“Wewill not be figuring out anything,” I said, yanking the door open. “I’m sure this is a simple business problem you can negotiate yourself out of. Since you’re so good at that.”
I slammed the door on my way out, my heart hammering against my ribs as I felt something I hadn’t experienced in seven longyears: the delicious satisfaction of being absolutely, completely unavailable when Weston Kincaid needed me most.
2
WESTON
“Lena!” I barked as I flung my office door open, stalking out to the reception area. Milo bounded past me, tail wagging, yipping excitedly. But despite what he seemed to think, this was far from a game.
“Don’t talk to me. I’m on my break,” she snapped from her desk, rapidly tossing things into her purse.
Break? She never took breaks like this. Not when we were in the middle of something. Not when I needed her. “We don’t have time for faffing about right?—”
“Don’t start dictating my job to me!” Lena said, thumping her laptop down in her bag. Her eyes narrowed as she looked up at me. “Because frankly, you have no idea about half the things I do for you.”
“Well, you can check ‘giving your boss a migraine’ off your to-do list.”
She sucked in a breath, and her cheeks flushed, that pink hue stretching along her jawline and down her neck. She alwaysblushed like that when she was particularly aggravated, and every time, it tested my resolve to keep from letting my gaze chase the color to where it disappeared down her chest.
As it happened, I wasn’t tested that way very often. Lena rarely lost her cool. She was discreet, poised, and incredibly efficient. But on the rare occasions when she lost her temper, I marveled at the way her body reacted: her petite frame coiled like a snake about to strike, her delicate, fragile features suddenly all sharp angles, those blue eyes flashing like a warning, her wavy, dark hair slipping from its tight bun.
She was never more invigorating than when she was taking someone to task.
It just usually wasn’t me. And maybe that’s why I had the sudden urge to reach out and tangle one of those dark strands of hair around my fingers. But knowing her, she’d try to snap at my hand.
Lena crossed her arms against her chest, the disgruntled scowl on her face dragging me back to reality. “You’re lucky that’s all I’ve given you! I cannot believe Milo has better manners than you do.”
Milo barked at the sound of his name, racing to Lena’s side, tail wagging as he awaited praise or snacks or both.
Lena gave him a quick pet before hiking her purse up her arm. “But you know what? Maybe I shouldn’t be surprised. Because Milo passed his obedience training. Unlike you, who clearly skipped out on the class on basic human decency.”
Milo found one of his stuffed toys and tossed it up in the air, the toy landing on the desk between us.
“Lena—”
She raised a thin, delicate finger in my direction, then picked up a stack of files and shoved them in my arms. “Sign these before you get on your flight.”
“And where are you going?”
“I’m leaving.”
My frustration flared like a gasoline-fed flame. “I haven’t dismissed you for the day.”
Her eyes flashed, something dangerous in their depths. “I put up with so much shit for you,” she said, shaking her head. “Answering your damn phone calls in the middle of the night. Smoothing things over with the board when you offend someone for the fiftieth time. Directing your one-night stands out the door when they get a little too clingy. Assuring everyone that ‘no, Weston definitely doesn’t have an exotic Scottish STI’like your damn ex keeps insisting.”
Her voice was tight, her words trembling. “But this arrogance…this entitlement…this…GAH! It’s a bridge too far! I’m not marrying you, I’m not going to Scotland with you, and I’m also not picking up your dry cleaning today! So have fun with that.”
The elevator dinged suddenly, and the door rolled open. I didn’t look over, my eyes still locked on Lena, but someone must have gotten out because Milo bounded over to greet the new arrival.
“Does the bossman have a minute for me?” I heard Arnie FitzPatrick, my head of sustainability compliance, call. I groaned internally.
Milo bounded back to my side and snatched a file from Lena’s desk in his excitement. I snagged him by the collar, attempting to wrestle the file away. “Drop it!”
“He’s got time for you now, Arnie,” Lena said, waving the insufferable man in my direction.
“Perfect,” Arnie said, waltzing over. “I wanted to talk about the company’s carbon offset projects.”
Lena shot me a shit-eating grin, then turned for the elevator. I rubbed my eyes. I didn’t have time to talk about tree planting or soil regeneration or whatever the hell else Arnie had come up with.
