Page 8 of The Boss
“Maybe the subject matter wasn’t entirely workplace appropriate,” Flora continued, “but how is discussing literature a firing offense? There’s nothing in the company’s policies about not talking about books.”
“I wasn’t reading a book!” Ashlee blurted out. Her cheeks colored.
Flora shot her one of the dirtiest looks I’d ever seen, and if the attitude she’d been showing hadn’t already been convincing me that she was full of shit, that would’ve done it right there. Still, I waited to see if Ashlee would clarify her statement, but she said nothing.
“What about it, Miss Watts?” I asked dryly. “Were the two of you discussing a book, or is there something you would like to amend about your statement?”
Flora’s mouth twisted into a scowl. “It’s not like I was saying anything mean.”
I raised an eyebrow. “I think I’ve heard enough. You’re suspended for the remainder of the week. I’ll be speaking with Stu and Suzie regarding your usual work to determine if you’ll be on probation when you return.”
She opened her mouth, then snapped it shut again.
Wise move.
“Out. Now.”
Flora scurried away, leaving Ashlee standing in my office, looking like she wanted to be anywhere but here.
“What about you?” I asked, leaning forward and putting my elbows on my desk. “What do you have to say about what I overheard?”
To my surprise, she finally looked at me, her expression smoothed out and blank. Her cheeks were still red but seemed to be completely under control now. No more impromptu statements from her.
“I was working on the assignment Ms. Lamas gave me.”
I wondered if I could get under her skin again, enough to get a genuine reaction rather than something thought out and calculated.
I raised an eyebrow. “And…?”
She shook her head. “And nothing. I was working.”
“Which means your friend was the one running her mouth about things she had no business talking about.”
Even though I didn’t need her to tell me that Flora had been the one talking about me, having a witness would make things easier if Flora decided not to take her punishment quietly. While I didn’t like hearing anyone talk about me, I knew that plenty of people suspected the sort of person I was like in private. If Flora wanted to lie, she could make my life extremely difficult.
“I asked a question, Miss Webb.”
“Actually, no, you didn’t.”
Okay, not as soft-spoken as I’d thought. She wasn’t talking loudly, but there was nothing soft about her resolve.
I rephrased. “Was your friend the one running her mouth about things she had no business talking about?”
Nothing.
“Are you going to claim I didn’t ask a question this time?”
“No, sir.”
Her quiet words hit me with a punch of lust. I took another look at her, this time letting myself see her as someone other than an employee.
She was more than a foot shorter than me, with fine features that could have made her look delicate if they’d been paired with a slender body. Instead, she had curves that my hands itched to explore. Normally, my women were thin, brittle in ways that went beyond physical.
Not that she was my woman.
Nothing even close to that.
And yet…
