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I hid my hands slightly. “I’m fine.”
But Ezra wasn’t the type of man who gave up easily. His hand went to my back and started pressing me back to the kitchen. He pulled me over to the sink where he ran cold water over my hands.
I winced slightly as the cool water met my hot skin.
We stood there for a minute both examining the redness on my skin. “I think I’m okay now,” I said, pulling my hands out of the water. I expected Ezra to release my hands, but instead, his thumb pressed soothingly across my skin.
“I haven’t seen you on this floor before,” he said, huskiness to his voice. “Are you new?”
We were so close that I could feel his breath across my lips. I took a step back, desperate to put some distance between the two of us. “I’m the new temp. Maggie sent me up to help get you situated.”
Ezra’s eyes looked me up and down, and I tried my best not to squirm. “Interesting.”
There was a thick tension between the two of us, and I was unsure how to step away from it. Standing across from Ezra Wright, I was starting to understand how so many women fell under his spell.
There was something about him that drew you in, and it wasn’t just his good looks. That charisma was what gave me pause more than anything else. I knew men like him. I’d loved one. And that love had left me bleeding and broken.
“I need to get back to work,” I said, turning around to head back to my new desk.
“Don’t you want your coffee?”
I stopped and contemplated that for a moment. Tommy was expecting a cup of coffee, but I knew that I needed to get away from Ezra Wright. There was something about him that made my stomach flip, and my mouth dry.
“I’m good,” I said, before I scurried away. I didn’t know how long Maggie was going to have me supporting Ezra’s office, but I hoped it wouldn’t be too long. I hadn’t been lying when I said to her that I wasn't interested in him.
I’d spent my entire life around men like Ezra--good-looking, wealthy, and used to getting whatever they wanted. I knew how that story ended, and I was smart enough not to go back to get burned more than once.
“What happened to the coffee?” Tommy asked, as I took my seat.
I sighed. “There wasn’t any, sorry.”
Tommy gave me an odd look but said nothing.
I went back to my work, content to keep my head down and fade into the background. I was just starting to get on my feet, and I wasn’t going to allow anything to ruin that progress, especially not a man.
CHAPTERFOUR
Sitting in my office, I started flipping through the binder that Marcel had given me. I’d promised him that I would keep an open mind, but with every page turned, I felt my mind closing.
“Ridiculous,” I muttered, pushing the binder away from me slightly.
Marcel should have known better. No one would think that I would ever be caught dead in a serious relationship with a single one of these women. At least, no one who knew me. They were the antithesis of everything I stood for, and one of the reasons I had worked so hard to distance myself from my mother and her family.
“Vapid,” I muttered as I came across the photo of a girl, I’d gone to grade school with. “Too much Botox,” I said of another, who reminded me a bit too much of my mother. None of these women were viable options, and Marcel should have known that.
Frustrated, I pushed the binder away and grabbed my phone, dialing my best friend's number at lightning speed.
“You said you’d keep an open mind,” he told me, as he answered the phone.
“Absolutely not.” I turned so that my back was to my door. Whoever modernized the building thought that all glass offices were appropriate for a lawyer, which was ridiculous considering how often I spent yelling at people. Unlike some, I didn’t want my staff to think that I was an ass. Even if my staff was just Tommy. Well, him and that delectable new girl.
I shook those thoughts from my head and turned my attention back to Marcel. “You found me carbon copies of my mother.” I gagged at the thought.
“You adore your mother.”
I rolled my eyes. “I tolerate my mother, but that doesn’t mean that I have any interest in being married to her.”
Marcel released a low breath. “All of these women are perfect for you.”
