Page 23 of Royal Bosshole

“Lily.” The sound of James’s voice made my pen slip on the page, and whatever I’d been writing turned into a long squiggly line.

How did a man have a voice like that? It was calming, soothing, sensual, and commanding all at the same time. I was so tempted to close my eyes and let it seep in, but instead, I turned up to face him.

“Hi. What’s up?” I smiled, but my cheeks got a bit red thinking about how Stevie would think I was an idiot for my super non-cool greeting.

“Hi.” His gaze flicked over my screen. “Listening to music?” he asked.

Quickly, I went to click out of the page and stood. “No, not at all. Just checking something.”

His eyes searched mine, and he narrowed them, looking for something. My heart rate was sky-high, and my breathing was fast. Why had I stood up? Now we were close, and I could smell him again.

“Meet me in the conference room in one minute.” He turned away then and strode down the hall.

Don’t look at his ass. Don’t look at his ass, I beg you.

Too late. And he had a hand in one pocket, so the material was stretched over the taut backside. Wondering if I was in trouble, I slowly slunk after him.

* * *

JAMES

Sandy could seriously go to hell. That morning, she’d disturbed my quiet reverie over my mother and over Lily with one of her vicious texts. Now, I knew she’d not let up on her revenge.

It’s not right that you hired the coffeeshop girl. It’s a conflict of interest. Surely you, an experienced businessman, would know that. Could get you in big trouble, and I just know you’ll come crawling back to me when it all falls through.

I blocked her right away, so tired of that bullshit, but it put me in a grim mood all the way to work. When I woke up, I’d been a little excited to see Lily again, thinking that maybe it could be my distraction from all the things I was working toward. It could be the normalcy in my life that Peter had encouraged me to find.

But now, it had to be all business. I had to ask her to let go of her coffeeshop. I’d made my expression all cold, super cold when I stood at her desk, asking her to meet me in the conference room. But deep down, I was struck by the look in her eyes. It was eager and fearful at the same time. Was it me? Was she eager to see me or afraid? I didn’t like the idea of her being afraid, but maybe she would be after we spoke.

Walking down the hall, I strode with confidence, but I was listening hard for her footsteps. I knew she didn’t like to be bossed around, but I didn’t want anyone else to be privy to our conversation.

And seriously, it had nothing to do with the fact that I wanted to be alone with her. Inside the protection of four opaque walls.

Inside the conference room, I slid both hands in my pockets and walked around. I couldn’t sit. I had no idea how to go about this. But I was a businessman, cold-hearted and logical, right? Yet, something didn’t feel right about this. When the door squeaked open, my heart jumped into a rapid-fire pace. Hesitantly, Lily walked in and shut it behind her, leaning against it. I’d never seen her so hesitant before, but the expression quickly flickered away, replaced by her usual strong one.

“Look, if this is about looking at Spotify at work, then you need to really calm down. We’re not kids. We’re doing our work, and we don’t need to be babysat.” She put up her hands and walked toward me.

I took a small step back. If I got a whiff of her scent again, I might lose my nerve.

Keep hands in pockets.

“No,” I said roughly, grazing one of my hands over the back of my neck before I shoved it in my pocket again. “I’ve just been giving it some thought, and…”

Here goes nothing.

“You need to sell your business, preferably to me. It’s a complete conflict of interest, and while I know that you’re helping us, the investors might not think so. They won’t like the idea of someone being a part of two competing businesses.”

There, it was all out. But I wasn’t prepared for what came next.

“Are you kidding me?” She put her hands on her hips and then hooked a thumb toward the door. “We already talked about this. I’m not doing it. Do you even know how well the website’s been doing since I changed the copy? Since I made it a little friendlier, a little warmer? Fifty percent more visitors and twenty-five percent more buyers from the online store.”

My eyebrows went up. I’d never been struck speechless before. I’d been so busy at a meeting that morning that I’d not even checked on that basic bit of very useful knowledge.

Stay cool.

“That’s great, but that won’t be enough for the investors. It’s just better this way.” I didn’t look at her as I dug out a piece of paper from my waistcoat and put it on the table. “Here’s an offer we can make you for the property. It’ll be turned into a Coffee on the Go, of course.”

She got close to me then, and I could feel the heat radiating from her body. I closed my eyes when the scent of Lily hit my nose. She looked tantalizing that day in black high-waisted pants and a ruffled green shirt. I’d noticed the line of her cleavage when I’d first approached her, and I tried my best to push aside the thought of putting my tongue there.

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