Page 43 of Secretly Craved By My Monster Alien Boss

“Is Alien Inc. forbidding you to?” asked a woman with bangs even blunter than Darcy’s. She looked eerily familiar…

“No,” Nazyn said slowly. “But I’m not in charge of profits. I can tell you that Deruzia wants to have a partnership with Earth when it comes to technology. And I chose Earth because our anatomies are fairly similar. One head, two hands, two legs.”

“So you were interested in the biological aspect more than anything else?” she asked.

“In a way.”

“In what way?”

“Your cities are already created for beings similar to us. It was easier than, say, a planet where the inhabitants are five inches tall and have six arms.”

“So you weren’t interested in how compatible our species are? Biologically, of course.”

Darcy tensed. That was an odd question to ask at a tech convention.

Nazyn frowned. “No. I didn’t think about that at all during my research.”

The tension rose as the journalist chuckled. It sounded mean.

“Then how do you explain your relationship with Darcy Taylor, Alien Inc.’s new employee?”

Darcy sucked in a breath. What in the–

“I’m not sure what relationship you’re referring to,” Nazyn said, tone no longer calm. There was a hint of a warning there.

The journalist did not heed it. “Then how do you explain the photos that were taken of you last night?”

Darcy froze.

Oh, no. No, no, no, no.

“Whatphotos?” Nazyn growled.

“The publication I work for, Intelligent Inquisitor, has just published them. Exclusively,” the journalist said as smugly as humanly possible. “There’s no denying the chemistry between you two.”

That’swhy the woman seemed familiar. Richard knew the editor-in-chief of Intelligent Inquisitor–and this was the man’s daughter.

On cue, whispers began floating in the audience. Everyone took out their phones, including Darcy. She swiped to the website and instantly felt sick.

There it was, a photo of her and Nazyn kissing on the balcony, published fourteen minutes ago, with the headline“Taylor Temptress Scores Job At Alien Inc. and Canoodles with Boss at Tech Conference. Are human-Deruzian relationships even legal? Find out–”

Darcy stopped reading as a wave of nausea rose in her throat.

She couldn’t see.

She couldn’t breathe.

Her career would never recover from this.

Through the absolute mortification, Darcy distantly heard Elias shouting, “This is totally uncalled for. The impertinence of plastering their private business for the world to see. Shame on you!”

“I will not answeranyquestions about Ms. Taylor or myself,” Nazyn growled.

The woman–Christie? Christina? Darcy couldn’t remember–grinned. “Then maybe Ms. Taylor will answer herself.”

Darcy watched in horror as all the cameras in the room swiveled toward her. They’d been perfectly positioned to move her way.

This had been planned.

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