Bossy Neighbor

  Bossy Neighbor

  by Erika Lynn

  Copyright © 2019 by Erika Lynn

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Contents

  KATE

  DANTE

  KATE

  DANTE

  KATE

  DANTE

  KATE

  DANTE

  KATE

  DANTE

  KATE

  DANTE

  KATE

  DANTE

  KATE

  DANTE

  KATE

  DANTE

  KATE

  DANTE – One Year Later

  More from Erika Lynn

  Meet Naughty Neighbor

  Naughty Neighbor

  About the Author

  KATE

  I tapped my foot as I waited for my boss to finish his call. Victor Inferno didn't like to be interrupted, but he'd be equally annoyed if I failed to appear for our standing 8 a.m. meeting because he was on the phone.

  I waited for him to do what he did best – negotiate a deal.

  I continued tapping.

  Peanut butter, spinach, almond milk. I mentally went through my grocery list as I waited for him to be done.

  The list didn't differ much week by week. I knew what I liked, and I knew exactly how to meal prep for the week to keep me both full and satisfied.

  Both were equally important.

  I liked order in my life.

  That's what helped make me the best damn administrative assistant in Inferno Construction's history. It helped me work my way up to serve the CEO directly in just a couple years.

  I was more than just the lead admin. He let me learn about the company, growing my own skills in the lucrative industry.

  I participated in meetings and served as a sounding board for new ideas, contributing to his decision making.

  And it felt good.

  But still, I wanted to please him. To make sure nothing was ever out of place. I never wanted him to have reason to revoke the privileges he'd given me.

  “That sounds great. I'll circle back with you next week.” Victor hung up the phone and turned his chair from where it faced out the floor to ceiling windows over the city.

  He nodded when he saw me standing there, just as I did every day.

  Victor had his quirks, but I understood that his quirks made him the best at his job. I adapted to them, molding to what he needed.

  His bushy eyebrows pinched together. “Take a seat, Kate.”

  I opened my mouth to say something. He was deviating from the norm. It made me slightly queasy whenever that happened.

  Like the bottom could just fall out without notice.

  I swallowed hard, taking a seat across from him. My fingers smoothed out the pages of the notebook in my lap. They itched to do something productive as I waited for Victor to start talking.

  Victor cleared his throat. “I have a slightly unusual request, Kate.”

  My ears perked up. I could handle unusual. I prided myself on getting things done and being creative about it if need be.

  I readied my pen. “Of course, sir. What do you need me to do?”

  He clasped his hands in front of him on the desk. Only then did I really look at him. He appeared more tired than usual. Deep bags caving in under his eyes.

  He seemed a little smaller, maybe. Like he'd lost some weight. Not that he had much weight to lose.

  “I need you to find a place for my son to live. He’s coming to work here and doesn’t have the time to do it himself.”

  Get apartment, I wrote in my notepad as I nodded.

  “It’s for Dante?” I clarified, albeit unnecessarily. Dante was his only son. My eyes swept to the framed photo of Victor and Dante. Dante must have been ten or eleven when it was taken.

  Victor nodded. “Yes, it’s for him. He starts work on Monday.”

  I gulped. “This Monday?”

  A curt nod.

  Today was Friday. I’d need to get a lease signed by close of business.

  “I’m on it, sir,” I said. “Does he have any requirements I need to know about?”

  “He doesn’t need much. Someplace nearby in a building with a gym and he’ll be just fine.”

  My immediate thought was the place next to mine. The previous tenant recently vacated to move to the Midwest. My landlord mentioned a finder’s fee if I knew of anyone who wanted to move in.

  I stood up. “I’ll work on that immediately.” I paused in the doorway, turning around to find Victor with his shoulders slightly hunched over.

  “Are you okay, sir?”

  Victor lifted his head, his normally steely eyes softening. “I’ll be just fine.” He straightened his shoulders. “Now get to work.”

  I left, not quite believing him, but letting it go because I had an apartment to secure.

  DANTE

  My head had been reeling since I got that call from my father.

  Colon cancer. Stage four.

  The prognosis wasn’t good. They had detected it too late.

  And with my father going into chemo, he needed me to take over the company right away.

  I spent the day packing up the essentials.

  Shaking my head for the umpteenth time, I refocused on the task at hand.

  I’d been living and working in construction since college, wanting to know the ins and outs of the industry. Not just from a business perspective.

  That I learned from my father and business school.

  Working on site gave me insight on what it meant to do the hard labor, to build with my own two hands. Being on site provided me with a challenge I gladly accepted.

  But it was always meant to be temporary.

  I knew the day would come when my father would call me up, tell me to pull my head out of my ass and assume the leadership role I was destined for.

  His prognosis wasn’t something I ever imagined. This dire need to assume responsibility immediately because he wasn’t able to hold the reins while undergoing treatment.

