Page 11 of Just a Little Tempted

Instead, I found myself reluctantly impressed.

Not that I was going to tell her that. Praising her work this early could lead to complacency, and the last thing I needed was an overconfident assistant who thought she’d already proven herself.

“Have you scheduled the meeting with Nexus Solutions’ CFO?” I asked instead. I’d given her that task this morning.

A flicker of annoyance crossed her face, there and gone so fast I almost missed it. “I sent him a message, but he hasn’t responded yet.”

I sighed. Not what I wanted to hear.

“I guess I’ll have to take care of it myself,” I muttered, already turning toward my office.

Raina heard, and before I’d taken three steps, she was in front of me, blocking my path.

The movement triggered a memory. Sarah, just last week, getting in my face before I fired her. And before that, a string of other assistants who’d called me a micromanager, who’d bristled at what they perceived as dismissive behavior.

I braced for anger. For accusations.

But Raina didn’t look angry. She stood before me with her hands on her hips, her chin lifted, her blue eyes steady on mine. Determined, not defensive.

“No,” she said firmly. “I’ll handle it.”

“I expected a meeting on the books by now.” The words came out more exasperated than I intended.

Raina squared her shoulders, and that stubborn set to her jaw intensified. “I expected that too. But I can’t control other people’s response times.” She held my gaze without flinching. “This is my job, Mr. Powers. You’re going to have to give me a chance to actually do it.”

“Haven’t I given you a chance? I assigned this task hours ago.”

Part of me knew I was being unreasonable. The rest of me was too focused on maintaining control, on ensuring everything was done correctly and not letting anything slip through the cracks.

“You’ve given me a task,” Raina said, her voice firm. Still no anger, just quiet resolve. “Now you need to give me time to complete it in areasonableamount of time.”

I opened my mouth to argue, but the truth of her words landed before I could speak. She was right. Iwasbeing unreasonable.

She must have seen the shift in my expression, because her posture softened slightly. A small smile curved her soft, kissable lips.

“Don’t worry about a thing,” she said. “I’ll get the meeting scheduled. You leave it to me.”

I couldn’t entirely silence the voice insisting I should handle it, but I reminded myself this wasn’t urgent. I needed to meet with the CFO soon, butsoondidn’t meantoday. I could give Raina a day or two to make it happen. If she didn’t, I’d step in.

“Fine,” I said.

She was already settling back into her chair, her attention returning to her computer screen as if the confrontation hadn’thappened. As if standing up to her brand-new boss on her first day was nothing remarkable.

Kurt was right. Shewastough.

I retreated to my office and closed the door behind me, letting out a slow breath. I removed my jacket and dropped into my chair, ready to review the profit-and-loss analysis for our first portfolio company.

But my gaze caught on the plastic container still sitting on the corner of my desk.

I thought about Raina’s nervous chatter this morning. The way she’d rambled about her experience, about us being a great team, about her allegedlyamazingcookies. She’d been trying so hard to make a good impression, and I’d given her nothing but a cold reception.

A small smile tugged at my mouth—unfamiliar, almost startling me.

I reached out and opened the container. The smell of chocolate hit me immediately, rich and sweet. I grabbed a cookie and took a bite, leaning back in my chair.

A low groan escaped me before I could stop it.Damn.

She wasn’t lying. The cookies were incredible.