Page 22 of My Cruel Billionaire

“You lost the right to speak to me like that when you fired me.”

He sputtered, his face growing darker by the moment. I could feel his anger emanating off him in waves. In the old days, I’d have calmed him down in my own unique, inimitable way. Now, though, he was just going to fester and fume until he either exploded or managed to let it go. My money was on the first one.

Finally, he composed himself somewhat. Michael was still angry as hell, that’s for sure. But he managed to keep his tone civil, even if it was a bit clipped when he spoke again.

“It was one of your team who leaked this matter to the press.”

He said it like it was an accepted fact. In the exact same way you might say the sun rises in the east, or that water was wet. His tone brooked no argument, but I was growing tired of his bluster. I closed one of the windows on my laptop and gave him another glare.

“How do you know that it wasn’t one of your team? Chad the CHUD seemed pretty mouthy to me.”

Michael snorted with derision.

“Chad might have a problem with filtering his words before they come out of his mouth, but there’s no way that he would have leaked this to the press.”

“How do you know?”

“Because he's terrified of me. And for good reason. Used to be that you were smart enough to be scared of me, too.”

I laughed, and it was genuine for what that was worth.

“Michael, I was never scared of you. I respected you, but when you were going on and on about what a big, bad alpha male you were I was never intimidated. Not for a second.”

“Before or after we started sleeping together?”

I sucked in a gasp of air. He had finally addressed the elephant in the room. Namely our past history and semi-relationship.

“Both,” I said, recovering myself somewhat.

“Well, I guess my team has more common sense than you do. They would never dare to go against my will.”

I remembered him saying something like that to me before, but in a sexy way. I kind of liked it when he pinned me down and took charge of the situation. However, I didn’t have time to think about all of the steamy sex we used to have.

He was very, very close to me, though. Close enough I could feel his body heat, and smell his cologne. I swallowed the lump that had suddenly formed in my throat.

“Look,” I said, trying to keep my tone civil even though I was roiling with conflicting emotions. “We can deal with this later. Right now, you need to tell your driver to take us to the Meridian Room at the Mercury Hotel.”

“What?” he frowned in confusion. His crow’s feet crinkled around his eyes. They didn’t make him look old or weak, but rather distinguished. Experienced. “Why in the hell would I tell my driver to go there of all places?”

“Because we have a press conference scheduled there.”

“What?” he sputtered. “Since when?”

“Since I set it up,” I said cryptically. “Now, you should just play nice, and let me handle things from here,” I reached out and patted his knee. “Okay, Michael? I’ve got this. You just sit there and chew on nettles or whatever it is you do to stay so very, fucking, sour.”

“You must be out of your goddamn mind, Jenna,” he snapped. “You think I’m going to let you handle a fucking thing after you screwed this up? I know that it was your team who was responsible.”

“I can assure you that my team members had nothing to do with this. They were just as surprised as all of you.”

“Bullshit,” he snarled. “I don’t know how you organized this press conference so damn quickly, and I don't give a damn. I’m going to handle it, though. Me. That way I can be sure that you won’t screw it up.”

I cocked an eyebrow at him and gave him a look.

“What?” he said after a moment when I wouldn't stop.

“During our time together, didn’t you always say how much you can’t stand the press? And that you tended to lose your temper with them? Hmm? I do recall you saying that on multiple occasions.”

He grew tight-lipped. Michael wanted to argue, but he knew he was beat. I knew him better than he thought I did. I wondered if I knew him better than he knew himself, but that may have been going a bit far.

---