The Boss's Mistletoe Maneuvers by Linda Thomas-Sundstrom Page A

glorious heat slipped from his grasp. Her eyes were averted, her lids lowered. Once she had regained her feet, she got her hands up between them.
    She couldn’t seem to catch a breath. Her chest still strained against his. When she finally looked up, her big eyes met his as if searching for something. Her pallor brought a whole new meaning to the word pale, despite the splashes of pink in her cheeks.
    “Kim,” he said, addressing her accusatory gaze. “It’s okay. I knew Brenda was going to tell you. My role at the agency is supposed to be a secret for now. I wanted to get to know the workings of the place and play catch up.”
    “You own the agency?” The words tumbled out between harsh breaths.
    “Yes.”
    “You’re not the vice president?”
    “No.”
    Her eyes projected an expression of betrayal. She blinked slowly. When she spoke, her voice shook. “Get out. I think you’d better get out right now.”
    “Kim—”
    “You can see the door. Use it,” she directed. “Please.”
    He held up both hands in a placating gesture, and tried to find the right words to ease the tension. No words came. Kim didn’t look angry about this, she looked ill.
    “Now,” she repeated.
    He had to explain, had to make her see. “I bought the company to make it better, more successful. The position you want is still on the table. I’ll make a decision once I get a grip on the rest of the agency’s personnel needs and can move things forward. We already have a truce, you and I, so we’re in the clear about the situation. Nothing has changed.”
    “Oh, we’re far from clear about anything,” she countered. “And everything has changed.”
    “That doesn’t have to be the case.”
    “Doesn’t it? You were going to sleep with me, withholding a secret like that. You let me think you took my job, and you were willing to let me hang myself and my profession by directing me toward a bed.”
    “A date with a bed has nothing to do with work or the issues there,” he protested.
    She sucked in a big breath of air and lowered her voice. “What was this all about then, for you? A test of my character? You wanted to see if I’d actually sleep my way up the ladder? Maybe you wondered if I’d done it before, and that’s why I had been promised your office?”
    Chaz stared at her, sensing she wasn’t finished.
    “Are you so naïve that you’d actually believe I could remain at the agency after sleeping with you? That being here with you, like this, wouldn’t affect my reputation, or reach the ears of the other employees, and eventually my clients? Or that it would all go away if you were to promote me now?”
    “Kim, listen—”
    She shook her head. “Tell me this, Monroe—is there actually a holiday party to cater?”
    “There could be,” he said, hating the way that sounded.
    She turned her face. “Please leave.”
    Chaz’s stomach tightened with pangs of regret over the way he had approached this, understanding how it must look to Kim. In his defense, he’d been smitten, for lack of a better word to describe the immediacy of his attraction to her. Had certain parts of his anatomy made him come here, under the premise of testing her work ethic? Could he have slipped that far?
    She had told him to get out. What other option did he have after a command like that, except to do as she asked? His explanation hadn’t swayed her. She was angry. Her eyes blazed. Kim was hurt, half-naked and feeling the need to protect herself from further harm...and he’d been less than stellar in his approach to this whole situation.
    It was obvious she took into consideration things he hadn’t thought over before showing up here and placing his hands on her. Also clear now, after what she’d said, was the idea that she might have opened herself to him because she truly hadn’t planned on returning to her job. In that case, a liaison to explore the sparks between them would have been okay for her.
    That had been ruined by one