His eyebrowsscrunched together over his eyes. “Are you okay?”
“Fine,” I told himwith a smile that lied. “Perfectly fine. I just wasn’t expecting…” I met hisdark gaze again, braving the concentrated gaze I knew would be waiting for me.“You.”
He let out a slowbreath, seeming to gather his thoughts. “I told you on Friday that I wanted towork with you.”
“I didn’t realizeyou would go above my head to do it,” I snapped, dropping the happy façade Ididn’t feel.
“You’re angry,” heconcluded.
“I’m pissed,” Icountered.
He looked away andI swore it was to hide a smile, further feeding the furious dragon-woman livinginside me. “Aren’t they the same thing?”
Aren’t they the same thing?Somebodyhold my earrings!
“Is this reallywhat you want, Ezra? You could hire anybody. Anybody! But you really want me?”
His entire bodyswiveled to face me again, tension pulling him taut, straightening hisshoulders and widening his stance. His face was all cut marble, stone, granite,somethingthat symbolized immovablestrength and conviction. He was too intimidating, too beautiful. Toohim.
“No one tells methe truth anymore, Molly. Not even the people I pay to do that. The currentwebsite is dated and dysfunctional and yet I paid my last web designer excessiveamounts of money and all he did wasgiveme exactlywhat I wanted.” I decided not to argue with him about why his last web designerwas doing what he was paid to do. He went on, “I want someone who is going toignore my personal taste and instead make something that has market appeal. Iwant someone who is going to stand up to me and fight me when I’m wrong. Ibelieve that person is you. It’s true, I don’t like your taste. You’re toomodern. Your designs are too simplistic and I hate your color schemes. And thatis why I need you on my team.”
I glared at himeven while I tried to convince my mind to stop plotting his murder. He wantedto hire me because he hated everything about my style?
“Despite what youthink, Ezra Baptiste, I don’t get paid to fight with my clients. Nor do I wantto spend my valuable time standing up to a pigheaded, outdated, stubborn oldman. So here is how this is going to go, since I’m clearly trapped in thisproject that you’re forcing me into. You’re going to listen to my advice andyou’re going to take it. You’re going to approve my designs and social mediastrategy and then you’re going to hire more people to implement every singlething I tell you to do. And lastly, but this is probably my most importantpoint, you’re going to go somewhere else for your on-screen advertising becauseso help me God if I do all of this work for you and then you mess it up by lettingSTS do your commercials...”
His head cockedback in surprise. He blinked once, twice, then his mouth broke open in avictorious smile. “This is exactly why I hired you.”
I resisted, barely,the urge to roll my eyes. “I’m confident you’re getting more than what youasked for.”
His eyes darkenedwith promise, his smile turning sly and secretive. “That’s what I’m countingon.”
A shiver skittereddown my spine, pulling goose bumps from my arms. It was the exact oppositereaction of how jittery I felt toward Henry. Fine, I was still jumpy and frustratinglynervous, but I was also too hot and too dizzy and something else entirely.
Ezra Baptiste hadsome kind of magic juju that lured confident, professional women in and turnedthem into melting piles of goo. This was why nobody could be honest with theman. This was why everybody told him what they thought he wanted to hear.Because frankly, they lose their damn minds around him.
I refused to bethat girl. I refused to be hypnotized by his good looks and entranced by hissecret charm. I refused to find his dark eyes mesmerizing and his smileadorably boyish. I refused to like this man that was heavy-handed and bossy andso ridiculously confident.
Do you hear that, libido? This is a sexy man boycott!
And I wasdefinitely going to have to reopen my eHarmony account. Tonight.
Maybe over my lunchbreak.
I needed a dateSTAT.
“I have aworksheet,” I blurted, hating how I was starting to soften and lose my hardedge. “It will help me better understand everything you need.” He glanced athis watch and I took the opportunity to step back far enough that I couldn’tsmell him anymore. “I just need to grab my tablet.”
His expressionflattened with his familiar frown. “I hate to do this to you, but I am late foranother meeting. Can you email it to me?”
I nodded to covermy inability to form coherent sentences. “Y-yes. That’s fine. Is it just forLilou? I can tweak it to your specifications if I knowwhich website I’m working with.”
“All of them,” hesaid casually, like it wasn’t about to cost him thousands and thousands ofdollars. “The four restaurants and the EFB master website. Do you need links?My assistant can email them later today.”
“I’ll find them,” Iassured him. “That’s part of my process. I need to evaluate how easy it is to searchyour sites and use them.”
“Well, you’realready familiar withLilou.” His words had a playfulbite to them and his eyes danced with that same surprising mischief. “You’llwant to find your way to the social sites as well?”
I nodded. “Yes.”
