Page 79 of A Forever Kind of Rancher

Grace forced her smile wider. “Wonderful, I just have a client...”

“He said it was urgent,” Carol said, looking apologetic.

Oh, frick. Carol was only apologetic if Doug was breathing fire.

Double argh.

She walked down the hall and toward her boss’s office, a feeling of impending doom crowding her heart, shoving up against her breastbone. Suddenly, she would give a hell of a lot to be back down in that cab with Zack Camden. And not just so she could check her email.

They sometimes called the walk to Doug’s office The Green Mile. And for good reason. It wasn’t because the shiny tile was green.

She lifted her hand and knocked. “Come in,” she heard him say through the heavy oak.

She pushed the door open and smiled, even wider than she had coming in. “Hi, Doug.”

“Grace, have a seat.”

Shoot. A seat. He wanted her to sit? Oh, she was screwed. She obeyed, sitting in the chair in front of his desk. It didn’t escape her notice that there was a box of tissues within her reach. Not his reach—hers.

For emotional breakdowns after he screamed at people, she imagined. Or worse, if he didn’t scream at all, but set about condescending to them until they melted into watery shame.

Luckily, she had tear ducts of steel.

She took a deep breath. Ice bitch, take me away.

She would not care. She would not care.

“Look, Grace...” Doug leaned back in his chair, his tie riding up. His tie was too short. He looked like he got dressed in the dark. You’d think that one of the more high-powered businessmen in the city would know how to properly dress. But no. Obviously, not. “I had a call from a client just a little bit ago.”

She gritted her teeth. “Right.”

“He complained about your conduct.”

Her mind shot back to the lunch meeting she’d had an hour ago. Yeah, there was no question he was the one who’d filed the complaint.

“What about my conduct?” Grace asked. “Specifically.”

“He said you’re quite rude and abrupt. Very cold.”

Bastard. Bastard jerk-face bastard. She would never say any of that out loud, but it was the truth. Of course she was cold, she hadn’t agreed to let him bang her.

“I...apologize that it was perceived that way....”

Doug held his hand up. “It’s not perception when it’s a client, Grace. It’s fact. If a client is alienated, all that matters is their truth.”

Grace felt her eyes go wide completely of their own accord. She worked to keep the rest of her face frozen, her hands clasped firmly in her lap. “Of course,” she said, her lips barely moving.

“And since you were late meeting the client who was in your office...”

Because of the other client. And the taxi debacle.

Grace bit the inside of her cheek.

“I have moved her to another consultant. Consider this a warning. I like you, Grace.” Grace snorted internally. As if liking had anything to do with anything in this office. She hated Doug. If her keeping the job was about liking him, she’d have lit his desk on fire and said adios sometime back when he’d had her play the elf at the company Christmas party for Secret Santa because she was “so cute and petite.”

He continued. “I’d hate to let you go. You’re a sweet girl.”

She was going to blow a blood vessel in her eye. But she wouldn’t say anything. She couldn’t. The inaction all but reached in and paralyzed her, freezing her. Because if she opened her mouth she could lose this job, this great job she’d worked so hard at. It could be a mistake. A failure. And she couldn’t afford either.

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