  He needed me to do that. To keep his baby, his company, safe and in the family.

  I knew he didn’t want to be completely forthcoming with the board.

  They’d see his illness as a sign of weakness. Which meant I was never to let on how bad it actually was.

  I needed to take over and do my damnedest to make sure everything ran as smoothly as it did when my dad was in charge.

  But first, packing.

  My dad’s assistant arranged my flight and accommodations, so at least I didn’t need to worry about that. I received the confirmation in my email earlier in the day.

  Looking around at the tiny apartment I sighed. I’d miss it. I’d come to appreciate Cleveland in a way I never imagined. I’d convinced my dad to have me manage the site. I’d done just that for the past couple of years and somehow in that time the city on the lake had become home.

  But reality called.

  I shoved the rest of my clothes into my suitcase, did one final sweep of the furnished apartment, and then headed straight for the airport.

  KATE

  I bounced on my heels and folded my arms. I underdressed for the weather and was paying for it.

  Dante needed to arrive, so I could give him his keys and be done with it.

  Finding his contact information in the work database, I texted him to let him know that I’d be meeting him with the keys to his new place. Since he needed a key to get into the building himself, I decided just to meet him outside.

  I regretted that decision almost immediate
ly.

  Dante: Be there in 5.

  He texted me that ten minutes ago.

  Scanning the street, I found no sign of him.

  I breathed into my hands in an attempt to warm myself.

  Finally, a yellow cab pulled up to the curb.

  Thank God, I muttered, craning my neck to get a good look at him.

  I watched as he exited the vehicle. The first thing I noticed was his hair. It was thick, dark brown with streaks of caramel, shorter on the sides than on the top.

  And he was tall.

  Well, I suppose everyone’s tall when compared to my five-foot-two-inch stature.

  I tilted my neck all the way back to get a good look at him.

  He looked down at me as he approached.

  “You Kate?” he asked in a deep, gravelly voice.

  He was gorgeous.

  Nothing like his father.

  I must have forgotten to answer him because he waved a hand in my face.

  “Hello?” he said in a voice that wasn’t quite friendly.

  He must think I’m mute. Way to go, Kincaid.

  “Yes, I’m Kate, it’s nice to meet you.” I reached out to shake his hand.

  In a perfunctory movement, he accepted it, then looked behind me.

  “Can we get going? I’m exhausted.”

  I cleared my throat. “Of course, follow me.” I used my key to open the front door, very aware of his large body behind me.

  While we walked, I pointed out where the mailboxes were and the door to the on-site gym. He gave an almost imperceptible nod, the only acknowledgement that he heard me.

  So, he wasn’t exactly friendly. That was fine. It’s not like I wasn’t used to his father’s gruff nature.

  We stopped at the elevator, waiting for it to arrive.

  I turned towards him. “How was your flight?”

  “Fine.”

  One word.

  Okay…

  So, he wasn’t a big talker. “I hope you like the place. It comes furnished, so you should be all set.” The elevator arrived, and I held the door as he walked in behind me. I pressed the number twelve and let my hand drop back to my side. “And I left a few takeout menus in the kitchen in case you need to order-in.” It was late and unless he ate on the plane, he was likely starving.

  Travel always made me hungry anyway.

  We finished the ascension in silence. Tempted to break it, I looked up at Dante.

  Scruff covered his face, making him look insanely attractive.

  Here I had been pushing my best friend Quinn to get back on the dating horse when I was going through a dry spell of my own.

  Dante made me want to end my dry spell.

  But then he opened his mouth and ruined it. “Give me the keys, I’ll take it from here.”

  He grabbed the keys from my hand just as the doors opened to our floor. He stormed out of the small space then looked around.

  I patiently folded my hands in front of me, pursing my lips.

  “Shit,” he muttered before turning around to face me.

  It was the first time he really looked at me. I watched as his eyes did a complete scan from head to toe. His blank face revealed nothing.

  I squirmed under the weight of it. I dressed casually. It was Friday night, and I didn’t have plans. Wearing the dress I wore to work that day seemed like overkill.

  He sighed heavily. “What’s the apartment number?”

  My lip lifted just slightly. He seemed so put out that he had to talk to me again.

  What an asshole.

  “It’s 1203,” I said, pointing to the door right behind him.

  Without saying another word, he turned and headed straight for the door—opening it, stepping inside and closing it behind him without saying another word to me.

  “So, that’s how it’s going to be.” I shook my head and went to my apartment next to his, trying to decide if I wanted red or white wine to watch with the latest season of The Crown on Netflix.

  DANTE

  “God damn Taylor Swift,” I swore.

