“Actually, if it’s okay with you, I’d prefer to use this time away from distractions—” Especially something as distracting as sleeping in his bed! “—to keep powering through our to-do list before we meet with Mr. Harrington.”
“It’s rare to meet someone who works even harder than I do,” he noted with another smile. “I knew hiring you was a good decision.”
“The best one you’ve ever made,” she agreed with a cheeky grin.
With that, she settled back to eat her dinner, bound and determined to ignore her attraction to her boss. No. Matter. What.
Chapter Two
They closed their last research folder as his plane landed at Heathrow. Lyssa yawned, covering it with her hand. Having ventured all over the world on business trips for the past two decades, Cal was used to jet lag and dramatic time changes, but he figured Lyssa would need a little time to recover from the all-nighter they’d just pulled.
“You’ve gone above and beyond for the past eleven hours,” Cal said. “Why don’t you plan on hitting the sack for a few hours once we get to the hotel?”
“You went above and beyond too,” she pointed out. “And actually, I’d prefer to stay up until at least nine tonight to acclimate to the time change. Otherwise, I’ll probably be up in the middle of the night.”
Yet again, it struck Cal just how much of a go-getter Lyssa was. She’d been running at full speed since the day she’d started working for him six weeks ago.
The truth was that he’d hired her as a favor to the Mavericks. Evan had mentioned how much Lyssa hated her job in Chicago. Sebastian had noted what a great job she’d done helping his fiancée, Charlie, with the accounting for her sculpture business. And Daniel had hinted that his parents would love to move west, but only if Lyssa were there too.
Before he’d hired her, Cal had only ever seen her in party mode—at backyard barbecues, weddings, birthdays, holidays. She was always laughing, always having fun. He’d wondered if he’d regret taking her on, if she had it in her to be serious and get work done.
He should have known better. Lyssa was a Maverick. During the past six weeks, even when Cal had thought he might be overloading her with half a dozen projects, she got through them all in record time, then asked for more. Thus far, she had brilliantly managed the office, while also putting together research portfolios on potential contributors, plus outlining their plans for the future in alignment with Gideon’s vision for Lean on Us. Big plans that far outpaced the sixty million dollars he’d received for the painting. Cal had secured a few smaller contributions, along with funds from each of the Mavericks, but billionaire Dane Harrington was their first huge prospect.
Cal strongly believed in Gideon’s vision of helping soldiers returning from active service, given that they often experienced a hard time. Add to that injuries or PTSD or even a soldier’s death, help could be required for years by both veterans and families. Given Gideon’s past, he understood the healing process more than most. Cal was also glad that they would be helping foster children, another cause very close to Gideon’s and all the Mavericks’ hearts.
It was midafternoon by the time they cleared Customs and hailed a taxi to the hotel. He’d booked a suite, charging it to his own company, not the foundation. They’d used his plane for the same reason. At this point in his life, Cal liked a certain amount of luxury, but he certainly didn’t expect the foundation to pay for first-class accommodations or flights. Especially given that he was also planning to take care of his own business while he was here.
In the back of the cab, Lyssa smiled at him, looking a little bleary-eyed from staying up all night. He wasn’t sure she’d manage to remain awake until nine p.m., no matter how determined she was to acclimate to the time change.
The bellman showed them to the suite, which consisted of two bedrooms with a sitting room between and a breakfast nook just inside a set of balcony doors.
Not wanting her to feel at all uncomfortable, he explained, “While this can be set up as a connected suite during the day so we have a place to work, at night you can completely lock off your side.”
He couldn’t quite read her expression as she said, “I’m sure there will be no need for that, but thanks for letting me know.”
“Why don’t you take that room?” Cal pointed to the larger one. “It has a soaking tub.”
“Are you sure you don’t want the Jacuzzi?” she asked, a blush suddenly staining her cheeks.
“I prefer a shower.”
Her rosy flush deepened. “But what about the tub on your jet? Don’t you ever use it?”