Cool air collided with my overheated skin and I shivered. Fired? I had no more money left. This job was all I had.
“No,” I blurted out.
He looked at me as if he didn’t know why I was still standing there. His gaze sharpened. The way he looked at me now was predatory. Like he was going to leap over his desk and devour me any second. “Excuse me?” he said.
I cleared my throat. Blood pounded in my ears and the voice in my head screamed what the fuck are you doing? “I won’t let you fire me.”
He narrowed his gaze on me. The room seemed to shrink, yet I held my ground. I had nothing to lose. That’s what he didn’t get. That’s what would keep me from going down without a fight.
“If you let me keep my job, I won’t tell anyone what I saw tonight.” Oh god, now I was into blackmail? My entire body tensed, waited for him to toss me out the window like he could if he wanted.
His gaze darkened. “You enjoy scrubbing toilets so much that you would blackmail me to keep doing it?”
I gritted my teeth. Someone like him would not understand. People with so much money they could do whatever the hell they wanted without a second thought didn’t get the whole ‘support yourself because no one else will’ problem.
“I’d rather not starve and have to sleep in my car,” I said between clenched teeth.
One eyebrow lifted up. “In that case, why not go straight for what you want? Why not ask for money?”
Was he telling her to blackmail him for money? “That’s criminal.” I ignored the voice in my head telling me to do it. To blackmail him. But if I did, I’d be exactly the kind of person that Jacob accused me of being. No good. Worthless.
Madden snorted. “Like that’s ever stopped anyone. Surely you have your price Ms. Kinsey, everyone does.”
“You couldn’t afford it,” I blurted out. I pressed my fingers to my mouth. What the hell made me say that out loud? I was not going to demand money from him.
His gaze narrowed in on me and that same smirk from the picture turned his lips up. “Ten thousand dollars?”
The floor tilted and my mouth fell open. He said it as if it were nothing. With that much, I could get further away, well away from JACOB, and have enough left to start over. For real. My hand dropped to my side and I pulled my bottom lip between my teeth. So tempting.
When I looked up at him he was staring at my mouth.
I was all over the place and couldn’t think straight. Was I actually considering what he offered?
“Just letting me keep my job is fine, Mr. Cross,” I breathed out.
He stepped right in front of me again and used one finger to tilt my chin up. The air in my lungs froze. His eyes were dark and glittering with something that made my toes curl. “Call me Madden,” he said in a low, rumbly voice. His thumb drifted over my jawline and I almost tilted my head into his touch. Electricity followed in the wake of his touch, clouding my ability to think. Being this close to him was like taking a drug that made every nerve ending stretch tight while my blood felt like warmed honey.
I shook my head to try and clear the fog. “What?”
“My name. Say it, Ms. Kinsey and you have your ten thousand dollars.”
I swallowed loudly. It would be so easy to just say his name. My throat tightened and my mouth went dry. Why did he want this so badly? I could see it burning in his eyes. It was that desire that made me want to open my mouth and do what he asked.
Why was I fighting it so hard? Wasn’t money exactly what I needed? Why I‘d started working here in the first place. With one word I could have more than I needed to get further away from Maine than I had planned.
“And yet you hesitate still. Interesting.”
Madden…Yes in my head I could call him that.
He leaned closer. “I don’t know many people who still have principles, Ms. Kinsey. You intrigue me.”
I could not hold back the shudder when he slid his hand down the column of my neck. He held me there, firm but not forceful. I could step away if I wanted, but I didn’t. Not while he was looking at me like that. “Should