Tasha, a pretty blonde from our digital marketing team, goes over to Blake and offers him a drink. He smiles and takes it from her, and a feeling gushes through me—a feeling I’m unfamiliar with. A feeling I haven’t felt in years.
Jealousy.
I’m actually jealous that Tasha is talking to Blake, an intern I’ve never even met.
That foreign emotion grows as I watch her flirt with him, batting her eyelids and laughing at everything he says.
Please, he can’t be that funny.
But when she reaches out and touches his arm, that’s when I lose it.
“Bring him in here,” I bark, causing Francesca to jump.
“Now? You want me to bring him in here now?”
“Yes, Francesca, now. I’ve never met him before, and I like to know who’s working for me.”
Francesca has been my assistant now for two years and knows better than to question me, but she does give me an odd glance before stepping out of the office.
I watch her thread through the party over to him. She places a delicate hand on his shoulder. He turns, and I almost have a heart attack.
His eyes…
They move down, clearly checking out Francesca’s cleavage. She’s wearing a blouse today with a neckline that’s lower than normal.
It didn’t bother me until now…
She whispers something in his ear, and he looks up. For a brief second, our eyes meet, and it’s like my soul leaves my body.
Heat floods through me. My thighs tickle, and a fuzzy feeling blows through my head. I have to blink several times to ground myself as he follows Francesca back through the party and to the door of my office.
She knocks out of formality, then introduces him.
“Kathryn, this is Blake Koch, our new intern.”
“Thank you, Francesca, you can leave.” It’s curt, but I want to be alone with him.
Ineedto.
In fact, if I could draw the privacy curtains without causing the whole office to start gossiping, I would.
He’s only a few feet away from me now. I can see that his clothes look professional but are second-hand. His tie is tied sloppily, and his watch is a knockoff.
This man does not come from money, but he got himself hired at my company, so he must be smart. Driven.
I open my mouth to speak, but before I can, he does.
“Hey, boss.” He smirks, and heat pours into my belly. Feelings I’ve never experienced before crush down on me. “Merry Christmas.”
“Oh, um, thank you.” God, I’m stammering like an idiot. I’m CEO of this company. He should be the one afraid of me, not the other way around.
I look down at my desk, anxiously tracing my lower lip with my tongue as I take a deep breath.
My heart pounds against my ribs like a drum. It doesn’t get this high even during my morning run.
Bringing him in here was a bad idea. I’m about to fall apart.
“Something wrong with your lip?”
