Page 25 of Dark Holiday

My face falls as the irritation rolls off of him in waves. “I. I need to go to the bathroom. Do I have your permission to go?”

He leans back in his seat and clasps his hands behind his head. “Well now, I guess since you asked so nicely like a good, little girl...No.”

I blanch at his words. “No?”

“I said no.” He shrugs before sitting back up and poking through stuff on his desk.

“But wha -.”

His head shoots back up, his dark eyes glittering as he stares me down. “If you really need to go so badly, you’ll ask me properly.”

Heat crawls up my face as we stand there staring at each other. As each minute passes, the need grows stronger. I’ll either have to face embarrassment by peeing all over myself or give Daniel what he wants. Between the two options, there’s no way I’m going to wet myself.

“Please, Sir. May -.” The words stick in my throat. “May I go potty?”

His lips widen into a grin. “There, was that so hard? Yes, you may. Be sure to use the office one here.”

Nodding, I rush out of his office, making a beeline straight for the bathroom. Though I make it just in time, there’s an odd flush of arousal as I go, knowing it’s on his terms and not mine. Damn him. Even with that stupid renegotiation, he still has all the power over me.

* * *

Back at my desk, I do my best to keep up with everything. It’s hard but oddly satisfying. I didn’t have to work this much as a waitress, and this job for sure keeps me on my toes. Since the bathroom incident, Daniel pulled up the blinds overlooking my desk. Now, whenever he takes a coffee break, he stares at me, a hint of a smile pulling at his lips.

The blush that started with my embarrassing request hasn’t let up, and knowing he is in there plotting and planning other things to do to me doesn’t help. In fact, it’s what’s making this job that much harder. When waitressing, I wasn’t dealing with full-on arousal and having to do my job. The lines are so blurred with Daniel that it’s hard to differentiate between normal smiles and lustful smirks.

He stays well within the letter of our agreement, but it doesn’t stop him from toeing the line, turning me on in ways I can’t even go to HR about, but I know what he’s doing. Staring down at the computer screen, I force Daniel out of my brain and concentrate on the emails starting to pile up.

“Cynthia.”

I look up, my eyes drifting straight to Daniel’s. He looks softer somehow, less angry. Maybe it was all about the work and less about our past. “Yes, Sir?”

“You did a really good job today. I’m proud of you. Keep it up.”

Turning on his heel, he walks out of the office with the others. How did I even miss the end of the workday? His words warm my heart as I grab my sweater and slide my feet back into my heels. Just those few little words make all this worth it. Filing out behind the others, my mind replays his words over and over.

Perhaps if I can just do my job, we’ll come back together naturally. The man in front of me just now is nothing like the bully I knew. If he can stay like this, if we can stay like this, then maybe, just maybe, there’s hope for us.

CHAPTER 14

Daniel

Glancing over at Cindy, I can’t help the small smile that crosses my face. True, she’s not doing everything an assistant should, but for once, it feels like she’s managing. Her face is turned down at her desk, but the glossy sheen of blonde isn’t hiding her thoughtful expression. Her tongue pokes out to run across her lips as she puzzles through the email, just like it used to when she was solving a hard math problem.

Pulling up the shared email account, I glance through it, not seeing anything that should be causing her this much grief. It’s a simple request asking for a meeting time with me. Every so often, she glances back to her phone, looking at what I assume is my calendar. A frown pulls down at my brows as I stand up and lean against the glass.

Though it’s the calendar app I suggested, nothing looks neat and organized. In fact, the few days that have appointments on them look like a jumbled mess. How in the hell did she mess that up? When I looked at it last night, everything was planned out to the minute. Now, there appear to be gaps where there weren’t any before.

Thankfully, I keep a written backup just in case. Pulling up the app, I stare at the same screen she is, and I swear I can feel my blood pressure rising. If I hadn’t transcribed all these meetings, I would have been screwed. As it is, my calendar looks woefully empty. With a long sigh, I stand up and rap on the glass, cock twitching at her startled jump and wide eyes as she turns to face me.

With a jerk of my thumb, I motion for her to come in. “What the hell did you do to my appointments?”

“Good morning to you too, Sir.” Her tone is syrupy sweet, nothing at all like the expression she carries on her face.

“Sit.” I give her a moment before standing over her, rising to my full height. “I’m not here to play games. What did you do?”

To her credit, she holds her ground, spearing me with her slitted gaze, before crumpling into a heap. “I don’t know. Okay? Is that what you want to hear? I don’t fucking know.”

“Language.”