Page 65 of #Bossholes

This is exactly why I was hesitant to eat down here in the first place. I knew working with the owners would put a target on my back. Although, I didn’t realize they’d literally be betting against me.

When I turn back to the table, Brianna is the one watching me, the look on her face wary. “Don’t worry about them. So, I have to ask…the senior partners. Are they really as bad as everyone says?”

I pause for several seconds.

It would be so easy to say yes, have them feeling sorry for me, but in truth, they’re not that terrible. Even if Wyatt didn’t know my name until a few days ago. And they all moved me into their building without my permission. And they’re all incapable of doing simple things for themselves.

“They’re more misunderstood than anything.” I take a bite of chicken, and as a horrified look crosses Brianna’s face, I quickly add, “But they are very demanding. Real jerks.”

“Speaking of jerks.” Margo slips down in her chair like she’s trying to make herself smaller and nods behind me.

The cookies.

I don’t need to turn around to know Maverick is hovering by the chocolate chunks, the very same cookies I’ve been avoiding since I got down here. I don’t need another cookie mishap, and now that I know the other employees are betting on my demise, I don’t want to add fuel to the fire.

For everyone’s sake, the less I’m seen around my bosses the better.

Let’s hope they get the memo.

But as Margo’s eyes widen and her gaze shifts above my head, I don’t think that’s the case.

Dammit.

So much for having a normal lunch with the gals. Maybe he’ll get his cookie and retreat to his lair.

A throat clears behind me, killing that thought, and even though everything in me says to ignore him, I turn around.

Maverick gives the three of us a blinding smile, and I’m pretty sure either Brianna or Margo swooned behind me. He does have a nice smile.

“If you’re done with your lunch, Miss Rhodes, I need you upstairs for a client meeting.” His eyes sparkle with mischief, and he gives the girls a wink. He’s lucky there actually is a meeting in ten minutes, or he and I would be having words. “In case you need the extra energy, I swiped you a cookie.Our favorite.”

And yep, you guessed it. He tosses the cookie down in front of me because telling everyone around us it’s our favorite wasn’t enough. He has the subtlety of a sledgehammer. I guess I should consider myself lucky he didn’t climb up on our table to tell everyone he’s seen me naked.

There’s no way I’m sitting down here and finishing my lunch after that. So, I pack up the rest of my salad and aggressively shove the cookie in my lunchbox. He’s not wrong, it is my favorite; I’m just not going to eat it anywhere near him.

“I’m so sorry, guys. I really should go.” I send Brianna and Margo what I hope are apologetic looks, and after they wave me off and mumble their goodbyes, I scramble to follow Maverick.

Not because I want to get stuck in the elevator with him, because I don’t. But because we do have a meeting.

Him being here is an annoyance. An unwanted annoyance.

Yeah, that’s why my eyes are glued to his backside as I follow him into the elevator.

Stupid cookie. It got me into this whole mess in the first place.

“Not going to eat your cookie? It was the last one.” As the elevator door closes us in the tight space, he glances over at me, a smirk tugging at his lips. “You didn’t have to leave on my account. You had a few more minutes.”

His tone is light, teasing, yet the air around us swirls with tension. I’m not sure what to say or how to act. It’s our first time alone since, you know…and instead of the smart comment I should be launching back at him, my brain is empty. Okay, it's not entirely empty. I can very clearly picture him stroking his impressive erection while demanding that I touch myself.

My gaze shifts to his, and I swallow. Hard.

The smirk dies from his face, and his cocky playboy persona is gone.

Right now he’s not my boss, and I’m not his legal secretary. He’s just a man, one I feel inexplicably drawn to, despite my brain telling me to keep my distance.

He takes a step toward me, and my breath catches in my throat.

He reaches out, his fingers gently caressing down the side of my face, and my lunchbox falls to the floor with a thud.