Entangled To The CEO

Tasha’s [POV]

The whole rush and go of the office was nothing but a haze. When my assistant tried to show me a new fashion website she found, I couldn’t focus on her computer screen.

Somehow I made it into my office and shut the door behind me. I shook my head and reminded myself that I had work to do.

Minutes later, I was standing at my desk, phone in hand, with no idea whose number I dialed.

“You’ve reached Barbie. Leave a message.” I blinked.

“Uh, hi, it’s me. I, ah, wanted to say thank you for stopping by the new garden site. Everything is going great with the project. . .”

I bit my lip to keep from blurting out that Rainer was currently in his office with an ultra-rich model hanging around his neck. My sister would have no idea who Ellison Ramsey was, and she wouldn’t care. Why did I care?

“Anyway,” I continued.

“I’ll be working closer to home more often now that the community garden is a go. Maybe I can stop by and see what you’re doing with the spare bedroom. Want some help shopping for a crib and stuff?” My hands started to sweat.

Barbie was definitely going to hear something was off. I quickly rattled off a hopefully breezy goodbye and hung up the phone.

There was no way my sister was going to dismiss that voicemail as distracted by work. I slumped into my desk chair.

How was I supposed to work when I was stuttering and saying words like ‘stuff?’ I had to pull myself together. I closed my eyes and prepared to re-imagine my entire day.

I pictured myself in bed, just before my alarm went off. For the first time in months, I had been startled awake by the insistent buzzing.

Normally, I was already awake and plotting my work day by the time the alarm sounded. Somehow I had fallen into a deep sleep that lasted through what was left of that night.

Then I remembered the night. Rainer’s kisses continued even as we gasped against each other’s lips.

The weight of his body over me, his flexing arms sheltering me, his hands tangled in my hair.

The very real thought was that everything outside my condo window had disappeared and San Francisco was on another planet.

I wasn’t the only one with stars in my eyes. Rainer had given me a long searching look, our bodies still pressed together, until I had to look away. That was the reason I had called him later.

He looked surprised and happy like he didn’t want to let me go. It was clearly a new sensation for him, and it terrified me.

I couldn’t have that on his face while we tried to work together. I wasn’t an experiment for him to conduct when business got boring.

If he wanted to play with long-term, he’d have to find some other chump. Or a filthy rich, gorgeous ex-girlfriend.

I rocketed out of my office chair and dug out my phone. The recording I took of Rainer giving me all the credit was still on my phone, and I should have played it for Stan earlier.

It had felt petty and childish, but now I knew it was just self-preservation.

Rainer got what he wanted whether it was billions of dollars or the cream of high society women, and I needed to make sure he didn’t take anything more from me.

For once, I was going to make sure I got credit for all my hard work. Especially since I still had to put up with Rainer on my team.

I jumped two feet when my office door flew open. Amy rushed in with her hands flapping.

“You’ll never guess who’s here,” my temporary assistant squeaked.

“Guess!”

“I thought you said I’d never be able to guess, so why don’t you just tell me?” I put away my phone and wandered back around my desk.

Amy followed me, grabbed my arm, and dragged me to my office door.

“Only the biggest fashion icon in all of San Francisco. Did you know she’s had lunch with Princess Kate?”

“I think Kate Middleton’s title is actually ‘Duchess,'” I said. Amy shook my arm.

“That doesn’t matter. She’s practically our princess.”

“Who?” I asked, prying loose Amy’s grip. Amy rolled her eyes and pointed.

“Ellison Ramsey. Isn’t she the best? Just look at that outfit!” I didn’t want to look.

I tried again to pry my assistant’s hand off my arm, but it didn’t work. Amy was caught in the grip of awe and could not move a muscle.

I panicked, not wanting Rainer to glance up and see me held dumbstruck in the door of my office while Amy practically drooled over his ex-girlfriend.

They didn’t look like exes anymore. Ellison used one elegant hand, glittering with delicate gold rings, to brush back her honey-brown hair.

My hair looked like rust compared to hers. She was willow thin, dressed as if the clothes had been made for her, and as tall and self-assured in her posture as royalty.

“Oh my God, can you imagine if they got married?” Amy woke from her trance with a fresh squeal of delight. I yanked my arm free and spun back towards my desk.

Everyone in the office was watching Rainer and his glorious ex-girlfriend, or fiancee. I cringed but had to look again.

All the junior executives were milling around, waiting for an introduction or the chance to clap Rainer on the back.

He’d be congratulated and revered all afternoon after just one sighting with Ellison Ramsey. It didn’t matter to me.

In fact, if Rainer was distracted by someone like her, then I could go back to running my GroGreen campaign on my own. It should have been a good thing.

My stomach hurt, and my chest felt like concrete. I couldn’t catch a deep breath.

All over a conniving, ladder-climbing, soulless businessman? No, I told myself firmly.

