Page 9 of A Bossy Roommate
“Well,” I say, trying to break the awkward taciturnity, but choosing my next words wisely. “This is…unexpected.”
“Let’s talk in my office. Now.”
Without waiting for me to say anything else, he steps away and storms into his office. I follow him, in a less-than-stormy way. In fact, I follow him in a paralyzing “shit’s gonna go down” way. I have no idea how he’s going to react to this new development. This bitch needs the job and can’t stand the thought of getting fired before she has even started. Though, I don’t think he technically can fire me when I haven’t done anything wrongon the job. Or can he?
A drop of nervous sweat runs down my spine. I watch him make his way behind his desk, all grumpy and stern, obviously getting ready to fire me.
“Shut the door,” he orders, in that same impossible growl he used when telling me to behave, and that I looked so pretty while taking every inch of his cock.
I do as he demands.
As soon as the door clicks shut and I turn back around, I launch into a speech. “Before you say anything else, I swear I can convince you not to fire me. For one thing, you need an assistant, and I’m the perfect candidate for the job. I’m loyal, smart, driven, and desper…dependable, which is why HR hired me on the spot. Second, yesterday, you weren’t technically my boss yet, so I don’t think it really breaks any kind of ethical or company code. Third?—”
“Eden,” Carter growls sharply, holding up his hand to cut me off. “Stop talking. Sit.”
I clamp my hands together while I sink onto the chair across from his desk. I thought my desk was huge. His is almost twice as big, and when he sits behind it, power and control radiate off him. It makes me think of how in charge he is all the time, just like last night, when he’d told me I was going to sleep with him before I’d even had a chance to process, and how later in the bar, he told me he was going to fuck me until I cameandpassed out from coming so hard before I had a chance to process that either.
Honestly, still processing that. Not going to think about how he then held true to his word.
My new boss watches me like a hawk before he speaks again, his voice more stern and deep than before. “Obviously, it goes without saying that I didn’t realize who you were when we met last night.”
Obviously, it goes without saying…?
“Obviously,” I say, echoing the word back at him, annoyed at his choice of statement. “Given you told me your last name was Donovan…and you couldn’t even remember my name.”
He has the decency to wince, but it’s slight, and I wouldn’t have caught it if I wasn’t staring intently at his annoyingly handsome face, and those annoyingly full lips that had been wrapped around my clit half the night.
“That wasn’t a lie,” he says simply. “Bancroft is my last name. Donovan is my middle name.”
“Noted. So, what happens now?”
“What happens now is, you go back to your desk and go through your training. We move forward as if nothing has changed.” He rests his folded hands on the desk. “We also keep what happened between us to ourselves. I don’t want people to get the wrong idea.”
“You and me both,” I agree.
“No gossip in my department. Clear?”
“Trust me, it’s hard enough being the new girl without people thinking I didthatwith my boss to get the job. It’s best we forget it ever happened. It won’t happen again.”
“I’m glad we’re on the same page,” he says, turning to face his computer. “You’re dismissed.”
“Of course, Mr. Bancroft.”
On shaky legs, relieved I survived and wasn’t fired, I leave his office. Once out, I close the mahogany door behind me and lean against it for a moment.
Oh. My. God. What have I gotten myself into?
4
EDEN
Iwish desperately for the rest of the day to go smoothly.
I don’t have such luck.
After my world was thoroughly rocked by the fact that my hot, handsome, perfect one-night stand is now my stern, grouchy boss, I sit at my desk for at least two hours, trying to get through the training that’s only one hour long. It’s hard to focus, especially when I knowheis in the other room. I slept with my new boss. All night. And now I have to pretend like I didn’t, and everything is all hunky-dory.
Eventually, I get through the training videos, and am about to message Gretchen to ask her what I should focus on next, when Carter steps out of his office.