Page 8 of Boss With Benefits

Having neutralised the risk of Ella stepping down and screwing up his plans for a trouble-free audit, Adam relaxed marginally and stalked over to the conference table that was to be her workspace for the next couple of weeks.

Thank God she’d seen the situation his way. Not that there was any other way he could have allowed her to see it. If she’d stuck to her guns and recused herself, she would have made life extremely tricky for the both of them. Then what would he have done? Bribed her? Resorted to threats?

Such underhanded tactics weren’t his style, but this set of circumstances was unprecedented. There was no end to which he wouldn’t go to get what he wanted, and if that meant taking advantage of the battle between integrity and a burning desireto see the audit through that had played out on her face, then so be it. Whatever the reason, it was clear she wanted this job with a determination that seemed to go beyond mere duty. Something else appeared to be at stake for her here, and he was not above weaponizing her desperation if necessary.

A part of him loathed that he had been forced to put any amount of trust in her when she was such an unknown quantity. The women he generally slept with he chose because they were safe. The attraction they shared caused him no trouble. When he was done, they were gone and he didn’t look back. But he hadn’t selected Ella. She’d selected him. If she decided to go to the press with details of what they’d got up to, she could obliterate four years of reputational reconstruction in a heartbeat. He’d instantly lose the respect and trust he’d worked so hard to earn. His authority would crumble to dust. He’d be labelled as his father’s son.

When Adam had taken over as CEO—following the fatal aneurysm his father had suffered while in bed with a nubile blonde—he’d faced an uphill battle to remove the stain on the family name. There’d been many who’d feared business as usual. One or two who’d benefitted from the gravy train and had expected it to continue.

But he’d been determined to restore the plummeting fortunes of the company that had been in his family for over a century. So he’d fired those members of the board who’d repeatedly vetoed his father’s dismissal and put a stop to the bottomless expense account. He’d implemented policies that encouraged reporting bad behaviour and transparency. He’d negotiated loans and trebled the marketing and PR budget.

With the rot gone, the climate—not just at this office but worldwide—had done a full one-eighty within six months. A year later, sales had risen by forty percent and the share price had doubled. Now, the Courtney name on a personal level wasassociated not with sleaze and corruption but integrity and trust.

Ella had the power destroy all the progress he’d made. She could blow his plans for Helberg Holdings right out of the water, because he well knew that shareholders could be funny about things like sex scandals. However, the conviction in her voice when she’d answered his question about whether she’d told anyone about that night in the bar, as well as her very visible shudder, had not been feigned, and that concern had been allayed. At least, for now.

Had his curiosity been piqued, he might have wondered why discretion seemed to matter as much to her as it did to him and why she was so determined to see the job through. Why she’d put aside her own integrity to do that.

But he wasn’t remotely interested in the things they shared or what drove her. He wasn’t intrigued by her at all. He certainly wasn’t dwelling on the way she’d bitten her lip as she’d considered his arguments and imagining how incendiary kissing her would be. Or regretting that they wouldn’t be having sex again. One monumentally reckless loss of control was enough to last a lifetime. Therefore, he would not be indulging the rogue urge to rile her up and get under her skin. Whether she was still as attracted to him as he was to her was utterly irrelevant. They had a job to do and that was all.

So why was she still standing where he’d left her instead of following him to the table she’d be working at for the next two weeks and getting started? Why was she still looking at him as if she couldn’t figure out what was going on? Just in case it wasn’t blindingly obvious, Adam pulled out a chair and gave it a pat. ‘You’re over here.’

CHAPTER FOUR

ITTOOKELLAa good ten seconds to compute the implication of Adam’s announcement, by which time he’d waved at her to come on over and poured her a glass of water.

What on earth was the meaning of this?she wondered in alarm, her gaze flicking between the table with the pastries and the man now heading for the stairs that rose to his office on the mezzanine. Why wasn’t he directing her to the basement as she’d expected? To the finance department, perhaps? Or even to his secretary for further instructions?

Surely, he didn’t intend the audit take place up here on his floor, did he? He had to be out of his mind. She could not work up here with him a matter of metres away. Her concentration would be wrecked. She’d never get anything done.

‘Wait,’ she said, needing to clarify the situation and fix it immediately if necessary.

Adam stopped in his tracks and whipped round. ‘Is there a problem?’

‘There could be.’

His brows drew together in a deep frown and she thought she caught a sigh of exasperation. ‘What is it now?’

‘Am I to understand you wish the audit to take place up here?’

‘That is correct.’

She gave her head a sharp shake. ‘It’s out of the question.’

For a moment, there was utter silence. All Ella could hear was the pounding of her heart in her ears. Then his eyebrows shot up as if he wasn’t used to being challenged, and he said, very coolly, ‘I beg your pardon?’

His expression was darkening forbiddingly, she noticed, but she refused to be intimidated because he wasn’t in charge here. She was. This washeraudit—a vitally important one—and it was more crucial than usual that common protocol was followed. His ridiculous presumption needed to be corrected, so she lifted her chin, pulled her shoulders back.

‘My audit willnotbe taking place up here,’ she said, fixing him with a look that had once been called chilling. ‘Firstly, from a practical point of view, there wouldn’t be nearly enough space for eleven people and everything we require.’

‘Which is why you will be up here with me and your team will be occupying the offices one floor down.’

Well,thatwas never going to happen. She and her team needed full and direct access to each other. She couldn’t keep dashing up and down the stairs whenever face-to-face communication was required. It would be massively inconvenient and a complete waste of everyone’s time. And then there was the stress of being completely alone with him, the possible intensifying of the attraction and the battle she’d have to fight it. Even hypothetically the thought of it made her feel quite weak.

‘Secondly,’ she continued, even more determined to prevail, ‘a set-up such as the one you suggest could lead to accusations of undue influence. I mean, pastries? The best view in the city? When we’re normally stashed away in a musty room at the end of a corridor with windows that look out onto a wall? Our impartiality would be compromised. Questions would be asked. I simply can’t allow it.’

But if she’d expected Adam to take on board her undeniably valid point and surrender to her superior experience, she was to be disappointed.

‘No questions will be asked,’ he countered, folding his arms across his impossibly broad chest as his cool blue gaze bore intohers. ‘No one would dare. Proximity is required because I will be overseeing this audit personally. I want to make sure that any problems are knocked on the head the second they arise. Every query you or your team have and every piece of information you require will go through me, so you and I will be liaising directly.’

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