Page 9 of The Wrong Boss

I wondered why I cared.

“Another?” the bartender asked, gesturing to my near-empty glass.

“Why not?” Sitting here ruminating over potentially blowing up my only close friendship with the man who’d given me a big leg up in my career seemed as good a way to pass the time as anything. And the sounds of wedding merrymaking from the ballroom reminded me there was a dark-haired distraction causing trouble not too far away.

The bartender nodded and poured another measure of overpriced alcohol for me, put it on a cocktail napkin, and slid it across the bar. I threw back the dregs of my drink and traded my glass for the fresh one.

Even the burn of the alcohol and the thought of sparring with the woman from earlier couldn’t occupy my thoughts for long.

I’d just landed a huge opportunity, and it felt like I’d been fired from my dream job. Conflict raged inside me, and I knewit was because changing jobs felt like disloyalty. Of all the things I valued in my life, being a trustworthy and dependable man was at the top of the list. Rome had given me a huge opportunity when he’d hired me as his advertising agency’s chief operating officer, and I was repaying him by moving on as soon as I found something better.

That was business. It was bound to happen.

But it still felt like shit.

I’d have to tell Rome soon, but I’d wait until I got the official contract from the new company. Nothing was secure until my name was inked on the paperwork, and I didn’t want to blow up my life without good reason. It’s not that I was delaying the inevitable. It’s not that I was afraid of the consequences.

Would he ever talk to me again?

Rome had given me every chance to get ahead. He’d plucked me from the drudgery of my job on Wall Street and given me a position as the COO of his empire. It wasn’t an empire at the time, but he built it up until it couldn’t be called anything else.Webuilt it.

Working for him had been exciting, challenging, and rewarding. Rome was one of the only people in my life to whom I owed my loyalty. It was hard-won, but after everything I’d been through, the thought of turning my back on him…

Was I really ready to throw our friendship away?

He’d take it as a betrayal. Hell, itwasa betrayal. He’d given me everything, and I was treating him as just another line item on my resume.

“I see the dark and brooding look wasn’t just for mybenefit earlier,” a familiar voice intoned, full of wry sarcasm and hidden softness.

Turning on my barstool, I took in the vision in the peachy dress. She’d fixed her hair and makeup, and it looked like she’d found a fresh bridesmaid’s dress to put on.

So it hadn’t been my imagination: She really was that beautiful.

Soft, rounded cheeks and big gray doe eyes. A small, perfectly formed mouth. A thin frame with the most perfect hips a woman could have. I couldn’t see it from this angle, but I knew she looked as good from the back as she did in front.

She was made for fantasy. Too bad her tongue was razor-sharp and getting anywhere near her was liable to end in bodily harm.

Clutching her ivory purse in front of her stomach, the woman nodded to the seat next to me. “Mind if I join you?”

“That depends.”

She placed her purse on the bar and threw me a sideways glance. “On what?”

“On how nice you feel like being.”

Sticking her nose up in the air, she said, “I’m always nice.”

My scoff didn’t seem to impress her. I arched a brow.

Sliding onto the stool beside mine, she pursed her lips and managed to look slightly abashed. “I was…overwrought…earlier.”

“I see.”

“I just finished talking to the police, and I saw you sitting here.” She turned to the bartender who paused in front of us, ordered a drink, then cleared her throat. In my peripheralvision, I saw her turn toward me, but I swore I could sense the moment her gaze touched my skin. Warmth skated through me as she studied me, and I turned to meet her liquid gray gaze.

“I wanted to thank you,” she finally said, surprising me. “You didn’t have to help me, but you did. I appreciate it.”

“The cops think they can get your things back?”

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