her.

      Besides, his attraction was probably a result of being in the store at night, alone, cocooned in the area illuminated by the lights. It couldn’t be more.

      He rubbed a hand down his face. “Let me get this straight. I know what you’re earning, so unless you have a trust fund, your bid was a decent amount of money to you. Yet you paid it to have me sit and watch you do the job that we normally pay you to do.”

      She beamed at him. “That’s it.”

      “I’ve missed something,” he said, tilting his head to the side. She was becoming more intriguing by the minute.

      She opened the fridge door and pulled out buckets of peonies, lilacs and magnolias. “Have you ever had a dream, Mr. Hawke? Something that was all yours and made you smile when you thought about it?”

      Dylan frowned. His career dreams had always been for Hawke’s Blooms, but they were dreams he shared with his family. Had he ever had one that was his alone?

      “Sure,” he said casually, knowing it was probably a lie and unsure how he felt about that.

      While looking at him, she began to strip the leaves from the flower stems. “Then you know how it is.”

      As he took in the glow on her face, his pulse picked up speed. “What’s your dream, Faith?”

      She smiled mysteriously. “I have many dreams, but there’s one in particular I’m trying to achieve now.”

      He met her gaze and the room faded away. He could have looked at her all night. Then her eyes darkened. Her breathing became irregular. Dylan wanted to groan. She felt the chemistry between them as well. His body responded to the knowledge, tightening, heating. But he couldn’t let that happen. This was dangerous. He frowned and swung away.

      “Tell me about the dream,” he said when he turned back around, this time more in control of himself.

      After a beat, Faith gave a small nod. “To open the Hawke’s Blooms catalog and see one of my designs there on the page.”

      This was all about the catalog? He leaned back against the bench opposite the one Faith was working on and crossed his ankles. “We have a procedure in place for that.”

      “I know it by heart,” she said, taking foam and a white tray down from the shelf. “‘Any Hawke’s Blooms florist may submit an original floral design to his or her manager, accompanied by a completed, signed application form. If the manager believes the design has merit, she or he will pass it to the head office to be considered for inclusion in the catalog of standard floral designs used for customer orders.’”

      Dylan smiled. She’d recited the procedure word for word. “And,” he added, “that process doesn’t cost a single penny. Why didn’t you go that route?”

      “I did.” She clipped the bottoms from a bunch of peony stems. “About twenty times, in fact. After my manager rejected number sixteen, I began to think that way might not work for me.” She smiled and her dimples showed.

      He thought about her manager, Mary O’Donnell. Mary was simpering to management, which was annoying, but he knew she ran a tight ship. Was it possible she was blocking her own staff from advancement? “Are you making a complaint about your manager?” he asked, serious.

      She shook her head, and her hands slowed to a stop as she met his gaze. “I’m a good florist, Mr. Hawke. I take pride in my work, and take direction from my manager. I do my best by our customers and have a good group of regulars who ask for me by name. So I don’t think it’s too much to ask to have just one of my designs considered so I can move my career forward.”

      Dylan knew he was lucky—he’d grown up in the family business, where his input had been not only listened to but also encouraged. But what if he’d been in Faith’s shoes? An employee of a large company who was struggling to have her voice heard. He watched her place flowers in the foam, turning the arrangement with the other hand as she went. He’d like to think he’d have gone the extra mile, the way Faith was doing tonight.

      “So you decided to get creative,” he said, hearing the trace of admiration in his own voice.

      “Seeing you were auctioning off a night of your time seemed like a sign.” She glanced up at him, her long-lashed eyes earnest. “Do you believe in destiny, Mr. Hawke?”

      “Can’t say it’s something I’ve ever paid much attention to,” he said. Unlike, say, the way the side of her jaw sloped down to her neck, or the sprinkling of pale ginger freckles across her nose.

      “Well, I do, and I’d just been thinking ‘If only I could speak to someone in the head office myself’ when the posters for the auction went up in the window. The very window where I work.”