Page 23 of Dirty Boss

He shrugged, nonplussed. “You’re the only person who had the balls to tell me why I wasn’t getting any joy with investors.”

I tilted my head to concede the point, then gestured for him to approach. My fingers shook slightly as I fastened the last button on his shirt—a beautiful, thick shirt with a button that slid through its hole with ease—and tried to ignore the thumping of my heart. I could feel the warmth of him this close, and the press of his gaze above me was a physical weight. My knuckles brushed against his freshly shorn stubble, the rasp sending little bolts of sensation through my fingers.

He smelled divine. The scent twigged in my memory, but I couldn’t place it. His cologne was rich and woodsy, utterly male. I inhaled, and immediately felt weak in the knees. It was the first time I’d been this close to a man since James. The sounds of people eating and talking and laughing faded to nothing in the crowded dining room behind me. All I could hear was the rushing of the blood in my ears.

He was tall and broad and male. He was beautiful—and he was staring at me. It wasn’t the first time an attractive man had looked at me, but itwasthe first time since my ousting from society. Sure, patrons at the restaurant sometimes harassed me, but that was a power play more than anything. No one had looked at me and seen me the way it felt like Vaughn was seeing me now.

Like I was worth something. Like he wanted to know more.

I wrapped the tie around his neck and focused on the movement of my fingers against the silk fabric, going for a full Windsor knot. My mother had taught me how to tie a tie. She used to do it for my father before one of their many social events. It felt strange to be doing this for a man. It was intimate—and it wasn’t.

This wasn’t my husband, standing before me while we got ready to go to some ball or another. It wasn’t a man who would bend down and press a soft kiss on my lips once I was done, his eyes promising more later. This was a man I’d verbally sparred with a handful of times at work. He enjoyed having a consistent routine, eating chicken, and annoying me. It wasn’t some grand romance for the ages.

Soon, when he fully embodied his new look, he’d realize he could have whatever he wanted. He’d buy a dozen more suits and he’d find someone else to tie his ties.

And I’d be here, serving him chicken for lunch.

Unless I crawled on my hands and knees back into the family fold.

Vaughn watched me, and when I tightened the knot and smoothed his tie, he adjusted his cuffs and spread his palms again. “How do I look?”

He looked incredible. Unbearably handsome. Devastating.

I squinted. “It’s better,” I admitted. “The hair is nice.”

The grin he flashed me made my stomach clench. “Wish me luck.”

“You don’t need luck,” I told him, and couldn’t resist the urge to lean over and pluck a piece of lint off his shoulder. Vaughn stood very still as I brushed it off and straightened his lapel. I looked up at him and stepped back. “All you need is to act like you belong.”

“That’s it, huh.”

I shrugged, smiling sadly. “You look the part now. Assuming your company is worth investing in, then all you have to do is act like that investment is coming, one way or another. Someone will bite.”

“Would you?” His lips curled, eyes flashing with dark amusement.

My heart rattled, heat rushing up my neck and over my cheeks. “Only if you were very, very lucky,” I shot back before I could stop myself.

His smile widened, and then he winked and gave me a little two-fingered salute before turning for the door.

When I faced the dining room again, Elena was frowning at me from the kitchen door. I lifted a hand to wave at her, then scurried to my tables to check on the patrons. My steps were unsteady, and my heart still thumped.

I didn’t know what to think. I didn’t know what it meant, that he’d come here. That he’d taken my advice. That he’d wanted me to tie his tie and see him looking like that.

I didn’t know what to think about the fact that I’d liked it. A lot.

All I knew was that it was bad. It made me look up from the drudgery of my life and think about maybe, someday, somehow…wanting more. It made me remember what it felt like to be wanted.

I’d been tossed aside like garbage. Shunned. Treated like I was worthless. I’d been in a daze my entire life, conditioned to think I was chattel that could be married off to the most suitable man. Then it fell apart, and I realized how alone and vulnerable I really was. The past fourteen months had been cold, hard, and hungry.

Vaughn made me feel warm and buzzing and pathetic because I wanted this all the time. I wanted him to look at me and smile at me and touch me and kiss me and fuck me until I felt alive again.

I felt raw and exposed for wanting those things.

I could never, ever let him know.

TEN

VAUGHN