Marrying the Billionaire - Macie St. James

1

Charlie McLaughlin set down her mug of coffee and cup of yogurt, grabbing a tissue from the box so she wouldn’t have to rest her spoon directly on her desk. She’d wiped the desk down the day before, but she still felt better if her eating utensils were on top of something.

With a sigh, she sat down in her desk chair and smiled. This was her favorite time of day. This half hour before everyone else arrived when she got a head start on her day. Her boss, Justin, teased her about getting to work early, but she just preferred the silence of the empty office.

Charlie was reaching for her mouse, intending to scoot it to wake up her computer, when an unexpected noise shattered that prized silence. It sounded like…

A knock?

After waiting a second for it to repeat, she decided to ignore it. If someone was at the door, they could wait until official office hours. She wasn’t a receptionist. But then she remembered that the building had security, so anyone who came to the door was likely okay to be here.

There it was again. A knock. Charlie looked down at her yogurt regretfully. She’d have to delay her breakfast just a little longer. Sighing, she stood and walked in the direction of the lobby area. She had to get a little closer to turn the corner so she could see the front door. Since all the walls around here were pretty much glass, she could immediately see who was standing out there.

A man. A tall, dark, and handsome man, as cheesy as it sounded. He looked like he’d just stepped out of a catalog with his perfectly tailored suit jacket and button-down shirt. Like everyone else in Silicon Valley, though, he wore jeans. You had to dress down at least a little to fit the culture.

Charlie walked to the door and stopped. “May I help you?”

His face scrunched up. He shook his head and pointed to his ear. He was saying he couldn’t hear her?

She’d worked at TravTech for four years, three months, and ten days. But who was counting? In that time, she’d never tried to talk to someone through the glass door that led to her office space. She’d just assumed you could hear through it. Certainly, when she’d had her own office with a door—before downsizing had her voluntarily give it to her boss—she’d been able to hear people talking outside. Maybe this door was thicker.

Charlie weighed her options. She could turn and go back to her desk and hope the guy went away. She could go get a notepad and write down a phone number for him to call, then speak to him that way. Or she could simply open the door and hope this guy wasn’t a well-dressed serial killer.

Gritting her teeth, she reached out and pulled the door open. The security device made a loud click in response, as it always did when it opened. She pulled the door only partway open, though—mostly because she wanted to make it clear that he needed to say what he wanted and be on his way. She didn’t have time to chitchat with strangers.

“May I help you?” Charlie asked.

The guy’s neutral expression changed to an amused one. Amused. As though he thought she was cute or something.

“Charlene McLaughlin,” he said.

Charlie frowned. Nobody called her Charlene. Well, her mother had called her that when she was a kid and did something wrong. She’d also add in Charlie’s middle name. “Charlene Michelle McLaughlin,” her mom would shriek. “Get over here right now!”

“Charlie,” she corrected. Then she wondered why she’d bothered to correct him. “How do you know my name?”

“May I come in?”

Seriously? This guy had some nerve.

“No. Our office doesn’t open until eight o’clock. There’s a cafe in the lobby if you’d like to wait. They have great lattes.”

Again, why was she saying all this? “No” was a full sentence. That was what she’d been learning from an audiobook on female empowerment she was reading.

“I’m Nicholas Shaw,” he announced like it meant something. Just dropped the two words and took a step back, sliding one hand into his back pocket. The stance emphasized his broad shoulders. He was tall and thin, but his arms and chest looked like he could make a woman feel safe just by wrapping her in a hug.

Charlie shook her head as if to clear the clutter out of it. She could blame it on the early hour, but she was already on her