Page 12 of Bear Boss's Mate
By the time she reached his floor, she was breathing heavily from taking the stairs. Her anxiety level was through the roof as Marcy walked toward his office door.
Her negative self-talk made everything so much worse these days.Please don’t let me act stupid.
Part of her doubted he was attracted to her, anyway. She walked toward his office door, secretly hoping he had left for the day. That way, she could leave the file on his desk with a note.
She knocked on his door and waited.
Her heart jumped into her throat when he responded in a husky tone.
She was still out of breath and hot from the jaunt up the flight of stairs. Biting her lip for a moment, she entered his office.
Her cheeks burned from the way he looked at her when she stood in the doorway.
By the time she left his office, she was shaking her head in shock.He asked me out. On a date. What am I going to do now?
When she’d met Austin on her first day of work, the thought never crossed her mind that he would ever ask her out.
In fact, it was thelastthing she would have thought might happen.
CHAPTER SIX
THE WEEKENDS HAD ALWAYSbeen pretty quiet for Marcy since moving to town. Ever since leaving her old job, however, she spent all of her time at home on the weekends. Too afraid to go out alone.
Every night was spent on the computer or in front of the television. Her long-time friend, Amara, lived in the city, and they spoke every week. Although she hadn’t seen her in person in months.
Alone with her thoughts, she went through every scenario she could imagine,ifshe dated Austin. In each one, she’d determined that it would end with him breaking her heart, and she would have to leave what was the best job she’d had since, well, ever.
Marcy couldn’t imagine anything good coming out of dating someone from work. Even if things went well, Mick might carry through on his threats toward herandAustin.
The risk was too high. At least, it seemed that way to her.
It had been a few days since Austin mentioned taking her out.
At the last staff meeting, she avoided eye contact with him and rushed out right afterward. Too afraid to admit her fears to him.
She wished she had dared to say no to going out with him. But there was a part of her that wanted him more than she had ever wanted anyone. It was hard to ignore the attraction between them. Even more evident was how he appeared to benothinglike Mick.
As she sat on her sofa watching her favorite crime drama on TV, her thoughts kept going back to Austin. She couldn’t deny that she thought about what it would be like to kiss his luscious mouth. Or have his hands touching her in all the right places. The very thought of being intimate with him made her hot and bothered. Even her dreams at night were about him.
In her mind, he’d made love to her and afterwards she laid next to him, stroking his chest and kissing his face. In waking life, She forced herself to deny any feelings that she had for him.
The weekly meetings were the hardest. His sexy baritone voice sent warm waves of delight through her body. Being in his presence often left her too embarrassed to look up at him.
Getting to know him was just something she couldn’t allow herself to do. She couldn’t go out with someone she worked with. It was a bad idea.
Her phone rang next to her. She turned to pick it up and looked at the caller ID.
She didn’t recognize the number and hesitated a moment, deciding whether to answer it. A mix of curiosity and frustration filled her.
It was probably Mick, with his continued assault on her life. He must have found her new number. She answered it, ready for a fight.
“Hello.” Her voice came out sounding angry.
“Hi, Marcy? It’s Austin.”
Marcy tensed and sat up straight.
“I hope you don’t mind me calling you at home. I haven’t seen you around much this last week at work. I’m calling about our date.” He sounded cheerful.
