Calvin shrieked. He was, understandably, not overly trusting of men these days. “Mommy!!!”
Lara came around the corner into the large reception area and Calvin practically buckled her knees in his clinging haste to get behind her. She wished there were someone she could put between her and Bryce, but unfortunately, all the available knees were taken. “You didn’t have to scare him to death,” she said defensively, because she was a little shaken and Bryce was a handy target. “He’s only four.”
Bryce looked from Calvin to Lara and, beyond her, to Nell. Then he stooped to the child’s level, even though he remained a respectful distance back. “Sorry, Cal,” he said with a smile, both beguiling and tender. “I’m not really Captain Hook and I never eat anything larger than a bagel for breakfast. I was only playing.”
Calvin’s death grip on her knees loosened. “Who’s Pe’er Pan?” he asked.
“A boy who can fly.”
Cal thought that over carefully. “Who’s Cap’n Hook?”
The corner of Bryce’s mouth lifted in tune with the arching of his eyebrows. “A pirate,” he said.
Stepping out from behind Lara, Cal kept his hand clenched in the linen of her slacks. “Who are you?”
Bryce stayed at the four-year-old’s level as his gaze momentarily lifted to Lara’s. “I’m your mommy’s new boss.”
“She’s not my mommy,” Cal corrected sternly and without prompting. “She’s Aunt Lara.”
“In that case, I’m your Aunt Lara’s new boss.”
Intent on clearing up any possible misunderstanding, Cal raised a determined little chin. “I’m the boss of myself.”
“That’s an interesting philosophy. What does your Aunt Lara think about it?”
“She likes it,” Cal stated confidently.
“I’ll just bet she does.”
“Uh-huh.” Calvin, sensing a kindred spirit, but not quite sure enough to risk getting too close to Bryce, stepped away from Lara into the no-man’s land in between. “Who’s the boss of you?”
“Until today, I was the boss of myself, too, but now I think the shareholders may have the upper hand.”
“I hold Aunt Lara’s hand when we cross the street,” Calvin informed him. “So she won’t get runned over.”
“I’m glad to know that, Cal—is it all right if I call you Cal?”
The child nodded solemnly, his little chest expanding with self-importance, obviously falling victim to Bryce’s charm despite Lara’s devout wish otherwise.
Bryce sealed the deal with an answering nod. “I’m glad you keep your Aunt Lara safe, Cal, because that is a very important job. I would be very sad if anything happened to her.”
Oh, right, Lara thought. As if he wouldn’t shove her in front of the nearest Mack truck if he thought he could get away with it. But he was being nice to her nephew, and for that she could give him the benefit of the doubt.
“Me, too.” Calvin smiled up at her with the gaptoothed grin that had already found a soft spot in her heart. “He likes you same as me, Aunt Lara.”
“Mm-hmm,” she said without conviction. “You know what? It’s time for us to leave, partner. Are you ready to go?”
The child’s eyes widened and his eyebrows dipped in a calculating vee, an expression with which Lara had become very familiar over the past week and a half. It meant Calvin had an agenda. “I got to spin first,” he said and dashed off, a streak of pure energy in a red striped shirt and denim overalls, racing down the hall, heading for Adam’s office and the whirling chair.
Bryce pushed to his feet. “Does he go everywhere at that speed?”
“No,” Lara said with a sigh. “Usually he goes faster.”
“I guess there’s a good reason he couldn’t spin right here?”
“Two seconds after we walked into Adam’s office, Calvin discovered the chair will turn in a complete circle and he’s been whirling like the Tasmanian Devil all morning.”
One corner of Bryce’s mouth tipped with a half smile. “All morning, huh? Sounds like you’ve been here since dawn. Is that your normal schedule or are you trying to impress your new boss?”
“You are not now and never will be my boss.” Lara hadn’t meant to snap, but the edginess was just there in her voice, in the thick knot of injustice in her throat, in the sudden realization that he was wearing jeans and deck shoes and a shirt better suited to weeding the garden than working in an office. “The only reason I came in at all today was to leave my resignation on your desk. But—”
“You decided not to ruin my first day on the job.”
“Nell tore it up.”
Bryce nodded. “Good work, Nell. Give yourself a raise.”
“You can’t do that,” Lara informed him, thinking he’d have the company in shambles within six months. “Not that Nell doesn’t deserve a raise, but you can’t just give her one without going through Human Resources.”
The smile reached a wry completion. “Are you telling me I have to get permission before giving my secretary a raise?”
“Of course not,” Nell said firmly…no fool, she. “You’re the boss.”
“There’s something called protocol,” Lara said, the snap continuing undaunted in her voice. “Your first day might be a good time to figure out what that means.”
“You’re my assistant. You figure it out and tell me what it means.”
“I’m not—”
“Hey! Aunt Lara’s boss!” Calvin yelled down the hall for attention. “Come in here and watch me spin!”
“I’ll go after him.” Nell turned on her heel, directing a stern glance over her shoulder at Bryce. “You convince Lara to stay.”
“Consider it done,” Bryce said as Nell walked away and around the corner at a sensible, unhurried pace.
“Not you!” Calvin’s voice was loud and commanding as he caught sight of Nell. “Aunt Lara’s boss!”
“He’s busy,” Nell said in a voice that was softer, but just as commanding. “For now, you’ve got me and I’m going to get to that chair first.” There was a momentary lull after the threat, then the muffled shuffle of Nell pretending to run and of Calvin racing to stay ahead of her and then a faint, but audible shout of childish glee. “I beat you!”
Lara frowned, feeling she had to offer some sort of explanation for Cal’s exuberance. “He likes to get everywhere first,” she said.
“Things like that are important when you’re four. Plus, it is a really cool chair. I’ve taken a few turns in it myself.” His smile turned persuasive and charming. “Stay, Lara.”
“No,” she said in succinct answer and turned away because…well, because he was persuasive and charming. “I can’t, even if I wanted to.”
“But you do want to, don’t you, Lara?”
His soft challenge stopped her, the truth of it sifting through her like a fine powder, coating all her denial. She did want to stay, if only to see him fail. “There has never been any love lost between us, Bryce. We both know that and you’re not going to trick me into saying I love my job just so you can take even greater pleasure in firing me.”
“You believe I’d fire you?”
“In a heartbeat and with great pleasure.”