Teaching The Boss

Chapter Seventeen

April rubbed her eyes as the elevator made its way up the thirty stories to Sam's apartment. After a twelve-hour day at work, there was nothing she wanted more than to fall into his plush king-sized bed and pass out. But with her graduation ceremony two days away and a long weekend coming up, she needed to stay late and make sure her projects were all completed or she had someone qualified who could take them over.

The past three weeks had been a blur of taking finals and adjusting to her new position within HuntCorp. Luckily, she wasn't called on to mediate relations between Sam and Donald, so it was only her one job and school that caused her lack of sleep.

Well, sleeping over at Sam's constantly didn't help. But she figured the time she spent, um, awake in his bed was downplayed by the extra half an hour of sleep she got every morning. When she stayed with Sam, she was able to hitch a ride in his car to the office instead of the subway. Though he would always make sure to grab a coffee before he entered the office so they weren't seen arriving together.

And Sam had been...amazing. He managed to give her space when she needed it for work and school, but when they were together, he was the funny, handsome, attentive man she'd been so infatuated with for years.

And his smiling face was exactly what she needed tonight. Her last few finals had been killer. Even though they were over for good now, she wouldn't mind a nice bear hug from Sam.

The elevator doors opened and April shuffled to Sam's door. After some careful juggling of her book bag and purse to find her key, the door was open and she slid through the opening and set her purse and bag in the entryway.

Sam's apartment had this strange effect of being cold and welcoming at the same time. It was decorated in a mixture of grays and blacks, with lots of hard angles and modern furniture, but she couldn't help but smile at the massive space. She always got a little rush when she knew she was about to see Sam. He could make even some barren space like this feel inviting.

Though, at the moment, she didn't see any sign of him. She glanced around the living room and kitchen, which in total were bigger than her tiny studio. "Sam?"

"April Morgan, I presume," said a deep voice from behind her.

She twisted around, coming face to face with a tall, striking man.

She glanced over his shoulder to see whether any more strange men were going to sneak up on her. "Um, yes. And you are?"

He took a step forward and held out a hand to her. "Simon West."

"The consultant, right?" She shook his hand and made sure to match his firmness level. "I've heard wonderful things about you."

"Sam's spoken rather highly of you as well." Simon sat back down.

April's brows drew together at the note of consternation in his voice. Did that mean Sam hadn't said good things about her or that Simon didn't like what he heard? For that matter, how much did the consultant know about her and Sam? She was working on the Donald situation and April was intimately involved with Sam and the buyout, so she had to assume he knew everything. The thought of him knowing all the dirty details only increased her unease.

She studied the hotshot consultant Sam was practically pouring money on. He was obviously handsome, but there was a definite edge to his gaze that gave her pause. It was almost as though there was a buzzing energy that was barely contained.

"Is Sam around? I didn't realize he had company."

"He wasn't planning on it. I just invited myself over."