Page 28 of Dirty Boss

He knew how far I’d fallen. My breaths were still unsteady, my heart beating so hard I knew he could feel my panic thrumming against the thumb he held at my wrist.

I marshaled my emotions into line and forced my lips to smile. Then I met his gaze. “You read all the sordid details, huh?”

There hadn’t been much in the papers about the end of my engagement to Cole. My family was wealthy, but we weren’t in the public eye. A couple of pictures on social media, some chatter in a few forums that followed the lives of Manhattan socialites a little too closely for my liking…nothing that had me plastered on every tabloid the way a celebrity would be.

But the broad strokes were there, if you went digging. I didn’t know how to feel about the fact that Vaughn had done so. Ashamed, of course. And oddly flattered?

He’d looked me up. He’d wanted to know more about me, even though he hadn’t come into the restaurant to see me.

“I read that you were engaged, and now he’s reunited with an old flame. And you’re working at Carmine’s, even though your last name is Enders and your father is a successful financier on Wall Street.”

A grimace twisted my face despite my best efforts to stop it.

There was a silence. Vaughn’s thumb stroked my pulse point, and I stared at his shirt collar, his stubbled throat, the little divot in the middle of his chin.

“Do I need to send someone to murder your ex?”

I jerked, eyes snapping up to meet his gaze. “What?”

“He hurt you.”

The darkness of his voice sent warmth flooding through my center. It wasn’t a question, but I still answered. “Yes, but not the way you think.”

“What do I think?”

“That he tossed me aside to reunite with the mother of his child and then left me out in the cold.”

His eyes were icy blue, intense. “And that isn’t what happened?”

“What kind of company is this?” I asked, suddenly breathless. “How many hitmen do you know? Whoareyou?”

“Answer the question, Alba.”

“Yes, he was in love with another woman, but I was the one who ended it. I…” My voice caught. I couldn’t tell him about James. I couldn’t tell him about my parents. The end of my engagement hurt my pride, but it hadn’t hurtme. Not the way the rest of them had. I took a deep breath, and the scent of his cologne went to my head. “I was glad when our engagement ended.”

Vaughn hummed. His thumb stroked. His other palm spread out, so I could feel the warmth of his hand against my waist. The heat of him seemed to chase away a chill that had sunk down to my marrow a long time ago, so long that I didn’t remember the last time I’d felt warm.

His head dipped slightly, and the stubble on his jaw brushed my temple. I closed my eyes and leaned into him, my head angling up. His cheek touched mine, the corner of his lips ghosting across my jaw.

I felt…safe. I also felt raw and naked, and I wondered what would happen if I let go entirely. Maybe Vaughn would move his head a fraction of an inch, and I’d move mine, and then we’d be kissing. Maybe those big hands would circle my waist, and he’d back me up so my thighs hit his desk. Maybe he’d turn mearound, bend me over, and fuck me so hard I’d forget my own name, forget everything that had happened over the past year.

Maybe I’d like that, my cheek pressed against the papers strewn all over his desk, my hands gripping the edge, my voice raw from crying out his name.

Then, quietly, with his lips close to mine, he said, “Tell me why you’re here.”

I opened my eyes. My panties were wet. “I work here,” I whispered.

He frowned. “No, you don’t.”

I pulled my body away from his, pulled my jacket open, and gestured to the logo on my uniform. “I do. I’m the cleaner.”

He stared at my shirt, then snapped his eyes up to meet mine. Then he went to his desk and pulled open a drawer. A moment later, a stack of half-crumpled papers landed on top of his desk.

My notes. My heart was a trapped bird, flapping in my chest as it tried to escape. If the ground had opened up and swallowed me whole at that very moment, I would’ve welcomed it. I stared at the notes, then at him. “Um,” I said, and stopped.

“This is you?”

“You ruined the carpet!”