Irresistible Valentine E-Book

Trina Solet

• Herausgeber: Trina Solet
• Kategorie: Gesellschafts- und Liebesromane
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2024

Beschreibung

Derrick's whole life is about business. He has closed the door on relationships until he's surprised by his sudden feelings for his assistant, Malcolm.
Malcolm is a practical guy who is not ready for a whirlwind romance with his boss. He's busy taking care of his three year old niece, Paula. She had a rough start in life, and Malcolm devotes all his time to her.
Though their lives are very different, Derrick and Malcolm can't resist each other. Will Derrick's hard-nosed attitude drive them apart?

Leseprobe

Irresistible Valentine: Gay Romance By Trina Solet

Copyright © 2024 by Trina Solet

All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the author except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, locales or actual events is entirely coincidental.

All sexual activity takes place between persons eighteen years of age or older.

This novel contains material intended for mature readers.

Cover image is only for illustrative purposes. Any person depicted is a model.

Irresistible Valentine

Gay Romance

Trina Solet

Chapter 1

"Want to see where I work?" Malcolm asked his three year old niece, Paula, as he helped her get her socks on. She turned up her big, blue eyes to him curiously as he explained what they were going to be doing. "You're going to come to the office with me today. Let's see which coloring books we should bring."

"OK, Uncle Malcolm," Paula said. She hopped down from the couch and picked up a whole, big stack of coloring books from the coffee table, hugging them to her.

"Just those then. OK," Malcolm told her with a smile and grabbed a shopping bag to stuff them into along with the safer choice of colored pencils instead of crayons.

After getting her shoes on, Malcolm bundled her up in a yellow coat and pink cap over her blond hair. She looked a lot like Malcolm's younger sister when she was little, and that meant she looked like Malcolm too with her dark blond hair and blue eyes.

Paula hadn't lived with Malcolm for very long, only a few weeks, and he didn't think she was ready for either daycare of preschool. She usually spend her days with Mrs. Saddler, but she called to say she woke up with the flu and she couldn't expose Paula, of course. There was also Mona. She was his friend Candy's mom, but she was usually only available in the evenings and on weekends. That left Malcolm with only one option, to bring Paula to the office with him. The good thing was that his boss, Mr. Argent, wasn't going to be in the office today. He was still away on his business trip.

As Malcolm walked into the sleek offices of Argent Holdings with Paula in tow, Amy, the receptionist smiled at them. She said good morning and asked Malcolm, "Does this little lady have an appointment?"

"Yes, she does. Her appointment is with me. It's bring your niece to work day," Malcolm said and smiled at Paula reassuringly. He could tell that Amy's mock serious tone was making her worry.

Paula's situation before she came to live with him made her anxious and scared of anything unexpected, especially new people. She often became petrified if adults spoke to her even when they were being friendly. This kind of 'you're in trouble' teasing was sure to frighten her.

Bringing her to such a cold and intimidating environment wasn't ideal, but she was doing OK so far. Paula gazed wide-eyed at the sleek glass walls and black marble everywhere, and she ducked her head if she noticed anyone looking at her and clung tightly to Malcolm's hand.

As they made their way down the corridor, past even more glass and dark marble, Malcolm opened the door to Mr. Argent's office and froze. Why didn't Amy tell him? He was supposed to be on his business trip for another two days, but Mr. Argent was sitting behind his desk. Malcolm could see him clearly because the whole wall separating Mr. Argent's office from the outer office where Malcolm worked was glass.

"Oh, crap," he said under his breath as Mr. Argent raised his head from the laptop screen and noticed Malcolm and then Paula. His handsome face registered surprise and then disapproval. Damn. Malcolm hadn't worked for him long enough to get away with something like this.

"Is he mad?" Paula whispered worriedly.

Malcolm shook his head and put his arm around her. "Nah, he's not mad. He's just a busy guy," he said, but there was a good chance Mr. Argent was mad.

Malcolm took a deep breath and had Paula sit on the floor with the bag with her coloring books and colored pencils. "You get out one of the coloring books and color something nice. I'll be right back."

Mr. Argent was in his late twenties, good-looking with dark hair and eyes, a beard and some great muscles on his perfect body. He was also all business. Hell, Malcolm wasn't sure if he had ever seen him crack a smile. He couldn't imagine that a guy like that would be OK with Malcolm bringing his niece to the office.

Now Malcolm was going in to explain himself. "Sorry about this, sir. That's my niece, Paula. I just got custody of her. My two possible babysitting options fell through, that's why I brought her with me," Malcolm said as he walked in.

