Page 15 of The Boss Problem

Unless she voluntarily left early. Assistants had done that. Women had done that.

If I could temporarily make her life miserable, she would quit. By then, I’d have found her another job on another floor in this building. One that involved no interaction with me.

I turned to Edith. My hand went down to my side. “Edith, I think you’ve just convinced me. Let’s hire her as my admin assistant.”

Edith narrowed her eyes. “Are you sure?”

I waved her concerns aside. “It’ll all work out. I really ought to listen to you more, Edith,” I said, waggling a finger at her as I stood up.

7

SEAN

Istepped out of Edith’s office and began walking down the hallway, back to the tiny conference room where Chloe was waiting. In the distance, I could see the receptionist for this floor stiffening at my presence as he nervously adjusted the contents of his desk.

Most employees usually froze at my sight or said ridiculous, bumbling words. I preferred the former, finding my solace in silence.

After Mom had left when I was eight, extended silences at home had become what I was used to, growing up. It was also probably the reason why Lucas and I didn’t get along. I simply didn’t talk much. And I didn’t know how to be around people who talked a lot. Like Lucas with his impossiblewhyquestions whenever I saw him with his nanny, Anne.

I finally entered the room and saw Chloe. Her pale skin flushed when I walked over, and she stood up when I came to a stop in front of her.

Ignoring the vanilla-tinged smell she carried about her, I opened my mouth. “Edith and I spoke, and it turns out thatthere’s one job we can offer you,” I told her gruffly, not feeling too pleased.

Her gaze was fixed on my face, and I could see the emotions flickering in those eyes. Hope, yearning, and perhaps a hint of desperation too.

“You’ll be working as my assistant. A temporary one, mind you, while my current assistant is away for the next six months.”

“An assistant?” Chloe asked.

Her cheeks were red, but she continued to meet my gaze steadily. We were standing a foot away from each other, her chest rising and falling as she breathed rapidly, as though she had run a marathon in the past hour. I couldn’t blame her. One did not get fired and rehired in the span of a few hours.

“Yes. It involves getting me a lot of coffee,” I said dryly, deciding to scare her off the job right away.

“Well, I’ve been an admin assistant for the past eight years, so that would be no problem. Besides, I love coffee. I was at a café on my supposed wedding day too, if you recall.”

She bit her lip as soon as the words were out of her mouth and pressed her lips together. “Sorry,” she said immediately, looking mortified. “I won’t bring that up again.”

“That would be the right thing to do,” I said, clamping my jaw shut.

The image of her in a wedding dress at the café was not one I wanted crossing my mind right now. She had looked beautiful. Heck, she still looked pretty right now.

We stared at each other in silence, my mind playing out many impossible scenarios now that she was so close. None of which I’d entertain, of course. Even the one with her and me at the rooftop pool, where she was in a bikini that dipped low between her breasts, sitting by the water’s edge. I’d pull her to me, her soft body flush against mine, while I took her lips in mine?—

No, no, no.I coughed and turned away, fixing my mouth into a thin line. Which begged the question,What the fuck am I doing, commencing a working relationship with such a woman?

I felt Chloe’s eyes on me and turned reluctantly.

“So, if I accept, you’ll be my new boss?” Chloe asked, picking up her box and following me out as I tried to put some distance between us.

I turned around to face her. “Yes. That’s the only position we have available, unfortunately.” I paused, squaring my shoulders. I could make this easy. “No one’s forcing you to take it. It’s a job that requires far less experience than you?—”

“I’ll take it,” she said breathlessly, finishing her sentence even before I finished mine.

Darn. The enthusiasm with which she spoke lit up those pretty azure eyes, and they were sparkling now. Didn’t she know my reputation for being tough?

“Is something wrong?” she asked, her eyes reflecting some concern.

Yes, there’s a hell of a lot wrong, I thought, feeling irritated.I’m attracted to you when I shouldn’t be, but my body isn’t getting the memo. I’ve built you up in my fantasies as a mesmerizing woman, and I’m afraid that working with you will ruin it. I wanted to have you fired, but I only got closer to you instead. These are some of the things that are wrong, and there’s not a damn thing I can do about it.

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