I Do the Boss (Managing the Bosses Series, #5)(15)

"You're so weird sometimes. I love it." He laughed and turned on the radio. "I need to back off of her. I'm honestly not that interested in making things work between us. I was in a shitty relationship for most of my adult life. I need room to breathe and just enjoy this new opportunity. It just gets lonely."

"I understand that." She reached out and squeezed his arm. "I'll talk with Alex about us spending more time together. The three of us."

"I'd like that." Mark tapped the steering wheel and glanced over at her. "That’s not the kind of lonely I was referring to though. Threesomes with my brother aren’t my kind of thing.”

She punched his arm. “You’re sad. Pathetic.” She couldn’t stop the laugh that escaped. “One of these days, Mark.”

“I know... I know. And you’d think women would be throwing themselves at me, two or three at a time.” He grinned and winked at her. “You good with us eating at the Pancake House? I love that place."

"I don't care. Wherever you want. Just stop by the convenience store for me. I want to grab a paper." She pulled out her wallet and tried to relax. The paper wasn't going to have anything on her, but it would on Alex. The piece that the various magazines were putting into print would be mimicked in the entertainment section of the paper no doubt. She hated the fact that she wanted to see it, but she had to know just how bad the reporters were going to skew all of it.

"You sure you want to do that? I swear you're a glutton for punishment." He pulled into the convenience store and parked before turned his attention onto her. "Admit it."

"Nope. Stop bullying me, or I'll call the Enquirer and tell them it was all your fault. All of it." She got out of the truck with a smile on her face. It was silly and rather childish, but Mark had a way of making her feel calm and playful. Some woman was going to be lucky to have him in her life.

Now to just find her...

Jamie walked through the store, looking everywhere for the paper and coming up empty. She turned and smiled at the clerk as he looked up from his cash register.

"Do you guys have a local paper?"

"We did, but they sold out. Some story about a billionaire playboy has everyone acting a damn fool around here." The guy shrugged. "Sorry. We got magazines over there."

"Okay, thanks." Jamie turned and walked to the magazine aisle, though her interest wasn't in anything but the newspaper. The fear that the reporters in the park the other day were going to twist her relationship with Mark forced a feeling to rise inside of her like panic. Maybe she should have Mark go all over the city until they found a paper.

"Get a hold of yourself. That's ignorant." She glanced up as her breath caught in her chest. The picture of Alex on GQ was stunning. Breathtaking. Incredible. Another magazine called R&S, Rich and Single had Alex out the cover too. It said, “Say good-bye to the R&S Alex Reid. Still R, just no S.”

She reached out and brushed her fingers by his cheek on the cover, mesmerized by the brilliance of his blue eyes. She hasn't been there when they took the picture, but someone knew what they were doing. He was a handsome man, but the image on the cover left him looking like sin itself.

"Wow," she breathed out and picked it up as her stomach tightened. An ache to have him pressed against her tightly left her heart racing, and though breakfast with Mark sounded good, a naughty session bent over her boss’s desk sounded far better.

"Right?" A pretty blond moved up beside Jamie and picked up another copy of the magazine. "This man is so damn hot. Look at him. No woman could ever deserve this, right? And did you see he's getting married?"

Not this again...

Jamie pressed the magazine to her chest and nodded. "Yeah, lucky girl."

"Insanely lucky. She must be quite a catch." The girl smiled. "Wish I was that lucky."

After watching her head out to the checkout, Jamie picked up the R&S and GQ and followed the other woman to the front to pay. Alex would want a copy of the GQ article, but knowing him, he'd have a fit over the adjustments the photographers did to his eyes to make him seem a little ethereal. It was brilliant marketing.

Jamie paid and walked back out to the truck, still a little dizzy over how incredibly hot her fiancé was. She wasn't quite sure what he saw in her, but second-guessing his feelings or their future was getting old.

"That took forever. It's going to be packed at breakfast. What was the deal?" He glanced over as she dropped the magazine between them and laughed. "Oh shit. He's going to hate that picture. He looks like a billionaire playboy. Too funny."

"He looks incredible." Jamie picked up a copy and stared at it as they rode to breakfast. "There's nothing not to like about it."

"He got the looks for sure." Mark snorted and pulled up to the Pancake House.

"You're handsome too. You look a lot like him." Jamie opened the door and got out, meeting Mark at the front of the truck and stepping into the restaurant to the smell of maple syrup and bacon.

"I look more like Dad. Alex got a lot of Momma’s looks." He shrugged. "I'm good with it. I'd get tired of women fawning all over me all the damn time anyway."

"Fawning?" Jamie chuckled. "Is that what we do?"