Page 4 of My Bossy Valentine

Something sparks in his eyes, the amber flecks growing brighter in the brown. He takes my upper arm in his big hand and walks me back around my desk, gently pushing me down into my chair.

Spencer grips the arms and spins me toward him, leaning over me.

My heart thumps hard in my chest as he cages me in. It's not fear I'm feeling. With his face so close to mine and his warm breath on my cheek, the clean, crisp scent of his skin swamping my senses, a flush spreads over my face and I'm squirming in my seat. The flutter of arousal grows stronger with every breath I take.

“You're staying.”

“But I—”

He gives a sharp shake of his head. “No arguments. No excuses. You're not leaving and that's final.”

“You can't hold me captive here and force me to—”

Those dark whisky eyes glitter dangerously, and his gaze moves down to my neck like he's considering wrapping his hands around it.

O-okay. Wrong tactic. I place my hands on his forearms—oh damn, those are muscled too—and rub gently. Clearly, my grandmother's retirement is a shock, and my resignation was too much for him. “Hey, it's going to be okay.”

He breaks away from me. “It will. Because this isn't happening. Call the other place and inform them you've changed your mind.”

I shoot to my feet. “You can't make that decision for me.”

He heads for the front door. “I can and I have. You're staying.”

I stomp after him. “Mr. Sullivan, you're being unreasonable. Tomorrow, you'll realize this is for the best. I'll find someone more like Grandma Dottie that won't reorganize your life and annoy you. Someone you'll actually like.”

He stops so fast that I bump into his solid back.

Spencer turns, looming over me. “You think I don't like you?”

“You know you don't.”

Suddenly, all emotion is gone from his face. He looks hard and unyielding, not showing an ounce of what he's thinking.

I take a step back. This is a side of Spencer I've never seen, and it scares me more than his anger.

“Miss Blackwood, I will expect you here at 8 am sharp tomorrow morning and every day after. You work for me until I say otherwise.”

He stalks out and slams the front door, leaving me gaping after him.

What the hell just happened?

It takes me a minute to find my phone, which Spencer left in his office. I try to reach grandma a couple times, but she doesn't answer. There's only one other person I can call. My brother knows grandma as well as I do. Maybe he can help me figure this mess out.

Because as much as I want to stay, it's not the job that keeps me here. It's the man, and nothing about that situation has changed. He wants a secretary, notme. He hasn't made any effort to get to know me.

I mean, the one time I thought there might be something more... My cheeks flame just thinking about it. A month ago, he was caught in an unexpected downpour. I had a towel waiting for him when he returned to the office. Nothing special. But the way he'd looked at me as he dried off, I felt that smoldering gaze all the way to my core.

Except whatever I thought I saw wasn't real. He barely looked up from the contract he was reading when I asked him out for coffee later that day. He couldn't have been more disinterested if he'd tried. I can't pretend this order is anything other than a man concerned about his business.

Flopping down into my chair, I dial Anson.

He answers on the second ring. “You okay?”

His rough voice always makes me smile. We fought like crazy as kids because of the nine-year age difference, but now, he's the one person I go to when the world feels like it's falling down. I hear the creak of a chair and the whistle of a bird in the background. “How's White Falls?”

He hums. “It's what I needed.”

My heart catches, thickening my throat. He sounds at peace. I was so scared for him for the last ten years. Our parents are good people, but they had definite ideas about what we should do with our lives. Unlike me, Anson rebelled and joined the Navy. He became a SEAL a few years later, and then one day, he disappeared. I didn't know where he was or even if he was okay.

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