He couldn't judge the level of displeasure from Mr. Argent's usual stern expression. Then a questioning frown formed on his handsome face. "Do you mean to keep her out there all day?"

"I was hoping, but..." Malcolm trailed off. Obviously that wasn't happening.

He looked out toward his area of the office and saw that Paula was getting anxious. Mr. Argent noticed too. "Why does she look scared?"

"She's been through a lot and she's so little," Malcolm said vaguely. He wasn't about to go into how neglectful his sister had been toward her kid. "Can I have some time off to sort this out?"

Mr. Argent frowned at him. "Actually, I'm back early because there was an unexpected buyout offer for MLH. We need to make changes to our proposal and update everyone involved. This needs to happen today."

That meant Malcolm had to stay to do the work. He looked toward the outer office again. "I can stay if I can keep Paula here," Malcolm stated.

"Are you sure she wants to stay? I think she hates it here," Mr. Argent said archly and he wasn't wrong, but Malcolm was surprised he noticed something like that.

"She should be fine once I tell her everything is alright," Malcolm said. "But it would help if I brought her in here and introduced you. She can see you through all this glass so..."

"It is like a fishbowl in here. And I guess I look scary to her?" Mr. Argent said like there could be any doubt about that. And he didn't look scary just to Paula. Plus the fishbowl design was his choice.

Malcolm didn't confirm to Mr. Argent that he frightened little children. With his permission, he brought Paula in to meet him. "So this is Mr. Argent, my boss. And this is Paula, my niece. Say, 'Nice to meet you,'" Malcolm instructed her.

"Nice to meet you, Mister, but I can't say your name. It's too hard," Paula said while still looking scared, but Malcolm was so proud of her for speaking up especially to someone as intimidating as his boss.

"That's OK. 'Mr. A' is fine," Mr. Argent told her. "It's nice to meet you."

Standing up, Mr. Argent opened his desk drawer and got out something that turned out to be an interlocking, wooden puzzle. He handed it to Malcolm. "Maybe she would like to play with this?" he said.

"What is it?" Paula asked in her small voice as Malcolm gave it to her.

"It's a puzzle," he told her.

"No," she said since it didn't look like the kind of puzzles Malcolm had gotten her which were flat and had cartoon characters on them.

"It's a different kind of puzzle," Malcolm told her then he thanked Mr. Argent. That was such a nice and unexpected gesture from him.

"It's no problem," Mr. Argent said, his voice gruff but a more pleasant expression on his face than usual.

Leaving himself a reminder on his phone to return the puzzle before they left, Malcolm took Paula to the outer office where she sat down on the floor in the corner next to Malcolm's desk. She took up her coloring book and pencils, and she seemed fine with that until Malcolm went into Mr. Argent's office to get his instructions. That made her anxious but not as much as before. While Malcolm noted down all the changes to the documents, he kept an eye on Paula as she alternated between her coloring book and the incomprehensible wooden puzzle.

"We go home now?" Paula said in a hopeful voice when he came out.

"Uh, no, sorry. I just started working. It's going to be a while," he told her apologetically.

"OK." She settled back down to finish coloring all around a drawing of a flower instead of inside it. Malcolm wasn't about to tell her she was doing it wrong. After a moment, she lifted up her head again to ask, "Uncle Malcolm, am I working?"

"You sure are. You're working hard. I'm going to pay you in pretzels," Malcolm said but kept his eyes on his own work and made a mental note to get some from the vending machine as soon as he took a break.

If they were busy, Malcolm would often work right through lunch as would Mr. Argent. For Malcolm that wasn't an option today. He had to stop for Paula's sake.

Going into Mr. Argent's office, Malcolm told him, "I'll be ordering lunch for Paula. Can I get anything for you?"

Mr. Argent looked like he was going to refuse lunch, but then he rubbed his temples and said, "I haven't eaten since..." Obviously he couldn't remember since when. He looked past Malcolm toward his desk and the corner where Paula was coloring. "Maybe you should take your niece out to lunch. You don't want her to be cooped up in here all day."

"You wanted to review the changes before..."

"The main stuff is done, the rest can wait. I'll be going to lunch too. I need to stretch my legs and move around. And eat," Mr. Argent said. It was unlike him to insist on a break, but Malcolm was grateful and not about to question it.

He took a moment to admire Mr. Argent's physique as he stood up and turned to take his suit jacket from the back of his chair. The movement drew Malcolm's eye to his muscular back, his shoulders.

