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I narrow my eyes at him. “Get out.”
He sighs and raises his hands in self-defense. “I’m going. Anything else you need before I do?”
I pick up half the stack of papers on my desk and offer them to him. “Go through these resumes and narrow it down for me. I have to hire someone by the end of the week. Work’s piling up as we speak.”
“You know, Emma has experience with—”
“Get out.”
Giggling like a schoolgirl, he walks the resumes out of my office. I hadn’t counted on Kirill doing a full one-eighty on me. He is the one person who always has my back. I have no doubt he still does—in the important ways, at least—but I can sense that he’s questioning my choices.
Yeah? Well, screw him. I know better.
And it’s better that I keep my distance from Emma Carson.
Things got out of hand there for a minute. I let my desire for her cloud my better judgment. But now, I’m thinking clearly again. And this time, I refuse to give in. Baby or not, she isn’t getting any part of me. Not my dick or my heart or anything in between.
I’ve seen what happens when you give your heart to someone and they have the gall to die and take it to the grave with them.
I don’t intend to repeat my father’s mistakes.
16
RUSLAN
A new contender for “bane of my existence” has taken the lead.
Temps.
I’ve had two already and both were complete failures. The first burst into tears when I asked her to redo my schedule for the fourth time and the second asked if she could have Thursdays and Fridays off because she reached maximum efficiency on a three-day work week.
Suffice it to say, each had lasted only a handful of hours. I’m currently on my third attempt and I’m already imagining all the different ways I could murder her and make it look like an accident.
“Mr. Ruslan?” she chirps, careening into my office for what feels like the dozenth time in the last hour. “Do you need anything? I’m just heading into the lunchroom to grab some granola.”
I glare at her but somehow, she doesn’t get the message. Lack of brain cells will do that.
“No.”
“Are you sure? The granola here isamazing. So many flavors, too! The chocolate peanut butter is my fav—”
“Melissa,” I growl, “you need to stop talking. Now.”
“Are you in a meeting?”
My laptop is closed. My phone is sitting a foot away from me and there’s no one else in the room. How can she possibly think I’m in a meeting now?
“Stop talking and walk away.”
She just smiles serenely. “In my experience, men are always extra crabby on an empty stomach. I’ll bring you back some granola. It’ll help that mood of yours.”
Now, she’s talking to me like I’m a child.
I really did have it good with Emma. Problem is, I wanted to fuck her, too. If only I could turn back time and—
No. No, I’d still want to fuck her.
The door isn’t shut ten seconds before my witless new assistant bursts in again. “Oh, and your friend is here to see you. He said his name was Alan Something-or-other. I’ll just send him right in.”
