Page 29 of Dirty Boss

“So quick to go on the attack, princess.” His voice was like soft velvet. I shivered.

Then I crossed my arms. My nipples were hard points, and I was glad for my jacket to hide them. “Am I wrong?”

“Why did you march in here like you were about to set it on fire?”

“No reason.”

“You didn’t look like you were going to clean. So what were you going to do?”

My hands landed on my hips, and I glared at him. It was easier to be outraged, to be angry. Then I wouldn’t have to thinkabout how much I wanted him, how good he looked with his collar open, the shadows in the office carving out his features.

I moved forward and stood with only his desk separating us. My index finger speared the stack of notes. “I was going to write exactly what I thought of you and your staff.”

His brow arched. “Which is?”

“That you’re a bunch of messy pigs, and that I refused to clean up after you any longer.”

He reared back. “That’s a little harsh.”

“Have you seen the conference room?” I demanded, glaring.

When he combed his fingers through his hair and let out a tired sigh, I realized I wasn’t quite as full of rage as I’d been when I walked in. I was fighting with him…but there was no heat behind it. And when he leaned his knuckles on his desk and pinched his lips, a little piece of me melted.

“I bought dinner for the team. They’ve been working late all week. I’ll tell them to clean up after themselves. It won’t happen again.”

“Well, that’s great, but I won’t be the one to see it. Good luck with everything.”

He stood straighter. “What do you mean?”

“I’m quitting. I can’t do this anymore.”

“This as in cleaning? Or the restaurant?”

“Both!” I exclaimed, then took a breath and forced a smile. “Goodbye.”

It was high time I got out of here. He was too attractive, too dangerous. He made me want things that I knew would only hurt me in the end. Better to scurry back to the gilded dungeon from whence I came and forget that Vaughn existed at all.

Once again, I turned for the door. This time, he stopped me with his voice.

“Alba,” he said. “Wait.”

I didn’t want to wait. I wanted to run. My heart was beating unsteadily, and I felt weirdly embarrassed. He was here, in this fancy office at the top of this building, and I was…

I was the cleaner he hadn’t even thought about until I wrote that silly note. I was the waitress who brought him his lunch, except when he was too busy doing important things to stop by and annoy me. I was nobody. I was the woman who couldn’t hack it in the real world, who was running back to Mommy and Daddy as soon as life got too hard.

“You were right about the suit,” he said.

I angled my body so I could see him over my shoulder. “Well, yeah.”

Vaughn huffed, scrubbing a hand over his jaw. “And you were right about the hair.”

I waited. I didn’t know what he was getting at.

He moved slowly, circling his desk once more. In the gloom, his movements seemed almost predatory. He stalked toward me, slow and steady, and I could do nothing but tremble as I stood there.

The urge to run fought with the urge to go to him. I wanted those strong arms around me, the warmth of him melting the ice that seemed to cling to my pores. I wanted to feel safe.

And I wanted him inside me. For the first time in over a year, desire snaked through me. His body on top of mine, his hands claiming me, his mouth?—