Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 79328 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 397(@200wpm)___ 317(@250wpm)___ 264(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79328 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 397(@200wpm)___ 317(@250wpm)___ 264(@300wpm)
She paused, taking a deep breath. Her fingers twisted in the dish towel.
“Actually, he was ruthless. It wasn’t just about putting the job first or being ambitious. He was self-centered in a way that made him willing to cross any line to get ahead. Taking credit for other people’s work. Harassing or blackmailing anyone he considered a threat. Manipulating every situation to make himself look like the hero.” Her jaw tightened. “As his assistant, I was expected to not just look the other way while he did these things, but to help him.”
“But you wouldn’t.”
I didn’t phrase it as a question. I knew Raina, knew her integrity and her stubborn moral compass. She would never compromise herself that way.
“No,” she confirmed, meeting my eyes. “I wouldn’t.”
“And he fired you for it.”
“Eventually.” She laughed, but there was no humor in it. “He told me I was weak. That I wasn’t suited for the business world if I wasn’t willing to do whatever it took to get ahead.”
My jaw clenched. A spark of anger ignited in my chest, hot and protective and fierce. “He actually said that to you?”
She nodded. “He also tried to prove it. After I was fired, he made sure I couldn’t find another job. For six months—the entire time leading up to working for you—I was doomed before I even walked into an interview, after the company verified my employment, alerting Hull that I had a potential job. So he’d call ahead of the interview and told them lies about what a terrible worker I was. Blackballed me from the entire industry.”
My hands curled into fists at my sides and a muscle jumped in my jaw. “That fucking prick.”
“Yeah.” She exhaled heavily. “He really was.”
I pushed off the counter and crossed the kitchen toward her. She watched me approach, her expression guarded but not closed off. I stopped in front of her, close but not crowding her.
“I know you’re nothing like him,” she said quietly, before I could speak. “I know that, Simon. But that situation… it makes me wary. Even with you. Even though I want whatever is happening between us.”
I understood. I really did. She’d been burned badly, and the parallels were impossible to ignore—another boss, another complicated relationship, another opportunity for everything to go wrong.
But I wasn’t Hull. And I needed her to believe that.
“I want to see where this goes, Raina,” I said, my voice low but earnest. “This isn’t a one-and-done for me. I want… more.”
The word felt inadequate, but it was the best I had.
“We can take it one day at a time,” I continued. “Figure it out as we go. But now that we’ve crossed this line…” I shook my head slowly. “I can’t go back. I don’t want to go back.”
I held her gaze, watching the emotions flicker across her face—hope and fear and want all tangled together.
“Can you?” I asked. “Go back to the way things were?”
A long moment passed. Then, quietly, she replied. “No. I can’t. And I don’t want to, either.”
Relief surged through me. “Then we move forward. Together. And I promise you—” I stepped closer, eliminating the last of the distance between us. “—your job is safe. No matter what happens between us, I will never use my position against you. You have my word.”
She searched my face, looking for… something. Whatever she found must have satisfied her, because some of the tension finally drained from her shoulders.
“Okay,” she whispered. “One day at a time.”
I reached up and framed her face in my hands, tilting her head back so I could look into her eyes. Then I kissed her, pouring everything I couldn’t quite articulate into the press of my lips against hers.
She melted into me, her hands coming up to rest on my chest.
“Are you trying to distract me, Mr. Powers?” she murmured against my mouth.
I smiled. “Is it working?”
She gave me a flirty little grin. “Maybe.”
“Then I’ll have to try a little harder.”
I turned her around, pressing her stomach against the counter. Her breath caught as I brushed my lips against the nape of her neck, exposed by her messy bun. My hands skimmed up the outside of her thighs, sliding beneath the hem of her sleep shirt.
She shivered. I had her pinned between my body and the counter, and one hand slipped into her panties. She moaned when my fingers found her already wet, already wanting, and her head fell back against my shoulder.
“Simon…”
Her hand reached back, fingers twisting into my hair as she arched her spine and ground her ass against my erection, straining against the denim of my jeans. I bit down gently on the curve of her neck and whispered filthy things in her ear—telling her how good she felt around my cock when she came, letting her know how much I wanted her and exactly what I intended to do to her in explicit detail.