ask me to come in here to work, it’d be nice if you knew what we were going to work on,” I said in an icy tone.
“Okay, fine. How about we work on how to focus on our work? Or maybe how to tell our so-called best friend to stop visiting us during working hours. No, wait. How about we work on treating our superiors with respect?”
Standing there completely stunned, I lost the last of my composure. “You have got to be kidding me,” I said as I turned and walked out of his office.
“Aly, get back here!” he yelled.
Without turning around, I yelled back at him. “No! I think I’m done working with you for the day. Let me know when you get some sense back, then we can talk.”
I grabbed my purse and started to storm out of our main doors. Before I could get there, I felt his hand latch onto my wrist as he spun me around. That made me even more furious so I smacked his chest in anger. He grabbed my hands and leaned down to my ear.
“Get back in my office now,” he said, his breath hot against my face.
Hearing people coming down the hall, I didn’t want to cause a scene. Angry that I had to give into him, I broke away from his hold and stormed back into his office. Sitting down, I heard the door close behind him.
Walking over to his desk, he didn’t take his eyes off of me. I squirmed, hating that I was feeling extremely attracted to him at that moment. He just needed to leave me alone.
He perched himself on top of his desk right in front of me. As he leaned back on his arms, I saw the muscles ripple and I shuddered. Maybe working with him wasn’t such a good decision anymore.
A lazy grin appeared on his face. Did he notice my shudder? Please no, I said to myself. I would die.
Showing a calm I truly didn’t possess, I looked up at him and refused to cower. He could not know how he affected me, especially after what he said this morning.
As I stared at him, he leaned forward and put his hands beside me. Because I refused to lean back, our faces were extremely close. When I got a whiff of his cologne, I nearly groaned.
“Aly, what am I going to do with you?” he asked in a low tone.
Surprised, I said the first thing that came to my mind. “I don’t know, Paul. I’m wondering what I’m going to do with you.”
That made him throw his head back and laugh. I felt even more annoyed and scowled at him. He tried to hold back his laughter, but didn’t do a very good job of it.
“I fail to see how this is funny,” I said.
He stood and went to sit behind his desk. I sighed at the space between us. I couldn’t think clearly when he was so close. I needed to work on that.
“You amuse me, that’s all,” he replied.
Not liking that, I crossed my arms against my chest and glared at him. He was really getting on my nerves. Before I could tell him that, his cell phone started ringing.
Cursing under his breath, he picked it up and glanced at the screen to see who was calling. Pressing a button, it immediately stopped. I guessed at who was calling, which made me even more upset. It was good he didn’t answer, but she never failed at letting me know she existed.
“Sorry about that. You know, you’re really cute when you’re mad.”
“Okay, Paul. I’ve had it. You can’t tell me one thing this morning and then say things like that to me this afternoon. You made it quite clear we only work together and that it should stay that way. So I’m putting my foot down and asking you to please do that.”
Whoa, where did that come from? Am I crazy? No, he doesn’t get to play by two sets of rules.
Taken aback, he stared at me. “You’re right.”
Disappointed he didn’t fight me on it, I sighed. I have worked for this man for three years and never once had things been awkward between us, until now. Still confused as to why, I decided to finally to ask him.
“What’s going on, Paul? Things have never been awkward between us the whole time we’ve worked together. Why now?”
I could tell he didn’t like the question. He looked at me with confusion. He opened