A Businessman

—Men to your posts! Alert! Alert! Jodie Cameron smiled as she heard the receptionist's innovative way of letting her know that her boss had finally arrived at the office on that overcast winter day. "Thanks, Betty." Jodie brushed a strand of hair that had escaped the bun away from her face and waited. Something must have happened to Dean Logan. In the five years she'd worked for him, he'd never been this late. He always arrived before her. I'd checked his calendar to see if he had to go out of town, but there was nothing listed. I'd thought maybe he hadn't been to work because it was Friday and he was leaving for vacation on Sunday. But that was unlikely; I would have called to let him know. It was the first vacation she was going to take since becoming his secretary, and she was looking forward to taking advantage of it to clean up the files, set up subfolders, and work without interruptions. At least Betty had warned her he wasn't in a good mood. Dean was taciturn at the best of times, but as grumpy as he was that morning, she could bear it for another day. He was a shrewd businessman who had worked hard to build his electronic security company. She couldn't understand why he didn't seem happy with what he'd achieved over the past fifteen years. He looked more like a football player than the head of a multimillion-dollar company. It was a shame he rarely smiled. I'd never heard him laugh. He wasn't a jovial man. His face looked like it was carved from granite, and at some point in his life his nose had been broken. His bushy eyebrows and sharp silver-blue eyes wouldn't help him make the list of America's sexiest bachelors. But his looks didn't stop the beauties around him, all hoping to acquire the distinction of becoming Mrs. Dean Logan. From what Jodie had seen, it neither encouraged nor discouraged them. Rachel Hunt was his latest conquest. He'd been dating her for almost three months, which was almost a record for him. Jodie knew when he started seeing a new woman because she was the one who was in charge of sending him flowers, buying him gifts, booking tickets to different events, and sometimes listening to his comments about the women who came and went in his life. Dean knew that most women were more interested in his money and connections than in him. He listened cynically to declarations of undying love and pleas for a commitment he refused to make. That was the reason for the high number of women who came and went in his life. Jodie sometimes saw the loneliness in his eyes. Long before she joined the company, Dean must have decided to keep them away from him. She thought he was sad, though she'd never let him know she felt sorry for him. She simply listened when he needed to talk and kept her opinions to herself. Her sister wouldn't believe it if she heard it; Jodie had a reputation for expressing herself on any subject at any time. She smiled at the thought. Dean moved very quietly, and he'd gotten used to him suddenly appearing at his door. As he did at that very moment. —Good morning. . "No, they definitely aren't." Dean stopped at his desk, took an envelope out of his coat pocket, and handed it to her. "I won't be needing them anymore." He headed toward his office. "Would you mind getting me a coffee, please? I have a splitting headache." "Right now," she answered distractedly. She looked inside the envelope. They were the plane tickets to Hawaii she'd booked for Dean and Rachel. She wondered if Rachel had changed her mind. She stood up, walked to the coffee maker, filled a cup, and went to Dean's office. He was standing with his hands in his pockets, staring out the window. She placed the cup on his desk and sat down in her usual chair.