Page 1 of Tangling with the Boss

One

Hazel

Quitting this job is a last resort. Just to be clear. I don’t take the amazing pay or the generous benefits for granted, and Iknowthe people can’t possibly be any nicer at my next office. Grapevine is as good as it gets.

But I can’t stand it any longer. Can’t go on this way. I’m weak, okay?

If I spend another year in love with the boss here, pining after him while he barely tolerates my presence, I’ll go mad.

My fingers tremble as I fold my resignation letter, the paper still warm from the printer. Heartbeat thumping in my ears, I slide the letter inside a snowy white envelope.

It’s fine. So fine! This is totally fine.

I’m not tucking my bleeding heart away in this envelope. Not losing a piece of myself. That’s ridiculous.

But when Leo Corbin bellows for me from inside his office, that thunderous voice rattling the walls, I jump up with a squeak, my cheeks flaming. Like I’m doing something wrong out here, something sneaky.

“Hazel? Hazel! Get in here.”

Seriously, why do I love this man? He’s such an ogre sometimes. Huffing out a breath, I snatch up the envelope and edge around my desk, mentally rehearsing the moment that I’ll give it to him.

Just place it on his desk and run away. Be a coward! That’s why it’s in writing, yeah?

We’re on the top floor of this building, just the two of us alone up here. My desk is out in the antechamber, where I can halt visitors and save Leo from ninety-nine percent of the conversations he would otherwise hate. His office, meanwhile, if you ever get a peek inside it, is all huge, sparkling windows and abstract paintings and views of the city stretching away in all directions. His fortress of solitude.

There’s only one wall between us. Only one door.

But lately, it feels like a vast chasm. One that I can’t get across, no matter how hard I try.

Because I desperately want to be welcome in that room—and preferably balanced on the boss’s knee. But meanwhile, he sees me as just as much of a pest as everyone else, and ithurts.It makes my chest ache.

Hoo, boy. Okay. Tugging my purple dress straight and firming my shoulders, I rap on the boss’s door.

“Come in,” he rumbles, and I swear to god—the vibrations from his voice tingle through my feet. My palm is sweaty on the door handle, but I fumble it open and slip inside to where the ceiling is higher somehow, the sunlight brighter.

Leo watches me from beneath lowered eyebrows. His dark hair looks thick and tuggable; his eyes are piercing blue.

And he’s scowling.

Always scowling at me.

“Everything ready for tonight?” Leo Corbin is a man of few words, and he leaps straight to the point. Shaking off my spiraling thoughts, I fix a bright smile on my face.

“Yes! Everything’s ready. The caterers and the band will set up this afternoon.”

He grunts again. That’s Leo for ‘good’, though you wouldn’t know it from his grumpy frown and firm jaw. If anyone ever gets this man to crack a smile, the fabric of reality might tear apart.

“Tonight needs to go well, Hazel.” The boss rubs his jaw, glowering out of the window. “I’m not throwing another fucking party. This is it. Make it count.”

“Roger that.”

As if I’m half-assing this event! The Grapevine ten year anniversary party has haunted my freaking dreams for months. More than once, I’ve woken up sweating in the night, reciting guest lists and drink options. I’ve beenonit. This event is my masterpiece.

But Leo doesn’t care about that. If anything, he seems crankier than usual, slumped in his chair and tugging on his collar, so his morning meeting with our star composer must not have gone well. The way his shoulders bunch up is a dead giveaway. I can read this man’s moods like a weather report.

And this is bad timing. The boss is rattled already.

But this envelope feels like it weighs one hundred pounds. Ineedto set it down. Need to get this over with.

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