Jared clearly wasn’t as affected as I was. He dropped my hand and took a step back as he straightened his tie. “Let’s debrief on our way back to the office.”
On trembling legs, I followed him into the car. He didn’t look at me as we went over the lunch, then talked about what would be required for the rest of the week. There was only one more event for me to attend, and I’d have Sunday off.
I barely heard him. The more I sat there in his car, listening to him order me around, the angrier I got. By the time we got to the office building, my jaw was clenched and my fists balled. I stomped after him to the elevator, resenting the fact that I had to trot after him like a little lapdog and that I was the one who’d signed up for this in the first place.
The elevator doors closed, and we leaned against opposite walls, glaring at each other.
He arched a brow. “Why do you look like that?”
“Like what?”
His lips twitched at my barked response. “Like you want to bite my head off.”
“I just think you’re taking a lot of liberties with my job description,” I said. “You want me to parade everywhere on your arm and make pleasant conversation, and then you get mad when I do. You think you have a right to tell me whether or not I can date just because I signed a contract with your company.”
He pushed off the wall and prowled closer. We traveled up toward the top floor, and I suddenly realized I was trapped here with him. It only took him two large steps to stand toe-to-toe with me, his broad chest pressing against mine. Both of his hands came to rest on the wall on either side of my head.
“You seem to have forgotten one thing, Ms. Little,” he enunciated, eyes flashing. His head dipped slightly so I could feel his breath against my cheek.
“What’s that?” I asked, trying to sound tough. My fingers curled into the handrail behind me, and my breath stuttered. He was so close. So overwhelmingly male. So…angry.
“While you work for this company,” he said in a low, dangerous voice, “you belong to me.”
His face dipped, but his lips remained just out of reach. His eyes bored into mine, pinning me in place. I could feel the warmth of his body all down my front, feel his breath against my lips. My world narrowed to the spaces between us. The fraction of an inch between my mouth and his. The brush of his suit jacket against my breasts. The touch of his knee between mine.
The elevator came to a stop, and Jared pushed off the wall, straightened his tie, and faced the doors a moment before they opened. He stepped out like he didn’t have a care in the world while I tried to catch my breath, clinging to the handrail, watching his retreating back.
He paused just on the other side of the elevator doors to glance back at me. “From now on, your presence is required for daily dinner briefings with me. My office. Five o’clock. Until then, talk to Clara about the next few events you’ll need to attend.”
Without waiting for a response, he disappeared around the corner and left me panting in the elevator. The door began to close before I shot my arm out to stop it. Wobbling, I clutched my purse to my stomach and made my way to Clara’s office, eyes darting to the frosted glass door across from hers. The one that belonged to Jared.
I gritted my teeth.
He’d done that on purpose just to knock me off-balance. The jerk. Straightening my shoulders, I strode to Clara’s door and knocked on the jamb. She looked up and waved me in.
I gave her my best smile. If Jared thought that little stunt was all it took to get me to take off running, he was dead wrong. I was here to stay, and I wasn’t going to be stupid enough to fall for an arrogant billionaire who thought he could boss me around.
Jared’s POV
I locked myself in the bathroom attached to my office and leaned against the vanity. My pulse pounded. I could feel the blood thrumming in my fingertips, my toes, my cock.
The woman drove me nuts.
Tugging at my tie, I tossed it aside and stripped off my jacket. It was too warm in here. Too stifling.
I hadn’t been able to think straight since Iris had told me she’d been kept up by another man. Before I realized she was teasing me, I’d wanted to turn the car around, tear through her apartment, and find whoever it was that had shared her bed-and end him.
It was an itch under my skin. An urge I could scarcely resist.
But that was crazy.
It was just because I was worried about this stupid scheme in the first place. I didn’t actually care if she slept with another man. It wasn’t like we were together. Not for real. I was just paranoid about this whole thing blowing up in my face. I’d made headway with Wilbur Monk for the first time in months, and I was antsy about anything that could make it fall apart.
Yeah. That was it.
Except when she’d laughed at that prick Dean Garrett’s jokes one too many times, I’d wanted to throttle him too. His eyes had lingered on her lips, her breasts, her mile-long legs, and I could see what he was thinking by the look in his eyes. Then he’d had the gall to actually ask her out in front of me.
I should have gotten up and left right then and there.
But.
Iris was right. The whole reason I’d hired her was for this exact reason. She softened my potential clients so I could come in for the kill. She made it easy to cut the tension. She made me look good.
And though she’d only been in the position since the beginning of the week, I already knew that she was better at her job than I could have ever expected. She charmed men and women alike. She found topics of conversation and navigated them with ease. She laughed easily and made people feel good about themselves.
Last night, at the gala, I’d found myself actually falling for her charms. She made me feel good about myself just by leaning into me slightly when we walked, or giving me that little side-eyed glare whenever I said something she didn’t like.
And I almost went and ruined it by kissing her in the elevator.
Except I didn’t just want to kiss her. I wanted to tear her clothing to shreds and take her against the wall. I wanted her to understand that she belonged to me. That she was mine, and I wouldn’t tolerate anything less.
A knock on my office door brought me back to the present. I washed my hands and walked out to the main room in time to see Cole poke his head in.
“How’d it go?” He was asking about the lunch meeting.
“They’re in,” I said.
Cole whistled. “Between that and the Monks inviting you down to Grenada, seems like your little investment is already paying off.”
I grimaced. “Yeah.”
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.