Page 82 of The Billionaire's Wake-up-call Girl

I adjust my vision of the scene to him sitting in his lab coat. He’s all hot and scowly in his lab coat. And then I toss the champagne in his face.

Or maybe I drink the champagne and toss the water.

Hell yes!!

It’s just about the chase with him. He thinks he can fire me? He thinks I’m such a beggar for him that I’ll wear this dress and eat with him and fuck him now?

I break off a corner of the cookie and taste it. Just the perfect amount of vanilla in the dough. Only the best for Mr. Drummond.

I grab the dress. It really is like the one in the movie…except better. I hold it up to myself. I could just try it on…

Ten minutes later, Mia gets back. Her eyes grow wide as saucers. “Lizzie…Oh my god.”

I smooth my hands down the bodice. I’m thinking about saying something funny about looking good for when the loan sharks carve my arm, but I don’t have it in me.

Mia just looks upset. “Lizzie. No. Whatever you’re thinking. You don’t have to resort to that.”

“What?”

She just widens her eyes.

I snort when I get what she’s thinking. “Dude. No.”

“What? I come home and you’re all dressed up…”

“You think I’d wear this to prostitute myself? I don’t know if I should be insulted that you think I’d actually do it, or that you think I’m insane enough to pickthisout for the occasion. It’s not like I’m whoring myself to the ladies of the Audrey Hepburn Appreciation Society.”

“I don’t even understand anything of what’s happening here. Why would you buy a beautiful gown?”

“This dress is more dimensions of assholery from Theo freaking Drummond.” I hand her the note.

She reads it. “He has some nerve.”

“Like I’ll go to dinner.”

“Go. And demand the sign-on bonus,” she says.

“On what grounds? The contract says I have to last thirty days. I didn’t last the thirty days.”

“He sent you this dress. Maybe you should go.”

“That’s what he wants, don’t you see? This is not a dress. It’s a power play. He thinks I’ll go. And even if I go with elaborate fantasies of telling him off, he thinks he can get me to sit down to dinner. He thinks he can get me to kiss him. To sleep with him. Get me to the next step. He probably had me fired so he can make it all happen without fear of a lawsuit. This guy plays to win.”

“That is cold.”

“And arrogant. And ruthlessly efficient, which we knew about him. This is the man who doesn’t even want his employees to be comforted by treats or decorations lest it detract from their efficiency. I mean, really? Now I’m going to sleep with you? You think you’re so hot and amazing with your lab coat and your bad-boy lips that I’ll just sleep with you after you fire me?”

“The hell with that!” She crosses her arms and frowns in solidarity with me. “He has bad-boy lips?”

“Shut it,” I snort.

Mia stares at the dress.

“I should do something drastic to the dress,” I say, “like cut it up and send it back to him, but he’s not worth the energy.”

“Wait. Come here.”

I glide over. “At least I look good. If you’re going to be beaten by loan sharks, you should at least look awesome. That’s my new motto. What do you think?”

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