As Mr. Argent put his suit jacket on, Malcolm turned away but at the last second noticed a pink envelope fall out of the jacket pocket. Malcolm was going to go back and pick it up for him, but Mr. Argent snatched it up too fast and put it in his desk like he didn't want Malcolm to see it.

Malcolm did see it, he even noticed that it said from D to K. Mr. Argent's first name was Derrick. Pretending he didn't see anything as he walked out, Malcolm did wonder who would Mr. Argent give a card in a pink envelope to? Valentine's Day was in a month, so maybe it was an early Valentine's card. Malcolm hated to admit it, but he envied this K.

Chapter 2

Malcolm got Paula ready to go to lunch and they ended up running into Mr. Argent by the elevators. They went down in the elevator with him and Paula looked up at Mr. Argent. "He's bigger now," she whispered to Malcolm.

Mr. Argent quirked up a corner of his mouth at that and said, "I stretched out my legs, that's why. When I sit too long, I get shorter."

Malcolm was kind of shocked at him being so whimsical, but it made Paula smile shyly. Mr. Argent was full of surprises today, and this new side to his personality made him look even more handsome.

Before stepping out the front doors of the building, Malcolm made sure Paula's coat was buttoned. He was taking Paula to a diner close by, and Mr. Argent was probably going to some fancy place where high powered executives congregate.

Mr. Argent wasn't going his own way yet though. As they all went out, he stopped and asked, "Would you two let me take you out to lunch?"

Malcolm was surprised at the lunch invitation and speechless for about a minute. He decided to consult with Paula. "Mr. Argent wants to have lunch with us, is that Ok?"

"Mr. A is hungry too. He needs to eat," she said.

Malcolm turned to Mr. Argent and told him, "I think that was a yes. Where did you have in mind?"

"La Plume," Mr. Argent said. "It's close. We can have a nice walk there."

They walked down the busy street and Paula held onto Malcolm's hand while looking around curiously. Meanwhile, he fretted over where they were going. La Plume was an expensive French restaurant, the kind of place where Malcolm might have made reservations for Mr. Argent, but not a place where he would actually eat. It wasn't business oriented, but it wasn't a place to take a three year old either. It was fancy and French, and now they were stuck going there.

Malcolm had gone to working lunches with Mr. Argent, but this felt very different and also strange. Since Malcolm hadn't made reservations at La Plume, he didn't know if they could get in. If they couldn't, that might be for the best.

Finally, they arrived. The outside of La Plume was fairly understated but that all changed once they went in. There was a couple ahead of them at the maitre d's station so Malcolm had a chance to gape at the restaurant's interior. The place was extravagant in a most unexpected way. Murals on every wall depicted very pretty birds and porcelain birds were suspended from the ceiling.

"This place is crazy," Malcolm said then he looked at Paula and saw her bright eyes taking it all in.

Without looking away from all the birds, she tugged on Malcolm's sleeve. "Look, birdies," she said like he might have missed about a thousand birds everywhere if she didn't point them out.

"They're pretty, huh," he said to her and she nodded.

When their turn came, Mr Argent only had to give his name to the maitre d' and they were shown to a table. "Did we just steal someone's table?" Malcolm asked since the place was full.

"It was worth it," Mr. Argent said and nodded toward Paula who was still entranced with the bird decorations, especially the ones hanging above them. Looking up, she hardly noticed the people sitting at the tables they passed so she didn't shrink back from them the way she usually would.

"I can't get over this place," Malcolm said.

"I like it," Paula said as they were seated and she kept looking up.

Seeing her like that, Malcolm had to admit to Mr. Argent, "I guess you know what you're doing."

"Sometimes," Mr. Argent said, "I just hope little Paula will find something she'd like to eat."

"She isn't too picky," Malcolm said. The way his sister raised her, there were times Paula was lucky to get even one proper meal. She couldn't afford to be choosy.

Mr. Argent ordered wine for himself and Malcolm and a sparkling orange drink for Paula. As they were handed menus, Malcolm moved his chair close to Paula's. That put Mr. Argent directly across from them, his eyes scanning the menu.

The menus were pretty and even Paula got one. She liked the decorative touches on the menu, and Malcolm understood about as much of it as she did. A lot of the names of the dishes were in French. Malcolm had heard of some of them but he wasn't sure what they were. He looked at Paula helplessly then put on a brave smile.

"Let's see what you're going to have," Malcolm said to her.

She had an idea. "Peanut butter and jelly sandwich," she said.

Malcolm turned to Mr. Argent. "Do they have that? Is this French for peanut butter and jelly?" he asked and pointed at a random menu item.

