AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She made to move past him, but then he spoke again. "But I'm actually glad I ran into you. Or, you ran into me."
Why did he always do that? Make her think that she could finally get away from him and then reel her back in? Was it some kind of sadistic game or something? Like human fishing?
"Why's that?" She took the bait. Like an idiot.
"I'd like for us to have a meeting. Maybe we could work out some of these differences between us."
"Excuse me?"
"Well, I am your boss."
"Sort of." If "boss" meant ruiner of dreams and tormenter of women. Then yes, absolutely, he was her boss. Otherwise? Not so much.
In truth, she worked as Brooks' brother, Garret's executive assistant. And as a general office manager. Sort of like Joan from Mad Men but with far less boobs and, she imagined, a whole lot less pay.
Brooks crossed his arms over his chest, making him look even more imposing. "Clearly we have some things to talk about. I have a proposal for you. I'll see you in the conference room at noon."
"And if I don't come?"
"You will." Then he walked away. Like he'd just dropped a mic or something.
She stared after him, slack jawed and wide-eyed. What was with this guy? Did he not know that people didn't act like this? Did he just live in his own little bubble of millionaire entitlement with no recognition of what everyday people—?
"Oh yeah, definitely no sexual tension there." Eliza nudged her shoulder. "You were totally right."
"He's just so—"
"I know, I know. Let's just go focus on the copier, huh?"
Sure, she'd focus on the copier, and then she'd spend the rest of her afternoon formulating a battle plan for her meeting with the boss from hell.
Chapter Three
Brooks glanced toward the wide metal clock at the far end of the conference room. It was three on the dot and he would have bet a million dollars Natalie wouldn't be showing up.
Which, as it happened, was jus fine with him.
He simply had to wait her out. The curiosity alone would be enough to have her crawling over his way, but it wouldn't be for another fifteen or twenty minutes at the least. Just enough time for him to review her files. Or, from her perspective, enough time for him to give up on waiting for her and head back to his office. She probably expected that he'd forget about her and move on, letting her rule the roost of secretaries and assistants the same way she had for the past year.
Which, of course, was what he'd been trying to do for months. But with every day, it became more apparent that he wouldn't able to let that happen any more than he'd be able to stop Garret from nagging him half to death. So, he'd just have to rid himself of Natalie Gains the only way he knew how.
He'd simply have to satisfy his curiosity.
He flipped open the manila folder in front of him. For the most part, her personnel file was clean-—a few incidents with other employees—mostly himself by the looks of it—but that were to be expected with someone as mouthy as Natalie. No, this was no help at all, and his chat with Rachael had helped him even less than that.
She hadn't known a damn thing about Natalie's prior marriages or her history. What kind of family she'd had.
What sort of friendship was that? Unless she was in witness protection which, based on everything he'd been able to find, didn't seen so far from the truth, he couldn't imagine any other reason for her being so secretive.
But there was no denying it. There was something--or maybe a lot of somethings--here he didn't know.
The huge, metal door swung open and he glanced from the clock to a very irritated-looking Natalie.
Three fifteen. Right on schedule.
He grinned, trying to hide his amusement as she huffed a lock of long, dark hair out of her face to glare at him. “Frustration suits you. Please, sit down."
He motioned to the chair across from him. The odd thing was, the red on her cheeks was sort of appealing. It brought out the blue of her eyes more than the contrast of her chestnut hair.
