I’d stood and watched two people hav**ing se**x. I could have backed out of the room the second I saw them, but I didn't.
And the image of him meeting my eyes at the last moment before I’d run out—it was burned into my mind so vividly. I couldn’t stop replaying the little grin on his face, the look of total confidence on his face.
He hadn’t seemed at all surprised I’d been there, nor had he cared about getting caught screwing a woman in his office.
It was almost as though he’d enjoyed me there, watching.
I blotted the rest of the water off my face and unlocked the door. The hall was quiet and the door to Madden Cross’s office was now closed. All I had to do was get my cleaning cart, which I had left right outside that office, and I could go home. The building was quiet and I made it down the hall without a sound. My cart was small and the wheels didn’t make a sound as I turned it around. I had to take it back down to the maintenance room on the first floor and I was good.
A soft click sounded behind me and I froze.
“Would you step inside, please.” The deep timbre of a man's voice vibrated down to my bones. I let go of the cart and turned slowly.
It was him.
Madden Cross.
The man I had just watched hav**ing se**x. He was dressed now in black trousers and a crisp white shirt. His tie was undone and his dark, wavy hair messy—the only indication that only minutes before, he’d been pounding into a woman tied up on his desk. Heat burned up my neck when I met his intense stare. Dark eyes were one hundred percent focused on me. His lips were tight and his expression inscrutable. Power radiated from him, and being this close, it was both intimidating and exciting.
He moved aside and stepped into his office, my gaze moving to the desk uninvited. I heard the door close behind me and could not stop the jerk of my muscles.
“What’s your name.” He stepped back into my line of vision, and my personal space and I craned my neck to look up at him. He crossed his arms over his chest and waited.
“Skylar Kinsey.”
“Do you enjoy being a voyeur Ms. Kinsey?”
Shit. Deny, deny, deny. That’s what my father taught me when I was five, right before he took off for good. “I’m sorry, I don’t know what you mean.”
“So that's how you're going to play this? Let me be clear. This is my building, my office, my everything. When you are here, you are mine.”
A burst of unwanted desire raced through me and I sucked in a breath. After what I’d seen, those words were much more potent than just words.
“I expect honesty from every employee,” he continued, “even the ones hired on my behalf. And I value my privacy.” He took a step forward and I could feel the heat radiating from his body. A masculine scent enveloped my senses. Part expensive cologne, part...sex. Visions flickered through my head. The way he held that woman’s hair. The way he thrust inside her, used her body for his pleasure. Took what he wanted.
He was over six foot and I already knew he was all hard planes and angles under his expensive shirt and pants. The air around us vibrated with authority. It was obvious that he always got what he wanted. I arched my head back when he stepped closer. His hot breath washed over my ear and my knees shook.
“Which means, Ms. Kinsey,” he practically purred, “that you are fired.”
I blinked and he was gone, across the room and behind his desk, dismissing me. Cool air collided with my overheated skin and I shivered. Fired? I had no more money left. This job was all I had.
“No,” I blurted out.
He looked at me as if he didn’t know why I was still standing there. His gaze sharpened. The way he looked at me now was predatory. Like he was going to leap over his desk and devour me any second. “Excuse me?” he said.
I cleared my throat. Blood pounded in my ears and the voice in my head screamed what the f**k are you doing? “I won’t let you fire me.”
He narrowed his gaze on me. The room seemed to shrink, yet I held my ground. I had nothing to lose. That’s what he didn’t get. That’s what would keep me from going down without a fight.
“If you let me keep my job, I won’t tell anyone what I saw tonight.” Oh god, now I was into blackmail? My entire body tensed, waited for him to toss me out the window like he could if he wanted.
His gaze darkened. “You enjoy scrubbing toilets so much that you would blackmail me to keep doing it?”
I gritted my teeth. Someone like him would not understand. People with so much money they could do whatever the hell they wanted without a second thought didn’t get the whole ‘support yourself because no one else will’ problem.
“I’d rather not starve and have to sleep in my car,” I said between clenched teeth.