Page 43 of Jealous Boss

“Are you sure? You seem a little distracted today.” There’s a faint question lingering in her statement, but I pluck out a smile and shake my head.

“I’m fine. Who do you need me to deliver them to?”

She gives me the name and I hurry away, clutching the documents tight like they can shield me from the way Maggie sees more than I want her to.

I’m fine. That’s what I said. That’s what I’ll keep saying until it’s true.

But as I step into the elevator and the doors close behind me, I feel the lie hum against my skin.

Because I’m not fine.

I’m buzzing.

I can’t stop replaying the sound of Ethan’s voice or the smacks of his hand as they landed on my bare ass. I keep thinking about that line of his jaw, the way his control frays at the edges when I got just a little too bold last night.

What will happen when it breaks completely?

I exhale noisily through my nose, press the folder tighter against my chest and my ass against the elevator wall until the pain zings through me again, sending dampness to my panties.

It started as a sudden and surprising crush. Something electrifying, silly, and impossible.

But what I want from Ethan now… it’s not a crush.

And it’s definitely not silly.

It’sconsuming. He’s shown me it’s possible.

And maybe—I think, as the elevator glides past the third floor—it’ll hurt.

Maybe I’ll fall too far.

Maybe he won’t catch me the way I imagine he could, with all that sharp, searing intensity.

But even as fear flutters in my belly, right alongside the butterflies, I know one thing with absolute certainty.

I’m still going to jump.

12

Ethan

“Iknow what I want to do.”

“Ethan?”

“Hmm?”

“I want to make another deal.”

Five minutes. That’s all I lasted after spending all morning and most of the afternoon with clients, ostensibly catching up for the meetings I canceled last week but really because I was avoiding Pia.

Five minutes before I summoned her into my office.

Five damn minutes before I ignored Maggie’s cool and questioning glares, ordered my intern into my presence, and shrouded my windows for privacy.

And even as I pray for mercy and forgiveness for every single sin I’ve ever committed—because that determined look in her eyes scares the crap out of me—I don’t send her away.

I’ve replayed that spank scene on my sofa and especially what came after.

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