Page 40 of Defying Her Arrogant Boss

‘We had an affair, but it’s over now.’ Her voice rang clear as a bell. Maxine’s eyes widened.

‘Wrong, Lissa,’ Rory boomed behind her. She spun around furiously to face him. He stood broadly, inches away, legs apart, anger apparent in every muscle. He looked her up and down, raking her body with the heat in his angry glare—a move that only served to enrage her further. Her entire body tensed. It seemed everyone in the room held breath.

‘You know damn well it’s not over,’ his voice drawled through the bar.

For a split second there was total silence. Then there was a collective gasp and a lone wolf whistle.

‘Go get her, Rory,’ someone yelled.

Lissa stared at him in fury, seeing his pale anger and force of will. And despite it all a trickle of desire was pooling in her belly. She still wanted him. He’d betrayed her and yet her body still wanted to feel his hardness against her.

Disgusted with herself, she turned and ran for it. Pent-up energy gave her speed. Opening the door and flinging down the entrance stairs, she got a good start. The fight-or-flight instinct had kicked in. She was going for both. Her heels tapped as she clattered down the stairs at breakneck speed. She glanced back up. Rory was following three at a time.

‘I don’t want to talk to you,’ she called to him as she started along the footpath. The cold wind bit into her.

‘Well, it’s about time you bloody did. I want to talk to you.’ He advanced closer.

‘And it’s all about what you want?’ she flung back at him. She’d left her umbrella inside and rain was falling in large splats. She increased her pace so she was practically running.

‘Lissa, slow down. You’ll fall and break an ankle.’ Indignation burned. ‘I can run a marathon in these heels.’

‘Fine, but not tonight.’

He caught up to her, grabbed her arm and pulled her to a stop. She jerked her arm out of his hand. He stared at her, his jaw clenched. People moved to avoid where they stood in the middle of the footpath.

‘Still care about what other people think, Lissa?’

‘You know what, Rory?’ she yelled in his face, ignoring the interested stares of the passers-by. ‘I couldn’t care less. What I care about is being used.’

‘Finally some honesty,’ he yelled back. ‘So let’s forget about the audience and sort this mess out.’

She hardly heard him as she berated herself, her hands fisting at her chest. ‘God, I promised myself I wouldn’t do this again. How could I be so trusting andstupid?’

He stared at her in silence, waiting for her to continue.

‘I should have known you would let me down. It was just a matter of how.’ She stood before him, getting wetter as the rain fell, watching as the defence leapt in his eyes and he took breath.

‘Lissa, listen to me.’ Calm, coaxing.

She closed her eyes and forced her blood to freeze. She would not be manipulated by him.

‘What James said wasn’t even close to the truth.’

‘You wouldn’t know what the truth is, Rory. Let alone be able to tell it.’

He flinched, his hands fisted, not quite so calm now. ‘Lissa, you’re tired and overwrought and being completely irrational.’

‘I am not irrational.’ No way was she going to let him play the ‘you’re an irrational female’ card. One sign of tears and they thought a woman was all out of control. Typical.

‘Yes, you are. You won’t even listen to me.’

‘It wasn’t your place to take advantage of your position. To take advantage of me,’ she overrode him furiously.

‘I did not take advantage of you and you know it,’ he flung back, his voice betraying that he was as angry as she.

She stared back at him. No, he hadn’t. She’d been as willing as he had. What a fool she’d been. She’d given in to temptation and lost her heart in the process and now she was paying the price.

‘You don’t get it, do you? You just organise things the way you want them. I told you we couldn’t be together while you were my boss and so you just rearrange my job without any regard to how it might impact on me. Maybe I would have liked the extra hours, maybe the money would have come in handy when I go home. All that matters to you is maintaining your source of hot sex!’

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