Page 39 of Tarnished Tyrant (Zhukova Bratva 1)

“It’s inappropriate,” she says. “And I shouldn’t bad mouth my boss. He’s—”

“A pervert.”

She blushes. “Yeah. That. A sex freak.”

“Then again,” I say, “we don’t have much room to talk, you and I, do we?”

Her long lashes brush against her cheeks and her full lips pull into a nervous smile. The reminder of our airplane rendezvous doesn’t do my dick any favors. I’m already at half-mast.

“The difference is webothwanted what happened on that airplane,” I say. “You asked for it. Did you ask for Roger to talk dirty to you during work hours?”

“Technically, it’s after five.”

I shake my head. “You should tell him to choke on his own cock.”

“Ew.”

“Exactly,” I say. “You should make him as uncomfortable as he makes you.”

“That’s not possible. Because he has the power to make me homeless and unemployable,” she says in a rush. “So I can’t say whatever I want to him. He’ll fire me.”

“You should face your problems head-on.”

She spins around to fully face me. “Like this?”

“Close. But you should pick a battle you can win.”

Belle rolls her eyes. “I forgot. I shouldn’t pick a fight with a god.”

“And thankfully, your boss isn’t anything of the sort. I should know.”

Belle’s eyes flash with panic. “You know Roger?”

Hearing another man’s name on her lips has my hackles rising. Especially because she looks guilty. Like she’s been caught with her hand in the cookie jar.

“No, but I’ve seen him.”

She inhales sharply. “Where?”

“For a man who wants to get into bed with his employees, he doesn’t care much about personal grooming. He should look into professional headshots for the website. Or at least a picture where he isn’t actively sweating.”

“He doesn’t want to get into bed with his employees,” she says bitterly.

“He just wants to see them topless on the beach? You’re right, much better.”

She spins around to face me again. “I’d rather my boss want to sleep with me than kidnap my sister.”

“Maybe that’s why you roll over and take his bullshit,” I suggest icily. “Because deep down, you like it.”

Her face flushes an angry red, and I think I’ve cracked through her veneer. Tapped into the fiery woman beneath.

But then she takes a deep breath and turns back to the table, grabbing for the notebook she was drawing in before. “I need to get back to work.”

I look over her shoulder at the sketchy drawing in front of her. I can’t see much of it, but I know it isn’t work-related.

“Am I paying you to doodle now?” She tries to cover the page with her hand, but I reach around her and snatch the notebook away.

“Hey! That’s mine!”

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