Page 29 of The Powerful Boss She Craves

His eyebrows shot up. ‘Okay, that wasn’t what I expected you to say. Why?’

Thadie turned to face him. ‘She’s so negative, Micah. Nothing is ever good enough for her and I’m so sick of what she calls “constructive criticism”. She also doesn’t like me,’ Thadie added.

Huh. So Ella was right.

‘If that’s the way you feel, then boot her. But Clyde might not like it,’ Micah warned his sister. Alta was, after all, Clyde’s stepsister and brand manager.

‘I’ve asked him to talk to Alta, to ask her to tone down her attitude, but he hasn’t, so he’s left me with no choice. I won’t be miserable on my wedding day,’ Thadie replied, her tone fierce.

‘No, that would be unacceptable. Fire her, and know that you have our full support,’ Micah assured her.

‘I’ll call her later,’ Thadie said, grimacing. ‘It’s not going to be a pleasant conversation. Alta can be quite fiery.’

Micah kissed her head. ‘My money is on you, kid.’

Across the lawn, thehadidahstook flight with their trademark indignant squawk and the twins rolled in the grass, laughing with complete abandon. ‘Isn’t that the best sound?’ Thadie asked, her hand on her heart and her eyes misty with emotion.

‘I remember you laughing like that,’ Micah told her, kissing the top of her head. ‘Good job on raising happy kids, sweetheart.’

And, talking about sweethearts, he needed to head across town and find out what had turned Ella from sweet to sad. He’d never get any work done this weekend if he didn’t. Not that he would anyway, since thoughts of Ella were constantly front and centre and consistently distracting.

It had been two sentences—She’s harmless. You’re overreacting—but it had spun her off her axis, tilted her world. Ella paced her all but empty apartment, cursing herself. Those few words shouldn’t have had the power to wound her. She should be able to shrug them off, let them go.

She had to get past the mental trauma of the past two months and come to terms with the fact that people weren’t always going to agree with her, listen to her, take her seriously.

She understood it on an intellectual level but she couldn’t make her stubborn heart see reason. Despite thinking she’d made progress in coming to terms with being accosted and then not believed, that tenacious organ was still sulking, still feeling battered and bruised. She knew that a large part of her trauma had to do with her dad not listening to her about calling an ambulance for her mum, and that experience, and the events of the past months, had created a psychological fog she was trying to find her way through.

But she couldn’t keep feeling like this and reacting badly when a conversation didn’t go her way. If she did, her life would be hell. Maybe, if those words hadn’t come from Micah, she would’ve reacted more calmly. But they’d come from the mouth of a man she admired, respected...someone she liked.

A man she could, in another life and at another time, fall in love with.

Think, Ella, don’t just feel. Be sensible.

Was there a chance she was confusing attraction with gratitude because he was the only person who believed her about what had happened with Pillay? Was she feeling indebted to him because he’d leapt into action and righted a wrong, acting like a modern-day knight?

No. While she was grateful for him for resolving her issues with Le Roux Events, she wouldn’t have slept with him if she didn’t feel something for him, if she wasn’t crazy attracted to him. Ella rested her forearms along the back of the couch and dropped her head between her arms, feeling flustered and frustrated. She’d only met him a few days ago. Nobody should have this much effect on her so quickly! But, as she was coming to realise, Micah didn’t do what people expected him to.

With most people he was startlingly suave and appealing, quick with a smile but with her he was different. With her he occasionally discarded that cloak of geniality and allowed himself to be mercurial, impulsive, occasionally grumpy, more real. He’d even opened up a little: she knew that his butler was a father figure to him, that he didn’t like the person he’d been as a teenager and that he’d do anything and everything for his family. She knew that he was a brilliant, creative, considerate lover and that he had a streak of integrity a mile wide.

Despite only knowing him for a little less than a week, she felt connected to him, as if he was an old friend or a lover from a previous life. Ella pushed her fingertips into her forehead, rolling her eyes and her fanciful thoughts. Simply put, she liked him. In bed and out. A lot.

A hell of a lot.

His opinion mattered to her. And she wanted hers to matter to him. And she wanted to feel strong enough, confident enough, to challenge him when she disagreed with him. Not to argue or to be proved right, but self-assured enough to defend her corner, as she knew he would his.

This had very little to do with whether Alta liked Thadie or not. It was about her own reaction to Micah disagreeing with her and—God, this was hard to admit—about the balance of power. Micah had most of it. Not because he wanted it but because she lacked the confidence to grab her share.

Oh, why was she even thinking like this, contemplating a life beyond the short time they had left together? She was over-thinking, over-analysing.

Overreacting.

Ella’s head snapped up at the hard rap on her door and she frowned. Janie knew where she lived but her friend was out of town this weekend.

There was only one other person who had her address...

Ella stood and walked slowly over to her door, looking through the peephole just to make sure. She sighed, released the chain, flipped her locks and opened the door, leaning against the door frame.

‘I thought you had work to do,’ Ella told him, trying to sound bored.

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