Page 2 of Beauty and the Bosshole

I skim the girl's resume again and then set it aside. There's nothing of interest on it aside from the sweet aroma wafting from it.

A few seconds later, the girl taps on the door to my office.

"Come in," I growl, ready to get this over with so I can send her on her way and get back to the important shit. Like finding out why Robert hasn't released the latest product shipments from the warehouse.

The door slides open.

I glance up from my desk, prepared for the ordinary, nondescript girl who matches the resume. Instead, I find a petite little bombshell with a bright smile and sparkling green eyes. Her short black hair frames her round face. Her modest black dress skims her curves, hinting at the gorgeous body beneath.

My dick stiffens in my pants as she stares at me, smiling like a dirty little angel come to make all my fantasies come true. Fucking Christ. I guess it's a good thing I fired our HR person this morning because I'm fairly sure having dirty thoughts about your employee is number one in the handbook of shit not to do.

Except… she's not my employee.

And she doesn't have to be, a little voice whispers.

I ruthlessly quell it, refusing to even consider the notion.

"Are you going to stand there all day or are you coming in for this interview?" I demand, eager to get this over with so she can go back to wherever she came from. I don't have time for entanglements. Especially ones that look like her. I've got a company to run and a crazy mother to wrangle. The last thing I need is another complication in my life.

But damn. She's tempting.

A flash of annoyance dances in her eyes before her smile grows even bigger.

"It's so nice to meet you, too, Mr. Donovan," she says, her voice saccharine. She pushes the door closed before picking her way across the office, her heels clacking across the porcelain floor. She walks as if she isn't used to wearing them, one careful step at a time. "My name is Ava Matthews."

"I'm aware." I pluck her resume up from the desk. "I have your resume in front of me."

She stops in front of my desk, smiling so big her cheeks probably hurt. Somehow, she still manages to look like she wants to bite me. She's spirited. Likely to throw a coffee mug at my head? Perhaps. But I get the feeling she's too polite for that.

The same sweet scent from her resume wafts toward me, and I realize she didn't spray anything on her resume. It's her scent, transferred to the paper where she handled it.

"I wasn't sure since you weren't prepared for the interview."

"Who says I wasn't prepared, Ms. Matthews?"

"Your HR person, Alexa, isn't here," she says. "No one else seemed to be aware that I was scheduled to come in today. Since that's the copy of my resume that I gave to Olivia five minutes ago, I wasn't sure you'd had time to look at it."

Well, hell. She has me there. But I'm not going to tell her that.

"Tell me why you want to work here, Ms. Matthews."

"I believe in what you do here."

"You believe in what we do here?"

"Absolutely."

I hold her gaze, mine inscrutable. But her answer intrigues me. "We make sex toys, Ava. We're not saving dolphins."

"Oh, I know! May I sit down?" She doesn't wait for me to answer. Instead, she slips into the seat across from me. "You may not be saving dolphins, but Aurora does promote sexual health, intelligence, and intimacy. I think that's important, too, don't you? Women should be allowed to love their bodies and know how to give themselves pleasure."

Jesus Christ. I'm not going to survive this interview.

"Are you familiar with our products?"

Heat climbs up her cheeks. "That's an awfully personal question, Mr. Donovan."

"Not if you're going to work here, it isn't."

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