Beau wasn't expecting Mia to be standing in Sam's office when he opened the door. Generally speaking, when his brother hired a new secretary, he didn't see her much at all for the first few days, certainly not more than just in the morning and maybe in the evening. Everyone in the company knew that Sam's secretary didn't do anything for the company itself; she was only there to entertain him throughout the day.
So when he saw her standing there, poised as if she were on her way out, he couldn't believe his eyes. He hoped that his brother hadn't already started asking her to perform his "special assignments." From the look on her face, it seemed as if that might've been the case. She looked a little flushed. But then, she was smiling at him. So maybe he had imagined that. Maybe she was just as happy to see him as he was to see her.
"Hi, Mia. How's your first day going?" Beau asked, stepping completely into the room.
"Good, thank you. How are you?"
He nodded. "Can't complain. It's nice to see you."
"You, too." Her eyes shifted to Sam, as if she wasn't sure she should say that in front of her boss.
"You can go, Mia," Sam said, an amused expression on his face Beau didn't quite know what to make of.
"Yes, sir." Mia smiled at Beau one more time and then headed out the door.
"You know, there's no point in knocking if you're not going to actually wait for me to say, 'Come in,' Sam pointed out as Beau approached his desk.
"Sorry. You don't usually have your girls in here in the middle of the day this early on." He sat down in the chair across from his brother, and eyed him for a moment, trying to decide exactly what he'd been up to.
Sam shrugged. "Mia is different. She's... intriguing. I like her."
"So what did you make her do?" Beau asked, not sure he wanted to know.
Blowing out a hot breath, Sam said, "Not much. Pick up a pencil. Bend over the desk."
"Bend over the desk?" Beau's eyes bulged. "Just... bend over? For no reason?"
"Oh, I had my reasons." Sam adjusted in his chair as if he couldn't quite explain what he meant, but Beau understood.
He shook his head. "And she'd done those things for you? Let you look her up and down?"
"Why wouldn't she? She signed the contract. I didn't touch her. Yet."
Beau suddenly regretted getting Mia into this situation. He was hoping that, by the time Sam started asking Mia to do too many uncomfortable assignments, he would've gotten to know her well enough to convince her that she could quit working for Sam. By then, he could find her a position in his own department. Just because he had no openings at the moment didn't mean nothing would open up.
"You really like her, don't you?" Sam asked with a smirk on his face.
Beau shrugged. "I don't know her, Sam. I just think she's beautiful. She's nice, and there's just something about her...."
"It's innocence, Beau. She's got a child-like quality about her, as if she has never been touched by a man before. It's alluring."
"I don't think that's what it is that's drawing me to her," Beau disagreed.
"Maybe not. But that's what I like most about her. She's like an untamed wilderness, a conquest waiting to be explored. And I want to go there first."
Beau didn't like the sound of that at all. He bit his lip against arguing with Sam, though. He usually got what he wanted.
"I invited her to lunch. You should come with us. Bring your secretary. What's her name? Edna?"
"Emily," he said, rolling his eyes. Sam knew her name. He also knew that she wasn't some decrepit old woman, the way he liked to make her sound. Just because Beau expected his secretary to actually do secretarial duties and not personally entertain him, that didn't make her old or unattractive. Emily was a few years older than him-and married. She did a great job answering the phones and taking his message, and Beau would never ask her to do the things Sam asked his secretary to do. Sam had a personal assistant to do all the things Beau's secretary did.
"Whatever," Sam shrugged. "You wanna come out to lunch with us?"
Normally, Beau would decline, but he had no idea what Sam might ask Mia to do at lunch if she was the only one there. "I'd be delighted," he said with a smirk.
Sam seemed surprised he'd accepted, but he could hardly take it back now. "All right then. We'll leave promptly at 11:30."
"I know," Beau said. "I've known you for a few years, brother. I know how you are."
Sam's grin was evil. "And yet, you let me hire a woman you're attracted to."
Again, Beau bit his tongue, but he realized now he'd made a mistake. A big one.