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© August 2014 M. Malone
MARA SIMMONS WOULD have never described herself as a badass. But to her coworkers at Lawson, Westbrooke & Hyde, she was a vigilante. A fearless crusader. Either that or they all just thought she was too stupid to be afraid.
“I really appreciate this. He keeps asking for these files, and I’ve been making excuses until you got here.” Her coworker, Lanie Roberts, hovered outside the door to her boss’s office with a frightened look on her face.
Ethan Westbrooke had everyone in the company terrified of him. The only person he couldn’t intimidate was Mara, which was how she’d gotten stuck working for him. Usually he went through executive assistants at an alarming rate. The woman before Mara had lasted only three days before calling down to HR in tears, asking to be reassigned.
Mara had been with him for a little over a year.
“It’s okay, Lanie. I’ll take them in to him. I was just going in to bring him his coffee anyway.”
“Mara! Where are the contracts Lawson sent up?” Ethan’s loud bellow carried through his office door.
Lanie wrung her hands as Mara took the folder the girl had been holding in a death grip. “Okay. I’ll just, ah, wait out here.”
Mara smothered a smile. Then, after a perfunctory knock on her boss’s door, she pushed it open with her hip.
“Here’s your coffee and those contracts you’ve been waiting on.” Mara set the folder she carried on the edge of his desk and his coffee to the right of the report he was currently reading. He barely glanced up, just answered with a muffled grunt. The only thing visible was his perfectly styled dark hair. She held in a sigh. Grunting was better than growling. He was in a decent mood today. That was something.
As soon as she left the office, Lanie appeared at her elbow. “Did you give it to him?”
“I did. Now that he has the contracts, he shouldn’t need anything else for a while.”
Lanie visibly relaxed. “Thank you so much. I almost cried this morning when you weren’t here. You’re the only one he likes.”
“He doesn’t like me. He yells at me too. I just don’t listen,” Mara replied as she settled into her desk chair.
“Anyway, I was thinking we should do happy hour tonight. Or maybe a movie? I need to get away from Jesse. He’s driving me crazy.”
Mara chuckled. She’d heard all the ins and outs of the saga of Lanie and Jesse. Those two had enough drama to fuel a reality show. But she couldn’t handle that tonight. She had her own drama to deal with.
“I can’t. I have a family dinner tonight. Plus I want to stick close to home. Trent’s been traveling a lot lately.”
Lanie smiled knowingly. “Say no more. I get it. You need a little quality time with your man. Take care of business at home.” She winked and walked back to the elevator bank to go back to her floor.
As soon as the elevator doors closed, Mara’s practiced smile fell. If only it were a night of hot sex waiting for her. Lately Trent had been so distant and too tired to do much after work. He was also traveling more than ever. Except he was strangely closemouthed about the projects he was working on and what he was doing during the time he was gone. There was no one thing she could point to that was off, but Mara just knew.
He was lying to her.
“If you’re done gossiping.” A deep voice interrupted her thoughts. She was so startled that she jumped and knocked over her own coffee cup. The dark liquid quickly spread across her desk, snaking under her keyboard and soaking the pad of sticky notes next to her phone.
“Damn it.” She hopped up, unsurprised to see a dark stain on the front of her pale pink skirt. She inched the material up her legs, holding it away from her body. “This is just great. There’s no way this stain is coming out.”
When she looked up, Ethan stood as still as a statue, his dark eyes locked on her legs. Then he looked up at her. A muscle in his jaw tensed.
Stunned by the feral look in his eyes, she immediately dropped her skirt. “Mr. Westbrooke. You startled me.”
Normally he would have had some cutting remark to make or chastised her for stating the obvious and wasting his billable hours. Instead, he just blinked at her. Then he said in a deceptively soft voice, “These contracts don’t contain any of the changes I requested. Find out why.”
He ran his fingers through his hair, sending the dark strands into disarray. With one last piercing look, he retreated back into his office.
LATER THAT DAY, Mara raced around her living room, straightening the pillows on the couch and collecting stray items of clothing she’d discarded in her frenzy to get to work that morning. Trent had originally been scheduled to fly in late, but she’d gotten a text right before leaving work that he’d be home early.
Just as she finished, she heard the front door open. Anticipation quickened her steps as she trotted down the hallway. Trent looked up when she entered the living room.
With a squeal, she flung herself into his arms. “I’m so happy to see you!”
He fell back slightly until he hit the wall, accepting her noisy kisses all over his face. “I’m happy to see you too. I really missed you, baby.”
