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Chapter Two
The off-white pantssuit made Lucy Lovely look every bit the ice queen that she was. Cold and in command. She didn’t even write anything down; she just knew the answer to everything. No matter how hard Leo Montgomery had tried to knock her off balance in the last few months, he had always failed.
When he had first seen her working for Bruce Vance in HR, he had wanted her, but not as his personal assistant. He would start with her as his personal assistant and move on from there. But she had never given any indication that she would be interested in anything like that. Maybe because she was in charge of his dating calendar, which was busy.
There was no ring on her finger, but she was married, and Leo did not sleep with married women. There were some lines he didn’t cross even if he had slept around while married he had never slept with a married woman. He wasn’t going to start now that he was single again.
For three months, he had gotten to know a little about Lucy and liked her a lot. It had taken only a week or two to see that she was not his type at all. He had never been turned on by cold, professional women, women who didn’t know how to relax. And Lucy definitely did not know how to relax—he had never seen her anything but ready to work. That’s how she was able to run his office better than anyone else, and she even took care of his kids’ calendars.
With four kids and two ex-wives, it was a lot to handle, but Lucy managed to know where they all were and where they were all going. Aubrey was in her first year of college, and Alexis was sixteen and getting her driver’s license. Addison and Amelia were in elementary school, dance, and karate. Lucy always knew who had what and when.
No matter how well she looked in heels and skirts, she wasn’t his type, but he liked to look. Maybe too much. He liked that she never got comfortable in his office, perching on chairs or just standing. Sometimes she would pace, which bothered him, but he never said anything about it.
Today her long brown hair was hanging down her back in thick waves. It was rare that she wore it up. It was always long and gorgeous, not that he noticed.
Looking at his personal assistant saunter out of his office took his mind off the court date scheduled for that day. Stacy had wanted more money and to move the girls to Chicago. They were ten and eight now, and he didn’t want them that far away from him. His older kids were here, and he wanted the four to be close one day. They needed to be living in the same town.
But after court, he was sure Stacy would take them away, which meant he would have to follow with the older two. He would have to move his entire life to keep them together, which was why Bill, his realtor, was looking into houses in Chicago.
At this point, he didn’t need anyone knowing he was thinking of moving the company; the investors would not be happy if he did. But his family was more important than his company, no matter what either of his exes thought.
Lucy’s voice came over the phone, “Kelvin is on line one.”
Picking it up, he barked, “What happened, Kelvin?”
“I have told you time and again, she has the stable life. You’re a swinging single and are acting it. A parade of women is not what your girls need to see, Leo.”
“What can I do?” he asked.
“I have told you the simplest plan.”
“I’m not getting married again. I’m not even seeing anyone that would qualify as a girlfriend, much less a wife.”
“Stop screwing around and find someone for your kids. Maybe someone who doesn’t care that you’re screwing around? Someone who isn’t emotionally invested in you as much as your girls,” Kelvin offered.
Leo’s mind went straight to the women he had spent time with recently, and no one fit into that category. They had been very interested in him, but he was sure none of them even knew he had kids. Or cared.
Movement in the outer office caught his attention as Lucy leaned forward in her chair. Even from this distance, he could tell that she had kicked off her shoes, leaving her feet bare and directly in his line of sight. Not that feet had ever done it for him, but he couldn’t seem to take his eyes off hers.
For an instant, he regretted that she was most likely already married. Despite being an ice queen, she seemed to like his kids and asked about them every now and then. She even remembered their names and ages the few times they came to the office. None of his other secretaries had ever taken an interest in his kids, not even the ones he had slept with.
No, Lucy was happily married, and he had even seen her husband a time or two when she was running a little late, and he walked her to the car. She always had a laugh for him, a joke. It was the only times he had seen her show any emotion beyond a smile. But Mr. Lovely was lucky enough to get her laughs.
When she had moved up to work in his office, he had realized he should have checked Lucy Maud Montgomery Lovely’s file a little closer. Two last names and a man meant “married” in every sense of the word.
Then once he had caught her on the phone, laughing with a Cliff. So, she was Mrs. Cliff Lovely, and Leo had made sure he didn’t forget that. Ever.
