The Ex Who Hired Her. Kate Hardy
He’d let her think she’d won this one, because it really wasn’t an issue. ‘No, it’s not. Everyone here calls me Jordan.’
‘Jordan,’ she repeated.
It was the first time he’d heard her say his name in a decade, and he felt the colour rise through his face because he could remember a completely different tone to her voice, back then. When she’d cried out his name as she’d climaxed.
What an idiot he’d been. Not an issue, indeed; suddenly she’d made it one. And she hadn’t just won this round, she’d completely flattened him. He needed to get out of here before he said something stupid. He glanced at his watch. ‘I’m afraid I need to be somewhere. Excuse me. Thank you for your time, Ms B—Xandra.’ He deliberately didn’t meet her gaze and turned instead to the personnel manager. ‘Harry, would you mind debriefing the other candidates?’
‘Sure.’
Jordan walked out of the room without looking at her; when he reached his office he sank into his chair and closed his eyes. How the hell was he going to cope with having her back in his life?
Lots of cold showers, he answered his own question. And he’d better hope that the icy water would wake up his common sense. Because this particular woman was absolutely off limits, whatever his body might like to think.
A week later, Alexandra walked into Field’s.
From today, this was hers. And she was going to take it from being a quiet, slightly old-fashioned department store to one that was buzzing. One that hit the news for all the right reasons. One that could deliver cutting-edge products, yet back them up with solid tradition.
And she could hardly wait.
She smiled as she swiped her store ID card through the slot by the staff entrance door, and stepped through.
Harry was there to meet her and introduced her to all the office staff, then took her round to meet the manager of each department. Jordan was conspicuous by his absence. She wasn’t sure whether to be more relieved or cross; was he deliberately avoiding her? Well, he’d have to face her eventually, and she’d make sure that he didn’t have a single thing to complain about. She was going to make a real success of this job.
A couple of days later, Jordan was doing his daily walkabout through the store—not so much checking up on his staff as making sure that he was visible rather than a faceless boss, and so he could see for himself if there were any issues that needed tackling or where his staff needed more support.
His body prickled with awareness and he glanced round. Alexandra—he still couldn’t think of her as Xandra—was there, talking animatedly to the staff on one of the perfume counters. She was wearing another beautifully cut business suit that emphasised her curves and those high, high heels that made her legs look even longer.
As if she sensed him watching her, she glanced up and caught his gaze. She gave him a shy smile, and for a moment he was transported back to being nineteen years old, catching her gaze across a crowded party. She’d smiled like that at him back then, her brown eyes huge and slightly wary behind her spectacles.
And then she’d reeled him in. Hook, line and sinker.
He had to remember that. The shyness had been just an act, and she’d fooled him.
Though he was a fast learner. Nobody fooled him twice.
He gave her a cool, formal nod and turned away.
By the end of the week, Alexandra was absolutely certain that Jordan was avoiding her. He never seemed to visit the staff canteen—or, at least, not when she did; he hadn’t dropped in to see how his newest manager was coping in the role, delegating that task to Harry; and he hadn’t acknowledged her once on his daily walkabouts in the store, even though she knew damn well he’d seen her talking to customers and staff and setting up the customer audits.
Worse still, even when her back had been to him, her body seemed to have developed some kind of radar system that told her exactly where he was. And it was infuriating that she was still so aware of him.
If she was honest with herself, she knew the old attraction between them had never really gone away. But she’d just have to ignore it, because she didn’t repeat her mistakes. Apart from the fact that Jordan Smith had been the second-biggest mistake of her life, her marriage had taught her just how rubbish her judgement was when it came to men. As far as she was concerned, from now on, she was married to her career. At least her career wasn’t going to let her down or try to control her or make her feel bad about herself.
Though Jordan was the CEO here, and she was planning to make quite a few changes. Which meant that they were going to have to work together. They’d need to discuss her plans. Since he clearly wasn’t going to make the first move and establish a decent working relationship between them, then she was going to have to be the one to do it. ‘Stubborn, annoying, ridiculous man,’ she muttered, and printed out the report she’d been working on.
It was late enough on a Friday evening for the rest of the office staff to have gone home, but she knew that Jordan would be working late. He put in a crazy number of hours—a work schedule that would strain just about any marriage to creaking point. Which wasn’t her problem; she wasn’t in the slightest bit interested in whether Jordan Smith was married and how happy he was. But his working habits did mean that she’d be able to talk to him this evening without anyone else being able to overhear.
Just in case it got awkward.
She walked down to the far end of the corridor—had he deliberately made sure that her office was as far away as possible from his? she wondered—and looked through the open door. He was seated at his desk, working at his computer. She’d never seen him wearing glasses before, and it made her catch her breath; right now he looked incredibly clever and incredibly sexy.
But she had to remember that she couldn’t trust him as far as she could roll a ten-ton boulder up a slope.
OK, as a boss he seemed reasonable enough, and everyone she’d talked to in the department store had spontaneously mentioned what a nice guy he was and how he really cared about the staff; but when it came to personal stuff she knew he wasn’t in the slightest bit reasonable or reliable. She had the physical scars to remind her. Scars that only a surgeon would see, but they were most definitely there. The physical ache had gone, but the emotional ache was something she’d learned to live with over the years.
She rapped on the door jamb.
He looked up, and his eyes widened in surprise. ‘Is there something you need?’
‘I just thought you might like to know what I’ve been working on for the last week.’
He shrugged. ‘I don’t believe in micromanagement. I know my managers are perfectly capable of doing their jobs.’
Ha. Considering he clearly hadn’t wanted to give her the job in the first place, that was rich. ‘Well, I’m telling you anyway, because I believe in good communications.’ Neatly pointing out his own failings in that area, without actually saying the words. ‘This is the stuff about the social media. It’s a quick win and a small budget.’ She walked over to his desk and handed him the report.
‘You could’ve emailed this to me. Or given it to my PA.’
‘So I could.’ He wasn’t even going to try meeting her halfway, was he? ‘I’ll remember that in future.’ She gave him a cool smile and walked away.
Jordan almost called her back. Almost. But, until he’d managed to inure himself against those beautiful brown eyes, he needed to keep some distance between them.
Even so, instead of putting her report in his in-tray for later, he read through it.
There was a concise summary at the beginning, then each section had figures to back up her recommendations. She was definitely as bright as he remembered. And she was a team player: she’d acknowledged the input of every member of staff from the shop floor who’d made