Page 39 of Bossy Trouble

And I hated it.

I didn’t want to feel any sense of camaraderie or friendship with the man. I didn’t want him to treat me well because it made me start to remember things, like the time at camp when he took care of me or when he jumped in and rescued me after I fell into the pool. It made me remember my teenage dreams when I imagined he cared about me. And I knew that when he ultimately showed his fangs once more, I would be hurt again.

I didn’t want Donovan Dresden to be good to me. I wanted him to keep showing me the bastard he truly was. I wanted him to make his barbed jokes and frustrate me until I wanted to kill him. Maybe I also wanted him to push my boundaries a little, to make me rethink the decision I made last night.

And if that didn’t make me as damn contrarian as the man himself, I didn’t know what did.

I tried to tell myself that I wasn’t disappointed he didn’t do any of that.

It’s all for the best,I cautioned myself.He has a girlfriend, and you’re not going to play the part of the other woman. You have way too much dignity for that.

But at the same time, a deep-seated needy voice inside me still craved that fire. It wanted him to push.

I wanted his hands on me again, his lips on mine, and his fingers. More than anything, I wanted his fingers inside me once more, thrusting inside me, strumming my clit like a guitar, and making me sing.

Jesus, I was losing my mind. That was the only explanation for my contradicting emotions.

I shook away the lustful thoughts and focused on the stack in front of me.

I needed to get to work. Yes, that was it. I needed to focus on getting my company back and forget all about the way Donovan Dresden made me feel.

* * *

By the endof the week, I’d had enough of it.

The whole week had been the same. I came into work at 7:30 a.m., and Donovan would let me leave early. He even once suggested that I go in the afternoon so I could get lunch with Avery, and I turned him down, of course. No other employees had that type of freedom, and I didn’t want to seem like I was getting extra favors.

But it didn’t stop there.

Donovan started taking me to meetings with him, not just for Moniche but also for some of his other businesses as well. As his assistant, that wasn’t unusual. What was unusual was the amount of information he would give me during those meetings. He told me who was who, told me how to negotiate, and explained business terms I didn’t know. It was almost like he was trying to teach me something. Like he actually intended on fulfilling his end of the bargain.

Of course, I knew that wasn’t true, and I certainly wasn’t going to make the mistake of trusting him again. So it only pissed me off that he was acting so well that he was weakening my resolve, the one I’d made to despise him.

And for some reason, it was working.

So, by the end of the second week of working with Donovan, I finally snapped.

“What’s wrong with you?” I asked as we sat in his office. We’d just returned from a long meeting with a potential investor, and we were regrouping.

Donovan didn’t miss a beat. “In what context?”

“You’re being unusually nice to me. I want to know why.”

“I’m a nice man.”

“No, you’re not. A nice man wouldn’t have stolen my company.”

“I already told you—”

“Yeah, I know what you said. I don’t care about that. I want to know why you're being nice to me now.” And then I did something stupid. I got up and went around to where he sat behind his desk, placing my hand on top of it and leaning down until we were eye to eye. “What are you up to, Donovan Dresden?”

I saw heat flash in his eyes, along with that challenge typical of him. My blood thrummed in response.

"You’re the one playing a dangerous game here.” His voice was a quiet, menacing breath of air.

“I’m just asking a question.” My voice had taken on a breathless quality too, and that, more than anything, told me I needed to step back. This wasn’t a game anymore. The alarm grew when I didn’t, but I couldn’t step back. Not when that look entered his eyes.

Stop this right now,my caution advised. But I didn’t listen because apparently, I wasn’t very bright.

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