Page 14 of Secret Desire

Looking him in the eye, I gently pulled my blouse away from my chest and dropped it into my bra, where I hoped he wouldn’t have the nerve to dive. “No. Now, leave.”

“Not without my flash drive.” He slunk forward, his face contorting into a threatening glower.

The adjoining door flew open. “What’s going on?” Mr. Cox said as he stormed into my office. With clenched fists, he invaded Nathan’s personal space, towering over the guy.

“N-n-nothing, Mr. Cox.” He had the good sense to shrink back, inching his way toward the door. “Was j-j-just sayinghito the new intern.”

“That’s NOT what it looked like.” Mr. Cox pointed at the door. “GET OUT!”

Nathan bolted out the door.

Dark green eyes bore into me. Mr. Cox took a deep breath and relaxed his fists. “What happened?”

“It’s fine. I was handling it.”

“Clearly. But what happened?”

I sighed. “Some employee trying to establish dominance in the hierarchy. Just part of the journey in this industry. I’m sorry for the disturbance.”

“You have nothing to be sorry about. Next time, call me immediately.” He turned and started to walk back into his office.

I bristled. I didn’t need a bodyguard. A bodyguard couldn’t protect you 100% of the time, so it was better to deal with things on my own. The only person I could rely on was me. “No,” I said.

He paused mid-stride and turned slowly, a look of disbelief on his face. I guessed he wasn’t used to anyone sayingnoto him. He stalked up to me. His eyes darkened to a deep forest green. “What did you say?” The words sounded more like a warning as if what he really wanted to say wasdo not dare disobey me.

His entire being seemed to radiate powerful dominance, and he loomed over me as if trying to squash me. Was this the man everyone was afraid of? Was he finally showing me that side of him?

It didn’t matter. I never backed down. I would never let anyone dictate who I should be or how I should handle my life. Even though my heart was racing, I lifted my chin and looked him square in the face, my eyes meeting his angry ones.

Had I been so nice to her that she thought she could defy me? I reined in my anger, not wanting to scare her away, but showing enough to let her know who was in charge.

Besides, I was offering her my protection. She should be thanking me. And why was it so damn sexy that she was standing up to me?

“With respect, I prefer to deal with things on my own,” she said, a cute defiant look in her eyes, like a kitten challenging a lion. “They’ll never learn to respect me if you step in each time.”

What a stubborn woman! I never imagined someone rejecting my protection. “Theywillrespect you because I’ll make them,” I said with an air of finality. I thought about storming out to drive home the point that this was not up for discussion, but I wanted to see if she would keep standing up to me. Or maybe I hoped she would.

Ms. Bloom shook her head, her curls bouncing off her adorable cheeks, making me forget why I was angry in the first place.

“That’s not respect,” she said. “That’s fear. I don’t let people walk all over me.”

This industry was ruthless, but if she didn’t want my protection, then I would make sure she was well equipped to survive. For some bizarre reason I wanted…no, needed to see her succeed. “I don’t think you understand. You’ve walked into infested waters. This place has sharks, piranhas, killer whales, all of it. Every kind of scheming mind you can imagine prowling around in a power suit. Devils in disguise, all of them.”

“I understand,” she said in a softened tone as the warmth in her gaze returned. “I’ve been around those sorts of people my whole life, and I appreciate your offer to help,” she said, placing a hand over her heart, “but this is one matter I’ll deal with on my own. Watch and see. They’ll learn soon enough that they can’t take advantage of me.”

I averted my eyes, finding some random object on her desk to focus on before I lost myself in her eyes. There weren’t many people in this world I respected, but she was quickly finding her way onto that list. “That’s very brave.”

“I also plan to make a name for myself in this business by working my ass off.”

God, I hoped she didn’t lose that big ass of hers. My hands twitched at the thought of grabbing those cheeks. I bet they were more than a handful each. And I had big hands.

She took a step closer to me, dangerously close, our bodies only inches apart. “I plan to thrive under your mentorship and make you proud of me.”

My mentorship was not the only thing I wanted her under. My body swayed forward without my permission. God, I wanted her. Her sweet aroma caressed me. She smelled of star anise, and I wondered what she tasted like. My tongue darted out to lick my lips, and my body rocked forward again.

This was wrong. She was talking about her career, and I was fantasizing about her naked body on my desk. I cleared my throat. “I look forward to it, Ms. Bloom.” Then I turned on my heel and got the hell out of there.

The week whizzed by fast. Working diligently on my analysis, I was enjoying myself too much to feel the time pass. Every day I’d have a meeting with Mr. Cox to discuss the results, and we’d brainstorm together to come up with different parameters to test. I had hoped for this, hoped my boss would become my mentor by encouraging my ideas and challenging my theories, but this was beyond any expectation I had ever had. I was so excited to wake up and rush back to work every morning that I could barely sleep at night.

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