Totally Tempting. Mary Lynn Baxter

years.”

      “Why?”

      “Why what?”

      “If I’m such a disagreeable person, why do you put up with me?”

      “Who said you’re a disagreeable person? I find you extremely agreeable as long as you get your own way,” she replied lightly.

      “Rachel says that everyone in this office is intimidated by me. But you aren’t.”

      “I wasn’t aware that was part of my job description. Is that what’s bothering you this morning?”

      “No.”

      “Do you care what people in the office think of you?”

      “No. Well, except for you. What do you think of me?”

      She sat back in her chair and considered her answer. Finally she looked him in the eye and said, “I think you’re a brilliant man who is impatient with people, a man who has single-handedly built this company into a thriving corporation by ignoring the naysayers and following your own vision.”

      “Hmph.”

      He took the aspirin and drank the water. Then he picked up his coffee and sipped.

      They sat in silence for several more minutes.

      Finally Dean said, “Rachel broke up with me last night.”

      She couldn’t hide her surprise. That must be a first for Dean. He was generally the one who broke things off any time a woman wanted more from him than he was willing to offer.

      “Because you wanted her to go to Hawaii with you?” she asked, her disbelief plain.

      He grimaced. “Actually she didn’t give me a chance to surprise her with the tickets before she informed me that she never wanted to see me again.”

      Jodie was caught off guard by his admission. “Oh? I didn’t realize you’d planned the trip as a surprise.”

      “Well, I did. Turns out I was the one surprised.”

      “What in the world happened?”

      “I forgot we had tickets to the opera last night. I worked late to clear my desk and I’d forgotten to put the opera on my calendar.”

      “Oops.”

      “By the time I checked my cell phone messages on the way home, I was an hour late picking her up.”

      “Uh-oh.”

      “She was furious when I arrived at her place. I pointed out that we could still get there before intermission. It wasn’t as if we didn’t know the story, after all. However, the opera no longer mattered as far as she was concerned.” He scrubbed his face with his hand. “She handed me a sack with the things I’d left in her apartment since we’ve been seeing each other and told me to get out.”

      “Rachel was obviously upset at the time,” Jodie said. “Why don’t you call her today and tell her about the trip you’ve planned? I’m sure you’ll be back in her good graces once she discovers your surprise.”

      He was shaking his head before she finished. “I’m not going to do that. She made it plain she wanted no part of me, so why should I bother?” His mouth turned up at the corners. “I’ll admit my ego might have been bruised a little and I went home to sulk, but she made it clear that we were through. I can accept that.”

      He nodded toward the envelope she’d placed on his desk. “So,” he said with a shrug, “I won’t be needing those.”

      Oh, dear. She’d promised herself never to offer her opinion unless he asked for it—and then any question he asked invariably had to do with business.

      She wrestled with her conscience for a long moment but could no longer remain quiet. “I disagree,” she said bravely, bracing for his response. “I believe you need the time away whether Rachel is with you or not. You know you love Hawaii and it’s been three years since you acquired the condo there. I think you should go and spend some time on the beach. Forget the business for a few days. Catch up on your sleep. Once you’re there, I know you’ll enjoy it.”

      He leaned back in his chair and stared at her. She waited for his salvo telling her to mind her own business. Jodie was surprised when instead he asked, “Do you think I’m married to my job?”

      She eyed him uncertainly. This man had never questioned himself in front of her before. Now that he’d asked her opinion, she wondered how candid she could be while he was in this unusual mood. “Maybe,” she said cautiously.

      He lowered his brows and stared at her. “Gee, thanks.”

      She might as well continue. “Look at it this way. You needed to put in long hours when you first started the company and you got into the habit of spending most of your time here. Now you’ve hired people you can rely on to take care of the day-to-day business. Maybe it’s time for you to discover other things you might like to do with your life besides work.”

      He rubbed his chin. “I suppose.” He shook his head. “I still can’t get over how angry Rachel was when I arrived. What did I do that was so bad, please tell me? She could have called a cab when she couldn’t reach me and been able to see the whole thing.”

      “Did you by any chance call her after you listened to her messages?”

      “Why? I was on my way to pick her up by that time.”

      She coughed to hide her amusement. “My guess is that her irritation was the result of an accumulation of times when you’ve been late or forgotten to call or gone out of town without notice. Some women can find that sort of behavior off-putting.”

      “You don’t.”

      “You pay me quite well not to notice. Besides, I’m your secretary, not your girlfriend.”

      He studied her in silence for a moment. “That’s only going to last another few months,” he said, not sounding at all pleased. “You’ll be moving over to Frank’s department in June.”

      She grinned. “All thanks to you.”

      “You caught me in a rare moment of gratitude for your hard work. You graduate with your degree in business this spring, don’t you?”

      “That’s right. I wouldn’t have been able to take the night classes without your paying for my tuition.”

      “I didn’t pay it,” he growled. “The company did. It was strictly a sound business decision. With your knowledge of the company and your quick grasp of things, it would be foolish to hold you back from exercising your full potential.”

      He rubbed his forehead as though the headache was hanging on. “Of course, that means I’ll go through hell finding someone to work for me.”

      “No, you won’t. I’ll do the screening. If I think someone—male or female—will be able to work with you without running the first time you raise your voice, I’ll set up an appointment for you to meet them.”

      “I suppose that might work.” He didn’t look happy at the thought.

      His decision to promote her had been quite a sacrifice for him and she knew it. Beneath that tough, gruff exterior was a very fair man.

      Of course, he was clueless about women, but what man wasn’t?

      “Do you socialize much?” he asked, surprising her again. He’d never shown any interest in her personal life. He was definitely in a strange mood today.

      “I date occasionally. Of course, going to school three nights a week and studying takes up most of my spare time.”

      “I work you too hard.”

      She offered him a cheerful smile. “Comes with the territory.”

      “The only reason I planned the trip was to appease Rachel,