“Calls keep diverting to my phone!” Ethan’s voice roared from behind his closed office door.
Mara bit the inside of her cheek to repress a growl. Everyone had given her a wide berth today for which she was grateful. Everyone except the one person she needed to leave her alone the most. She wasn't in the mood to placate her boss today of all days.
Ethan had definitely picked up on her mood though because he wasn't making as many ridiculous demands as usual. He was still talking to her however, which meant that her scowl wasn't as effective as she'd hoped it would be.
The door in front of her desk opened. Ethan poked his head out. “Did you hear what I said?”
“I’m pretty sure the whole building heard you,” she replied as politely as possible.
Guilt kept her from snapping back. She'd been so disorganized today that several calls she normally would have answered slipped through. “I was away from my desk this morning checking on something. I meant to divert them to Ada's phone," she said, referring to his partner's administrative assistant who usually covered for her when she couldn't be at her desk.
“Your job is to answer the phones so I don’t have to talk to anyone!” His voice echoed up and down the hallway.
“I’m doing the best I can here." She could hear the defeat in her own voice and normally it would have mortified her.
The only reason she'd lasted as long as she had swimming with a shark like Ethan Westbrooke was by showing no fear. If he thought for even a moment that she couldn't handle the pressure, he'd probably fire her with no remorse. And getting fired and not having a way to pay her mortgage would just be the perfect capstone to her craptacular month. To her horror, tears sprang to her eyes. She quickly got busy looking at something on her desk, hoping that Ethan hadn't seen.
He didn't say anything at first but she could feel him still standing there. Finally he simply said, “Noted.” Then he walked back into his office.
Mara sniffled and decided to do some filing. That was at least one thing that she could do without screwing up.
Ethan opened the door of his office and strode out. “I asked for the contract changes days ago! Where are they?”
“They haven’t come back yet.”
He crossed his arms. “Why not?”
“I don’t know.”
Ethan reared back as if she’d slapped him. “You don’t know?”
Finally she couldn’t take it anymore. “No, I don’t know. Perhaps if you’d actually allow your underlings to question you without biting their heads off they could do their jobs properly. Instead they’re all terrified of you so they take ages to do every single thing for fear that they’ll be fired.”
“That’s it.” Ethan rounded the desk and pulled her up by the arm. He held her elbow only in a light grip so he wasn’t hurting her at all but she was so stunned that she didn’t even protest. She just allowed him to herd into the inner sanctum of his office. It wasn’t until the heavy door clicked shut with an ominous sound behind her that she spoke up.
“What the hell is going on?”
“That’s what I was going to ask you. You’ve always challenged me but you’ve never been rude. What’s happened?”
“I apologize. You’re right. Don’t I get to have a bad day?”
“No, you don’t get to have a bad day. I need you too much for that.”
“You don’t need anybody.”
Ethan sent her a dark look. He paced across the room, then stopped and stood with his hands clenched at his side. “Unfortunately I do. I’m a miserable, misanthropic bastard and apparently you are the only one who makes me feel human.” He didn’t sound even remotely happy about it. But the way he was looking at her was warm and completely at odds with the harsh statement. If Mara was hard pressed to put a definition to it, she would have to say affectionate. Ethan Westbrooke was looking at her with …. affection.
What in the world was she supposed to do with that?
“I’m truly sorry about today. I’ll do better. Things are just… I’m having some personal issues right now. But I promise there won’t be a repeat of what happened today.”
“Personal issues.” Ethan stood staring at a spot on the floor. He finally raised his eyes to hers. “Boyfriend trouble?”
“With all due respect sir, that’s none of your busin
ess.”
“You’re right it isn’t.” He stalked behind his desk and stood at the window gazing out over the city skyline. Norfolk wasn’t a major city like New York or L.A. but it was a bustling port of commerce. Mara had always liked the view from Ethan’s office. When she’d first been transferred to this floor, she’d used every opportunity she could to take a peek out of that window.