The Sheikh's Stubborn Assistant (The Sharif Sheikhs 3)

Flipping open the portfolio, he turned to a certain page and tapped his finger on it. “I thought your ideas were passable until I found what I assume is a rough draft of this write-up. Shall I read it for you? ‘If my boss wasn’t so cold, if he wasn’t letting his senseless pride stand in the way, if he could forgive that I’m a woman, then maybe he could own a gallery that was actually worth visiting.’ Care to explain that, Katie?”

Embarrassed, she stood her ground. “I’m fairly certain that it’s self-explanatory.”

“I did not hire a curator, and I’m under no obligation to listen to anything that you have to say. If you can’t handle that, then I’ll accept your letter of resignation.”

“Khalid . . .”

“Well? Are you quitting tonight, or do you think that you can remember your place in this office?”

Everything that she wanted to say to him burned at the back of her throat, but she needed the job. She couldn’t just quit.

“Then I guess I’ll see you in the morning. You may leave.”

Katie narrowed her eyes. “No.”

“No?” His head snapped up in surprise. “Excuse me?”

“You heard me! You just admitted that my ideas were passable, which probably means that you thought they were fantastic, but you didn’t want to admit it, and my personal opinions of you shouldn’t get in the way of that!”

Feeling braver, she walked around his desk and flipped the pages of the portfolio. “I’m not saying that you have to hire me as a curator, but it wouldn’t kill you to put some of these ideas into practice!”

“You’re in my personal space,” he said in a low voice.

“What’s the issue, Khalid? Is it that I’m American? Is it because I’m a woman? Or is it that you don’t a

ctually give a damn about this gallery?”

“You need to leave, Katie.”

She heard the warning in his voice, but she ignored it. “I’m not leaving until I figure out what the hell your problem is!”

“My problem, apparently, is that my employees don’t respect me enough to listen to me,” he said icily. She never even saw his arm shoot out, but suddenly, he pulled her forward and bent her over his lap.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing, Khalid?” she yelled.

“Reminding you who is in charge.” His hand cracked down solidly on her ass, and she yelped.

Struggling against his iron grip, she hissed between her teeth. “You try that again, and you’ll be walking away from here with a limp!”

“See how uncomfortable it can be when someone else oversteps their bounds?” he murmured. He didn’t smack her again, but he did rest his hand on her ass. Her skirt had hiked up, and she was embarrassingly aware of how close his hand was to the bare skin of her thigh.

The air grew thick around them. “Are you going to let me up?” she asked hoarsely. She needed to get away from him before he realized just how wet she was.

What the hell was wrong with her? She wasn’t into the power play, but being splayed across his lap had turned her practically wanton. She wanted to wiggle her ass and entice him to take things a step farther.

He is your boss. Get a grip, Katie.

His hand continued its gentle caresses, and his fingers moved dangerously lower. “Are you going to leave if I let you go?”

As soon as she got off his lap, she was going to run at full-speed out the building. “Yes.”

“What a shame.” Suddenly, his hand was gone, and she fell off his lap and hit her knees. When she looked up, she saw that his face was, for once, open and honest.

And filled with lust.

Aware of the erotic image she must present, on her knees in front of him, she climbed quickly to her feet. “Excuse me,” she said in a shaky voice, turned, and hurried out of the office.

There was really nowhere for her to go. She couldn’t go to Sahaar’s. The woman would look right through her and know that something was wrong.