His eyes continued to run up and down her body as if he owned her as well as the grounds and the building they were standing in, and her muscles stiffened in involuntary response. Setting her mouth in firm lines, she grabbed the towel and pulled it around her torso, leaving her dark, wet hair to hang down her back in wild disarray. Fuck it. Who cared? She was as good as fired, and damned if she cared.
He continued to stand silently and raised a single eyebrow, so she lifted her chin a notch and retaliated to the silence that was obviously meant to intimidate her. “Your little girlfriend couldn’t fire me all by herself? She needed to bring in reinforcements?” At her questions, his jaw set and a subtle tension seemed to invade his body, but she didn’t care. She was fearless, both because she was pissed and because she’d had her exit strategy planned for a while now. “No answer to that, Mr. Rule?” She forced a smile to her lips that he’d have no problem as identifying as fake.
When he pushed away from the chair and took two steps closer, she suddenly realized that his indolent grace was hiding a fury that he couldn’t altogether disguise. Fisting her fingers around the towel, she braced herself.
She immediately recognized his voice when he finally spoke and it indisputably confirmed his identity. “Is that why you got so pissed off all of a sudden? Refused to play nice with me on the phone? Something lead you to believe that Courtney’s my girlfriend?”
At his implication, a quiver of something ran down Maria’s spine that she immediately tamped down. Whether the other woman was his girlfriend or not was moot at this point. Yeah, keep telling yourself that, Maria. “I’m pissed about a lot of things,” she tossed back truthfully, attempting to ignore his anger and focus on her own.
“Yeah?” He took another imposing step closer. “What would those things be?”
Maria held her ground, refusing to step back. “Why would you care? You’re only here to get rid of me. I’m not stupid, I know what this sudden trip of yours is all about.” She tried to slow her heart rate by breathing deeply, but that idea was shot to shit when his eyes dropped to her breasts. And son-of-a-bitch, he had beautiful eyes.
His gaze slowly lifted back to hers. “Do you?” he asked in a voice that hinted she had no clue what he was thinking.
She ignored the hint and continued in a belligerent tone that had her questioning her sanity, “Yep. Your fragile little girlfriend wants me gone but was too scared to do it.”
“Just for the record, Courtney’s not my girlfriend, and she wasn’t afraid to get rid of you. The only reason you’re still employed at this hotel is because of me.” The displeasure in his tone turned to icy contempt. “And you’re either completely brave or completely stupid not to realize it.”
Son-of-a-bitch just call her stupid? “Oh, I’m not stupid. I just don’t need your job. I think eight years of my life’s been enough, you know?”
There was a momentary pause before he asked, “You’re saying you’ve been working here for eight years?”
“You should know that already, if you gave even half a shit about your employees.”
He continued as if she hadn’t spoken, as if he had every right to her thoughts. “I want to know what’s got your panties in a twist. You used to be, shall we say, quite pleasant on the phone. But that went to hell in a heartbeat.”
She gave him a cool stare, unable to contain her sarcasm. “And that upset poor little you, right?”
A look came over his features that would have quelled a lesser woman, but her bravado was only faltered by a fraction. “Honey, I’m going to give you fair warning,” he bit out. “Tread lightly around me, capisce?”
She stiffened her spine until she felt as if a steel rod was imbedded in her vertebrae. “Or what?”
His eyes turned glacial and his mouth flattened as he hissed, “You want to find out?”
Asshole didn’t scare her. He didn’t. “The worst you can do is fire me.”
He bared his teeth as his features turned remote while he held her gaze captive. “That’d be letting you off too easy. And I promise you, nothing about this is going to be easy for you.”
Her heart began pounding but she defiantly lifted her chin. “You don’t scare me. Not your fucking corporation and not your gazillions. Do your worst,” she challenged.
Just as he took another step forward, the outer door was pulled open and the night clerk walked into the room. The male college student, a part-time employee of about twenty, took one look at her and then nervously glanced at Garrett Rule before looking back to her. “Yes?” she asked a tad too sharply.