Page 39 of The Naughty List

“I should probably get back to work.”

I chuckle, bumping her shoulder “I happen to know the boss, and I don’t think he’ll mind if you’re a little late getting back.”

She stares at me, an impish grin taking over her lips as she shrugs her shoulders. “Okay then, yeah.”

That’s when we both look down. She probably just realized we’re still holding hands. I don’t let go, continuing to hold onto her as I pull her away from the window.

“Let’s start in the kitchen, it’s my favorite part,” I say, leading the way.

“Oh my god!” she gasps, her hand shooting to her chest as she takes in the panoramic windows that dominate the space. “Is that the—”

“John Hancock? Yeah. Dinner with a view.”

“This is unreal,” she says, her voice just above a whisper. She pulls her hand from mine to drag her fingertips along the edge of the black marble countertops. I stand back, watching her eyes bounce around as she takes it all in. “You cook?”

“Love to cook. Not saying I’m good at it, but I like to experiment in the kitchen.” I’m this close to adding and in the bedroom, but I bite my tongue, reminding myself that not only is Sadie Emmert my employee, but I also have no idea if she’s single. I highly doubt it.

“Me too. My boyfr—ex-boyfriend,” she corrects, and my ears perk up. “He uh, didn’t appreciate my experiments, although he never had an issue with my baking.” She giggles nervously, her eyes darting away from me, returning to the view.

“That’s a shame. Maybe we can experiment together sometime.”

Her head whips around to look at me and I motion for her to move to the next room before she freaks out and runs screaming from my apartment.

“This is my office, where I spend most of my time,” I say, opening the door.

“Does every room have this view?”

“Yeah, three hundred sixty-degree views, which is why it came with the price tag it did.”

We walk through a few more rooms before moving down the hallway toward the great room.

“Wait, so there’s a living room, a sitting room, and now a great room?”

“Technically, the first area was a family room, then a sitting room, and now this is the living or great room.”

“With a grand piano?” She laughs, shaking her head. “I just—my mom would freak if she saw this.”

“Does she play?”

“Yeah.” She nods as she steps closer to it. “And it’s a Steinway!” she squeals, pulling out her phone then stopping herself.

I laugh. “You can take a pic. You can even play it if you know how.”

“Oh goodness, no. I’m too scared to touch it.” She takes a few pictures, then we continue the tour, finally winding our way down the last hallway.

“These are mostly bedrooms I don’t use.”

“How big is this place?”

“I think just under 10,000 square feet. Way too big.” I shake my head in embarrassment. I bought this place when I was twenty-eight. I had just become CEO after my father’s untimely death and felt I needed to emulate ostentatious lifestyle he once had. Something I now realize I don’t want or need. I’ve called my realtor to put it on the market twice, but both times he insisted I keep it a while longer because the market wasn’t ideal. He insisted I could make a killing if I rode out the dip.

“And this”—I open my bedroom door—“is my room, which you saw earlier.”

Her face goes red, her hands coming up to cup her cheeks.

“I—I’m so—”

“Don’t apologize. Trust me, no man will ever be angry about having a beautiful woman barge into his bedroom and end up on her knees in front of him.”

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