Page 16 of A Man of Power

I step up so that I’m glaring down at her.

“You are such an asshole. I should have listened to Erin and never taken this job,” she says. Her eyes glaze over but I can tell these are angry tears.

“I might be an asshole, but I would step in between a prick like Leonard and a female staffer any day. And”—I pause as I step a fraction of an inch closer so that we are mere centimeters apart—“I most certainly would not ever let him touchyou.”

She goes from angry to confused with my last statement. “Why?”

Ignoring her question, I look around us. A few people have slowed their walking and are watching us. I grab her hand. “We are going back to the office,” I declare as I practically drag her to the car. This time my hand comes up to the back of her neck as I guide her into a seat. I war between a need to protect her and a need to control her. She doesn’t fight me, which surprises me. Once seated, the driver takes off down the street toward my office. Neither one of us speaks.

I watch her leg bounce and the warring in my head calms as I place a hand on her leg, gently pressing it to stop the movement. Her head whips in my direction.

“I’m not alright with men treating you like that,” I say, even though my rational brain tells me I’m not acting so differently from Leonard, but my reasoning is different. At least that’s what I’m telling myself.

She looks down at my hand and I slowly pull it away. “Sebastian,” she starts, and the way she breathily says my name has blood pumping to my dick in ways it should not be, “I can handle myself. I need you to know that. You know what’s worse than some power-hungry, asswipe acting like that toward me?”

I shake my head.

“You intervening.”

I grit my teeth before starting to say that I will always intervene because it’s wrong. But she holds up a hand.

I see her chest rise on a breath before she speaks. “I know you meant well with your actions. But do not do it again.”

The car comes to a stop, and before I can say a word, she’s out of the car. I can tell by the way she’s walking that she’s still pissed as hell. As I climb out, my phone buzzes with an incoming call, Conner. He’s probably wondering about the White House meeting since his firm is lobbying hard for this change. I glance once more at Alexis as she disappears inside the building. She and I need to talk, but that will have to wait till later.

Chapter8

Alexis

I dropmy bag next to my desk and Maria looks over at me.

“Wow, was the meeting that bad?” she asks as her eyebrows rise in surprise.

I sigh. “No, it was good, actually. I just…” I stop and look around but no one else is near us.

“Leonard was…touchy-feely.”

Her eyes narrow. “He’s such a creep. Seriously, he tried that shit with me once at happy hour and I almost throat punched him.”

I glance to the door, but I don’t hear Sebastian yet. “Sebastian might have dragged me out of the office to stop him from interacting with me.”

I groan and lean back in my chair.

“Sebastian did that? Damn, I mean, he’s spoken up once or twice for me and Tory, but he hasn’t dragged us away from someone.”

“So, he is protective of his staff?” I ask because that doesn’t jive with the playboy asshole façade that everyone talks about. Today he was like a caged lion, ready to strike. I feel my earlier notion to up and quit starting to fade as Maria speaks.

Maria rolls her chair closer to mine. “Listen, he exudes power. Hell, he was born with it running through his veins, but somewhere under that hard outer shell, I think he might actually be a softy. Now, don’t go telling anyone about my suspicions, I just saw him once with a sick little girl that was visiting here and…well, let’s just say my ovaries nearly exploded. Also, look at you.”

I frown and look down at what I think is a very classic-looking skirt suit.

“No, you look fine. I just mean you’re gorgeous. You’re his staffer. It sounds stupid, but these power-hungry men are really just like dogs marking their territory if you know what I mean. If anyone is going to get a piece of you, it’s him. And he wants everyone to know that. It’s stupid. I’ve seen it a million times with other men around here.”

I hear movement and Maria grabs my arm. “Come on, let's grab a coffee. We should chat.”

I’m still stewing over his behavior and contemplating whether I should keep working here as I follow her out of the office and down the street to a small café where she orders us two lattes. She finds an empty bench and we sit.

“You’re drawn to him, aren’t you?” she blurts out and my eyes go wide. Fuck, am I that obvious?

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