My (Mostly) Secret Baby: A Grumpy Boss Romantic Comedy(10)

The silence was broken by the receptionist. “She’s here to interview, but Jason called out this morning. I was telling her she’d need to reschedule.”

Damon started walking, then paused after a few steps and half turned. “Are you coming or not, Tinkerbell?”

He still remembered that stupid nickname?

Now the receptionist wasn’t trying to hide the awe in her face. It was like I’d grown an angel halo and wings. I had to fight the urge to wink at her before scurrying after Damon.

He was already in the elevator when I reached him. He tapped the button for the top floor and waited.

Don’t say thank you. Don’t even acknowledge his vileness. Just stand here and let this play out, because you need the money, but you also don’t need to show gratitude to the devil himself.

“Thanks,” I said quietly. Damn it, Chelsea.

He stood silently until the elevator let us out on the top floor. “There’s a conference room nobody uses on the next floor. Did you come for round two?”

I looked at him in disgust. “You think I’d go to the trouble of setting up an interview again just to sleep with you?”

He shrugged. “I don’t really know the first thing about you. I have no idea what you would or wouldn’t do.”

“Then know this.”

I paused when the elevator doors opened and a couple of young women filed in, but not before giving Damon a pair of salacious looks. I had to lower my voice and lean in toward him to finish my thought.

“I’m never letting that happen again. And I scheduled an interview here because it’s the last agency I haven’t applied to. Shockingly, I hoped to avoid working for you.”

“I see.”

I balled my fists at my side. That was all? I see? In a split second, I felt all the frustration and rage I felt toward Damon boil over in a blinding flash. I spun and punched his arm as hard as I could.

The two women behind us gasped, putting their hands to their mouths. Damon looked down at the spot I’d hit him and then took me by the wrist. The doors opened a moment later and he walked me out with him, then spun me against the wall.

There was rage in his eyes, but something else, too. “Nobody touches me. Nobody fucking punches me. Especially not in front of my employees.”

“Those were your employees? They looked like they were former fuckbuddies from the way they were eyeballing you.”

The nostrils on his annoyingly perfect nose flared. “Tell me, Tinkerbell. Why do you think you would be a good fit here at Rose?”

“You tested the fit five years ago and didn’t have any complaints.”

There was a pause, then the hint of a smile. “Funny. So your contribution to my company would be a childish sense of humor? Thanks, but I’ll pass.”

“My contribution would be that I wouldn’t just tell you ‘yes.’” I gestured to a pair of men who walked by with their heads bent and their eyes down as they passed us. It was a guess, but I had a feeling it was one with a fair shot at being dead on. “You’re trying to run a company but everybody who works for you is too busy ducking their heads and avoiding eye contact, right? I’ve already shown you I’ll stare you in the eye and speak my mind. You need someone like me.”

Damon finally took a step back, making me feel like I could breathe again. He planted his hands on his hips, then scratched at the stubble on his chin, sizing me up. “Let me make something clear. I don’t need anyone. Nothing. Least of all someone like you. Look around you. All of this is mine. My fucking empire. But I’d very much enjoy watching you try to survive in my world.” He took a step toward me and tugged at the material of my shirt with his fingertips. “But when you show up for work tomorrow, try to wear something more presentable.”

I thought about presenting him with two middle fingers, or maybe my foot between his legs. Instead, I giddily danced inside because I’d landed the job.

It had taken a bizarre streak of luck and circumstance for it to happen, but it was mine. I may not know what the job was, exactly, or what it paid. All I knew was Damon Rose challenged me once and I failed. This time, it was going to be different.

This time I was going to prove he had underestimated me. And maybe, just maybe, I’d get a chance to find out what kind of man the father of my child really was.





5





Damon





Behind me, huge paneled windows lined my office wall. I had a clear view of the rectangular slice of green Central Park cut through New York City. Buildings like my own shot up around the edges. People I’d never meet hurried from place to place hundreds of feet below.

It made me think about something I’d heard before: imagine how dumb the average person is, then realize that means half of the world is dumber than that. I peeled myself from my thoughts to look at my brother, who might well reside in that lower half.

Chris sat across from me in my office with his fingers templed below his chin, as if he was contemplating some genius level topic in his mind.

“What?” I didn’t bother to hide the irritation I felt. I was trying to figure out a PR scandal one of my basketball players had ignited in the middle of the night, and I wasn’t in the mood to deal with my brother’s shit.

“I’m just trying to figure out who the hell came up with sausages and hot dogs. Like… Who opens up an animal, sees intestines, and says, ‘you know what would be delicious? Let’s grind up this animal and stuff it inside its own intestines!’”