Page 9 of My Bossy Valentine

“Then why won't you take it?”

“I need to buy more coffee pods. We're almost out.”

“I don't care about the coffee. Answer my goddamn questions. I kissed you. I offered you money. What more do you want? A house? A car?”

My jaw drops and I turn to face him. “I don't want to be offered money for a kiss! Or bought off with a... a house.”

“What does that even mean?”

“It means I'm not for sale, you jerk!” I throw a coffee pod at him and stomp outside. The best kiss of my life turned out to be a negotiation tactic so I wouldn't quit. New. Low.

“What the fuck?” He catches up to me and spins me around to face him. “I'm not buying your kisses, sweetheart. If you aren't giving them freely, I don't want them.”

“You don't want to lose your secretary at a difficult time.”

“I don't want to loseyou.”

How is that not the exact same thing? I throw my hands up. “I annoy you in the mornings with my stupid chatter and tryingto feed you muffins you don't even like. You grumble about the organized files and email me instead of talking to me. You don't like me,Mr. Sullivan. Why are you so intent on keeping me around?”

“Because despite the fact that you're goddamn gorgeous and too young for me, you're all I've thought about for three months, Avery. I shouldn't. I've been down this road before. I know where it leads. Somehow, I still can't help myself. The thought of not seeing you every day, it gutted me. Opened a chasm in my chest that only you can fill.”

The more he talks, the angrier he sounds. Yet he's saying all the things I've wanted to hear for months. “Spencer.” I reach for him, but he steps back, as if the contact would burn him.

Pain etches his face as he stares at me. His voice sounds hollow when he says, “I let it happen again. I'm a goddamn fool.” He strides away, heading for his truck.

I have to run to catch up. Damn, it's cold. I should have grabbed my jacket for this argument. “Wait.”

He yanks open the truck door, then turns to face me.

“What did you let happen again?”

“Nothing important. I'll be gone the rest of the day.”

Something tells me this is extremely important. I grip his jacket. “I don't want you to go.”

“You don't want to stay, Avery.”

I smack his chest. “Because I'm trying to protect myself! I like you too much, and it hurts that you don't feel the same way.”

He captures my hand in his and holds it to his chest. His heart thunders beneath my fingertips.

“You think I don't want you? Avery, you're all I want, even when I know it's wrong.”

“Why is it wrong? I don't care about the age difference or that you're my boss.”

He grips my arms and turns us, pinning me against his truck with his body. He shifts his hips, and I feel his hard length against my belly. Wetness floods my core.

“It's wrong because I don't want you as my assistant. I want you forever, and that scares the shit out of me.”

I clench my fists in his shirt, drawing deep breaths of his clean scent. He smells so good. “It scares me too. But I want you.”

Spencer tilts my chin up and his lips find mine. The kiss is desperate, urgent. He kisses my cheeks, my eyes, my neck. “I need to get you out of the cold. Somewhere more private for this conversation.”

I nuzzle his neck. Need pulses through my body. “Yes. Private.”

He scoops me into his arms, kicks the truck door closed, and carries me straight into his office. Shoving some files onto the floor, he sets me down on his desk. The next kiss is hard and hungry. Breathless.

“Someone could walk in,” I murmur against his mouth.

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