Hearts in Training

Can she have her dream job and her dream man too?

Reed Decatur thought taking over the reins from his father as CEO of Decatur Industries was the culmination of his career dreams.

Accepting the position also meant answering to the demands of the Board of Directors, and their latest idea is a real doozy. The Board hired a consultant to make him the new ‘face of the company’. Private by nature, Reed might just have to rethink his career goals. After all, he couldn’t even work up the nerve to ask out the mystery woman who’d taken up residence in his mind since the first time he’d seen her.

Caroline Trumbull is thrilled with her newest assignment, until she meets him face-to-face. Decatur Industries’ new CEO may be sexy, but he’s the most stubborn man she’s ever met, and Caroline quickly learns that being Reed’s shadow is a lot harder than it looks. As her respect for him grows, so does the chemistry between them. Struggling and ashamed of her living situation, Caroline can’t accept the help he so often offers.

Desperate to spend time with Caroline outside of the spotlight, Reed plans a weekend trip to Wolf Creek, New Hampshire. When the lines between personal and professional are irrevocably blurred, Caroline must decide between the man she loves and the job she’s always wanted.

Chapter 1

Reed rushed through a cup of coffee before heading to the floors below to the executive offices of Decatur Industries. As the recently appointed CEO of his family’s international shipping business, he liked to get to the office early to get a jump on things before the chaos of the day took over.

He waved his keycard in front of the lock to his office door and wondered what his mystery woman would be wearing today. He nearly smiled to himself as he pictured her blonde hair swept up in a neat twist complemented by her sedate but classy work attire. If he wasn’t the boss-No! He had to be honest with himself. If he wasn’t so damned shy, he would know her name by now. As far as he could tell she hadn’t been with the company long, but she’d certainly caught his attention.

He logged into his computer and considered looking through the company directory again. His previous searches hadn’t produced a staff photo. Maybe she was a contractor? He smiled. Even better. If she was only here on a temporary assignment, maybe she wasn’t off-limits after all.

None of that changed the fact he’d have to work up the nerve to speak to her first, and that was a lot to ask of himself. His interest in the woman bordered on an obsession. It had become something of a ritual to seek her out each day. Some days were so full of meetings and critical decisions that the anticipation of seeing her bright smile was often the beacon that pulled him through.

But, right now he was wasting time. He checked his calendar and then opened his email and focused his attention on Decatur Industries.

Two hours later, Reed resisted the urge to leave the Board of Directors meeting. In his imagination, he slammed the enormous, heavy door with a reverberation heard on all thirty floors of the lower Manhattan skyrise. When he’d agreed to take the reins after his father’s retirement a year ago there hadn’t been a single word said, not a single hint that the board planned a long transition in which they would exploit his age and looks to modernize both the company’s image and its productivity. He clenched his jaw in disgust. His father, a man he loved and respected, had presided at the head of the table and delivered the announcement with a damned twinkle in his eye. Reed knew that twinkle. In his younger years, it had signified something was about to happen for his own good. Except he couldn’t see how making him the centerfold of such a project could benefit him personally. Reed Decatur might be the next CEO of Decatur Industries, but he still answered to his father and the Board of Directors, and they were not to be deterred.

“The first phase of our leadership transition was to contract a Transition and Training Coordinator. She’s spent the last two months assimilating herself into our culture,” his father announced at the meeting. Reed looked around the table and wondered if he was the only one there who hadn’t known this person had already been with the company for that long.

“For more than seven weeks she’s walked among us incognito. Working her way from the ground up as she’s learned our corporate culture, structure, and goals. Getting to know us from the inside out. And she’s here now to give us her impressions.”

Reed leaned forward and steepled his fingers in front of him as he watched Human Resources director, Bill Burns, stand to usher in their guest. Reed prided himself in being involved at every level. How had he known nothing about this?

Fred Decatur, Chairman of the Board and Reed’s recently retired father, rose to his feet as a stunning blonde in a perfectly cut business suit entered the boardroom. Reed stood with the rest of the board until their guest reached her seat just to Fred’s left. “Gentlemen, let me introduce Caroline Trumbull.”

