Page 6 of Crush

“Yet youjustsaid it,” I pointed out with a sneer.

“Yes, it’s called sarcasm,” she fired back. God, she was a smart arse. Her quick reply knocked me off my game, as did her sweet scent as it filled my nostrils. “Can you just tell me what’s eating you? Some of us have work to do.”

“You do realise thatyouwork for me, not the other way around,” I stated, pointing between us, and then making a circular gesture with my finger. “Don’t think I don’t know what you’re doing, lording it over my men.”

“You told me to take questions.”

“I didn’t tell you to back-chat me,” I growled.

She shrugged her slight shoulders. “I was only speaking my mind. You said you encouraged that.”

I barked a laugh. “That’s the problem, you speak it too freely. You should get your facts right before pointing out non-existent holes in other people’s work.”

Amber’s body became stiffer than my usual morning glory as she said, “I obviously had an older version of the Procurement Plan, but why on earth you would keep past copies is beyond me. Doesn’t that just confuse things?”

“It’s a requirement of due diligence, you need a paper trail for audit purposes.”

“Well, something must be wrong with your filing then. I took out the one with the highest file number, just like you taught me. So, itmusthave been the right one.”

I shook my head. “It couldn’t have been?”

“How do you know?” Amber said with slitted eyes. The woman clearly had trust issues.

“Because the latest version has been on my desk for the past two days. I’ve been making minor amends,” I informed her with a condescending smirk.

“Oh,” she said, partly defeated but unable to back down for long.

“Yes. Oh,” I replied, shooting her a warning. Men twice this woman’s size would melt underthatlook but not her. Nope, Little Miss Swift just lifted her chin as if to say, bring it on.

“Well, if you had refiled the plan when you were done, I wouldn’t have looked at the wrong one. Are we done?” she snapped crossly, dropping her arms.

To be honest, I wasmorethan done, but I needed to speak to her about the bloody charity ball. Damn.

“No,” I said on an exhale. Did Ireallywant to do this, nope, but I had promised her father I’d take her to an annual social event. A local legal firm hosted a charity ball each year in the centre of London. The money raised was donated to several important causes, one of them being the Malala Fund which advocates for girls' education worldwide, a personal favourite of my mother’s.

“There is a charity ball event in a few weeks and I want you to be my plus one.”

Her nostrils flared and she stepped back, a frown lining her usually smooth forehead. “Sorry?”

I wondered what charities Amber supported, probably none. “It’s an annual thing and a great place to network. I’m going and you’re coming with me.”

Damn, that man and his demands. Jonny had been clear that he needed Amber out of the house that night. A ‘distraction’ he said, God knew whatthatmeant but he’d been firm about it. I couldn’t afford to upset the old timer as I needed his money.

Amber exhaled, it was long and drawn out. You’d have thought I’d just asked her to visit the sewers with me, rather than what was a fairly ‘invite-only’ prestigious event. “Why me?”

“Well, if anything, at least you’ll look semi-decent on my arm,” I snarked, putting her down.

Distaste flickered across her face. She looked like I’d just told her she’d stood in dog shit. “I’m not a show pony.”

Fuck, a vision of Amber riding my cock slid into my thoughts.

“OK then. If you want to, you could view it as a date.Of sorts,” I replied, mentally bleaching my brain. The woman was stunning and you’d have to be dead not to be attracted to her but I didn’t have a high enough tolerance level for her attitude. The image then changed to one of me with my hands around her throat. Fuck, that one was even hotter. I felt the need to adjust myself in my jeans.

What? I had kinks, so sue me.

Amber’s over-the-top scoff vetoed those dangerous thoughts, “You’reasking me out on adate?”

Clearing my throat, I corrected her. “You’re a laugh a minute, aren’t you? That’s why I added theof sortscomment,” I backpedalled. “No, this is a business thing. And a way of giving something back to society, if you even know whatthatmeans.”

---