  I sat at the island in my new kitchen gulping down water after my run when I heard the woman from yesterday start singing the latest Taylor Swift song. Hell, I only knew it was Taylor Swift because some guys on my last site thought it was funny to play obnoxious pop music on Friday afternoons. “Gets everyone ready for the weekend,” my former foreman insisted.

  I hope she’d stop soon, otherwise I’d have to go knock on her door. An annoying neighbor was definitely not what I needed.

  Dad: You coming over today?

  Dante: Yep, I’ll be there around noon. See you then.

  I wiped the sweat from my face, my stomach turning sour. I lost my mom to cancer when I was younger, I didn’t want to lose my dad too.

  Shoving those negative thoughts aside, I headed towards the bathroom so I could get ready for the day.

  ***

  “So, who knows what?” I asked as I sat across from my father in his living room. The space hadn't changed one bit over the years. Still the same wood paneling, leather couches and a bar, complete with top shelf liquor.

  I poured myself two fingers of whiskey before sitting down, not caring that it was just past noon.

  My fingers tapped the glass as I waited for my dad to start talking.

  “Nobody knows the full story except for you and my doctor, and I plan to keep it that way.”

  Sitting back in my chair I took a long, hard look at my father. The difference in his appearance alarmed me. Probably because I hadn’t seen him in a few months, the transformation felt all the more startling.

  He’d lost weight, his larger-than-life frame deflated. Running a hand over my scruff, I wondered how nobody at the office noticed it. Perhaps because they saw him on a regular basis.

  I shook my head. “What’s the plan? You can’t just have me show up and you disappear and not expect a few red flags to pop up.” I leaned forward, my elbows on my thighs.

  My father took a sip of green juice his personal chef concocted for him. Apparently, juicing was all the rage with cancer patients.

  His lifted eyebrow suggested I offended him somehow, as if he was annoyed that I questioned his plan. Obviously, he had one up his sleeve.

  “On Monday during the staff leadership meeting I will welcome you to the team as my VP. I will inform them at the same time that I am going on vacation for a few months, but will be available to senior leaders over the phone. But for the most part it will be you running the show, with help from Joel and Darrell.”

  I kept my face blank. Joel McKensie was a few years older than me and had been at the company for his entire career. He was a smarmy bastard, but somehow my father didn’t see it.

  We butted heads more times than I could count. But working remotely on a job site had kept things from boiling over between us.

  For all intents and purposes, he had served as my father’s right hand. Me coming to take my place as a company leader threatened that position.

  But I could work with Joel for the sake of my father. He didn’t need to worry about us butting heads. He needed to focus on his treatments.

  “You’ll have to tell him something. He won’t just let you leave on ‘vacation’ without more of an explanation.”

  My father considered this. “That’s true. And I should probably let Kate know as well. She’s been giving me these looks. I think she suspects something.”

  I recalled that my father’s assistant was named Kate, so I nodded. The inner circle should get some of the information, but not enough that it could compromise my father.

  The rest of the afternoon my father filled me in on all things related to Inferno Construction, along with his worry about the board finding out his prognosis and his long-term plans for the company, regardless of what happened to him in the future.

  It was a somber afternoon. Despite wanting to drink more, I abstained. Alcohol wouldn’t give my father back his health or make things easy for me to take over runnin
g the company.

  So, when I got home later that day, I changed into my workout clothes and hit the pavement again.

  Mile after grueling mile. One foot in front of the other.

  My awareness of my body taking center stage, leaving all thoughts and worry behind.

  ***

  I locked the door behind me just as someone was coming out of the apartment next to mine.

  A quick look to the left and I realized it was the woman who gave me my keys. Kay or something.

  “Good morning,” she said, her voice awfully chipper.

  “Morning,” I replied before heading to the elevator. I heard her catch her breath as if she wanted to say something to me but she must have decided against it. Good thing too, because I needed my coffee.

  She followed me into the elevator and we both took it down in silence. When the doors opened, I left her in my wake. But as I walked the couple of blocks to the office, I could feel her behind me.

  A red light had us waiting to cross the street at the same time.

  Finally, I turned around and stopped until she caught up, her ridiculous heels slowing her down, but doing a great job showing off her toned legs. “Are you following me or something?”

  She gave me a strange look.

  “Or something,” she replied.

  She's a strange one, my neighbor. But I pulled out my phone going through my emails as I walked the final block to the building that headquartered Inferno Construction. I'd finally lost the short redhead at the last light.

  As I walked onto the floor that housed the senior leadership team, I stopped by to say hi to the people who had worked for my father since I was little. Doug, Darrell and Janet all gave me hugs and caught me up on their lives.

  I didn't, however, miss their look of confusion at my presence. They eyed my tailored suit, missing nothing. I'm sure they wouldn't be surprised at my father's announcement. They could already tell something was going on.

  I headed back to my father's office but stopped short, my neighbor seated at the desk directly in front of it.