Arrogant Boss

“You’re sure?”

“Yes. Thanks for telling me, Ace.”

She gave me a small smile, one of intimacy and hope, and it made my jealousy melt a bit. God, but she was beautiful. So entirely good. It took all the effort I had to not grasp her hand in that moment-I had never wanted anything more. To make sure that everyone knew we were together.

Instead, I nodded towards the table.

“Come on. Let’s go get this dinner over with.”

“Let’s.”

My jaw clenched when I saw that Ben had saved a space for her. His smile was still too slick, too sure of himself. Not for a moment could I see what Emily had once seen in him, but then again, I was decidedly biased against him.

“Did we lose you guys?”

“We had something to discuss.” I took a seat on Emily’s left. “Have you had a chance to look at the menu?”

Rachel and Josef had, and made their choices very clear. Ben was a vocal participant, but neither Emily nor I spoke. She was engrossed by the menu like the foodie she was, her teeth worrying her lower lip. I had to stop myself from smiling at her obvious internal debate.

“What would you recommend?”

She shot me a warm, sideways glance. “Get the ceviche. You’ll enjoy it.”

I closed my menu. “Done.”

But that was the full extent of our one-on-one conversation at the table that night. It turned out-unsurprisingly, to me-that Ben was quite the talker. He managed to charm both Rachel and Josef with his stories from university and press anecdotes.Content from NôvelDr(a)ma.Org.

I was silent, watching him as he entertained.

“Have you heard of Jax?”

“No,” Rachel said. “What’s that?”

“It’s a revolutionary new hair product. A mixture of hair-gel and hair-wax. The idea is that it will completely eliminate the need for either by being one, combined product. I’m working on that too, at the moment. It has huge investor capital behind it.”

I had to drink some of my wine to keep from laughing out loud.

Emily cleared her throat, her voice measured. “I didn’t know there was a difference between gel and wax?”

“Oh, but there is!” Ben launched into a nearly ten-minute discussion, during which I saw Emily’s mouth twitch several times. She was struggling not to laugh and it instantly made me feel a hundred times better. I had already decided that he was a fool, but I liked that she thought so too.

The only part I hated was when he slung an arm carelessly around the back of her chair.

“You should have seen this girl back at Pet and Co,” he told all of us, voice conspiratorial. “She was a star.”

Rachel nodded over her wine. “I can imagine. She’s been an asset to us at Hunt.”

“She single-handedly ran that company’s entire promotional team. Did she tell you about their terrible management? Have you, Emily?”

She shot him an irritated glance. “I don’t really like talking about my previous employers like that. I learned a lot at Pet and Co.”

“Of course, of course you did,” Ben backtracked. “I didn’t mean to-”

I cut him off. “Emily is a highly valued employee here at Hunt. Her ideas for several of our upcoming product launches have been nothing short of impressive. I think I speak for all of us when I say we don’t doubt she was just as effective in her previous jobs.”

Ben nodded at me. “Right you are, Julian. Well-said.”

I had to resist the urge to roll my eyes. The only thing that made it better was a familiar hand, hidden under the table, squeezing my knee in thanks. I knew Emily shared my irritation.

Dinner didn’t last much longer after that. We all turned down dessert, and while Josef and Ben wanted to grab another drink, the rest of us made it clear that it was time to call it.

“A smoke to cap off the night?”

“I’ll come with you,” Josef said, and the two of them went out for a cigarette.

Rachel excused herself, too. “I’ll be right back. Ladies room.”

Emily and I watched her retreat. “And then there were two…” she murmured.

I sighed and reached for the bill, pulling out the corporate card. “So this was an interesting evening.”

“You’re jealous.”

“No, I’m not.”Emily’s lips quirked into a smile. “Yes, you are.”

I frowned and looked out across the restaurant, but she refused to give up. “Admit it, Julian!”

“Fine,” I said. “I’m jealous. It’s not a good look, I know.”

Emily bit her lip and lowered her dark, thick lashes. “Actually, I kind of like you like this.”

I let my hand inch closer to hers on the table. “Do I have anything to be jealous of?”

“I don’t know. He is kind of considered a catch in the media world. Plus, he has a great new idea for hair wax. Sorry, Jax.”

“Don’t ever repeat that idea to me, thank you.”

Her smile was wide. “But Julian, it’s two products in one! Clearly you recognize a great business opportunity when you see one.”

“Let me get my checkbook,” I said dryly.

Emily glanced around, and then her fingers touched mine. “He’s a fool, and I only want you. I’m sorry you had to go through this.”

Her green eyes were flicked with concern, and I wanted so much to kiss her. Instead, I covered her hand with mine entirely. “You’re so beautiful, Ace. Inside and out.”

She glanced down at our hands. “You can’t say things like that.”

“Why not? It’s the truth. And I’m sorry for being jealous.”