Page 16 of Last First Date

"I don't think," she retorted. "I know. And so do they."

I stared at her, my icy gaze meeting her fiery defiance. She was brave. I would give her that. It was a rarity to meet someone who could hold their ground against me. Especially women. I knew my looks disarmed a lot of females, but not her. She seemed to look right through me. No, when she looked at me, she had a look on her face of pure disgust, like she was staring at a pile of shit.

"You're playing with fire, Waverly," I murmured, and a dangerous smile tugged on my features. "And you better be prepared to get burned."

"I'm not afraid of you, Knox," she shot back, her voice unwavering. She was infuriatingly confident.

"You should be," I warned, but she just shrugged lightly.

"We'll see." Waverly's voice bore the same determination it had held since the beginning of our confrontation. She turned to walk back to the door, a clear signal that she considered our conversation done.

"And where do you think you're going?" I asked, raising an eyebrow in amusement.

She paused at the door, turning back to face me with a glint in her eyes that should've worried me more than it did. "To do my job," she replied pointedly. "Somebody has to keep this place running."

"Stop!"

She turned around and shot me a dirty look. "If you tell me to sit, I swear it will not end well for you."

I almost laughed. As if the woman could ever take me. But I got it. She was fired up. "You could learn control," I said.

"I've kept my mouth shut for a week," she spat. "That's control. I bring you coffee three times a day and don't spit in it or dump a bottle of laxative in it. I answer every email and have jumped through no less than a million hoops for you. So yeah, I have control."

"And yet, you fail to control your impertinent tongue."

"I'm not going to back down," she said. "Not with this. Not when your actions are hurting good people that deserve better. And for the record, you are lucky to have me working for you. I'm damn good at what I do. I don't know if you think you're trying to break me with all your demands, but it's not going to happen. You're wasting your time."

I wasn't sure whether to laugh or to yell at her audacity. But instead of doing either, I simply looked at Waverly with a newfound respect. "You're quite something," I murmured.

"Yes, I am," she said.

"Fine."

"What?"

"Fine, I'll consider what you've said on one condition."

She arched an eyebrow. "Condition? What would that be?"

"Show me some respect."

She smiled. "Respect is earned."

"I am your boss, and you will have to find a way to respect me when we're in mixed company," I said firmly. "You cannot talk to me like that. It's not going to help anyone if you start a mutiny."

She leaned her head back and laughed. "So that's it then?" she asked. "You're afraid of mutiny?"

"I wouldn't say afraid," I replied, leaning back in my chair and crossing my arms over my chest. "More like cautious."

"Cautious," she repeated, her lips curling into an amused smile. "Well, Knox, maybe if you weren't such a tyrant, you wouldn't have to be so cautious."

"Is that what you think I am?" I asked with some surprise.

"A tyrant?" she echoed, her expression softening. "You wield your power without mercy, Knox. That is the very definition of a tyrant. You expect everyone to work ten times harder without any kind of incentive. You're sitting in here writing a million emails. You're not the one out there busting your ass dealing with ten different events when they should only be working on one or two."

"I'm not a tyrant, Waverly," I rebutted, my voice cool and even. "I'm a businessman. There's a difference."

"Yes," she stated firmly. "A businessman would be aware of the morale of his employees and would care about their well-being."