Page 16 of Tempt My Heart

There won't be other Christophers,a sly voice inside her countered and she shook her head, deciding to ignore it.

LeavingHorizonswould be a clean break for both her head and her heart.

ChapterNine

She never normally felt nervous standing in her boss' office. It was a more recent development, thanks to her ex and the secrets she’d been keeping.

Christopher sat behind his desk, watching her, and the weight of his brown eyes on her skin only heightened the nerves pulsing through her body as he gestured for her to sit in the seat opposite him.

"I'm sorry I’ve been so busy the past couple of days. What’s on your mind? Is this about what happened with your boyfriend the other day?" There was something assessing in his gaze as he spoke, like he was testing her somehow and she raised her eyebrows in response.

"Ex. And not really, no." She paused, wrinkling her nose. "How did you know Jared was my boyfriend?"

He leaned back into his chair, his suit jacket falling open as he watched her. "I notice a lot of things about you, Ali."

She swallowed, suddenly feeling like her tongue was too big for her mouth. "Oh. Right. Well, I actually wanted to tell you I'm resigning and to give you these." She held out the papers she'd printed with details of potential replacements and he didn't even glance down at them, instead keeping his gaze focused solely on her.

"I'm confused. Where is this coming from?"

"I just need a change," she said dismissively, despite the heartbeat thundering in her chest. She'd never been a good liar, but she didn't want to involve him in this mess any more than he was already. "I've loved working for you, though."

“Are you unhappy here?"

“Well, no—"

“Do you need a raise?”

“My pay is fine—”

"Then why don't you tell me what's really going on here, Alison?"

Christopher stood and walked around his desk, leaning back against it as she gulped.

"I don’t know what you want me to say."

"The truth. You're a horrible liar and we both know it. Your face is almost as red as Cassie's blouse right now," he said, nodding out of the window as Cassie strolled by clad in maroon. "If this is about yesterday, with Jacob—"

"Jared," she corrected and his eyes flashed.

"Right. You don't need to worry about him, I'll have him kept off of the premises."

She sighed. "We're friends, right? I've known you for two years, I introduced you toArthur'sburgers and, unfortunately for us both, I’ve seen you puke up a lot of sake." Christopher nodded, grimacing slightly at the mention of the Japanese wine, so she continued, "Then trust me when I say this is for the best. I made some suggestions for replacements—"

"I don't want a replacement," he said, folding his arms across his chest like she was the one being unreasonable. "I just wantyou."

Fuck. Ali could feel the heat rising in her cheeks once more, even though he hadn't meant itthatway. She hadn't wanted to get into this, but if it was the only way he would see sense…

"He wants me to seduce you," she blurted and wanted to crawl under a rock when Christopher sat up straight, lips twitching.

"Oh? Then you should know my favorite color is green and I like it when my women are bossy in the bedroom."

She crossed and uncrossed her legs, trying to shake the image of Christopher in bed out of her mind. "I didn't agree to it, obviously. You're my boss."

He raised a dark eyebrow. "Continue."

One of her fingers tugged idly at her hair and stilled only when he reached out with one hand to gently untangle the red lock. "He's a journalist. He wanted me to be your plus-one to David's wedding and leak the details so he gets the scoop, seeing as it's a press blackout."

"Interesting," he said slowly and she bit her lip. "Seems like extraordinary lengths just for a wedding. I take it you turned him down?"

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