Page 18 of My Forbidden Boss

“Dav…Mr Chandler…I’m sorry. She walked past and I…” Adeline comes to a stop behind Samantha, all flustered and worried. Samantha has that effect on most people.

“It’s fine, Adeline. I’ll take care of this,” I say, a boulder rolling where my stomach used to be. I don’t want Adeline to witness anything Samantha might have to say to me.

Samantha turns a sneer on Adeline then spears me with gleaming emerald eyes, her tears all dried up and flashing angrily. “Are you on a first name basis with the help now?”

I fold my arms across my chest. Her hysterics were wearing when we were together. They still are. I don’t bother to call her out on her bullshit. A handful of months were more than enough in a relationship with a woman like her. I’d hoped we could part ways amicably, but she insinuates herself in my life any way she can. Apparently my personal office is fair ground for her, my space no longer sacred. “What do you want, Samantha?”

I should have listened to Steph. She warned me against Samantha from day one. I don’t know why I dated Samantha for as long as I did. Loneliness wasn’t worth the price on my emotions or my bank account. Unlike Adeline, Samantha didn’t hesitate to accept my gifts. I clench my teeth so hard my jaw clicks.

Her face folds. She rushes towards me and falls into my arms, her cloying floral perfume wafting around me. I grab her biceps to tug her away from me but she sags, pressing her breasts against my chest. “Is that anyway to talk to the mother of your next child? I’m pregnant, David. It’s your baby.”

Chapter 7

Adeline

I watch as Samantha launches herself at David, throws herself in his arms and I know I’m no match for this woman. She’s older than me for a start. All dangerous curves and polished refinement from her stiletto shoes to her designer waves. A body sculpted from hours at the gym, while my muscles were born from double shifts of hard work. She’s everything I’m not.

I’m nothing but second hand cast-offs. A small-town girl with high hopes and inexperience.

Had I ever thought a man like David was interested in me? I’m crazy stupid. I thought I’d learned my lesson in grade six from Toby, but I got ahead of myself. Reading into things that aren’t there.

Samantha epitomizes the type of woman who would attract such a man. I’m nothing like her.

I take note of my shabby second hand clothes, my thin figure, my home cut hair and everything else that marks me as different. I come up lacking.

And she’s pregnant. With David’s child! I want to believe what I see isn’t happening but the car crash is right in front of my eyes. My knees tremble and my body flushes with heat as I watch fat tears roll down Samantha’s perfect cheeks and understand my place.

I was flattered by David’s attention, that was all. Got carried away for a moment. Seeing what isn’t there. Wishing that perhaps it would be different this time.

I thought I’d left the stigma back in Moss Creek, but that shit never washes off. It’s a sixth sense people pick up no matter where I live or what I do or how hard I try. I get my head back to where it should be.

I’m here for my mother. To do a job.

Not to get carried away by things I’ll never have.

“Are you sure it’s my baby?” David asks.

My attention flies to him by the flat tone in his voice. Samantha tilts her head, her lips close to his. He hasn’t released her and she’s still flush with his body. Samantha’s boobs are dangerously close to spilling out of the low scoop neck of her designer dress. “Of course, David. There’s no one else.”

A frown appears on David’s brow, and I wonder what the problem is. “We broke up five months ago,” he says.

She snuffles and his fingers tighten on her biceps. “That’s how far along I am.”

She’s five months pregnant! In another four, they’ll have a child together. The heat wave on my body turns prickly. I shift my weight trying to ease the sensation.

“She shouldn’t be here,” Samantha says, her attention snapping to me.

She’s right. I shouldn’t be here. I wish I wasn’t.

I don’t want to see this.

David pushes Samantha away from him and sets her on her feet. “We’re in the middle of an important meeting,” David says.

We weren’t in a meeting. I was at my desk when Samantha stormed in, walking past me as though I didn’t exist. I glance up to see David’s eyes riveted on me, pupils blown, face sharp. I stand rigid in the doorway, hand on the knob.

Does he want me to see this so I know my place? I’m mortified to think I’d given off vibes that weren’t there. That I was reading more into kindness because I’ve never known what it is to receive it.

Samantha crosses her arms over her ample chest. “It didn’t look like that to me. Why are you letting her stay? This is between you and me, David.”

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