Sizzle(3)
Yeah, so do I, Molly thought dryly. Unfortunately, she doubted it would ever happen. When it came to romantic relationships, Devil was missing a sensitivity chip. Extending her hand, she smiled again. “It really was a pleasure, Carolyn.”
Shaking the younger woman’s slender hand, Carolyn smiled weakly. “You’re smart, Molly. I could tell that about you right away. Be careful, okay? Don’t let yourself get caught up in his web.”
“Don’t worry. I won’t,” Molly assured her with a dismissive grin. Getting ensnared in Devil’s web would require that he see her as a woman rather than his best friend’s baby sister.
Needless to say, it wasn’t likely to happen. While Molly considered herself to be passably pretty, every prima donna that had hung on Devil’s arm could only be described as ravishingly beautiful. Their runway-model looks far outshone her cute but curvy figure. And since she wasn’t going to deprive herself of her Ben & Jerry’s any time soon, she was comfortable with her size eight hips, thank you very much. Smarter than the average lab rat (her SATs declared her so!), she felt confident that she could outsmart that sizzling son of a bitch who cowered behind his office door!
Oh no, the Devil’s web was one location she was fairly certain she’d never be.
And somewhere in the Universe, a bitch named Fate cackled maniacally.
Chapter Two
Waiting impatiently until the steel doors of the elevator had slid shut on a devastated and tearful Carolyn Miller, Molly wheeled on her sensible heels and stormed toward her employer’s office.
He’d made her make another woman cry, for God’s sake. One that she really liked! This was a new low even for the taciturn man behind the closed doors, and Molly was at the end of her limited patience with his antics.
Carolyn had been nice, damn it!
Shoving the barrier between them open with the force of a bullet, the door bounced against the wall as her eyes narrowed on the intended target of her righteous rage.
“You!” she shouted, pointing an accusing finger at the elegantly dressed businessman. His dark hair was slightly mussed, but his tie was still in a perfect Windsor knot. The better for her to strangle him with later, she thought darkly.
“Yes?” Devil queried calmly from behind his desk without looking up from his computer screen. The jerk was unfazed by her enraged entrance to his lair.
“You have got to have the coldest heart this side of the Mississippi, William Delancy! I know for a fact that you were raised better than that! Between your Nana and my own mother, you are well aware that a Southern gentleman does not treat women in the manner to which you appear to have grown accustomed,” Molly addressed him heatedly, launching into her standard sermon as he merely sat there in front of her. Her lectures had never been particularly effective before, but maybe today would be her lucky day.
Offering his youthful assistant a long look, Devil’s lips twitched. He’d known Molly since she was born. Hell, he’d been there when the Ramsey family had brought her home from the hospital. She’d been as cranky then as she was now. Arching one brow, he schooled his handsome face into resigned boredom, then said, “That might be an issue if I’d ever promoted myself to be a gentleman, Molly Brown. I do believe, however, I have painstakingly cultivated a reputation the opposite of that. Besides, I hardly think scolding me on my love life is part of your job description.”
Flushing, Molly’s pink lips pressed together as he used his infuriating nickname for her. “First, don’t call me that. You know how much I hate it!”
“I do. I just don’t care,” he replied to needle her, unperturbed by her ire. He was used to it. Honestly, he kind of enjoyed having someone around that wasn’t afraid to yell at him. Most people tiptoed around him and spoke only in whispers.
Not Molly.
She said whatever the hell she thought whenever the hell she thought it – regardless of all thoughts of consequence. She simply didn’t give a damn.
Ignoring his patronizing look, she barreled forward in her diatribe. “Second, I’ll reprimand you any time I feel like your love life is having a direct impact on my psychological wellbeing, you ass!”
“Pretty words,” he mocked, amused. “Your mother would frown upon the unladylike behavior, little one,” Devil criticized with a cluck of his tongue. He grinned when her cheeks went that faint scarlet color that he enjoyed so much. Obviously the old adage about redheads and their tempers was indeed accurate!
“Oh, shut up!” Molly snapped, turning to slam his door closed with a flick of her wrist. It was a huge office building with hundreds of employees, but no one would dare cross that threshold of his personal office if the door was shut. She was certain that she didn’t want any witnesses when she committed coldblooded murder on his person. There was that whole reasonable doubt thing to think about, after all. Turning to stalk toward his desk, she glowered. “My mother wouldn’t have time to be mad at me if she knew just how much of a Don Juan you’ve become. Honest to God, you’re going to drive me to drink, Devil!”