“You have no business on the executive floor,” I say. “You’re lucky I haven’t called security to haul your fine ass out of here.”
“Please leave my ass out of this conversation,” she says.
“I said yourfineass.”
“Too bad you’ll never know.”
Feisty.
The long list of things I’d do to her ass is one hundred percent X-rated, but this is neither the time nor the place.
“Ask nicely,” I say.
She blinks. “What?”
“You’re in my domain, Miss Knight. You want answers, ask nicely.”
She shoots afuck youglare at me. “You’re spreading lies about me. About us.” Her finger moves between us. “Make it stop.”
The muscles in my jaw flex.
This tiny woman has a fierce fighting spirit, the likes of which I’ve rarely seen in the women I date. She isn’t accommodating. Nor is she a pushover. She stands on her own two feet. She’s a real study in contrast. Miss Knight is nothing like what I expected.
“I’m not the one behind this grotesque PR grab,” I say. “You are.” I point an accusatory finger at her.
She points one back. “You’re the manipulative asshole who’s using me for God knows what reason. What did my stepmother promise you in exchange for being willing to destroy my life like this?”
Her nostrils flare, her eyes shoot daggers at me, and her chest heaves.
Stop staring at her breasts.
“Did she trick you into believing you were getting a virgin bride?”
“What the hell kind of statement is that?” This is so preposterous, I doubt I heard her correctly.
“Rich men seeking young, dumb virgins so they can shape them to their will—and manhood—and be the first to plant their seed into their womb,” she says.
“You think I bought your virginity via your stepmom?” It’s a struggle to keep my voice calm and professional.
Michaela nods. “She keeps reminding me I have a precious commodity worth preserving for a dirty old man with pockets lined with money.” She rolls her eyes. “That, and most likely a tiny, limp, shriveled dick.”
The crude word coming from her mouth is an insult to my ears.
“She insists it’s all part of a new woman’s empowering movement. And, apparently, it’s a lucrative market. I guess you must be her newest prospect.”
For the love of fuck. What does she take me for?
“Well, I’m not a virgin,” she says.
Good to know.
“I don’t bother correcting my stepmom because it’s none of her business.” She shrugs. “The joke’s on you, dirty old man.”
“Tread carefully, kitty cat,” I say.
“Kitty cat?”
“You barge in here, ready to claw my eyes out like a kitten perched on a tree I’m trying to rescue?—”
