Brazen Bossman: A Hero Club Novel, стр. 19
From: Lennox, Nathanial
To: Kingston, Piper
Subject: RE: Initial Twisted Vines Read Through
That makes two of us, Ms. Kingston.
Thank you for this. I’ll be sure to take a look at this and see what else is needed before we move it on to editing.
You should get some sleep. You need it.
Nathanial
Within a few minutes, a reply pings from the speakers.
From: Kingston, Piper
To: Lennox, Nathanial
Subject: RE: Initial Twisted Vines Read Through
You need sleep as well. You tend to be quite cranky in the morning.
Had I known you’d be awake, I wouldn’t have sent this until morning, because now I know you’ll review instead of sleep.
How about I’ll sleep if you sleep? Deal?
Piper
A sudden and very real image pops in my head of her, in my bed, hair tousled from sex, wrapped in my sheets, beckoning me to come sleep with her. It’s unwelcome, unexpected, but fuck if it isn’t all I can think about now.
From: Lennox, Nathanial
To: Kingston, Piper
Subject: RE: Initial Twisted Vines Read Through
Aren’t I the boss here? You’re very brave over email, Ms. Kingston.
But that is a fair deal. I will go to bed now, as long as you do as well.
Can I trust you?
Nathanial
I don’t mean to come off as flirtatious as I am, but there is something about this woman that brings it out of me in an unexpected way.
I tuck my phone into the pocket of my slacks and head up the white, tiled stairs toward my bedroom. As soon as I step through the threshold and turn on the lights, I feel my phone vibrate in my pocket.
From: Kingston, Piper
To: Lennox, Nathanial
Subject: RE: Initial Twisted Vines Read Through
I have a feeling if you couldn’t trust me, I wouldn’t still work for you.
I’m getting into bed now.
I’ll see you tomorrow, Mr. Lennox.
Goodnight.
Piper
From: Lennox, Nathanial
To: Kingston, Piper
Subject: RE: Initial Twisted Vines Read Through
Sleep well, Ms. Kingston.
Nathanial
Once I’m changed into a pair of sleep pants, sans shirt, I slide into my soft sheets and for the first time in a long time, I drift off to sleep, but not without visions of a beautiful raven-haired Piper in my mind.
Chapter 7
Piper
Come see me when you arrive.
The email mocks me on my computer screen. Nathanial and I haven’t spoken in person since I walked out of his office two days ago after the almost kiss. We had a very cordial, even slightly… flirtatious… email exchange last night, but that doesn’t make me feel any more settled. I half-expect him to fire me for what happened that day. The text message, while sent on my own time, was highly inappropriate. The way we behaved after he read it, even more so.
Between constantly thinking about him and my mom and Kingston’s, my brain is fried, and I want to cry.
I pull a small mirror from my bag, check to make sure my makeup is still okay after walking from the subway station to the office in the rain, then I make my way to the lion’s den.
I pause outside of the frosted glass door, shake the nerves from my hands then knock.
“Come in.” The smooth baritone of his voice slides through the glass and makes my heart race like a teenager with a fucking crush, and it pisses me off.
I push open the door with my chin held high; ready to take whatever he throws at me like the badass woman I am. Whether he fires me, rejects me, berates me, or worse… I can handle it.
“You wanted to see me?”
“I did. Close the door and have a seat, Ms. Kingston.”
He didn’t shave this morning, so his beard is thicker today than normal, and I’d by lying if I said I didn’t immediately think about nuzzling my face against it to feel the coarseness against my soft cheeks until it left scratches on me.
“Mr. Lennox, I…”
“Nathanial. Call me Nathanial.” He places his forearms on the desk and leans forward, folding his hands together.
“Nathanial. Okay. Um, Nathanial, first and foremost…”
“Before you continue with whatever speech you inevitably prepared because you have overthought this situation between us to death, let me say something. Can you do that? Let me talk without interrupting and just listen to what I say?”
I fight the urge to respond with a smart-ass remark, and simply nod my head.
“Good girl.”
Yep. There it is. My heart just fell to my pussy. I need to get a handle on that. It’s starting to become a problem when I’m around him.
“It seems as if we are both trying to ignore what happened between us the other day. Would you say that’s fair?”
Once again, I only nod.
“We are both adults. We both know what happened between us, while it wasn’t much in a technical way, was highly unethical, against all policies, and simply put… wrong.”
I swallow the large knot that is forming in my throat as I watch him rise from his seat to stand, towering over me even from the other side of the desk.
“As I said that day, I should fire you. I should kick you out on your ass without a care in the world and move on with my day as if you never existed. Let’s face it, there are a thousand people out there I could place in your job, and my day-to-day professional life would never change.”
He walks around to my side of the desk and stops just in front of me, sitting back to perch on the edge of the desk and cross his arms over his chest. The new position forces me to arch my neck to look up at him. This is a power move. He likes hovering over me like this, and I have to say… I don’t mind the view.
“But that isn’t what I want to do right now.”
He reaches out brushes a stray piece of hair behind my ear, softly caressing my lobe before he pulls away. My eyes drop closed at the contact. How can a simple touch feel like an explosion?
“What