Page 19 of My Forbidden Boss

“What I do with my employees is my business, Samantha. If I say she stays, then she does. You came into my place of work. You brought your private concerns here. If I want to gather all my employees in the break room and have them listen to you, then I will,” David says.

Samantha slides a cold gaze over me. I hold still against the chill, straining beneath the judgment and come back lacking. “I didn’t think you hired children, David.”

My shoulders hunch as the insides of my stomach crumble. A person like her will see right beneath my shaky facade. It’s second nature to her. Like Becky Myers, she’ll smell it out like a bloodhound.

“I’m not honoring that comment with an answer, Samantha. Not when you barge in here with those sorts of statements,” David says.

“You don’t believe me?” Samantha’s voice takes on a shriek like quality and I wince. If she can’t read the fire in David’s expression and his tight shoulders, I can’t help her.

“You don’t look five months pregnant,” David says. My attention drops to Samantha’s skin tight dress and her flat stomach. Her stomach is flat and toned, crunch perfect.

“And I didn’t know you liked little girls,” Samantha says, her voice razor sharp.

David stands from the desk and steps towards her. She takes an unsteady step back, faltering on her stilettos. “You would have known months ago you were pregnant and you choose to tell me today? What took you so long? Why now? Why today?”

“I had to make sure,” Samantha says.

The good thing about being the town’s punching bag is that I can pick a lie, and Samantha hasn’t been truthful since the first word out of her mouth.

The muscle works at David’s temple. “I’ve been clear about our relationship from the start. I wasn’t seeking a family with you. If you are pregnant, then I will look after you and the child, but I want proof that the child is mine. I will be involved in that child’s life. We will co-parent. You will not just be the recipient of my money, but you will not be in my life in any romantic way. I’ll set up an appointment with my doctor and you will attend. Other than that, we will keep this out of my office and away from whomever I choose to hire, because Adeline is none of your business,” David said.

Samantha falters, her mouth working soundlessly, but she collects herself quickly. “I expect more from you, David,” she says.

“As do I,” David says.

“I’ll give you your proof.” Her eyes narrow as she storms out past me and her gaze sinks deep. I know that look. She has claws and she’s digging them in.

She pauses outside the open office door, her harsh green gaze flicking from me to David. Just like I know she’s lying about something, she knows she’s missing something. She’s not stupid, this woman. She’s cunning and dangerous. “This isn’t over.” She stalks to the elevators with a flick of her hair, all hip-swings and high-heel attitude.

David plows his fingers through his hair, stalking the width of his office after she’s been swallowed by the elevator doors. The silence rings in my ear, tainted by the fresh blood of the open wound Samantha tore through the both of us.

“I should go,” I whisper.

“Please stay, Adeline,” he says.

He’s going to tell me off for letting her into his office because I was sitting right there and was too slow. If I’d stopped her, things might have played out differently. “She walked right past me. I couldn’t stop her,” I say.

“I’m sorry you had to see that,” he says. “See her.”

Sorry that she told him she’s pregnant? That he’s the unwitting father to her baby? Or that she’s walking a fine line between getting David back or ostracizing him forever. But there’s a note in his tone that makes my feet stick to the carpet. I don’t want to stay, or think or care. But I do all of those things. It’s the height of stupidity and yet I lift my eyes to settle on his pain in his.

“She’s your private business,” I say.

“Yes, but that’s not the reason,” David says, his voice low. Tight. He hesitates, shakes his head, walks the length of his desk, and scrapes his fingers through his hair again.

I firm my shoulders. Make myself ready for what he’ll say. Pretend David stirred nothing in me at all. I’m his fake employee, here until I find a way to do my father’s bidding and now he’s going to let me go. I won’t be able to do what Max wants me to and Mom and I will be homeless.

“I’m not in love with Samantha; not even attracted to her. I went out with her for company but that’s all. I never promised her anything else. Never pretended to be something I wasn’t. I need you to understand that,” David says.

“Why?” The word slips from between my numb lips.

I have to know why he wanted me to witness that. That’s what I don’t understand. I’m not stupid. I just need to know that I wasn’t going insane. Some words at least to help me understand I’m more than the Moss Creek town gutter rat. Good enough to serve their burgers and clean their houses, but otherwise remain invisible and out of the way because God knows that’s all I’m good for.

David turns his stark gaze on me. The weight of it presses on my shoulders, into my chest and into the marrow of my bones. “Tell me it’s not just me,” he whispers.

I blink and the breath stalls in my lungs. “What?”

His hands clench at his thighs as his stare drills into me. “You know what I mean, Adeline. Tell me it’s not just me feeling what there is between us.”

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