Total pages in book: 27
Estimated words: 26246 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 131(@200wpm)___ 105(@250wpm)___ 87(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 26246 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 131(@200wpm)___ 105(@250wpm)___ 87(@300wpm)
Oh, this is so, so bad.
My feet crash to a halt.
Because my boss is tall, dark, and handsome, which makes him exactly my mother’s type. Silky black hair, sculpted jaw and everything, olive skin that will never ever need the help of a tanning salon, and...oh, well, his eyes aren’t dark but they’re blue as the skies, so maybe not exactly like all the men my mom goes for.
And come to think of it, he’s also not like all the other guys I grew up fearing and avoiding since Mr. Havington, for one, has an actual job. Well, okay, make that a billion-dollar company, but the point is...are those the reasons why my skin isn’t crawling the way it usually does when I’m around guys like my mother’s exes?
My knees knock against each other as I move forward to obey his command.
Blue eyes slowly skim over me, and I don’t understand why my heart has started to pound, and I actually find myself fighting against the urge to—
Nope, don’t even think about it.
This may be my first job and all, but even I know one isn’t supposed to squee about one’s boss...
“Please tell me about yourself.”
“I, um...”
What he’s asking isn’t rocket science. Like, duh, I know that, but it’s just so hard to concentrate around him for some reason, and that’s why I know—
“I’m sorry,” I blurt out.
I don’t think this is going to work.
“I’m afraid there’s been a mistake, Mr.—” My voice falters as I try to remember what my boss’s name is...but fail.
“Havington.”
Is there anything more embarrassingly unprofessional than having your boss know you’ve forgotten his name?
“It’s Lyrius Havington.”
And why am I even surprised at how perfectly elegant his given name is? He’s the first Lyrius I’ve ever known, and it’s very...it’s very him. Very tall, dark, and handsome-ish and—
Stop thinking inappropriate things, Kyara Dunn!
I clear my throat.
Focus, Kyara!
“I’m sorry, Mister—um, Mr. Havington.” I have to force myself to repeat his name, and it’s exactly as I feared. Even his name on my lips sounds...forbidden. Like I’m already crossing a line that an employee is never supposed to cross.
“I...I truly think there’s been a mistake.”
I focus on the inkwell on his desk like my life depends on it. Which, to be honest, it kinda does. I just have a hard time concentrating with his eyes on me—
“And why would that be?”
While my boss speaks with that equally distracting accent of his, and—argh. What did he just ask again? Something about—oh, right, he’s asking why I think this is a mistake, and of course it’s because—
“Why would that be, you ask?” I feel like shrinking into nothing as I find myself repeating what he’s just said...which I only do when I’m incapable of saying the truth, but since I also know I’m equally incapable of lying—
Think, Kyara!
“It’s because...”
What excuse can I give that’s true but also not true?
“It’s because you’re really good-looking—”
How do you do it, Kyara?
“And I’m afraid my boyfriend might be jealous about you?”
How can you be so good at making things worse for yourself?
Lyrius
Did she just say she has a fu—
My fingers slowly...start...drumming a beat on my desk. It’s what I do when something unexpected happens, and the unexpected is something I completely abhor.
Like the fact that the girl who shouldn’t be my type...is already dating someone else.
Which is another thing I shouldn’t give a shit about, but that’s where we are now, and...
I know it’s been half a minute, but I’m still drumming my fingers.
“A boyfriend, you say.”
I take the folder containing her files from H.R. I flip through it like I’m trying to find something when in truth I’ve already memorized everything. “According to your personal records, you previously indicated that you weren’t in a relationship.”
The words make her squirm in her seat, and I can feel a muscle start ticking in my jaw at the sight. Why the heck is she squirming? Is it because she’s so damn in love that she can’t even bear talking about the boy she’s dating?
“Are you now admitting to having lied—”
She sits up in visible shock. “No—no, it’s n-not...I didn’t lie.”
“Then...”
“At the time I was, um, asked the question, I wasn’t...I wasn’t dating yet.”
“So it’s fairly new then,” I drawl, “this relationship.”
She nods vehemently. “Yes, sir.”
I know I should leave it at that, but instead I hear myself ask, “How new?”
The question seems to fluster her, and it’s making me ready to kill someone.
“I...um...I don’t think—”
“Don’t get me wrong, Kyara.”
Her eyes widen, but I have a feeling it has more to do with me addressing her by her given name instead of the coldness of my tone.
“I’m only asking because I’d like to understand why a relationship that’s fairly new...is something you believe is reason enough to think that—” I nod to the packet she’s clutching tightly between her hands. “—is a mistake.”