Page 76 of Her Irish Boss

She broke the kiss, both of them breathing heavily.

“Can I touch you now?”

“No.”

“That wasn't very nice of you,” he said. His voice sounded strained.

“Neither is someone feeling embarrassed of you.”

She'd mentioned Jacob had done that to her. Hidden her away. The mental image of her kissing him that way sent Brogan over the edge before he had a chance to pull in his anger.

“Is this how you handled Jacob, too?”

Her mouth dropped open, her eyes wide.

Wrong thing to say. Again.

She pointed her finger at him. “I accepted the way Jacob treated me. I believed, for a very long time, that I wasn't as worthy as other women. Kissing you and not letting you touch me was the revenge I thought of when you hid me in the bathroom. It was the only thing I could think to do to get that feeling out of my system. Off my skin. To feel something other than inadequacy. To feel in control and know you really wanted me.”

“I'm sorry. I didn't realize....”

She crossed her arms. “Move. I want to leave.”

He thought about forcing her to keep talking. But he couldn't do it now. Rian and the blogger expected her for the interview.

“We're going to talk about this later.”

She lifted a shoulder. “We'll see.”

He nodded and shifted to the side. She left his office. He closed his eyes and leaned against the wall. Two and a half more weeks until he'd rewrite every employment contract if necessary to give himself and Selena permission to be together.

18

She hated staying mad at Brogan. Her reaction to the entire thing had been a little extreme. Selena thought back to the way his lips had twisted each time he'd glanced under the desk.

He hadn't panicked like someone might find out.

He'd thought it was funny. The man who didn't have hardly a sense of humor had thought the entire thing was funny. And she'd gone and blown it up like a big fight. Thrown Jacob in his face, knowing it'd get a rise out of him.

She'd tried to play it off, but even that had turned into a fight.

“Darling,” Cathal began, walking toward her and turning every female's head as he passed by the tables. The bartender raised her eyebrows at Selena before shifting away. A waitress picking up the drinks shared a look with the bartender. Great. So no one was allowed to know about her and Brogan, but Cathal made it seem as though they had some type of relationship.

But it also gave her a small reality check. The other employeeswouldtalk. It would make things a doublestandard for Brogan like he’d worried about. She understood his rationale, knew why he wanted to handle one thing at a time. First, the purchase of the bar and then the employment issue.

They had one day until the big party. She could make it.

“Hi, Cathal.” She took the papers from him as he held them out. “What's this?”

“The approval for your financial assistance for the assisted living facility.”

She scanned the paper, the words a blur. He'd done it? He'd gotten Mimi into the facility. She threw her arms around his neck. “Thank you! You're amazing!”

She pulled back and kissed his cheek.

The man blushed a little.

“Is there a reason you're kissing my brother?” Brogan's deep voice made her jump.

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