Disgust for the Board’s trickery gave way to disbelief and knocked the breath out of Reed as he recognized his mystery woman. With a level of discomfort at nearly one hundred, he pulled his emotions behind an indifferent mask while she smoothly took control of the meeting. He was forced to listen to her assessment of the corporation he’d only recently taken the reins of. A corporation he was tasked with revitalizing. Presumably now under her guidance. Why had the Board appointed him if they believed he wasn’t ready? He swallowed hard and suppressed the idea the Board thought he was a child in need of a babysitter. No one could do the job better than he could, except perhaps his father.

The fact that her observations were dead-on, or even that she seemed to share the same view of the company’s strengths and weaknesses as him, did nothing to soften the irrational feeling she’d betrayed him. Going out of his way to spot her in the common areas or riding an extra floor in the elevator just because she was in it had become his habit of late, only now to find she’d been planted by his Board, his father. She had to have sensed his interest. Had she known his identity all along? Had it been a joke with her friends over drinks after work? His gut burned and he resisted the urge to fold an arm over it. That would look like a defensive position. Only to himself would he admit he was embarrassed to learn he’d been flirting with someone hired to tell him what the company was doing wrong. Perhaps the burning feeling was disappointment he’d have to stop his imagined game of cat-and-mouse with her. It was conceivable that one day he’d have worked up the nerve to ask her out on an actual date. Now, he let that dream crash and smolder as he came back to the present and listened to her impressions.

“I’d like to put him front and center as the image of the company. A young philanthropist, responsible and upward.” She slanted a look at him as if challenging this for the truth. “But also, interesting and attractive. That will address the positive publicity objective.”

She was going to use him as an example to support her agenda. The Board’s agenda.

“In partnership with your CEO, I’d like to create a training division to improve productivity within various departments and attract workers with new skills.”

Reed’s gaze slid around the table noting that every head was bobbing in eager agreement as she cast her spell on them. He hated that he agreed with her goal for the training division.

“Exactly how will exploiting my age and looks translate into company gain?”

He felt his face getting hot as the men around the table looked his way. It was impossible not to sound combative. What did his looks have to do with his ability to do his job anyway?

The burning in his gut spread through his veins as anger replaced embarrassment again. The one saving grace to the situation was there would be an opportunity for the Board to vote. He still had a voice in the situation. He telegraphed his disdain to the blonde bombshell as she wound down her presentation. She glanced his way and faltered. It was immature of him and he fully knew it, but he sat back and gave her a satisfied gleam. It lasted only a split second, but he’d cracked her seamless veneer. Score one for Reed.

Thirty minutes later and resolutely overruled, Reed yanked his lavender tie loose and planted his hands on the credenza in his office staring out across the East River at the Brooklyn skyline. Yesterday he would have secretly thought it was cute that his mystery woman’s gray suit matched his own so perfectly. Today he had to wonder whether she contrived her wardrobe selection for her success. Disappointment ate at him. He took a swig of liquid antacid that he kept in his desk and forced his gaze back to the calendar open on his computer screen. Two meetings this afternoon. He’d originally planned to use the free time to review several proposals that had come across his desk. Now he wasn’t sure he could be fair to the prospective business partners. He closed his laptop and called his sister. She always knew how to distract him.

CAROLINE THREW a smile at Reed’s executive secretary, Jamie, when she bypassed the woman to reach Reed’s office. From now until the conclusion of her contract she had unrestricted access to the CEO. For that reason, she didn’t wait to be announced, but out of respect for his work, she opened the heavy wooden doors silently. Her heels made no sound on the thick carpeting as she neared his desk. She slowed and took in the view that greeted her. Two entire walls of the office were glass from floor to ceiling. The corner and one wall were devoid of furniture giving the illusion of being able to step right off the edge into the expanse of the city below.

