Page 48 of Love, Luck & Clusterf*ck

“Harassed? Is that so?”

“Yes. Ever since that very first day when you called Dre a loser and you gave me a necklacefor luck. Like you insinuated that I was going to need it or something. Then you tricked me into finding out my name and—”

“I tricked you into spilling your purse all over the floor?”

“You saw my badge and you never even told me who you were. Why is that?”

“You made it clear that you weren’t interested in knowing who I was.”

I detected a slight smile as he leaned casually against his desk. I hated that. He looked like he owned the room, and maybe he did—temporarily—but he didn’t have to look like it.

“You could’ve at least told me we worked at the same company.”

“I didn’t want to make you uncomfortable. Starting a new job canbe nerve-racking enough.”

“Bullshit. I’m not buying it.” He raised an eyebrow, and his lips followed suit. His amusement wasn’t so subtle anymore. Screw him and his smug smile. “Then you somehow take over the department here and all of a sudden there’re all these fake policies—”

“Fake? I’d be happy to forward you the company manual if you need to review.”

“All right, maybe not fake but not regularly enforced. Until I showed up. Rather, untilyoushowed up.”

“So, let me get this straight. You consider it harassment because I’m enforcing standard company-wide policies that Krismer never enforced?”

“Well….”

When he put it that way, I was unsure. Then even more pissed off because this whole thing was so idiotic. He technically wasn’t doing anything wrong. Actually the opposite. Following policy was right; it just felt wrong. But no one else seemed to be affected. Why did it feel like I was the target here?

“Look, I know I’m just a little peon and you’re the big bad boss, but I deserve to have my say here.”

“Does it look like I’m stopping you?”

“Well, you did interrupt me before.”

“And you interrupted me, but I’m giving you the full floor now. Feel free to share more of your insights.”

More sexy smirks. Argh. Flustered. Damn cocky bastard. The fact that he just had to be attractive irked me into a whole new stratosphere.Who the fuck does he think he is?

“All I know is that I loved working here before and now… now you’re fucking it all up.”

His expression was unreadable. He wasn’t the one fucking it up—I was. I was the one swearing at my boss and screaming harassment when I was told to follow rules. I still felt pissed as hell, but onceagain, it had redirected more towards me.

We remained in silence just staring at each other when I spoke up again. “That’s all. I should get back now.”

He nodded and I turned for the door. I was halfway out when he finally opened his mouth.

“Perry, that reason I called you in here? I just wanted to congratulate you on another job well done. I got a report from TeleServ in the UK who stated, and I quote, ‘Our time-sensitive matter was handled with the utmost efficiency and directed swiftly to the correct chain of command. If not for Perry Sommers’s proper follow of procedures, we would have suffered an even greater financial loss. As it stands, the fallout was minimal.’ End quote. Great job, Perry.”

I took a deep breath. “Thank you.” I couldn’t even look at him, so I just continued walking out and went back to work.

“Holy shit,” Kate whispered when I neared my station. “What was that about?”

My stomach twisted. “Could you hear anything?”

“No, but it was obvious that you were upset by the way your hands were flying all over the place. Lover’s quarrel?”

“You’re hilarious.”

“So, what happened, then?”

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