IN BED WITH THE BOSS

Damn! The silent curse burned its way around his head in protest for letting this thing between them go this far. Two damn long weeks after that night and she was still here driving him crazy.

A curse locked in his throat. Vivian Sanchez might not like him, but she lusted after him with a fever she was too inept to keep hidden, though he was equally certain that she was not aware that she was so transparent.

She made him think of a living, breathing sexual grenade with the pin dangling halfway out-half precocious woman, half infuriating child. She heat him up like no woman had ever done, and he wanted her in his bed!

Scott made a grab at the thread of this discussion. “Call Senator Adams “he instructed.” Tell him I’m no longer interested in doing business with them.”

“Me-?” Vivian gasped.”Why? But I don’t -”

“And bring me some coffee,” he cut over her protest and sat forward to “And remind Anne to tell the account manager that I will be out for two hours at lunch.”

“But…Scott please,” Vivian murmured painfully. “I don’t know how to do what you said!”

“Make coffee?’ he incised with a cruelty he actually enjoyed inflicting.

“Tell somebody a deal is to be broken!’

“Then you are about to ride yet another steep learning curve,” he relayed without a hint of care. “And just for the record, If you feel like I’m touching you too much, then maybe you stop taking swipes at me by the way you dress, or the way you look at me. As for the other night, walking away after kissing me like that was juvenile and very annoying. If you hated it so much, then you wouldn’t have kissed me back. Now I have some calls to make.”

Dismissed, appalled, devastated-whipped by his cold assassination-Vivian picked up her bag, spun away and walked across his office on legs that shook. She rushed to get his coffee, but she was still very angry when she got out of the elevator.

Juvenile and annoying…..

“I hate him,” Vivian whispered as she passed Betty’s desk. “I really really hate him.”

“Did you say something?” Betty, who was sitting at her desk, asked her.

Wishing she was dead or at least far, far away from this place, Vivian stumbled across to her office, followed closely by Betty, to sink down in the chair behind her desk before her trembling legs crumbled altogether.

“He’s in a very bad mood today and I hate him.” she said.

“We all do sometimes, darlin’,” Betty responded dryly. “Our gorgeous boss is pure sex on legs but can also be as cold as ice. It’s such a waste of good male flesh.”

Sitting back in a chair, blonde curls bounced on her head as she gave Vivian’s pale face the once-over. “Bit your head off, did he?” Betty asked.

More than just my head, Vivian thought tragically. “I don’t know how his previous assistants or even you have put up with him for as long as you have.”

“I don’t think he’s like that all the time. Maybe he’s just having a bad day. Besides, I’m immune. I’ve got my own sexy brute to go home to each evening, and he’s never cold.”

“He wants me to cancel the deal with Senator Adams” Vivian said.

Betty went still. “Really? Mr McCall is throwing away such a lucrative deal. I don’t believe it. Do you know why?”

“He didn’t tell me.”

His harsh rebuff was still striking her as hard as everything else. It was like being cut off from the main lifeline which kept her functioning. She might hate him sometimes but she reveled in being around him. Why had she told him he constantly touched her? Why hadn’t she kept her big mouth shut?Contentt bel0ngs to N0ve/lDrâ/ma.O(r)g!

“Maybe something personal happened,” Betty said gently.

Blinking her ridiculously long eyelashes Vivian brought her gaze into focus on the other woman, read her sympathetic expression and went hot.

“He wants coffee.” Looking away she stood and walked across the office to the window. Then on impulse she begged Betty, “Will you take it to him for me? I don’t think I can stand another visit in there right now.”

“Sure…” Betty replied.

Always relaxed, always sunny, Betty came to touch her arm. “Vivian… she posed gently,” Take a bit of advice from someone a bit older and so wiser than you are…get yourself a man.”

Glancing up, Vivian groaned,”Oh, Damn. Am I so obvious?”

Betty’s sympathetic smile said it all. “You know, when you first arrived here, it took you barely a week to win us all over. You’re hard-working, sweet and nice, and I’m sure you can surely find someone if you open up…. Michael for example…”

Vivian started despising herself for bringing this lecture on.

“He really likes you, Vivian.” Betty pressed on her. “I know I tease him a lot when he says it, but he really is into you. As for Mr McCall, I don’t know.”

Vivian almost choked on her own saliva. Why was she bringing up Scott in this conversation? Unless…. She suspected that something was going on.

“Why Mr McCall?” she dared to ask.

Betty smiled. “I have eyes, Vivian, and I’m not judging. Trust me. I understand, but I’m just looking out for you. He’s your boss, and I don’t want him to hurt you.”

Vivian felt some crazy need to defend Scott McCall even though he did not deserve it. “But he’s not always an asshole.”

“Yes.” Betty couldn’t argue with that. “But he’s never in a stable, serious relationship with anyone. They all receive a farewell gift after a brief relationship. By next week another woman just like her will have been put in her place. It’s the way he works. The way he likes to keep it,” Betty stressed.”He’s an amazing risk taker in the business arena. An absolute financial genius everybody admires and respects, and he’s commendably honest and committed to any promises he makes-in business-but in his personal life? I don’t think he is ready or will ever be ready to make a commitment to anyone…. .”

Betty shook her head and continued. “He’s a smooth, cool, bone-meltingly gorgeous sexual predator. He does not connect sex with his emotions-if he has any when it comes to relationships-the jury is still out on that. So take my advice and don’t go there. Don’t even want to go there because if he decides to take you he will spoil you forever. So get yourself a man,” she repeated,” Another man, and wean yourself off Scott McCall while you still can.”

“Where is my coffee?” a voice said behind them.

Both women jumped guiltily and turned to see Scott standing in the office doorway. By his closed expression there was no way they could tell if he’d overheard them talking about him, but for the first time since she’d started working here, Vivian saw two hot coins of guilt hit Betty’s creamy cheekbones and knew her own cheeks wore the same hot sting.

Good, Scott thought, tamping down hard on his anger for the second time this morning as he strode across the room to take the tray from Vivian’s table, then strode back out of the office with it without uttering another word.

Get yourself a man…His lips compressed into a tight line as he set down the tray. Why had he not thought of offering Vivian the same piece of advice? The answer to that question was not a nice one. But then, as Betty had just pointed out to Vivian, he wasn’t nice. It rankled-the not-nice part and the man part.

Throwing himself down in his chair Scott swung it around to face the window. So he was a sexual predator who didn’t respect women. A flash of irritation shot across his face. He did respect them or why the hell did he restrict himself to the kind that preferred to play the game the way he liked to play it? He wasn’t looking for love. He was not looking for marriage, so he steered well clear of the kind of women looking for either or both. And that was respecting them, he determined. He wasn’t sure if Vivian would be open to the kind of relationship that he wanted, but still, It would have been nice if Betty had recognised that he didn’t disrespect women or preying on anyone. That was the kind of thing Bruce Bennet did and he was nothing like that bastard.

Vaguely surprised that there was a dose of hurt rolling round inside him, Scott frowned. He was good to his staff, fair-generous, as Betty had pointed out. He’d believed he had their respect.

Betty had shocked him with her view of him. It angered him that she’d felt it necessary to warn Vivian off. Was he really that bad?

He rested a long forefinger along the line of his mouth where the smooth skin covering his lips felt tightly stretched, his eyes narrowed by an unwanted feeling of distaste at the idea of Vivian turning all of that untapped passion on for some other man.