Page 15 of The Substitute

Fuck that.

“I’ll text you my address. Great. I’m looking forward to it, too. Okay, see you later. Bye.”

She hangs up and sets her phone down. And I’m seeing red.

It doesn’t even matter that it’s a ridiculous reaction. I want to punch the fucker who asked her out.

“Personal calls during work?”

Her head comes up, and she grins, but then the smile slides from her face. “Is that a problem?”

“You’re not here to plan your social life, Ms. Sterling. You’re here to bloody work. If that’s a problem for you, you can leave and not come back.”

She frowns. I turn and head back into my office, slamming the door behind me.

Before I can sit in my chair, Maya pushes through the door, a scowl on her gorgeous face.

“I’m on my lunch break,” she begins.

“I don’t fucking care,” I return. “This is my office, and if you don’t like the way I run it, there’s the door.” I throw out my hand in the door’s direction.

She crosses her arms over her chest, accentuating her amazing tits, and my scowl deepens.

“It was a two-minute call on my lunch break,” she continues, and I stare at her coldly, my jaw clenched.

I don’t reply.

“I spoke with my mom the other day on my lunch break. You heard that and didn’t care.”

I still don’t reply.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake. Is it because it was a man?”

“I don’t give a rat’s ass what you do when you’re not here,” I begin, but she shakes her head.

“I think the way you’re behaving proves otherwise.”

Why isn’t she running away? Why isn’t she apologizing? Or quitting?

“I don’t care what you think, Ms. Sterling.”

“Maya,” she replies. “My name is Maya. You’ve been calling me that for a week.”

Still standing behind my chair, I shove my hands in my pockets and don’t reply.

She doesn’t back down.

“You’re going to want to go back to your desk, Maya.” My voice is steady, calm, and hard. I’m about to break every rule I have about those I employ, starting with fucking them senseless. If she doesn’t turn around and walk out of here now, I’m going to have her naked in three seconds.

“Not until we resolve this.”

“You heard me.” I gesture with my chin. “Go.”

“Derek—”

“Goddamn it, get out of my bloody office!”

She licks her lips, and my dick hardens. “Or…what?”