Her gaze moved from the skyline to the stiff shoulders of the man before her. Either he was still angry, or this was his normal personality. His back was to her, his hands planted on the low cabinet before him. Even from the back, he was an imposing figure. Even without seeing his expression, she felt the anger radiating from him. She could have been intimidated. She chose not to be. She was equal to this task. Besides, failure simply wasn’t an option for her right now.

She knew most people saw the younger Mr. Decatur as stoic and unfriendly. Caroline thought he was fascinating and sexy but she doubted many other people saw him that way. His quiet appeal would help her with the project the Board had given her. Reed was good-looking, sure, but how could she get people to see him as relaxed, confident, and capable as well? He didn’t appear that way to the general public, and that was the image the directors wanted to create.

“What can I do for you?” He didn’t bother to turn around when he spoke.

“I have the impression you were caught off guard by your role in this project, Mr. Decatur.”

He turned to face her, his indifferent mask back in place. “Not at all.”

She raised her eyebrows at him, amused. His tie was haphazardly tugged loose. He looked down, made an exasperated noise, and fixed his tie.

“So, what’s next on your agenda? World domination?”

She accepted his sarcasm and tried to keep the conversation light. “Well, I generally start small, you know, one company at a time. But I think you mean, where do you and I go from here?”

He looked into her eyes. “Yes, that’s what I mean.”

She held his gaze. “There are a couple of options. You can choose which works best for you.”

“That’s kind of you.”

She gave a single nod. “I can lurk in the background and shadow you while I formulate the best method to go public with you.”

It was barely a split second, but she was sure she saw him flinch when she mentioned going public.

“Or?”

“I can fully immerse myself in your work life.”

“Gee, those are some great choices,” he muttered. She gave him a commiserating smile. He dropped his head. “Which choice gets this whole project over faster?”

“Immersion.” She let him hear her sympathy.

He seemed to examine her for a moment and his expression softened. “Immersion? That seems excessive for a simple decision on how to exploit me.”

She shrugged. “It is the fastest way for me to see how you operate. The research and interview route can take months. I’ve been here two months already. It’s also less personal, less effective, and therefore more expensive. I prefer quick and to the point. Like ripping off a Band-aid.”

“That’s certainly effective,” Reed agreed. “And every bit as painful as I imagine this will be.”

She wanted to laugh. She could add humor to his list of attributes. “I’m very good at my job, Mr. Decatur. I promise not to make this any more painful than it needs to be.”

“Are you placating me?”

“You appear to need it.”

She saw his smile just before he turned his back on her. He spoke to the window. “What does immersion involve? Let’s iron this out right now while you have me trapped here.”

She didn’t bother to hide her pleased smile. “For the next month or so I will work your schedule. I’ll attend meetings with you, listen, and watch how you interact with your peers, learn what makes you tick.”

“Do you plan to stalk my personal life too?”

She cocked her head and studied him with a curious smile. “Do you have one?”

Reed leaned back against the credenza with his hands in his pockets and studied her. “I’ll let you decide. I keep long hours. Are you sure you can keep up?”

If he only knew the kind of hours she kept. “I’m tougher than I look.”

This time he did laugh. “I hope so.”

Giving him a bright smile to show she wasn’t offended that he was laughing at her, she hitched her leather tote higher on her shoulder. “Immersion it is then. I’d like to get started right away. Tomorrow, if that works for you.”

“Jamie will be happy to put you on my schedule.”

Caroline acknowledged that with another nod. “She can schedule me into meetings with you, of course. But you and I both know you do so much more in a day than what is covered in a few impersonal meetings. I’ll need to know what that is as well.” She deliberately kept her voice calm, cheerful even. He wouldn’t be able to dismiss her so easily. She had a job to do.

Regardless of her tone, he impaled her with a look that managed to convey both his displeasure and incredulity. “You intend to follow me around all day?”

“I believe I just explained that. The more you share with me the more I have to work with. And the more I have, the quicker and more successful our project will be.”

“The more I share with you?” She watched his gaze travel down her body, and she hoped he couldn’t see the effect that had on her.

