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“Did you fire her?”

“She resigned,” he said. “Smart decision on her part.”

She wondered if Beth was given a choice of resigning or being terminated. She wanted to ask but figured Duke would tell her if he wanted her to know.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said what I did.”

“No,” he said. “You totally should have. You need to stand your ground. As a manager you can’t let people walk all over you.”

She nodded. “I know that. But I could have been more professional.”

“It’s not the first time Beth has said that word. Might be the first time you have though.”

His eyes were laughing at her. She wasn’t sure if she should be happy or annoyed over it.

“I’ve said it silently before,” she said. “And never in that context.”

“You got your point across.”

“Why are you here?” she asked.

“To let you know that I knew you might be approached about our relationship. I just got off the phone with Zeke. He called and felt I should get a heads up.”

“That was nice of him. He could have called me,” she said. “I don’t need you to save me.” This just went back to people not coming to her as the boss now.

“I can see that,” he said. “And I wasn’t coming to save you but to tell you and hope that if anyone said anything, they’d see we’re together.”

“I don’t know that anyone would have thought it was a lie. But now that Beth is gone, what is to stop her from telling people she left because of me? Or that you fired her because I was jealous of her or something? Who knows what will come out of her mouth? She lies about a lot of things.”

“You know about that?”

“I know she lies. I’ve heard it and seen it. I’m sure she’s said things to you about me without knowing we were in a relationship. She talks about everyone.”

Her arms were crossed now. She didn’t want to be annoyed, but now that it seemed this situation was going to blow over, she was getting worked up for another reason.

There was part of her that was just so excited that she’d been able to take care of this situation by herself and now it was going to turn into Duke had to do it for her.

“She does,” he said. “She knows I know that too. I don’t need to call her out on it. She’s been cold since I showed up one day to work here and put her in her place. I’m sure most of her anger toward you was jealousy.”

“Why would she be jealous of me?” she asked.

He pulled her close to him and dropped his arm around her shoulder, then leaned down and whispered in her ear. “Because you’re fucking me. Maybe you can talk dirty to me too. I liked it.”

It felt as if the gas stove lit up and she was standing in front of it with all burners on high and scorching her face.

“I don’t know if I can do that.”

He laughed even harder. “I’m learning you can do just about anything you want.”

“Does that bother you?” she asked.

“No. It’s been very rewarding to watch your growth on many levels.”

She turned and put her arms around his waist. “Thank you for that.”

“Wow. You just made the first step to showing me some affection. There are people coming in any minute.”

She turned and looked to realize that some were already in the building. “I guess it doesn’t matter anymore, does it?”

Source: www.allfreenovel.com
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