Page 48 of My Forbidden Boss

“Oh.” She sends ice-shard-eyes to Adeline.

“I trust you to keep everything running while I’m gone,” I say.

“Yes, Mr Chandler,” she says. “I always do.”

She looks at me, but her focus is on Adeline. She doesn’t sound happy. Perhaps she’s professionally threatened by Adeline, but she asked for extra help. Andrea handled the hiring process, and from what I can see, she has nothing to complain about in Adeline’s work.

Andrea won’t need to be worried for long. I don’t plan for Adeline to work for me in this capacity for long. Adeline demands nothing. Asks for nothing.

When she lets me, I’ll give her the world.

She won’t work as my PA. She’ll be at my side.

I’ll teach her the business and she’ll run it with me if she wants that. She has a good mind for this business and understands what it takes to make it work. If she doesn’t want that, then that’s all right as well. I’ll take her however she wants to give herself to me as long as it’s everything.

That will be a challenge for her. Adeline accepts nothing without a struggle. I’ve gifted her with items every day, bringing her a new coat, a necklace, perfume. She accepts with reluctance. It makes her uncomfortable, but that won’t stop me.

Beneath the facade of quiet strength and determination she displays every day, beats the heart of a woman years beyond her age. I plan to find out why, starting with her friend and why she’s not living where Adeline said she was.

Adeline doesn’t speak a lot about herself. She hasn’t offered me much at all, past the basics of age and her hometown, and I’m ashamed to admit that’s all I know of her history.

It’s time to know it all.

“We’ll be at Ricardo’s if anyone needs us, Andrea.” Ricardo’s is across the street. Close enough to have a junior bring anything we might need when I conduct meetings over there.

“Will you be back?” Andrea asks.

“I’m not sure how long this will take.” I say, knowing I plan to take Adeline home with me after lunch, and because I don’t want to wait a moment longer, I prompt, “Adeline?”

“Yes, Mr Chandler,” Adeline says. She picks up her bag and I lead her to the elevator, satisfied I’ll have her all to myself.

I seat us at my usual table that has a permanent reservation for Blue Sky staff and drink her in. She fidgets with the napkin, looking everywhere but at me. There are shadows under her eyes and her cheeks have hollowed. I take her hand in mine. She clenches her fist beneath my grip. A hollow thump resounds in my chest when she looks at me. She’s closing herself off and I won’t have that.

“What has Andrea said to you?” I say.

Her brows draw close and she shakes her head. “Nothing. She hasn’t said anything to me.”

“If she’s treated you with anything less than respect…”

Adeline shakes her head and her gaze drops to the table. “No…it’s nothing…what she says doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter how people treat me.”

I don’t like how she dismisses bad treatment, as though it’s her due. As though it can be no other way. What could have made her expect treatment like that? Anger bubbles in my chest, hot and irrational. “What has she done?”

Adeline huffs and murmurs. “Nothing that hasn’t been done before.” She catches herself and falters before she says, “It’s nothing to worry about. She knows her job and looks out for you and Blue Sky.”

“Adeline…love,” I say.

She pulls her hand away from mine when the waiter approaches and tells us about the daily special.

“You don’t have to do this. Buy lunches. Bring me presents,” she says, shifting in her seat. I want to hold her hand again, but she’s taken them away, clutched them in her lap. She’s moving away from me. Creating distance where I want none.

She can’t be pushed. I have to change my tack, so I ask her about things that matter to her. Things I can use. “Tell me about your friend Maddy.”

Her brows jump in surprise. “You remember her name?”

I remember every word Adeline’s spoken to me. “Of course. She’s in your life and I want to know about her. How did you two become friends?”

She relaxes as she talks about her friend. How they met in their junior year. How close they are. I enjoy her animation. This is the way I can burrow past her defences. To accept everything about her life, I have to get to know it.

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