Mr. Argent smiled and came up with his own suggestions. "Malcolm, you could try the duck confit, and Paula could have some fried chicken with plum sauce and French fries." Mr Argent looked up at their server who nodded. "No wine in the sauce for my little guest, of course."

Malcolm was glad to let him order and he smiled and Paula and told her, "I think you'll like it." But he was pretty sure that Paula's meal wasn't actually on the menu.

Malcolm had brought along one of her coloring books and pencils, and that was lucky since this wasn't the kind of place where they bring that stuff out for the kids. Paula got busy coloring and Malcolm worried he might have to make polite conversation with Mr. Argent. It would have to be about work. They had nothing else in common.

He shouldn't have worried. Mr. Argent talked mostly to Paula. That was better than talking business with Malcolm. Who would want to make a little kid listen to that?

Malcolm watched in amazement as Mr. Argent spoke to Paula softly but with a serious face, asking her questions about her favorite colors and things to color, very exciting stuff. It was kind of unbelievable to see either of them like this, though Mr. Argent had the tone of someone conducting a job interview. Paula didn't seem to mind. She mostly kept her head down, but her expression was cheerful. She also answered his questions, or at least nodded and sometimes smiled like when Mr. Argent said that the dog she was coloring might eat her orange pencil.

Since his boss wasn't paying attention to him, Malcolm could stare at him, admire little things about him like how thick his eyelashes were, the shape of his mouth, the flex of his muscles under his suit.

Their food arrived, and it was delicious. Paula was cautious trying her fried chicken with plum sauce, eating it in little bites. She seemed happy to be there unless she looked at the other guests, then she looked a little apprehensive.

As they were eating, a man and a woman waived to Mr. Argent and seemed to be about to come over. He nodded to them but also gave them a look like he was letting them know that he didn't want to be bothered. They smiled and changed direction to go straight to their own table without coming over.

"Did you just offend those people?" Malcolm wondered leaning toward Mr. Argent and lowering his voice so he wouldn't worry Paula.

"Does Paula like meeting new people?" Mr. Argent asked pointedly.

"No, she doesn't," Malcolm had to admit. Paula was very shy and tended to cling to Malcolm whenever they were around strangers. "But..."

Mr. Argent stopped him and shrugged it off, his attitude unapologetic. "We're having a nice lunch and we don't want to be interrupted. They'll get over it."

Malcolm wasn't exactly surprised that Mr. Argent could be standoffish and unfriendly, but this time he was doing it for Paula's sake so it was nice.

As they walked back to the office, the day was cold but bright and sunny and Paula seemed at ease walking between them. Malcolm thanked Mr. Argent for lunch then he picked up Paula and asked her, "Do you want to thank Mr. Argent for treating us to lunch?"

"Thank you Mr. A," Paula said sweetly and Mr. Argent actually smiled.

"You're very welcome." He then turned to Malcolm and told him curtly, "Feel free to bring Paula with you any time you need to. She's welcome at the office."

"Thank you so much," Malcolm said as Mr. Argent surprised him for about the tenth time that day.

Chapter 3

It was Paula's second day at the office. She was less nervous this time, giving Amy at reception a little wave. To Malcolm's surprise, Paula looked kind of disappointed when she saw that Mr. Argent wasn't in his office. She wasn't disappointed for long. Mr. Argent arrived just as Malcolm was setting up Paula on the floor with her coloring books and pencils and some stickers.

"Good morning, Malcolm. Good morning, Paula," Mr. Argent said, greeting her like she was another of his employees.

"Hi," Paula whispered as she glanced up at him and smiled then she got engrossed in where to stick her stickers on the coloring book page.

Malcolm worried that Mr. Argent might think he had too many kid things for Paula spread out on the floor, but it was the opposite. Apparently he didn't think they had enough. "Is that all she brought with her?" Mr. Argent asked, making him feel like he was shortchanging Paula.

"I think that should keep her busy," Malcolm said. There were like five or six coloring books in the stack. That was plenty for five or six kids.

"Doesn't she have a special toy? Or maybe you didn't bring it," Mr. Argent said, turning to walk into his office. "You can bring anything you think she needs."

As Malcolm followed him in, he said, "She doesn't really have anything like that. Coloring books seem to be her favorite thing. She can't get enough of them."

"I thought all children had that one special toy," Mr. Argent said as he sat behind his desk.

"She and her mom moved around a lot, she had to leave stuff behind," Malcolm said and that was just a small part of what Paula had to deal with in her young life. She had definitely been shortchanged. Malcolm got her different toys, but so far she kept them lined up all together at the foot of her bed, but hadn't gotten especially attached to any one of them.

