Page 67 of Bossy Hero

Amusement mingles with annoyance in my chest, and I release an indulgent sigh. “Alan, were you following me?”

His head falls forward, shoulders sagging. He turns around, a sheepish expression marring his striking features.

Thisis the man I wanted to go to dinner with. Who I’ve always wanted to be with.

Not Jerky Joe.

But I can’t be with him the way he deserves, so I said yes to Joe’s less appealing offer.

And it was a gigantic, gargantuan, Leo-sized mistake.

Alan’s chest heaves with his furious breaths, and his jaw ticks. Rugged sex appeal swirls around him in a cloud of pheromones. Instinctively, my thighs press together.

“Guilty.” He shrugs and ambles closer, finding his typical swagger. “And you’re lucky I was.”

I press off the car, my legs stronger beneath me now that I know I’m safe. “I guess so.”

He slowly closes the space between us and caresses me with his mahogany eyes. “Are you okay, Maddie?”

Nodding, I tilt my chin up to feign bravery. “Yes. I’m fine.”

It’s not a complete lie. I’ll cry myself to sleep tonight. But for now, I’m fine.

The wrinkles between his brows deepen as he lifts his hand toward my face. I flinch on reflex. In my defense, he just beat a man bloody five feet in front of me.

“I’m just brushing your hair back,” he says, voice like velvet.

My muscles relax. “Oh, sorry. A little jumpy.”

I track his hand as it moves slowly toward my forehead. As promised, he runs his fingers through my hair, tucking it behind my ear. Before he drops his hand, he runs the backs of his knuckles along my cheek, trailing tenderly over the faded scar near my jaw.

My pulse spikes again. This time for a different reason.

Alan’s never once looked at my scar in disgust. Although I keep it hidden under makeup, he knows it’s there. He saw it when it was a fresh wound all those years ago.

His eyes look so deeply into mine I wonder if he’s reading my thoughts. “He didn’t hurt you, did he?”

An urge to climb him like a tree strikes, slamming into me out of nowhere. Keeping my lips sealed, I shake my head to answer him while diligently fighting off this arousal.

This man. The things I’d let him do to me if we were different people.

If he wasn’t my son’s boss. And if he didn’t mean so much to me.

If I were worthy of him. If I could trust myself. If I knew who I was.

Or if I could be with him without fear. Without wanting to run and hide.

But I still can’t do that.

After all this time, I fearsomedaywill never be here.

“What’s his name, Maddie?”

“Whose name?”

Alan’s face contorts, and he looks at me like I’ve got three heads. He flings his thumb over his shoulder. “The fuckface with a newly broken nose.”

“Oh.” I blink out of the trance he’s got me under. “His name is Joe.”

---