Jane lifted a shoulder. “We’re all complicated and have layers. Who knows why he was friends with those guys? We all have stories that other people only know pieces of.”

Dax had put his pencil down. “That’s true.”

“Which brings us back to the thing about your dad. How can he think you’re fucking around when your business is obviously successful, and you’re clearly happy, and Sinatra memorabilia is very cool?” She concentrated on filling the S of SHIT in with green, not wanting Dax to see how very interested she suddenly was in any and every story of his.

Yes, every story.

It was true everyone had stories that others only knew bits of, but she wanted to know all Dax’s stories. That was crazy.

“He assumes the success is because of the other guys. Though he does give me credit for picking good friends and not pissing them off enough to dump me.”

She glanced up. “He actually said that? That way?”

“Oh yeah.” Dax grinned. “He can’t imagine the patience it must take to be Grant and Aiden, in particular. He knows that Ollie fucks around a lot too.”

She thought about that. Then about her first impression of Dax. “Do you have beanbag chairs and gummy bears in your office in Chicago?”

“I do. Of course.”

“And Ping-Pong table and cappuccino machine?”

“Yes.”

“And has your dad been to your office?”

“Yes. He comes to Chicago about every other month on business and always stops by.”

“If your dad didn’t stop by, would you have those things in your office?”

“I…” He stopped and studied her. “I’m going to tell you something I’ve never admitted out loud and the guys know only because they’ve known me a long time.”

She smiled, put her pencil down, and leaned in on her elbows. “I’m ready.” She really was. This guy was interesting. He was sexy and funny and charming, but he was also surprising. He seemed to be easy to understand on the surface, but there was more there. Somehow, she could just tell. And in spite of her wanting to keep a nice buffer between her and anything that could require more energy and time and work in her life, she was drawn to him.

“I put that stuff in my office when we first started because it was symbolic of something that’s been going on with me and my dad since I was fourteen.”

“What’s that?”

“I’ve been trying to prove to him that you can have fun and be successful.”

Jane arched an eyebrow. “And that means gummy bears?”

He grinned. “At first, the gummy bears were symbolic. They’re one of the silliest candies. Not just candy. Not just bright colors. But bears. Little, cute teddy bears.”

She laughed lightly. “Okay. So you symbolically displayed the silliest candy to remind your dad you were having fun making your millions.”

He nodded, smiling. “And I found the silliest office furniture and painted my office yellow—like bright sunshine yellow—”

“The silliest color for an office?” Jane guessed.

“Well, one of them. Hot pink might have been worse.”

She laughed. “And the Ping-Pong?”

“Silliest way to conduct a meeting.”

“You have meetings that way?”

“With my interns and my designers,” Dax said.

She shook her head. “Cappuccino isn’t really silly, is it?”

“To a guy who drinks his coffee straight up black, coffee with foam on it and chocolate or cinnamon sprinkles is silly,” Dax told her.

“Ah,” she said. “Okay, so you did it all to annoy your dad and make a point.”

“I did. And it worked,” he said. “But…”

Jane found herself actually leaning in. “His first trip out got canceled. After I had all that stuff in my office. So it was a month before he showed up. And by then, I liked it all. A lot.”

She laughed at that. “Really? And you were surprised?”

“The cappuccino was delicious. The beanbag chairs were comfortable, and I got a lot of brainstorming done in them. I loved the yellow office walls and the gummy bears were… well, gummy bears. There’s nothing bad about gummy bears.”

He gave her a grin, and Jane had the sudden impulse to kiss him. It was just a sudden flash, but he was just so damned attractive right then. Happy, amused, a little cocky, and so genuine. She blinked.

“And, I kid you not, the Ping-Pong was amazing. We had great brainstorming sessions while playing. And I’ve deduced that when people are doing something a little silly, something that is just fun and totally unrelated to their work, it frees up their brain and lets the creativity flow.” He looked around the room grinning. “It just makes people happier and their work gets better.”

Jane also glanced around. That was more appropriate than staring at Dax’s lips. Her boss’s lips.

Everyone definitely seemed happier. “So you’re brainwashing us all into working better and harder but using silly games to relax us?”

He chuckled. The sound was low and deep. “I’m just making people a little happier. What happens as a result of that is just a nice consequence.”

“You’d be encouraging Ping-Pong games and UNO tournaments if it made them work less efficiently and productively?” she asked.

“If it did that, then I’d know those were the wrong activities,” he said. “Happy people just naturally work better. If the work suffers, then the activities aren’t making them happy. The work is just a measure of the happiness though,” he added. “Obviously, there are lots of other ways to tell. Laughing and smiling, opening up, talking, sharing.”

She narrowed her eyes. “You’re trying to get people opening up and sharing?”

“Sure.”

“Why?”

“So I can get to know them.” He leaned in. “So I can figure out what they need.”

“You want to get to know them?” she asked, her eyes finding it hard to stay off his mouth.

“I do. Some more than others.”

She pulled in a breath. “That’s a lot of people to play Ping-Pong with.”

He gave her a knowing smile. “It is. But I’m up for it.”

Jane turned her attention back on her coloring page. She filled in all the words and started on the flowers. But then she said, “I have a wicked stepmother.”

She didn’t really see Dax stop coloring so much as sense it. But he didn’t say anything. There was something about the fact that he wanted to know more about her that she liked. A few days ago, she would have assumed he’d want to “get to know her” in the sense that he’d want to know how best to get her out of her panties. And that had been appealing for sure. In a way. If he wasn’t her boss.

But now, she thought he really did actually want to get to know her. Dax was clearly a people person. He liked people. He liked interacting, knowing how things worked, how people thought.

“So the wicked stepmother makes sense,” he said after a moment.

“Yeah?” Cassie very rarely made any sense to Jane.

“I mean, it’s no wonder a charming prince came riding into town to sweep you off your feet.”