Clearly, office romances were not for me. A businessman would never make me happy, especially not Rainer Maxwell.

“Amy shut the door. I need to get back to work,” I said.

My temporary assistant rolled her eyes again but finally did as I asked. I stared at my computer screen and waited.

Work would save me, it always did. When my office door popped open again minutes later, I swallowed a scream.

I was set to finally tell my temporary assistant just how useless she was and that she was fired, and then I looked up.

Rainer stood in the doorway with one hand raised to knock.

“I just need a minute,” he said. I squeezed the ballpoint pen I was holding until I thought it would snap.

“People usually knock before they open the door.”

“We got interrupted this morning, and I wanted to make sure I followed up,” Rainer said.

He stepped into my office and shut the door on Amy’s curious face. It was impossible not to feel the pull of attraction.

Rainer was dressed in a custom-tailored suit, and yet he still looked as comfortable as a man in his favorite tee shirt.

Maybe it was the way his dark brown hair was just barely under control.

Or the way his wide, strong hands were always flexing as if looking for something to do.

Strip away the silk tie and the polished shoes, and he would be drop-dead gorgeous. I tried not to remember how well I knew that.

“What do you want, Rainer?” I asked. He scowled at me.

Then he looked just over my shoulder, at something far out the window.

He couldn’t see farther than the gray building next door, but his eyes were searching.

Rainer sighed and dropped his gaze back to me.

“Ellison is an ex. I had no idea she’d be stopping by today,” he said.

I tossed my pen down and laced my fingers tight together.

“If this isn’t about work, then you should go.”

“I know what people think I’m like,” Rainer snapped.

He ran both hands through his hair, destroying the careful control there, and sat down across from me.

“I don’t just jump from woman to woman. I don’t want an endless string of one-night stands.” I jumped up, unable to look directly into his eyes.

“I have work to do, Rainer. I’m not your therapist.” He let out a harsh sigh and stood up.

“You seriously think we can just go back to work?” It felt like fleeing, but I went to the office door and laid a hand on the handle.

“We’re at work. Though I really should be getting over to the garden site.”

“Drive together?” Rainer asked, but his sharp tone said he knew my answer.

“I have a few things to finish up here. You go ahead. I’ll meet you there.”

“Yeah, sure,” he said.

“Who needs to have a real conversation when there are papers to shuffle? Stick with what you can organize and put on a schedule. Safer that way.” I opened my office door and kept my eyes on the far wall.

Work had always been my escape, my shield, and it scared me more than I wanted to admit that Rainer saw that.

He must have seen my reaction to Ellison too, otherwise, he wouldn’t have come in to try to explain. I swallowed hard despite the nervous sparks in my stomach.

Rainer was perceptive, but he didn’t know me. He stopped right in the doorway, inches from me.

I had no choice but to meet his blue eyes. It was a struggle, but I answered his gaze without blinking.

“I’m not going to let you file me away, Tasha,” Rainer said.

“Why not?” I clung to the door but refused to back down.

His jaw flexed, and he shifted, not sure whether he wanted to kiss me or shake me.

“Because we’re not done.”

“Check your messages,” I said.

“I’ve rescaled the community garden project. One month and we hand over the reins. One month and all I have to do is call the recreation department to check-in. You’ll be off the hook if you last that long.” Rainer was angry.

“You’re going to organize me out of your life? Too bad I don’t respond to memos.” I watched him stalk out of my office and down the hall before I berated myself.

Why couldn’t I just ignore him? Instead, I all but issued him a challenge. Rainer Maxwell never lost a bet.

By the time I drove to the garden site, I had remembered every office legend I had ever heard.

He once beat an intern in a race up the stairwell. Ten flights and they both collapsed, but Rainer was three steps ahead.

James Berger once bragged about bringing a celebrity to an executive dinner party.

Rainer brought an entire iconic rock band. And then there were the women.Content (C) Nôv/elDra/ma.Org.

Rainer once destroyed the office kitchenette to surprise a particularly beautiful barista with pink cupcakes.

The countertop was stained with red food dye for a week. His date for the holiday potluck one year was the hottest chef in San Francisco.

He jogged the first two miles of a marathon in dress shoes, just to get a pretty runner’s number. It didn’t mean anything, I assured myself.

I was just another challenge to Rainer, and once he saw that I was ambivalent he would have to give up.

All I had to do was ignore him, and he’d go back to wild dates with models and dinners with rich socialites like Ellison Ramsey. I rubbed a hand over my heart.

Then everything would go back to normal. And I would be fine. I had to give myself the entire speech over again as I got out of my car at the garden site.

Rainer was already there, somehow charming a group of junior high students into enjoying the planting phase.

They gathered around him to see what he did with the app and then spread out to work the garden plot. The teachers stood to the side in awe.