Page 44 of Naughty Heart

Here I thought I’d somehow landed on Santa’s nice list for being good all year, and it wasn’t that at all.

It was Malcolm. He was the naughty one who’d received an ultimatum from his parents and was only doing what he had to do to advance his career. He’d dish out $75,000 to hire a personal assistant when he never had one before.

I should have known. A man like him would never go for a woman like me—a former factory worker.

I clapped my hand over my mouth to prevent an audible sob from escaping as I scurried across the hall and into my office. I quietly closed and locked the door behind me.

Then, I gave myself the permission to burst into tears.

How could I have been so stupid?

12

MALCOLM

“Well,I’ll let you get back to work, son.”

My father stood from the couch in my office, and I let out a sigh of relief that had nothing to do with the conversation we’d just had.

“Yeah, I have a few things I want to take care of before the day is over.”

He wore a proud smile as he nodded at me. “I’m glad you had the time today to talk to me. I just wanted you to know how proud I am of the changes you’ve made in such a short time. I didn’t expect to be hearing so much positive praise and feedback from the heads of multiple departments, and I’m glad you’ve decided to take this seriously.”

“Thanks, Dad. I’m glad you can see that this is important to me,” I replied.

Moving toward me, he came to a stop beside me and clapped his hand on my shoulder. “It’s a good feeling to know the legacy my father wanted to build and the one I wanted to pass on has a chance to go to my son now.”

A few weeks ago, the idea of a family legacy wouldn’t have crossed my mind. I was mostly focused on having a good time and was only interested in enjoying myself while doing—just as my mom had noted—the bare minimum to skate by here. Ever since I’d started putting in the effort, I felt a lot better about where things were headed.

I wondered how much of that was related to my future here at the company and how much could be attributed to Evelyn.

“It feels good to hear that,” I returned. “I understand this discussion isn’t a promise or official decision, but I’m grateful for the talk all the same.”

And I was.

But no matter how much I appreciated talking with my dad, I hadn’t been fully committed to the conversation, because I couldn’t stop thinking about Evelyn.

Where was she?

She’d left so long ago to run a simple errand for me, and she hadn’t yet returned. To say I was worried would have grossly misrepresented just how concerned I was about her.

Unfortunately, as much as I had wanted to call her to check on her, I couldn’t. If I excused myself in the middle of this meeting with my dad, he would have assumed I was hiding something from him about the status of my relationship with Evelyn.

And while I wouldn’t have been able to say I wasn’t fascinated by her, we technically did not have a relationship beyond boss and employee. I could easily admit to myself that I was hoping that could change in the future.

The thing was, as time went on, everything I thought about how this was all going to go had changed. I’d come into this feeling confident I could resist her and get the job done. But I was growing more and more attracted to her, and that wasn’t something I was sure I’d be able to hide if I made mention of being concerned for her while my dad was here.

I loved the way Evelyn looked, thought she was incredibly intelligent, and believed she was such a humble, hardworking, and genuine woman. She knew how to laugh and have fun. She made me laugh, something I hadn’t necessarily experienced with any other woman the way I did with her.

Evelyn popped into my head multiple times a day whenever she wasn’t around me, and now that I’d sent her out to run that errand and she hadn’t stopped in to let me know she’d returned, I couldn’t seem to focus on anything else.

At least now my dad had said all he needed to say and was leaving, so I could give Evelyn a call to make sure she was okay.

“I’d love to give you that final decision today, Malcolm, but your mom intends to hold out until the very end,” he said as he walked toward the open door. “Even then, you realize that we’ll only be making the decision to start the work of transitioning you to take over for me. It’ll be at least another year of us making sure you’re fully committed to this.”

“It’s okay. I understand. I expected as much.”

“Good. Alright, well, keep up the good work. I suspect the next week and a half is going to be a bit crazy around here as we prepare for the party on top of the usual workload. I’ve got to get myself back to my own office.”