Initiate Me(18)
“He’s a Neanderthal,” I stated. “I want to work under you or Marco. Not him.”
“Come on, Mia; you know you’d love to be under me. Just admit it, angel, and stop tattle-telling to your brother.”
Every muscle in my body went rigid at that deep baritone. I turned around and had to brace myself when I saw Zane lounging against the doorjamb to Max's office. “Don’t you ever knock?” He winked, which only infuriated me more.
“The door wasn’t closed, and your voice tends to carry. I was curious as to what bee was in your bonnet this time.”
I stepped toward him and gritted out, “Stop telling me what to do, Zane! I’m fed up with—”
“Enough!” Max shouted. “Both of you, get the hell in here and close the damn door.” He turned to his PA and growled, “Winter, hold all my calls for the next fifteen minutes.” I recognised my brother’s tone. Max rarely got angry, but when he did, it was wise not to push him. I stepped closer to his desk and sat in the chair facing him. I refused to look at Zane, even though I could hear the door closing behind me.
“Sit down, Zane,” Max said, his voice accepting no argument. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Zane take the chair next to me. “Mia, I asked you to work with Zane because that’s where you’re needed right now. I need a marketing representative for the hotels and that’s what you’re good at. You need to learn the ropes of the business first before going out to the wineries. Also, with Jada and myself going through the IVF programme in Adelaide this month, I need Marco and Zane to pick up some of my slack. That means you need to pick up some of their slack. You knew this when you took the job; you knew it wasn’t going to all be in the agricultural field.”
I was so pissed but I knew what Max said was all true. Even though my degree was in Agricultural Science, I knew what I was getting myself into when Max offered me my internship. I was desperate to work in my family company so badly, I’d purposely squashed my concerns about working alongside his sexy and way-too-attractive best friend.
Ever since I’d known him, he put me on edge, and since Max and Jada’s wedding, our relationship was never the same. He took every opportunity to rub me up the wrong way. Or maybe the real problem was he rubbed me just exactly the right way, which scared the hell out of me. I admit I was tipsy at the wedding and threw myself at him. Since then, I was more than embarrassed and a bit intimidated by him and it pissed me off.
“I need to know if this is going to work,” Max said, his gaze bouncing from me to Zane then back again. “You two have been going at it for weeks now, and it’s driving me fucking nuts. With all the IVF schedules, I can’t afford to be any crazier than I already am. I need to focus on that and Jada; both of you know how important this is to her.”
“Max, I don’t have a problem with Mia working with me,” Zane said, his voice full of confidence. “She’s efficient, clever and pretty easy on the eye, as well.”
I bit my lip at his easy on the eye comment, clasped my hands in my lap and barely kept myself from saying something I’d surely regret. “The only problem I have is you can’t take no for an answer.”
Zane chuckled. “Really, angel? Because I can’t recall ever asking you to do anything you didn’t want to do.”
Oh, my God, if he so much as mentions what happened at the wedding, I’m going to die of embarrassment! He constantly tortured me with little hints and flashbacks to our little ‘interlude’ the night of the wedding. God, he’d never let me forget it. It seemed like he took great pleasure in pushing me and getting me to fantasise about things I had no business imagining. Having sexual fantasies about Zane created havoc in my mind. I looked over at him from under my lashes and caught him leering at me. I gave it back to him and stared back.
The heat in his gaze couldn’t be missed. He wanted me; I could feel it, sense it. Yet I tried to evade any signals he sent my way because I had no idea what to do with a man as potent as Zane – unless I was inebriated with alcohol, of course. But having to see him and work with him every day was going to make me snap. I needed to talk to someone about it, but Jada was too preoccupied with her baby-making process and Milan...well, Milan’s advice was what made me throw myself at Zane in the first place anyway. And that didn’t turn out too flash, did it?
I sure as hell didn’t want be another notch on his belt. I knew Zane was hurt by someone because he didn’t try to hide the fact he wasn’t into long-term relationships. And I was most definitely not interested in being one of his conquests.