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To a man like me, a woman like her was the ultimate tease.
I wanted to see who she was behind the mask. More than that, I wanted her to reveal herself to me.
But there was another reason I approached her. I wanted to test her. I liked to know who I was working with from the very first minute we met, and with women, it could be hard to tell. Was she all that met the eye?
I reached out and touched her to see her reaction. To see how far I could push her. I wanted to see what she was made of. I’d seen her work, and it was fantastic, but for the next phase of my company, I didn’t just need a fantastic designer. I needed someone with a personality I could work with, and I needed to know how to push just the right buttons to get what I wanted. I needed someone from whom I could demand everything.
Maybe that made me a giant asshole, but I’d already pretty much accepted that about myself by now. I wasn’t a good person, but I was a damn good CEO. Better she learned that now rather than later.
I was expecting one of two reactions when I touched her neck. The first was that she would jump back and then run out of the room, filing an HR claim against me. That would be the best-case scenario and would prove she wasn’t a woman who was distracted by frivolities when it came to her profession. She also wasn’t the type to try to sleep with the CEO to get to the top. A woman who was completely immune to my charms would be the best option.
Unfortunately, I hadn’t met a lot of women who fit that bill.
The second and most likely reaction was that she would be so overwhelmed by her attraction toward me that she would lean into it. She would try to kiss me. I could see the clear desire in her eyes fighting with hesitation. She was attracted to me, but I wanted to see if it was enough to overpower her good sense and professionalism.
But I didn’t expect the third reaction.
A slap right across the face.
I blinked at her in response, more from shock than anything else. Even though the side of my cheek stung, the pain was the farthest thing on my mind.
”Oh my god.” She slapped her hand over her mouth, looking even more shocked than I felt. She shook her head, her eyes reflecting her horror as she said, “I didn’t…I didn’t mean to….”
“Slap me?” I completed, feeling amused when she gasped again at the word. I probably shouldn’t laugh. The girl looked terrified at the situation and was probably scared that I would fire her. Or worse, hit her back. Except I didn’t hit women, and I wouldn’t exactly call the slap a fireable offense, not in this particular situation. I deserved it.
I tried not to smile as she visibly panicked.
“I’m so sorry,” she finally said in a rush. “I really didn’t mean to hit you.”
“You didn’t?”
Rather than accept or reject her apology, I cocked my head to evaluate her. She did look genuinely remorseful, but there was a part of her expression that was anything but. A part that looked near vindicated. She had a quirk on her lip, almost like she was going to burst out into crazed laughter.
Yet the apprehension was still there.
Interesting.
The girl was a study, in contrast, one of the most interesting people I’d met in a long time.
And…now that I thought about it, there was something very familiar about her face. I was close enough to see that her eyes were dark brown, contrasting nicely with her soft pink lips—lips that she bit every few seconds in anxiety. The move niggled a memory at the back of my brain, but I couldn’t put a finger on it.
“Do I know you from somewhere?” I asked, furrowing my brow.
Her anxiety flared before she got her expression under control again. Still, she glanced away from my gaze when she shook her head.
“I don’t think so,” she replied. “Unless maybe in passing. I haven’t been working here long.”
“No, it’s not from work.” Wherever I’d seen her, it was from long ago. I knew that much, but I couldn’t recall the exact circumstances of our meeting.
“What did you say your name was again?”
“Circe,” she said, but she glanced away slightly when she said it. Maybe it’s not a lie, but it’s not entirely the truth.
I smirked at her, taking a step closer. She watched me carefully but didn’t move as I leaned down until my eyes were a few inches from her.
“I’m going to ask you the question again,” I said. “And if you lie to me, I might have to spank you.”
Her eyes flared at the words, and I could see outrage and desire battling within them. Very interesting. Even more interesting was the fact that my cock twitched at the challenge she presented, interested in proving just how serious I was. The fact that I was attracted to her wasn’t a shocker, although she wasn’t my usual type.
