Chapter 4 A Man Who Doesn't Tolerate Challenges

At that very moment, Alexia wanted the ground to swallow her whole. She'd come to this company to win over the CEO, and somehow, she had managed to offend him in the worst possible way. If she was lucky, he wouldn't throw her out on the spot, especially considering she'd just barged in fighting with her supervisor.

'Shit,' she thought, just as Garrick rushed in behind her, pale with panic.

Scott Hamilton, however, looked like a bomb seconds from detonation. He rose slowly from behind his desk and gave Alexia a once-over. She was barefoot, disheveled, flushed and sweaty, with beads of perspiration trailing down her forehead and slipping between her breasts as she struggled to catch her breath from the stairs.

She looked every bit the wild woman she was—and the worst part was, Scott couldn't stop thinking about licking that damn sweat right off her skin. What the hell was wrong with him?!

"What the hell is going on here?" he growled as she came to a halt in front of him. Garrick nearly shoved her aside to block her from view, and that only made Scott even angrier.

"Sir, I… well, the truth is…" Garrick stammered, then suddenly blurted out, "She disrespected me!"

"I can imagine," Scott muttered, eyeing Alexia. "And since you're not the first to say that, I'm guessing it's just part of her charm."

"Well, I only disrespect men who try to pull one over on me. Isn't that right, Mr. Garrick?" Alexia hissed back.

Garrick turned crimson with rage, but before he could respond, Hamilton cut him off.

"Leave us. Now." The words came out low and deadly.

One sharp look from Scott was enough to shut Garrick up and send him stomping out. Scott stepped out from behind his desk, hands in his pockets, and stopped just in front of her.

"If I'm not mistaken, yesterday was your first day," he said, voice like steel. "Any woman with a functioning brain would know not to barge into her boss's office looking like that. Barefoot. Sweaty. A mess. And smelling like a damn cow-milker."

Alexia's eyes widened, but if he thought she was going to take that without biting back, he had another thing coming.

"Well, if my supervisor hadn't gotten in my way, I wouldn't have had to run up fifteen floors barefoot just to warn you that someone's stealing from you!" she snapped.

Scott looked down at the crumpled folder in her hand and let out a dry, sarcastic laugh.

"Let me guess. Garrick—who's been my head analyst for years—he's the one you think is lying?"

"And that should worry you," Alexia shot back. "He chased me through the building trying to stop me from delivering this report. I'm not some clueless intern, Mr. Haaamilton," she drawled with biting sarcasm. "Garrick says I made a mistake, but I didn't. I know when someone's committing fraud. And you're about to fall for one if you sign that contract."

Scott clenched his fists and paced around her. He didn't know what it was about this woman. Maybe it was her fire. Maybe it was the ridiculous car knowledge. Or maybe it was just that she had the body of a fertility goddess and the stare of a Valkyrie—ready to kill.

Either way, she was stirring up more inside him than he wanted to admit.

"If your supervisor says you made a mistake, then you made one," he said flatly. "Now get out of my office before I—"

The folder slammed against his chest mid-sentence, papers flying into his face.

"Then I hope they rob you blind," she snapped. "If you want to be a fool, that's your choice. One of your executives is siphoning money right under your nose, and you're too arrogant to even hear me out?"

She let out a bitter laugh. "Wow. You're not nearly as impressive as you think you are."

That last part? The sarcastic disappointment in her voice? That hit Scott harder than a slap.

"You're fired!" he roared. "Fired! Get out! I'll make sure you never work for any respectable company again. I'll—"

He didn't get to finish.

Alexia grabbed his tie, wrapped it around her fist, and yanked him so close their lips were almost touching.

"Tell me something, Mr. Hamilton…" she whispered against his mouth. "Do you even know my name? No? Then good luck finding me among your four thousand, six hundred employees."

She stepped back with a daring smile and turned toward the door.

"I'll be waiting in my humble little office, Mr. Hamilton."

Scott looked ready to combust, but what burned more than anger was the way her heat clung to him. He felt it all the way to his gut.

"Lucy!" he shouted, and his assistant burst in, flustered and out of breath. In under a minute, she was scooping up all the scattered documents.

"Do… do you want me to toss these, sir?" she asked. "And should I let Mr. Garrick in? He's… uh, very anxious outside."

Scott frowned. Why the hell would Garrick be anxious?

"Was he really chasing after that woman?" he asked.

Lucy nodded. "Yes, sir. He tried to take these papers from her multiple times. He kept saying 'stay out of it' and 'you'll regret this.'"