Page 74 of Playboy Boss

Konrad glanced outside the glass. No one. He leaned down, taking her bottom lip between his teeth and bit down until she moaned. And just as quickly, he stood, staring at her flushed face.

“You’re bad,” she said, her fingertips lifting to her mouth.

“I know.” He took a step back.

A knock at the door put a mile between them. He took in the curves of Scottie’s profile, her lips, her nose, her delicate chin. Where had this woman been all his life?

“Kon?” Pilar’s voice took him from his reverie—his dream. His gaze met hers. An odd look washed over her face. She glanced at Scottie. “Is everything okay?”

Scottie answered. “Y-yes.”

“Of course. What brings you by?” Konrad asked, accelerating the conversation. As much as he liked Pilar, he didn’t like how upset Scottie was.

Pilar pulled something from her handbag, a flash of chrome catching the light. “I found this under my bed. Your watch.”

Fuck. Of all the places, it had to be Pilar’s apartment, where he’d been many times. Fear slipped into his body, making him tense up. When he looked at Scottie, she looked like she’d been kicked in the stomach. All her insecurities were on her face again. This was her problem with him. He knew it. And though they’d made strides since Sunday, this might set them back. He could feel it in his bones.

“I’ll leave you guys to talk. Excuse me.” Scottie left the room faster than he could form another thought. The door snapped closed behind her.

“She was there that night, at your friend’s party.” Pilar’s stare was intense on him, her eyebrows lifted.

He nodded, moving to his chair and sitting heavily in it. “She’s my temp. It was a coincidence. I had no idea she would be there.”

Pilar walked to a chair across his desk and sat, setting the watch on a stack of folders. She looked up at him, not saying a word, just staring with glossy black eyes. “It’s her, no?”

He rubbed the back of his neck, his thoughts on Scottie. What must she be thinking? Feeling? His past had come back to hit her in the face, and he hated it.

“What do you mean?”

She touched her bottom lip, red and full. “You have lipstick here.”

He sank back in his chair, rubbing his lips together. “Oh.”

“She’s why you changed so fast. Right?” Pilar crossed her bare legs.

Yes. “Thank you for bringing my watch. I thought I’d lost it forever.”

Pilar laughed. “You’re like this watch.”

Lost and found. Maybe. That was too simple though. “Pretentious and obscenely expensive? Yes, I’m quite like it.”

She shook her head, standing. “Bye, guapo.”

He waited until she walked to the door, and just before she opened it, he called to her. “Pilly…”

She turned to him. “Sí?”

“She is why.” There. He’d said it. And he meant it.

Pilar nodded, a ghost of a smile on her lips and a sparkle in her eyes. “Good.” A second later, she was outside of his office and down the hall.

Scottie hadn’t been at her desk, though, when he’d stepped back out in the aisle. His anxiety flared. She’d run again, as she had the times it was too much for her. He wanted her to stop running, to trust him. Let him prove to her what he wanted to prove to himself. But it had to be with his actions, words weren’t going to prove anything to either of them.

He found her in the break room. Jeff was at her side, making her laugh, which Konrad hated. He clenched his jaw at the sight, wanting nothing more than to fire Jeff for being alive. Calm down, Korr. He needed to contain himself. Scottie had been in his bed last night. She would not walk away so easily.

“Scottie, I need to talk to you.” His voice boomed louder than he intended.

She continued to stir her cup of coffee, not looking up at him. “About?”

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