Page 598 of Manhattan Bossholes

“Mr. Brudny, there seems to have been a misunderstanding. You see, the core of this campaign is the open and honest love between two people, and you’re just about the last person I can think of who exemplifies those qualities,” I said to him. “I’m not surprised you didn’t even bother to bring your girlfriend with you, since it’s clear to me that the only person you love in this world is yourself. And since we’re not really looking to grow our share in the ‘self-aggrandizing asshole’ market, I don’t think we’d have any use for you.”

Steve sputtered, looking outraged and indignant. “Who are you, anyway?”

“I’m the person who knows what’s best for this company, and it’s not you. So you can collect your things and head out.” I pointed to the door.

“What the hell?” Steven went whiny. “Why am I being treated like this? Lis? C’mon, you can vouch for me, right? Old friends support each other.”

“I’m not your friend,” she finally said in a small voice.

Steven leered at her. “Correct, because we used to⁠—”

“Out!” I shouted.

I’d sucked all the air out of the room with one word.

I took a few steps toward Steven before I realized what I was doing. Instinct had taken over me, and all I could think was protect her.

“What, you wanna fight me, dude?” he asked, jumping out of his chair.

“No,” I replied in an even tone. “I want you to listen to the instruction I gave you three minutes ago and leave. If I have to ask again, it won’t be you I’m asking but the security guards who will drag you out of here and dump you on your ass on the sidewalk—next to the rest of the trash.”

I finally glanced around the room and realized that the entire PR team looked mystified by what was going on, but not entirely unhappy about it. My employees trusted me, and they understood I would never respond to someone like this without good reason.

“Is he for real?” Steven asked Glen in a quiet voice.

“The realest,” he answered. “That’s our CEO.”

Steven finally seemed to clock into the fact that his little sponcon gig with Veritique wasn’t going to happen.

“Fine. Your rings are shit anyway,” he said as he stood up. “I bet Barth & Co. doesn’t treat potential partners like this.”

“Mr. Brudny?” I reached for my phone and flicked it on. “One last thing.”

I snapped a photo of him, then dictated a message into my phone to the security teams at all branches of the store, nationwide, saying that the man in the picture was never to be allowed entry into any Veritique under any circumstances. “Aaaand send,” I said, tapping on my phone which let out a swooshing sound as the email went out. “You can go now,” I said, waving Steve off. “We’re done with you. Glen can see you out.”

He left the room muttering under his breath with a sheepish-looking Glen following behind him.

I cleared my throat as I turned back to the team. “I apologize for getting loud just then. It’s probably obvious to you that I didn’t think Mr. Brudny was a fit for our organization in many ways. I don’t want to go into the details, but suffice it to say that my decision is final. I’m sure we have many other potential candidates who better exemplify the Veritique core values. Let’s move on.”

The meeting continued for another forty minutes as if nothing had happened. I could feel Felicity watching me, but I couldn’t bring myself to meet her gaze. Would she think I had overstepped? She’d stopped me before from retaliating against her piece-of-shit ex. Maybe I’d crossed a line. But how could I have done nothing when I saw how she reacted to just the sight of him? The asshole was lucky he hadn’t gotten punched.

Once back in my office, I tried to focus on the mountain of work I needed to tackle, but my mind kept drifting back to Felicity’s broken expression when Steven taunted her.

I needed to see her.

My door swung open right as I slapped my laptop closed. It was like she’d been summoned by my thoughts.

“Felicity…I was just coming to see you⁠—”

She nearly jogged to me, her eyes trained on my mouth. She crashed into me forcefully enough that it got a wunf of surprise out of me, and the next thing I knew, her lips were pressed against mine.

If the kiss outside her apartment was good, this one was legendary. She kissed me in a frenzy, like her pent-up emotions from the last hour were all fighting to the surface at once. I, meanwhile, was lightheaded with relief. I wrapped my arms around her, hoping she could tell that I would always, always fight for her.

Her tongue darted along my lip, a brief experimental flick that nearly got a groan out of me. So much for the contract. I let my hands drop to caress the curve of her hips, then down to her ass, to bring her even closer to me.

Fuck, she tasted sweet.

“Thank you,” she murmured as our mouths melded. “Thank you for…for standing up for me.”