The Boss (The Boss 1)

He scrunched his face up in embarrassment. “Yes, of course. I’m sorry, that was stupid of me.”

“Nah.” I shook my head and rose on my tiptoes to kiss his cheek before I turned back to the mirror. “It’s easy to forget that we don’t actually live in our little fortress of solitude, isn’t it?”

“Would that we could.” He stepped closer, trapping me between his body and the edge of the counter. “After the holidays, then. Let me take you away somewhere.”

I tilted my head to the side as he bent to nuzzle my neck. The feeling of his lips brushing my skin, the smoothness of his shaved face, pulled a sigh from deep in my chest. “Is it that easy? You just decide we’ll run away to somewhere exciting, and we go?”

“Do you have a passport?” he murmured against my neck.

“Mmhm.” God, the things he could do to me with those lips, that voice. He could have proposed a trip to Siberia in January, and I would have agreed.

“Then it’s that simple. If you wanted to go.”

My stomach turned over with dread. It all sounded fine and romantic now, but what would happen after I told him about Jake and Porteras? I had to tell him, even if this wasn’t the most convenient time. “Listen... there’s something I have to–“

“Sophie?”

I frowned at the sound of Emma’s voice. I heard her knock on the bedroom door, and Neil guiltily stepped back.

“In here,” I called back cheerfully. Ugh, I really hope she didn’t think we’d been getting up to something.

I hurried out, into Neil’s bedroom, as she opened the door cautiously. “Your phone was ringing. They called eight times in a row, so I thought it must have been an emergency.”

“You didn’t think it was an emergency the fourth time?” Neil teased her, and I shot him a look. I didn’t want him to chastise Emma, even in jest, for anything having to do with me. Not when we were at an uneasy peace about our weird situation.

“Who the hell would call me eight times in a row?”

The screen of my phone lit up like a light bulb over my head, and the dreaded ringtone started playing. “Imperial March” from The Empire Strikes Back. I’d changed it in a fit of pique on the first day Neil’s company had taken over Porteras.

“Sophie, you’re white as a sheet,” Neil said in alarm. I swayed on my feet and he steered me to the sofa.

“It’s Gabriella,” I said, feeling legitimately dizzy. I’d always heard the term “triggered” applied to stuff that reminded people of horrible things in their past. I didn’t think there was a single thing in my life that had been so psychologically scarring that I would have an anxiety attack to be reminded of it. But Gabriella’s number was on the screen, and she was waiting for me to take her call.

“Emma, can you excuse us?” Neil asked softly. Emma left and closed the door behind her, and he sat beside me on the couch while I stared at the phone in my palm. It went to voicemail, and within seconds, the ringtone sounded again.

Neil nudged my knee with his. “It might be important.”

“It might not. She could be calling ten times in a row because she can’t remember the phone number for her dog’s acupuncturist.” I tried to laugh, but it came out as a sob. I dropped my head to my unoccupied hand, mortified. I was crying in front of Neil. Jesus Christ, I was crying in front of him.

“Sophie...” he sounded as alarmed as I felt. His arms went around my shoulders awkwardly. “I didn’t realize you were so...”

“Cowed by my old boss?” I laughed sadly and wiped my eyes, pulling out of his embrace. “Hey, guess what, I have been the submissive in a relationship before. I just got paid for it.”

That depressed me so much, I cried harder. Neil took my phone from my hands, swore at it, and muted the ringer.

“What’s going on?” he asked gently. “There’s something you’re not telling me.”

I felt so horrible. He’d praised my honesty over lunch. To his daughter. Whose trust he was trying to earn back. “Look, there’s something I have to tell you, and when I do, I’m afraid you won’t like me very much.”

He looked slightly alarmed. “Sophie, I can’t think of anything that would make me not like you. But if it’s really that bad, perhaps you’d better just say whatever it is, so we can get the fight out of the way now.”

“You’re scheduling our fights?” I couldn’t help my tearful burble of laughter. “Okay, just... remember that I love you, okay?”

The phone was ringing again. I reached for it, silenced it, and when I set it aside, he took my hands. I’d never seen him look so cautious, like he was braced for something really horrible, but he didn’t want to believe it would be as bad as he anticipated. Then I realized I probably looked just the same.