BIG BAD WOLFE

ELLE DOOLITTLE

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. The author makes no claims to, but instead acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of the word marks mentioned in this work of fiction.

Copyright © 2015 by Elle Doolittle

BIG BAD WOLFE by Elle Doolittle

All rights reserved. Published in the United States of America by Swoon Romance. Swoon Romance and its related logo are registered trademarks of Georgia McBride Media Group, LLC.

No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Published by Swoon Romance

Cover designed by Najlaqamberdesigns.com

Cover copyright © 2015 by Swoon Romance

For everyone who gave me the courage to write.

BIG BAD WOLFE

ELLE DOOLITTLE

Chapter One

“Ah, good you’re here.” Sarah lifted her face from the cradle of her hands to study her grandfather. Standing as he was, feet crossed at the ankles, shoulder leaning against the door jam, he looked surprisingly chipper for a man about to shut his business down. Maybe he’s been sneaking into the emergency Scotch again.

“Hey, Gramps.” An indulgent smile lifted the corners of her lips as she watched him practically vibrate with energy.

“Everyone is gathering in the conference room in five minutes, don’t be late.” He turned and nearly skipped down the hall. Wait, was he whistling? Ralph Maxwell did not whistle.

Not the Scotch then.

Maybe Frank slipped him something for his nerves. She wouldn’t put it past the talent agent to innocently offer some pharmaceutical assistance. On a day like today, she was surprised the whole office wasn’t medicated.

Shaking free of the thoughts of what Frank could have gotten his hands on and tricked her grandfather into taking, she figured she had better head to the conference room as well. No use sitting here stewing over something that was out of her control.

“What’s up with Ralph?” Marcy asked as soon as she entered the hall. Apparently the old man’s odd behavior hadn’t escaped her coworker’s notice either.

“Noticed it, too?”

“Yeah. You would think that he would be a little less … upbeat today, of all days.”

Sarah nodded.

“Frank,” they said in unison, knowing if anything unusual was going on the man wasn’t too far away and more often than not directly involved.

“You called, my lovelies?” Frank appeared out of nowhere.

“What did you do this time?” Marcy asked her on again, off again lover, prompting him to hold his hand to his chest in mock affront.

“I don’t believe I know what you mean, Marcy.” Sarah watched in amazement as he leaned into the other woman. “What you would like me to do?”

“Now’s not the time,” Marcy huffed. “Have you seen Ralph today?”

“Yes.”

“And?”

The man looked genuinely confused. “And what?”

“You didn’t notice anything off?” Marcy stopped walking and was now tapping her foot impatiently on the carpet.

“Well, of course, but I thought the old man had gotten into the Scotch again.”

Sarah stood for a moment watching the two of them stare each other down. The tension in the air was becoming palpable. And strangely fascinating. She felt heat race from her chest to her cheeks and knew she was blushing. Things were obviously about to be on again and she didn’t want to witness their romantic reunion.

“All right guys, now that we have that settled, can we get in there?” She pointed to the large wall clock at the end of the hall. “Wouldn’t want to be late.”

The two sobered up with one more heated look and she couldn’t decide if it was anger or passion that zinged between them.

“You’re right,” Marcy said. “Let’s get in there.”

The rest of the walk down the hall was made in silence as the implications of the meeting that was about to start settled in for the three of them. As much as Marcy and Frank liked to have fun and goof off, they had worked hard for the agency over the years. The two of them had been the first to take her under their wings when she joined the ranks right out of college. They didn’t care that she was the boss’s granddaughter and didn’t put up with those who said she only got the job as Accounts Director because of that connection.

The fact was Sarah was ridiculously good at what she did. She had a way of making things happen that astounded most of those who took the time to see beyond her last name. Those first few years when they had the clientele to still be competitive, she had given them all she had and how did they repay her? By finding a new agency with a bigger name as soon as their contracts expired. She shouldn’t take their desertion personally, and that it was only business, but she lived for her job. It was the only thing that she had besides her grandfather.

When the three of them entered the conference room, Ralph was seated at the head of the long table waiting patiently for them. He smiled brightly as he gestured for them all to enter and take a seat. Sarah shot a narrow-eyed look at Frank, who just shrugged and shook his head. He really didn’t have anything to do with the drastic mood change in her grandfather. Feeling uneasy, she took the seat closest to her last living relative, assessing him for signs of a stroke or mental illness. Something had to explain his behavior.

“You can stop looking at me like I’ve gone off the deep end, Sarah.” Her eyes shot up to meet his and she noticed for the first time the mischievous sparkle that had slowly died over the past few years. What was going on? Sarah licked her suddenly dry lips. His smile was reassuring before focusing on the others in the room, her nervous gaze following his. Oh God, this could be really bad. While she had been studying her grandfather, she hadn’t noticed the three remaining staff members slip into the room.

“As all of you know, things have been steadily declining over the past few years here at Maxwell, Williams, and Blake. And as Greg in accounting has reminded me, yet again this morning, the agency is nearly out of money.”

Where he was going with all of this?

“I know that most of you believe that I called you in here today to bestow upon you my parting words, a sparkling reference, and your last paychecks. I thought the same thing until late last night.” Ralph held up a hand effectively silencing the oncoming uproar. “Last night my last ditch effort to pull us out of the mud came through and if you are all willing to stick out the next few months with me I can assure you that we will be back and better than ever.”

“But how?” The question came from Betty, the only remaining receptionist.

“A very old friend of mine owed me a favor and his grandson has agreed to pay it back for him.” Now Sarah was really confused. She heard nothing of this before now. Usually her grandfather confided in her when it came to the business.