“I sincerely doubt that.”
“Why?” The question barely makes it out of my mouth.
“Ms. Schaffer, you’re so motivated it makes the Energizer bunny look lazy. Why don’t you think any business on the island wouldn’t hire you?”
“It’s complicated.”
“Because Ms. Sarzó’s opinion has so much influence?”
“Yes.”
This is the truth that I almost never admit out loud, to anyone. If I falter, disappoint Sandra, she could put an end to my career in this industry. It’s happened before.
Jax looks like he wants to ask more, but instead he folds his hands together on top of the desk.
“Would you like to know what I think?”
“Yes,” I whisper.
“I think you need some…release.”
The way the final word curls off his tongue sends shivers down my spine, straight to the throbbing space between my legs.
“That’s not—we can’t talk about—”
He slaps both hands down on the surface of the desk and I jump. “We can talk about whatever I want to talk about. This is my publication, remember?”
A part of me is screaming that this is sexual harassment of some kind, that it’s not right for him to speak to me this way in the office.
But most of me responds instantly to his dominating tone, leaning into it, heating up.
“Yes. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t apologize unless I ask you to.” He switches so easily to another mode. I saw a glimpse of it in the car on Tuesday night but I was too timid to respond to it then, too overtaken by the champagne and the party.
“All right.”
“As I was saying, it’s clear to me that you need a way to release some of your nervous energy.” As he speaks, he stands and comes around the desk, then kneels next to my chair so he can whisper into my ear. “I can assist you with that.”
“You can?” The heat of his breath on the sensitive spot just below my earlobe is driving me wild.
“Of course. You didn’t think I came here just to micromanage your boss, did you?”
I can’t speak. I shake my head.
“You’re right. I didn’t. I came here because there’s something about you, Ms. Schaffer, something about you that makes me want to do all kinds of filthy things to you.”
This is on another level. My entire body stiffens, but he places his hand on mine and strokes gently.
“Let’s make an arrangement.”
I match his whispered tone. “What kind of arrangement?”
“You give yourself to me, completely, for thirty minutes, every day at 5:00. And I’ll make it worth your time.”
Goose bumps cover my skin from my head to my toes.
He’s not finished.
“Everything between us will take place in this office, during our scheduled meetings. Forget the party—that was just an impulse we both surrendered to. From here on out, there are no strings. No attachments. One month, and it’s over.”
The timeframe coincides perfectly with the release of the second issue.
The truth—the ugly, shameful truth that I’ll never admit to out loud—is that I’m starting to crack under the stress of being so goddamn perfect every day, in every way. But something has to give.
It might as well be my insistence on staying far away from Jax Hunter. My track record on that has been less than stellar anyway.
So I don’t hesitate.
“Okay,” I breathe, my hands tightening on the arms of the chair. “One month.”
“Are you entirely sure?”
“Yes.”
“Good. We’ll begin tomorrow.”
Chapter Fifteen
Jax
I don’t know what the fuck I’m thinking when I kneel down next to the most beautiful woman ever to walk the earth and tell her that she’s going to spend half an hour every day as my personal property for the next month. Sex with my employees has always been forbidden, for a thousand reasons, not the least of which is because I refuse to have that kind of tension on the job.
I started shooting holes in that personal standard the moment I invited her to that party.
And I see something in her—something jittery, something uncontrollable, something totally at odds with the collected super-assistant who met me head-on when I strolled into her office on Monday. Who the fuck knows? Maybe that was all for show, and this is the woman behind the mask.
I don’t think it is.
There’s something weighing on her. Can it just be Sarzó’s unceasing demands? The way she acts would be reason enough for most people to quit inside of a week. Cate has been here for at least a year.
There must be more to it.
Why do you care so much, Hunter? I ask myself in a jeering tone.