Chapter Four

It's just coffee, Knox” 

          “Don’t do it again, Rose.” 

           I glared at him, wondering where the nickname came from. Then I asked, “are you this big of a jerk to everyone or do I get special treatment?” 

           He crossed his arms over his chest and said. “Listen, you know very well that I don’t want you working here. So me being an asshole to you shouldn’t come as a surprise because I haven't changed my mind. I still don’t want you working here.” 

           I stared up at him. Then I thought about how I still don't know anything about my job. I knew if I messed it up, it will probably piss him off and give him enough reason to fire me. Then I thought of the fact that I'd slept with him, I thought it was something special, something beautiful and it was most definitely not. Then I thought of the fact that he didn't want me there and he didn't hide it so why was I so eager to be there? I didn't like him, not at all. He was a jerk, a very big one at that. The fact that I slept with him mortified me. The idea of seeing and working with him everyday wasn't something that made me happy. Sure, I liked some of my co-workers. They were nice enough. 

              So what on earth was I doing? 

              “Fine,” I stated and looked back to my computer screen them went on to explain to the monitor, “I have never worked as a personal assistant. I don't know what I'm doing. You don't like me and I don't like you,”just my eyes slid to him, “so fine. I'll finish up for the day and then you won't see me again.”  

               Knox’s brows went up. “You gave me an attitude twice for this job and then you give in, easy as that?” 

              “I’m not going to work in a place where I can’t wear what I want. And I wouldn’t even complain if it was a general rule,but it seems like you only have a problem with the way I dress.” I informed him, looked back  at the computer screen and continue tapping away. “You crossed the line with that one. So, yeah, easy as that.” 

             Then I took another sip of coffee. 

             “I thought you needed this job,” Knox said. 

             “I’ll find another job where I can wear whatever I want without putting up with annoying, unnecessary, scary boss hassle.” 

            “So, you’re saying, after getting in my face about keeping this job and then you suddenly give in because you can’t wear a certain dress and buy your co-workers coffee?” 

             My eyes moved back to him. “Yeah, handsome, that’s what I’m saying.” 

             He stared at me. I stared back at him. Then his face relaxed and his lips curled into a sexy as hell grin. 

             “Jeez, Rose, tell me,when you are such a pain in the ass, why do I seriously wanna fuck your right now?” 

             It felt like all the air was pushed out of my lungs by a wrong hand.

             “Don’t be coarse,” I snapped. 

              His eyebrows went up again. “Coarse?”          

             “Coarse, rude, vulgar…….uncouth,” I explained. 

             His sexy grin turned into an even sexier smile. 

            “This is the only way I can be, darling, because that’s me.” 

            “Well, good. Another reason for me to quit.” 

            “You are not quitting,” he declared and it was my turn to for my eyebrows to go up.       

            “Pardon?” 

             “You are not quitting,” he repeated. 

             That hand at my chest pushed deeper. 

             “I thought you didn’t want me working here.” 

              He jerked his chin up. “Changed my mind, Rose.”

             “You changed your mind?” I asked. 

             “Yeah, and I changed my mind about your clothes and the coffee too. Buy anyone whatever you want. Wear whatever you want. Especially those tight little skirts that remind me how great your ass looks and those heels that make your legs look endless.” 

              Ohmigod! Could he be a bigger jerk? Apparently yes. 

             “You can’t talk to me like that,” I informed him bitingly. 

              “I can’t?” he asked. 

              “No. It’s sexual harassment.” 

               He smiled again. “Darling, I don’t think I need to remind you that you took this job, of your own free will, and even if you didn’t know I was your boss from the beginning you didn’t quit when you later found out. I didn’t harass you. You walked with me straight to my bed and you participated fully in everything we did in that bed. You could try but you would have a hard time convincing anyone I’m harassing you.”

             This was, unfortunately, true. 

             “I’m quitting,” I announced firmly. 

            “So quit,” he returned. “I can’t chain you down to prevent you from leaving. It isn’t me who’ll look in the mirror every morning and know I’m a coward.” 

           My body jolted straight in my chair. 

           “What?” I snapped. 

           “Rose, you took this job knowing it’d be a challenge and you fought for it because you had to. Now, a week in, your first argument with me, you are giving up. That’s bullshit and it’s weak and that’s the way a coward would act. When you look in the mirror, you know that shit. I don’t. So you wanna quit, quit. That isn’t on me, it’s on you. You can live with that…..” he trailed off and shrugged. 

             “So you wanted me to go, and I’m going, now you are trying to talk me into staying?” I asked with disbelief. I seriously cannot believe this dude. 

        "I'm not talking you into staying, I'm just pointing out the fact that you're all bark and no bite" He shrugged nonchalantly. I know he's trying to get a rise out of me, but I can't help it. 

 

        There's no way I'm gonna let this asshole win.