"Oh. Should we take her to lunch and then shopping so she can find a special toy?" Mr. Argent asked. He was starting another day by surprising the hell out of Malcolm.

As it got close to lunchtime, Mr. Argent was ready for a break and for them to take Paula shopping. It was so unlike him to want to take a lengthy break in the middle of a work day, Malcolm had to wonder what got into him. He wondered if he felt sorry for Paula, and that in turn made Malcolm feel like a bad uncle.

Mr. Argent wanted to take them shopping before going to lunch so their first stop was a department store toy section. Malcolm's shopping philosophy was get in and get out. His parents never had much money, maybe that was why he didn't have a knack for it, but he didn't think Mr. Argent did either. Mr. Argent seemed lost and like he just wanted to escape the store. Malcolm almost reminded him that this was his idea.

Malcolm was paying more attention to Paula though. He had noticed that when they went to the store, she didn't ask for anything. To figure out what she wanted, Malcolm had to pay attention and see what she stared at the longest. Since this was a toy section, she liked a lot of things. But she stared the longest at a stuffed toy in the shape of a blue cloud.

"Is that what she likes?" Mr. Argent asked coming close to Malcolm, maybe too close. The man smelled indecently good. Still, Malcolm couldn't let himself be distracted.

"Let's see," he said then asked Paula, "Do you like that cloud toy?" "I like him. He's Mr. Cloud," she confirmed then started to put it back on the shelf.

"You named him, now we have to buy him," Mr. Argent said and his gruff voice made Paula look a little worried. Mr. Argent gave her a smile to reassure her.

"We'll be taking Mr. Cloud home with us," Malcolm told her and he took the toy off the shelf again.

Paula looked happy but Mr. Argent didn't think they were done. "She should have a cute bag to carry her things," Mr. Argent said as Malcolm thought they would be going to the register. "You had her things in a grocery bag."

Mr. Argent was eyeing him with disapproval, so Malcolm sighed and said, "OK, let's find a cute bag."

They found a shiny backpack with a butterfly design in purple, but it didn't end there. Though Mr. Argent seemed completely lost in the toy section, he still found stuff that Paula had to have. There was a doll that came with several hats. That was a must have. Then there was a colorful bird that lit up and slowly flapped its wings.

None of these were things Paula asked for because she never asked for anything. It was all Mr. Argent. Malcolm was a little jealous because it seemed to him that his boss was better at helping Paula find things she liked than her own uncle.

"It's usually kids that have to be dragged out of toy stores before they try to buy everything in sight," Malcolm grumbled as they were going to pay.

"I'll pay for all this," Mr. Argent said but Malcolm couldn't let him.

"Oh, no, but I appreciate the offer," Malcolm said. At that, Mr. Argent's face fell so Malcolm relented, "OK, you can buy her Mr. Cloud."

Now Mr. Argent looked more cheerful but he also realized, "It's the least expensive of all the things you're buying her." He was right, but it also turned out to be the most special.

Mr. Cloud was the toy Paula was hugging as they went to lunch and then back to the office. They arrived just as Candy was dropping by with some papers and to say hi. Candy was a good friend of Malcolm's and the daughter of one of Paula's babysitters, Mona, but she still hadn't met Paula. Maybe she was afraid she would be roped into babysitting. She had told Malcolm that she was allergic to responsibility and warned him not to expect any babysitting services from her.

As Mr. Argent went into his office, Malcolm introduced Candy and Paula. "I like your name," Paula told her, warming up to her quicker than most people, maybe because her name was Candy and she had hair that was half pink and half purple.

Candy noticed all the shopping bags. "What's all this?"

Malcolm told her, "We went out to lunch and on a shopping trip. Mr. Argent kind of insisted." At least the place where they had lunch wasn't as fancy as the last time.

"Argent took you to lunch and shopping? That's interesting," Candy said with an insinuating look on her face.

"It was for Paula. He thought she wasn't stocked up on toys and now we have Mr. Cloud and all this other stuff," Malcolm told her.

Now Paula showed Candy her new favorite toy and told her, "Mr. Cloud just like Mr. A."

"Mr. A?" Candy said.

"Mr. Argent," Malcolm said. "He gave her permission to call him that."

"Isn't he full of surprises all of a sudden?" Candy said and she was exactly right, but she was also suggesting that there was something going on between Malcolm and his boss and that was completely wrong. Not that Malcolm didn't have an occasional fantasy about him as anyone would if they had a boss as hot as him.