Her Indecent Proposal (The BAD BOY BILLIONAIRES Collection) by Judy Angelo Page A

him, almost touching him, coming a whole lot closer than he wanted. 
“Don’t you worry,” she whispered as she leaned into him.  “You’ll find out soon
enough.”
    With a growl of frustration Sloane pushed her away and walked back
around his desk to grab his cell phone.  When he looked up Zena was still
standing there.  “Get out of my face, Zena,” he said, his voice a chilling
whisper.  “You’ve said enough for today.  Now leave.”
    The woman threw him a bitter laugh and then she backed away. 
“Throwing me out again, are you?  Well, this time I’ve got you where it
hurts.”  With that, she whirled around and flung the door open then marched
out, leaving it wide open behind her.
    And Sloane could only stand there, holding the phone and staring
after her.
    Now he knew first-hand what the saying meant – ‘Hell hath no fury
like a woman scorned’.

 CHAPTER THIRTEEN
     
    Melanie was in the middle of her finance meeting when her cell phone
rang.  Annoyed at the interruption, she frowned then glanced at the screen. 
Sloane.  Immediately, her face cleared.
    She put up a hand.  “Excuse me a minute, guys,” she said, giving her
team an apologetic smile.  “I have to take this call.”  They all nodded and
Melanie slipped out of the conference room and went to stand at the end of the
hall where she had a little more privacy.
    “Hi, Sloane,” she said, keeping her voice low.  “Is everything all
right?”  It was unusual for him to call her in the middle of the day and the
fact that he had, caused her a twinge of worry.
    “All’s good,” he said, his voice strangely wary, “but what about
you? Are you okay?”
    “I’m fine,” she said, feeling slightly confused.  “Why?” And then
she knew.  Her face broke into a smile.  “Oh, you.  Naughty, naughty.  Come on,
it’s only eleven o’clock in the morning.  Couldn’t you at least wait until the
afternoon?”
    There was a pause then Sloane let his breath out in a whoosh. 
“Thank God you’re all right.”
    Melanie frowned.  “Of course I’m all right.  Why wouldn’t I be?  Sloane,
what’s going on?”
    “I’m not sure.  I’ll talk to you when you get home tonight.  Just be
careful today, okay?"
    “Okay,” she said, stretching out the word.  Sloane was acting really
weird.  She would have loved to question him further but she had a room full of
executives waiting for her.  “Uh, Sloane, I’ve got to go.  Talk to you later,
okay?”
    “Okay,” he said, sounding like he wanted to say something more but
then he didn’t.
    “Bye,” she said, and hung up.  And then she was heading back to her
meeting, forgetting all about her conversation with Sloane, caught up once
again in the drama that was unfolding in the conference room.  On the advice of
her chief operating officer she’d made a hasty decision in her effort inject
new life into the film division.  Instead of shoring up the business,
everything had hit the fan.  Now she would have to face the consequences.
    It was a huge blow to her ego, knowing she had fumbled, but she was
the captain of this ship.  She would just have to pick up the pieces and sail
on.  But the thought of having to tell her father made her cringe.
      That night when Melanie got home Sloane was waiting for her.  As
soon as she walked in the door he came over and took her briefcase from her
grasp and, brows furrowed, looked into her eyes.  “Are you okay?”
    Melanie shrugged.  “Of course I am.  Why wouldn’t I be?”  Then she frowned. 
“You’ve been acting really strange today.  What gives?” And then it dawned on
her.  Somehow, Sloane must have known about her disastrous business deal with
Rapid Films.  How he’d heard, she had no idea, but obviously he was aware, or
else why would he keep questioning her, asking how she was?
    And then she tightened her lips.  If Sloane had found out then that
meant she had a leak in the company and that was not good.