Who's the Boss? Read Online Free PDF Page A

have more needs than just answering your phone.”
    His light eyes darkened. His mouth curved, making her blink in surprise. Sullen, the man had been beyond handsome. Smiling, he was stunningly gorgeous.
    “I don’t think you want to hear about my needs.”
    No. No, she didn’t, Caitlin decided as her heart took off running. “Probably not.”
    Slowly, he ran his gaze down the length of her, then back up. When he met her eyes with his, an unmistakable heat radiated from them. Caitlin had been on the receiving end of looks like that ever since she’d grown breasts, so she’d long ago learned to tune them out. Yet now, under Joe Brownley’s suddenly hot gaze, as unbelievable as it seemed, she felt herself blush. “Something wrong with my attire?”
    “Yeah,” he said in that low, disturbingly sexy voice. “In this office, you’ll need something a little... more.”
    She’d known it! Her clothes were all wrong. “More?”
    “Shapeless. Like a potato sack.”
    She laughed. “I wouldn’t be caught dead in a potato sack.”
    “You’re distracting.”
    “Your techs were refreshing and charming. I don’t think I’ll have a problem here with them.”
    He turned and started back down the hall, his long legs churning up the distance in just a few strides. “I wasn’t talking about the Three Stooges, princess,” he called back.
    Oh.
    Oh.

3
     
    T HE BUILDING THAT HOUSED CompuSoft was small for downtown, Caitlin thought. But it was brick and glass and strangely cozy.
    There was a small coffee stand on the lobby floor, complete with doughnuts, croissants and mouth-watering pastries. Caitlin couldn’t resist stopping there before getting on the elevator, if only to drool.
    After all, if she had to suffer mornings, then she needed junk food.
    A lovely brunette woman, about Caitlin’s age, wearing an apron and a harassed smile came up to her. “Can I help you?”
    Caitlin thought of her last dollar drowning in the bottom of her purse. “How much is that chocolate thingie over there, last one on the row?”
    “In calories or cents?”
    Caitlin laughed. “Either way, I’m sure it’s too expensive. Besides, I shouldn’t. Oh, man, I really shouldn’t.” Ruefully, she tapped her curvy hips.
    The woman let out a reluctant smile, which softened her entire face. Her green eyes sparkled with life that hadn’t been there before. “This is what I tell myself every morning.”
    Caitlin eyed her spectacular figure—all willowy and slim. “How many do you eat?” she asked doubtfully.
    She shrugged. “Depends on how rude the customers are, which varies. The more annoying jerks I serve, the more I eat.”
    Caitlin sighed and thought of Joe. “I’m afraid if I stopped here every time my boss annoyed me, I’d be busting out of my clothes in a week.”
    The woman laughed now, and gave Caitlin a much more genuine smile. “You’re new here. I’m Amy.”
    “I’m Caitlin.” She dug into her purse to appease her rumbling stomach, and accepted the huge chocolate pastry.
    Amy grinned, removed her apron and grabbed a pastry for herself. “Just in case the crowd gets crazy later, I’ll take my break now.”
    They pigged out together.
     
    BY THE TIME HE GOT to his office the next morning, Joe was high on adrenaline, his mind racing ahead, thinking about his software program.
    With a little luck, he figured he could make real headway today, if he got in the good ten to twelve hours he needed.
    As previously arranged, he had first stopped at one of the local banks to meet with a loan officer, hoping to start the preapproval process. He wanted to be prepared when his program was complete, so he could properly promote and sell it. To do that, he’d need money—a lot of it.
    Despite the hassles ahead, he grinned and silently thanked Edmund for the thousandth time. Without the old man’s generosity in deeding him CompuSoft, Joe wouldn’t even be thinking about this for himself. Edmund had provided the means for Joe to