Page 8 of The Powerful Boss She Craves

But keeping this a secret from someone whose help he needed was going to hamper her efforts. How could he get her cooperation as well as ensure her silence? Micah considered some strategies and discarded others, one thought tumbling over that other. He decided to tiptoe through this minefield.

‘If you agree not to sue us, I’ll pay you a hundred thousand pounds—we work in pounds, not rands—to do some work for me.’

Her eyebrows flew up as shock brightened her eyes. ‘And what work would that be?’

‘Event planning work. I need a venue on a specific day, fairly soon. If you manage to secure one, I’ll pay you another hundred thousand on the proviso that nothing appears in the press about our search, the venue and us working together. If you choose not to do the work, I’ll still pay you the first instalment to compensate you for how badly you were treated at Le Roux Events. I know that money can’t change what happened but...’ He shrugged. ‘Unfortunately money is all we can offer.’

Ella tipped her head to the side and looked at him, intrigued. ‘We both know that any lawyer I hired would demand more.’

Money was no object. ‘Then hit me with a figure,’ he suggested.

She took a couple of minutes, no doubt doing some mental arithmetic. He was expecting her to ask for millions and was surprised when she only asked for another hundred grand—three hundred thousand altogether. Too low, he suddenly decided, she deserved more. A lot more.

‘What about two-fifty up front and another two-fifty once it’s all complete?’

Her mouth dropped open and her eyes widened. ‘Five hundred thousand pounds? With that sort of money, I could set up my own events planning company and maybe even buy a venue suitable for luxury events. I want to specialise in intimate family occasions, weddings, birthdays and events I like,’ she explained. ‘I’m good at those.’

‘From what I’ve heard, you are good at everything you do,’ Micah murmured.

She blushed, and her gaze clashed with his, but she immediately looked away. Micah sighed. Ella was trying hard to remain cool and unmoved but he knew that she was feeling anything but. He knew women, knew them well, and he’d had a lot of experience in picking up non-verbal cues when his attraction was reciprocated.

Ella liked what she saw. She wasn’t being obvious about it, licking her lips or tilting her head. If anything, she was fighting her reaction to him. But the rapid beating pulse point in the side of her neck, her small, tight nipples under her shirt and the pale pink tinge to her skin gave her away.

He rubbed his hand over his jaw, mentally cursing the situation. He’d found an event planner, which was excellent news. Not so excellent was their immediate, compelling and dynamic reaction to each other.

It was just his lousy luck that the one woman who caused him to feel like this was his employee, and the last woman he should get involved with right now. Even if that hadn’t been a factor, he and Jago had a deal that they never played where they worked. Their father, Theo, had no problem sleeping with his secretaries, marketing managers, accountants and in-house lawyers. It made for some uncomfortable workplace situations, and had cost the company a bundle in lost talent over the years, because his lovers always moved on to other employers when Theo dumped them.

Over the last twenty years, Micah had trained himself to be less impulsive, more patient. To think before he spoke. Now it took all of his willpower not to lean forward and capture that sassy mouth. To discover her taste, to feel her luscious skin under his arms, to slide inside her warm heat...

Micah stood and walked to the window, forcing it open and pulling in some fresh air. He kept work and sex miles apart. Negotiating with a woman to whom he was attracted was a fresh hell, a place he hadn’t visited before.

His week was just getting more and more complicated.

CHAPTER THREE

THEPOSSIBILITYOFhalf a million pounds? Was she having an auditory hallucination?

No, Micah didn’t look as though he was teasing her. Those bright blue eyes were sombre and his expression was heart-attack serious.

Ella opened her mouth to say yes, then snapped it closed and shook her head. What, was he the snake charmer and she was being hypnotised into doing what he wanted? Ridiculous!

Ella dropped her eyes and they came to rest on his strong wrist, sporting a vintage Rolex from the sixties. The watch suited his he-man, too-cool-for-school, rabble-rouser vibe. There were more hints of his rebellion; on his other wrist, he wore two bracelets, one a thick, braided leather and the other a series of alternating black and blue beads interspersed with silver. His stubble was too thick to be designer and his nose—she could tell by the bump in the otherwise straight ridge—had been broken more than once. She could see the tiny holes in his earlobe that suggested he’d once worn earrings and through the material of his shirt she caught the outline of a bold tattoo covering his right pec.

Underneath his designer threads and his CEO persona, Micah Le Roux was a rebel and the thought—and the man—made her hot.

Ella watched as he stood up and walked over to the window, the same one she’d used to watch him walk across the car park. When he’d stepped into her office earlier, he’d brought with him an electrical storm. Lightning fizzed, thunder rumbled and thunderheads whirled and swirled. She felt primal, elemental, as if she were the original Eve and she was about to taste rain for the first time. Nothing much had changed in the fifteen minutes since.

She still felt like she was surfing the bands of a hurricane. Dear Lord, what was wrong with her? Ella pulled her tongue off the roof of her mouth and looked around for a distraction. She needed time to think rationally and carefully.

Ella pushed back her chair and glanced towards her office door.

It was shut.

The door wasshut.And she hadn’t noticed. She lifted her hand to her throat and stared at the panelled door, panic climbing. She needed to get that open as soon as she could.

Bad things happened behind closed doors when she was alone with strange men.

Ella stood abruptly and moved towards the door. She felt his eyes on her back as she opened it wide before picking up a box and wedging it in front of the door so that it couldn’t blow shut.

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