Page 9 of The Powerful Boss She Craves

He pushed his hand into his hair, looking uncomfortable. His eyes bounced between the open door and her, his expression thoughtful. Then he surprised her by picking up the bottle of water that sat on her desk and twisting the cap open before handing it to her.

Whowasthis man?

Ella sipped her water, hoping that her pulse would soon drop to not-about-to-have-a-panic-attack levels. Her anxiety receded and her breath evened out but her heart was still skipping around her chest, acting as if she’d never seen a good-looking guy before.

The truth was she’d never met anyone like Micah Le Roux, who was both straightforward and, seemingly, sensitive. And had she mentioned sexy?

Do try to focus on what is important, Ella.

Ella rolled her shoulders, intrigued despite herself about his offer. She’d told him a little white lie earlier; she’d never seriously considered suing Le Roux International. Mostly because it sounded expensive but also because, as she’d said, she did want to put these last few months behind her.

But if Micah was willing to compensate her, provided she find him a venue, she’d be a fool to turn down his offer. Especially since it would give her the capital to start her own business...

‘Okay, so you want me to find you a particular venue on a particular date and you’re prepared to pay me a lot of money to do that. What’s the catch?’

Micah’s expression hardened. ‘It’s imperative that you do not leak any information about the venue, the function or anything we discuss.’

Ella felt her skin shrink, feeling like a caterpillar encased in a too-tight cocoon. She prided herself on her integrity and she’d never, ever let slip a detail about any function. And she now knew, personally, what it felt like to be the subject of office gossip and speculation.

‘I’m not going to say anything, Mr Le Roux. You either believe me or you don’t.’ She wasn’t going to beg him to. She’d done that before, both times with far more at stake than five hundred thousand pounds. She couldn’t put a price on her mum’s death or being pushed out of her job. From this moment on, people either believed her or they didn’t; she wasn’t going to beg them to.

After a brief pause, Micah explained how his sister had lost her wedding venue and that she and her wedding planner—Anna de Palmer-Whyte, wedding planner to the rich and famous—hadn’t managed to secure another venue. Ella was outraged by what had happened and felt awful for Thadie Le Roux for losing her booking at the utterly lovely venue. It was a favourite amongst the elite of the country, and for good reason. It was a fairy-tale place with an amazing, ornate ballroom, amazing gardens and facilities. Weddings were so stressful at the best of times and to have this happen was catastrophic.

‘I’m so sorry,’ Ella said, genuinely upset by the news. ‘Do you have any idea who could’ve done something so horrible?’

Micah shook his head, looking thunderous. ‘God help him if I find him.’ He pushed his hand through his curls. ‘The important thing is to find Thadie a venue.’

Ella frowned, confused. ‘So, you are wanting to pay me a lot of money for me to spend a few days looking at suitable venues in and around Johannesburg, checking whether they are available and arranging for you to visit them? But isn’t that something Anna should be doing? And, if she is doing that, and I’m pretty sure she is, why would you hire me to duplicate her efforts?’

His eyes turned darker, bluer. If that was at all possible. ‘Anna hasn’t been able to find anything yet, so I suggested that we extend our search. If you agree, we will visit various venues outside of the city...together. The Drakensberg, Clarens, the Midlands. We might fly to some, drive to others. If we find any venues suitable, I’ll pay to secure the date, and at the end we’ll narrow it down to three. Then we will visit them again, this time with Thadie and Anna, who will make the final decision.’

He wasn’t playing around, Ella thought. He expected her to spend long hours, in cars, planes and confined spaces, with a stranger. She couldn’t do it. Not even for half a million pounds. God, she couldn’t even be in a room with a closed door with him, some place where there were colleagues down the hall.

You were fine with the closed door until your brain kicked in and told you that you should be feeling scared. Up until then, you were fine being alone with him... Why can’t you trust yourself any more? Trust your gut?

Ella ignored her inner voice and waved it away. Her gut was unreliable, so she intended to be sensible and to err on the side of caution.

Sure, the money would be nice—very nice indeed—and she desperately wanted to do something besides sitting in this office but...she couldn’t.

It was too much of a risk.

‘You’ll be staying in five-star accommodation, flying on luxury planes or driving my brand-new Bentayga—’

‘I’ll be driving it?’ Ella asked, surprised.

‘I’ll need to work occasionally so, yeah, I’d expect you to drive,’ Micah said.

Wow. To her, driving his fantastic car was a perk. And, judging by his small smile, he knew it.

‘You’ll be eating excellent food and drinking great wine,’ Micah continued, ignoring her interruption. ‘You’ll be out of this dismal office and seeing some beautiful parts of the country.’

Except that she’d be alone, for an extended time, with a stranger.

God, she was tempted, so tempted. She was ninety-five per cent sure that she’d be safe with Micah, that nothing would happen that she didn’t want to—nothing would happen, full-stop!—but that damn five per cent of uncertainty held her by the throat and wouldn’t let her go.

But that wasn’t theonlyreason she was hesitant to take him up on his offer. Honesty had her admitting that another part of herwantedsomething to happen between them.

The truth was that she was startlingly, crazily attracted to Micah. She wanted to step into his arms, nuzzle her nose into his neck and pull his shirt from those dark, smart designer jeans. After being groped by Pillay, she didn’t think she’d ever feel lust again, but here she was, wondering whether he tasted as good as he looked, whether his muscle had muscles and whether he had those sexy hip muscles she so loved on men. She wanted him, harder and hotter than anything she’d experienced before. She didn’t know how to handle feeling so off-kilter, unbalanced, so thoroughly, crazily turned on.

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