Bargaining with the Boss (Honeybrook Love, Inc. 2)

Her cheeks blazed, and the little circle of her mouth scrunched so tight that it was nothing more than a white dot on her face. "Listen to me carefully. I will never sleep with you. Regardless of who you are. Ever."

"What if—"

"Ever." She shot up from her chair so quickly that it knocked over. She didn't bother picking it up, either, she simply marched out without another glance at him.

Her meaning was clear.

If he wanted to get fucked, he could go ahead and fuck himself.

"Just think about it." He shouted, but before he finished, the wide metal door slammed behind her.

That was fine. She could seethe at her desk for a week or a month.

He'd known beyond a shadow of a doubt that she never would have agreed to this deal...at least, not at first.

But the seed of it had been planted in her mind nonetheless. Now when she was sitting at her desk, staring at her mystery flowers, a tiny part of her would be thinking about that offer. Or when she was home tonight, knitting or whatever the hell she did, a part of her would think back on what he'd said.

And with any luck, that iron-clad resolve of hers would wear away bit by bit until she fell into his hands.

It was the perfect plan.

If only he had the patience to follow through. But after seeing the way she'd looked in that barely-there red dress of hers?

There was no doubt that the clock was ticking on both of their resolves.

* * *

"He asked you to do what?" Eliza's mouth hung open, the sandwich in her hand flattened by her vice-like grip.

Natalie sipped her guava tea, and then sat it on the table. "I'm definitely not repeating it."

Who knew who could be listening? And if the other women in the office caught wind about what Brooks had offered her...

She imagined a swarm of vultures descending on road kill.

Yep, that's about what it would look like

Eliza glanced around them, and then whispered, "so, you said yes, right?"

"What? No, who the hell would say yes to that?" She imagined the vultures again, but shook away the image. Even the women drooling over him on a regular basis had to have more self-respect than to allow themselves to be threatened like that. Or to be his sexual plaything or whatever he had in mind. "He blackmailed me into a meeting where he tried to convince me to have sex with him. Is that your idea of romance?"

Eliza spoke, heedless of the wad of turkey sandwich in her mouth. "No, but who said anything about romance? You don't need romance, you need sex."

"I--who said I need sex?" She squeezed her thighs together at the thought. It was true it had been a while—okay, more than a while—since she'd been with a man, but that didn't mean she needed it.

She wanted it, sure.

But didn't everyone?

And didn't everyone think about it five, six, seven times...a minute?

That was normal, right?

Eliza stole a sip from Natalie’s tea, then tilted her head to the side. "Well, I mean, need might be a little strong but..."

She trailed off and Natalie didn't bother to ask her to continue. Maybe if she let it die, the subject would disappear into oblivion. Who knew? If she ignored it hard enough, it was possible Brooks would disappear too.

No such luck, though. Instead, Eliza picked up Natalie's fork and poked her in the forearm with it.