Now I’m being hit with one vision after another of our little encounter together.
It doesn’t matter that she’s wearing pants and a high-neck blouse that covers most of her silky-smooth skin and subtly accentuates her lithe curves. They’re all imprinted into my brain. So deep that if I were a sculptor, I could sculpt her with my eyes closed.
The present version of her is the opposite of the sad and brokenhearted woman from two months ago. There’s steel in her spine and boldness shining on her pretty face that didn’t exist before. It’s making her irresistible.
No matter her credentials, this woman will be nothing but a distraction.
We’ll be butting heads at every turn, judging by the daggers she’s shooting at me with her chocolaty brown eyes.
My rebuttal lights a fire under her ass, and she hisses, “What you are is a deceiving piece of shit.”
So cute. If only she knew I’ve been called worse.
“Is this how you treat your clients?” I taunt, not giving her the reaction she was hoping for. “Or am I just special?”
“You know what?” She raises her hand. “You should take your business elsewhere.”
Her short curls sway as she whirls around, taking a step toward the door.
“No.” My commanding voice stops her dead in her tracks.
Facing me again, she demands suspiciously, “What do you mean no?”
“Don’t be dense.” She glares. I bite back a smirk. “Step out of this room and I will happily tell your boss just how special a vocabulary you reserve for your clients.”
Her annoyance turns into dread. “You’d stoop that low after everything?”
“I’m not the one calling someone insulting names.” Tilting my head, I curiously ask, “And after what? Would you care to enlighten me?”
“If you don’t already know, then I’d be wasting my breath.”
“Suit yourself.” Flicking my chin at the chair across from me, I tell her, “If you’re done throwing a tantrum, I’d rather get back to business.”
“What if I don’t want to work with you?”
As much as I’d love to reject her, the fact of the matter is that I need a publicist ofmychoosing rather than the one my father and the board members are forcing on my head. I would never trust anyone they hired since he or she would be in their pockets.
I have enough two-faced and backstabbing people in my company to add another to the list.
Hiring Arya would be all for show, which she doesn’t need to know. I have my own plan to get out of the scandal. Since she already loathes my guts, she’s unlikely to do a splendid job. Even if she tries, I plan to throw every obstacle in her way until I no longer need her.
“You should’ve thought of that before because I hold all the cards.” Locking in my expression, I calmly warn, “As amusing as your little show was, I can have you fired or sued for it.”
She goes white as a ghost, realizing I have the power to accomplish it.
“Of course it doesn’t have to come to that since I’m willing to give you a second chance. What’s it going to be, Arya?”
I watch the wheels turn in her brain.
Victory burns in my bloodstream because there’s only one answer.
I know it.
She knows it.
Swallowing down her pride and anger, she juts her chin and walks over to the chair across from me and gracefully sits down. “Don’t take this to mean I’m scared of you, Nathan.”
“Why would I want you to be scared of me? I was merely informing you of the consequences of your actions. You should be thanking me for not teaching you the hard way.”
