Page 6 of Beauty and the Bosshole

I was wondering how long it would take for him to notice that. “Your mother called and asked for me to arrange a time for her to meet with you. She said you’ve been avoiding her calls and texts.”

“She could’ve called me herself to arrange it.”

“Not if you don’t answer your phone,” slips out before I’m able to catch the words. Oops.

He sits back in his office chair and stares at me silently, and I suddenly know how a bug under a magnifying glass must feel. He’s rolled up his light blue dress shirt sleeves, and I bite my bottom lip as I stare at his muscular forearms.

I’m pretty sure his muscles have freaking muscles. There’s a tiny bit of ink peeking out from the edge of the material, tauntingme. I’d give a day’s salary to know what the rest of the tattoo looks like.

Today, he’s wearing a dark gray business suit that appears to be spray-painted on his insanely tall, muscular body. When he kicks the chair back from the desk, the dark, expensive material stretches across his massive thighs. Oh boy. I need to pull myself together. Drooling over him for ten hours a day, and then spending the rest of the evening daydreaming about my boss is a bad freaking idea. The cherry on top of my sundae of bad ideas is dreaming about him all night long.

“You live to push my buttons, don’t you, Ms. Matthews?” The handsome smirk on his face causes my fingers to tingle with the urge to smack it right off, or I could kiss it off. I’m still debating which I want to do more.

Last night, my dreams were so vivid I woke up expecting to find beard burn on my inner thighs. As my face heats from my steamy inner thoughts, I take several deep breaths in an attempt to cool my jets.

“No, sir.” Darn. That sounded weak. I clear my throat and try again. “I was just reminding you that your mother was forced to contact me since you weren’t answering her calls.”

“Uh-huh.” He rubs his bottom lip, and schoolgirl fantasies of replacing his fingers with my lips blast through my mind. “Well, please reschedule today's appointment to a later date.”

“A later date, sir?”

“Yes. I should be able to fit her into my schedule sometime next month.”

“Ms. Nina thought you might refuse to meet with her, so she asked me to give you a message. Word for word.” I bite the inside of my cheek to keep from laughing as I relay her exact words. “Tell my son he will regret it if I’m forced to play dirty to get him to meet with me. Let him know I am prepared to take actionsthat will make the Great Bride Search of 2022 incident seem like a minor inconvenience.”

To my astonishment, my boss actually pales, and I suddenly want to know what happened two years ago.

“Fine,” he growls and takes another huge swig of his coffee. “Make me another one, please, but this time add a healthy dash of whiskey. You’ll find a bottle of my favorite stuff in the bottom drawer of your filing cabinet.” Now, I really want to know why he’s avoiding his mother. I grab his mug and head for the door, but he stops me as I turn the doorknob. “Actually, I’m sure my mother has cooked up some scheme that’s going to give me heartburn. Skip the coffee altogether and pour me a healthy glass of whiskey.”

“You know drinking this early in the morning is bad for you,” I can’t help but remind him.

“So is dealing with my mother’s shenanigans.”

Making an executive decision, I head straight for the little kitchenette area and make him another cup of coffee how he likes it. When I bring it to him, my boss takes a sip and glares at me the entire time but doesn’t complain. I barely resist the urge to pat myself on the back for the tiny bit of progress I’m making with him.

Olivia has been dealing with the grouchy bosshole on her own since he fired his last assistant and needed a few days to recover from the ordeal, so she took the rest of the week off. Which means I’m stuck here with my hot, grumpy boss all by myself.

I swear I can feel his eyes following me as I make my way back to my desk.

A while later, I’m sifting through all the emails when I accidentally overhear him on the phone.

“Mother, today isn’t a good day for us to have a meeting.” I roll my eyes, realizing my boss sounds like a pleading little boy when he talks to his mother. Gramma Erlene would have a stroke ifshe knew I was eavesdropping, but I can’t help myself. Just like I couldn’t stop myself from accepting Ms. Nina’s lunch invitation yesterday. Curiosity got the best of me.

“What the fuck…” Listening to one side of the conversation is a little frustrating. “I’m sorry, Mother. What the hell are you doing dealing with Leon Anderson on your own?”

There’s a pause, and I tell myself I should get back to work and let my boss have a private conversation with his mother, but the little devil on my left shoulder just won’t let me do it.

“Yes, I know you could’ve told me all about this two days ago if I had returned your calls.” I smile widely as the vision of Ms. Nina giving her son hell warms my heart. “But I’ve been busy. I have a business to run and a town to make happy, all while I do my best to keep you out of trouble.”

There’s another long pause, and I sit back and forget about even pretending to work. “Leon Anderson can kiss my ass…” My boss pauses, and I hear him grumbling something intelligible. “He can kiss my rear end. I’m not doing business with the shady motherfu… fricker and neither are you.”

I glance down at my watch and realize it’s getting late. I’ll never finish these emails if I don’t get my tail moving, but this conversation between Reese and his mother is too good to miss.

“Forward his email to me, and I’ll see you at two. We can figure out how we’re going to handle this shit.” Another long pause. “Don’t worry, Mother. I will take care of Leon Anderson’s bullshit.”

Knowing I need to get my work done, I force myself to ignore his deep, growly voice and turn to my computer.

At one-fifty, the five-foot-nothing ball of energy, also known as Ms. Nina, comes breezing in the office door. “Hello, doll.” When she rushes around the desk and drags me to my feet to receive her hug, I’m powerless against the little force of nature.

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