he couldn’t see his hand now. If I did anything, I would be the one who’d come out of it looking bad.
But that didn’t mean I was going to let this guy touch me when I didn’t want him to. It didn’t matter to me who he was. I wasn’t simply going to sit here and let him do whatever he wanted to me. I also definitely wasn’t going to wait until an appropriate opportunity presented itself to quietly speak to him about his behavior.
Slapping his hand on my leg, I shoved it away from me with a little more force this time. When I glanced at him, however, there was another grin playing around his lips. There was also laughter and excitement mixed with lust in his eyes when he caught me looking at him.
Ah. shit. He thinks this is a game. It seemed like he was just one of those guys who couldn’t believe that someone would actually say no to them.
Think, Leah. Think. What would a nice, sweet girl who’s supposed to be an American Sweetheart do?
The truth was that I had no idea. The only sibling I’d had was a brother. He’d taught me how to stand up for myself and how to handle men like this one, and none of the methods he’d showed me were ones Jefferson would take kindly to.
I was still trying to figure it out when his hand was suddenly on me again. This time, he hadn’t bothered to waste time with my leg. He’d gone straight for gold, laying his fingers so high up on my thigh that he was touching my vulva, and Lady V didn’t like that at all.
Yeah. That’s it. He’s pushed me far enough.
Before I could spare another thought to Jefferson and the persona I was putting on, I snapped at René.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” I fumed as I glanced down, seeing his golden-ringed fingers when he tried to move them even higher. “I’ve been nothing but clear with you since the minute you walked in here. I don’t want you and I certainly don’t want your sleazy hands all over me.”
I pushed my chair out, my chest heaving as I shot daggers at him with my eyes. “I don’t care about your name, your money, or your influence. I don’t want to see your suite, go for a ride, or have you make alternative flight arrangements for me. What is it about any of this you don’t understand?”
He arched a brow at me, but he still looked like he was enjoying himself far too much. Like he thought this was all part of the game.
“You might put U and I together if you could rearrange the alphabet, but I’d keep it just the way it is so N stays next to the O,” I said. “Also, the only way I’d have let you inspect my injuries after I fell from heaven was if I’d suffered a head injury.”
It looked like he was starting to realize I was being serious, but I wasn’t done yet. “If it was with you, my favorite position would be the moon. That way, you’d have to get hundreds of thousands of miles away from me.”
My true self was completely out now, and it felt so damn good to finally be able to set him straight, but then a soft scraping sound drew my attention away from him. It seemed the sound had come from Jefferson moving his chair, and as soon as I looked in my boss’s direction, my mood crashed instantly.
Oh. Fuck. I might only have been standing up for myself, but from his tense jaw and the thunder in his eyes, Jefferson hadn’t enjoyed me doing it. I could be in real trouble here. I might even just have lost this opportunity.
I felt the blood draining from my cheeks, and I slumped back in my chair as René gaped at me like he couldn’t believe what he’d just heard. Frankly, since I couldn’t believe what I’d just done, we had the disbelief thing in common.
The only difference was that he’d be going back to his fancy suite tonight, whereas I might be thrown out on my ass on a different continent. Here’s to hoping they’ll at least fly me home.
Chapter 28
DANE
Oops. I couldn’t decide whether I should’ve been clapping or profusely apologizing to the man Leah had just verbally torched. I was damn proud of her for standing up for herself, though. I’d suspected