“It’s not personal, Mr. Decatur.” Unless he wanted it to be. Then, she was all in.

“Tomorrow will be soon enough to work out your role here.” He looked down at his monitor and then fixed his gaze on her again. “Unless your idea of getting to know me involves watching me read contracts for the rest of the day?”

“Not until tomorrow,” she added, injecting a little levity again.

He sat down, dismissing her.

“Thank you, Mr. Decatur.” She looked at the time on her phone. She’d barely been there ten minutes. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“I’ll be in at six A.M.” He looked at her steadily, but she knew her expression didn’t falter.

“I’ll see you at six then.”

Caroline waited until the door closed behind her before releasing her pent-up breath. To her right, Reed’s assistant, Jamie, nodded her head. “He has that effect on everyone. I’ve forwarded you his schedule.”

Caroline laughed, but she doubted Jamie understood the exact effect he had on her. She hugged her bag a little closer, straightened her spine, and gave Jamie a little wave. “See you tomorrow, Jamie. And thanks.”

She checked her messages as she rode the elevator down to the fourth floor. Two voicemails, both from bill collectors. The cable company and a grocery delivery company. She deleted the messages and sighed. How did these places even get her number? She knew, of course. Her mother had given it out as a contact number. What she wouldn’t give to change her number, she thought. But it just wasn’t possible. Her family needed her.

Inside the office she’d been given for the duration of the project, Caroline made a few notes from the Board meeting. Her office was nowhere near the size or caliber of Reed’s office, but it was spacious, and the windows faced East where she would have direct sunlight in the morning, her most creative time of the day. It had been thoughtful of the company to give her a place to call her own for a while.

She plopped into her chair, kicked off her shoes and swiveled to face the windows with her laptop balancing on her knees. She scanned Reed’s calendar. “He has no life!” How could she revitalize a company led by a robot?

Knowing she wouldn’t find an answer to that tonight, she let her mind wander back to her mom’s situation. Her mother and Tony loved each other, in their own mutually needy way. Caroline could understand that. Her father had been a good man, a big man in every way, and his death had left big shoes to fill. Her mother wasn’t brave enough to stand on her own. But Tony? She knew her mother couldn’t see it, but Tony was every bit as needy as she was – and even more irresponsible with their money.

While she logged off the network and packed up her things to head home, Caroline considered the benefits of kidnapping her mother and hiding her somewhere to see if Tony would move on, like a parasite finding its next host. She had to be fair. Even though he and her mother had never married Tony treated her like a stepdaughter and her mother like a queen. Her mother could have done worse. But she could have done better.

She decided to forgo the expense of a cab and walked the ten blocks from the Decatur Building to her Battery Park apartment. It was November and the temperatures hovered in the low forties, but at least the buildings would block most of the wind. Tomorrow she would remember her tennis shoes and a real winter coat.

She scolded herself again on her choice of shoes as she noted the out of order sign on the elevator doors in her apartment building. With a sigh, she took the stairs to the third floor. Maybe after this project her company would promote her, and she’d be able to afford a place in a better building.

She unlocked the door and tossed her keys in the little metal dish on the table in her entry. Before dropping her bag on the floor next to the table she dug out the mail, a few catalogs, more bills for her mother and Tony. At this rate, not only couldn’t she move to a better place, she would have to take on a second job, and find jobs for both Tony and her mother to dig them out of all this debt. She resisted the urge to moan that this wasn’t fair. Life wasn’t fair. She’d learned that lesson as a teenager when her father died so suddenly. Her father had taught her to believe that life was whatever you made from what was dealt to you, and she was determined to give her mother the same good life that her father had provided for them. Even if that meant supporting her and Tony during their struggles.

She tossed the mail aside and selected a microwave dinner from the meager selection in her freezer. While it heated, she changed into a stretchy T-shirt and leggings and found a romantic Christmas movie on T.V. Perhaps a dose of happy-ever-after would take her mind off the things in her life that she couldn’t change.