The Boss(hole) by Penelope Bloom
Adrian
Ihadn’t moved from Walker’s desk yet. Everyone was still as fossils, except the little firecracker who had come out of nowhere. She looked like she’d escaped from a Disney Princess parade float, ditched her outfit, and somehow wandered into my office.
She was wearing a blue dress that should’ve been conservative, but there was nothing conservative about those curves. There was no hiding that ass. Her body may have demanded attention, but her face commanded it. She had ridiculously big, slightly upturned eyes that were shaped like almonds. Her nose was pert and dusted with freckles, and her lips were full enough to immediately drag my thoughts to a very dark place.
Focus, Adrian. Remember why you’re here.
But all I did was focus on the rest of her. The blonde hair worn in a braid on one side and straight on the other. She had miles of curves, and I wondered how long I would’ve kept staring in complete silence if the sound of her knocking on my office door hadn’t brought me to the present.
This was too perfect. The meeting she so self-importantly announced was with me. I couldn’t wait to see the look on her face when she realized.
I pulled the knot on my tie, rolled my neck, which was still a little stiff from the shit night of sleep I’d gotten, and strode across the room.
My employees finally started resuming their work once I was moving, as if they had been too worried I might notice them and annihilate them right along with Walker if they so much as clicked a mouse.
“Excuse me,” I said, reaching past the escaped Disney Princess to pull my door open. “I have a meeting.”
She stared at me with those huge blue eyes. I knew it had been far too long since I’d given my body what it needed. Looking at this woman was making me hum with molten heat.
I walked inside my office, then pulled the door closed, even though I knew damn well she was here to see me.
I went behind my desk, folded my ankle over my knee, and waited patiently.
It was nearly a full minute before a hesitant knock sounded at my door.
“Come in,” I said.
The woman walked in. I expected her head to be hanging and her to look like she was ready to lick my boots clean for the bullshit she’d pulled out there. Instead, she looked defiant.
“I didn’t realize you were the one I was meeting,” she said.
“Clearly.” I gestured for her to sit in the chair across from my desk. I found an odd beat of satisfaction when she moved to obey without question. She wasn’t entirely hopeless, at least. “What’s your name?”
“Juliette. Er, just Jules. Jules Adams.”
“I’m Adrian White,” I said. It was the first time I’d used my real first name at a company. But Coleton was the grand prize, the final destination. Some part of me had always wanted Russ Coleton himself to hear that Adrian was the one who destroyed his empire from the inside out. But if I was going to get there, I needed to keep it together. I’d only just begun the journey, and Coleton was by far the biggest corporation my team and I had ever set out to bring down.
The woman opened a little folder with a Maxi Designs logo on the front. “I was thinking we could start with colors, if you have a pref-”
“Oh, no,” I said, chuckling. “I only wanted you to know who was going to be making sure you never worked in this city again. We’re done. That stunt you pulled out there in front of my staff? I’ll be sure to tell Maxi exactly why she just lost her biggest client and is about to have to hire a publicist to salvage her reputation.”
I expected tears. I was used to tears. I didn’t enjoy being a ruthless prick, but I’d never been one to shy away from the most effective methods. I got what I set out to get because I never compromised. I never took the easy road. I did exactly what it took, no matter how many “feelings” got hurt along the way.
But Jules clenched her jaw and her eyes flashed with rage. “You’re a coward.”
I actually laughed in surprise. Definitely didn’t see that coming.
“You can’t handle being questioned, can you?” she asked. “Did I give your precious ego a boo boo when I stood up to you out there? Do you feel like you have to make an example of me so you can still stroke that swollen pride of yours when you go to bed tonight? Well, go ahead, asshole. Ruin my life if you want. I started over once. I’ll do it again if I have to.”
To tell the truth, she was making me think about something else that was in danger of becoming swollen. I liked her backbone, even if it pissed me off. I leaned back in my chair, rubbing my chin as she got up and reached for the door. “Or,” I said. “My secretary put in her notice a few days back. You could work for me.”
“What?” she asked. “One minute you want to make sure I never work again and the next you’re offering me a job? So you’re a narcissist and insane?”
The more I thought about it, the more I agreed with her. Yes, it was complete insanity to hire this woman. It was true that I valued backbone and grit. I could use someone who wasn’t afraid of confrontation. Coleton Publishing was just the first stop on a long journey to the head of the snake, and I needed to collect every capable body I could along the way.
Except part of me knew that was bullshit. Part of me was very much aware that I was already finding this woman distracting. She pulled me out of the illusion in dangerous ways. She made me feel like Adrian Terranova, the man who set out to do something completely insane ten years ago—the man who had been neglecting his personal life and desperately needed a good fuck.
A few minutes ago, I was completely willing to keep putting that off. But one look at the rogue princess here and it had all gone out the window. My body was practically humming with need and hiring her was the last thing I should’ve been considering. It wasn’t just a bad idea. It was a potentially disastrous one.
“Why would I work for you?” she asked. “All you’ve done since I walked in this room was show me how horrible a boss you are.”
“Take the job and I’ll go tell Walker out there he’s un-fired. And if you care so much about protecting those people out there from me, what better way than to stick around?”
She shook her head, eyes searching the floor. Her hand was still on the doorknob. “What happens if I say ‘no?’”
I folded my hands in front of my mouth, leaning forward. I’ll keep thinking about you until it drives me crazy. “Then you get to go back to your boss and tell her how you fucked up the contract at Coleton.”
That same rage rose up in her face again. It was adorable. The woman had absolutely no control when it came to hiding her emotions. She was an open book, and one I had a feeling I’d enjoy diving into regularly.
“So you’re blackmailing me? Join you or you ruin me. Is that it?”
“No. You lost my business as a client. If your boss chooses to keep you employed, good for you. I’ll leave it at that. But if you’re looking for work, I’ll hold the position for three days. It’s not blackmail. It’s an opportunity.”
“It’s an opportunity that smells a hell of a lot like blackmail.”
I shrugged. “It’s your choice, Miss Adams. You know where to find me.”
“What about Walker?” I asked.
“What about him? If you take the job, I’ll call him up and tell him to come back.”
She scrunched those pretty lips up, giving me a glare that I thought might ignite the papers on my desk. “You’re a horrible person.” She pulled the door open and slammed it behind her.
Maybe, I thought. But in real life, you don’t get to take down the villain by being a hero. Heroes can’t afford to get their hands dirty. They can’t do what it really takes. They can’t cut the corners and make the sacrifices to get the power they need.
Maybe I was a horrible person, but I was going to use every fucking ounce of that power it had earned me to burn what Russ Coleton cared about to the ground. That was a promise.