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My shove sent him reeling backward, fighting for balance. I yanked one of my high-heeled shoes out of my bag. “Touch me again, and you get this heel right through your eye,” I warned.
Clemens stumbled black, blinking frantically. “You crazy bitch! I’m calling security!”
Ethan held the elevator door open. “I’ll share, Hugh.” There was laughter in his voice. “In the interests of saving your eyesight. Or maybe your life.”
He leaned out, and effortlessly scooped me into the elevator. I stayed right there, in the circle of his arms, astonished. For one…two…three seconds.
What the fuck had just happened? That was…unprecedented.
He’d touched me without warning, and I hadn’t exploded into automatic defense mode. My few male friends had learned, to their cost, not to touch me without fair warning. I needed to clench my teeth, breathe deep, brace myself for the contact. Or else it turned into a bad scene, with bruises, torn ligaments, hurt feelings.
And this guy had just grabbed me and pulled me, out of nowhere. He had practically embraced me. And I hadn’t slugged or elbowed or kicked or torqued or chopped or finger-stabbed him at all. Nothing.
The elevator doors began to close.
“Hey!” Clemens trotted forward, hands up. “No! Ethan! Wait—”
The doors shut in his face.
CHAPTER3
Ethan
The gorgeous blonde edged away from me.
Fine, no problem. I was cool with whatever she wanted. In any case, hearing that stunning Amazon babe threaten Hugh Clemens with mayhem had already improved the quality of my day by a factor of ten.
I hit “L” on the panel for her. “That was interesting,” I ventured.
She shrugged. “Nice way of putting it,” she said. “Depends on your point of view, I guess. Are you sure you’re safe in here? All alone in an elevator with the psycho receptionist from hell?”
I grinned at her, realizing it had been a while since my face muscles had performed that function for me. They were stiff and rusty at it. “I think I can survive for a couple minutes in the elevator with a disgruntled employee.”
She let out a sharp laugh. “Disgruntled, my ass. Totally confused is more like it. I’m a temp, and it was my first day! My first few minutes, for God’s sake. I hadn’t even figured out how the phone system worked yet. I’d never seen that dickwad in my entire life, and he gets his panties in a twist because I don’t automatically guess he’s the boss? I’m supposed to intuit his name with no introduction? I really don’t think it’s me this time. I swear to God, I don’t.”
“No, certainly not,” I murmured soothingly.
“Maybe I shouldn’t have threatened him with violence,” she conceded. “But he asked for it when he grabbed my arm. That was way out of line.”
“By all means,” I said blandly.
Her golden gaze raked me up and down. “I am in no mood to be condescended to, or made fun of.”
“Got it. I’m not, absolutely. I want to keep both my eyes.”
She waved her hand. “Oh, stop it,” she muttered. “That bonehead had it coming.” She fished a smartphone out of her big shoulder bag and peeked at it. “Text from the temp agency. I think I’ll let that one cool off before I touch it.”
“Good instinct,” I agreed.
She crossed her arms over her chest, shaking her head. She looked baffled. “Wow,” she murmured. “You know, I’ve been fired before, but I’ve never pissed off my boss to the point of no return that quickly. I mean, whoa. Five minutes. That’s a personal best.”
“Congratulations,” I offered.
That earned me a glare, but I just grinned back, all innocence.
She smiled, a little reluctantly. “Sorry for babbling about it,” she said. “It’s not your problem. Or your business, for that matter.”
“Don’t apologize.” I held out his hand. “Ethan Masters.”
