Arrogant Boss

I’d need that-because lord knows I wasn’t particularly cool in Julian Hunt’s presence. He’d walked into my office on Friday as if he owned it (sure, he technically did) and challenged me about my lack of response to his texts. He’d been right to do so.

He’d been right on several accounts, actually. I had been jealous, which meant I was getting far more attached to him than I had expected.

And then he’d given me the best non-kiss of my life. We were literally inches away from touching and I had felt the warmth from his lips… But then he’d walked away.

Impossible, infuriating and intoxicating man.

Turner was in the living room, sorting through our old collection of movies and DVDs. So much of the house was still a patchwork of stuff from our childhood together with Dom and Mad’s old things.

We’d made a vow to sort through things every now and then when we felt strong enough. Lately, Turner had taken to it.

He looked up as I walked past, a stack of VHS tapes before him. “Are you heading to the mall with Denise?”

“Yeah. I’ll be home for dinner.”

“Good. It’s your turn to cook dinner tonight.”

“Yes, and I found a new recipe I’m going to try.”

I heard him groan as I grabbed my purse and headed towards the front door. “What’s wrong with the food we normally make? We know it works!”

“A little experimentation has never hurt anyone!”

“Yes, Emily, it most certainly has!”

I grinned as I closed the door behind me. “Bye!”

A sleek, silver Porsche was waiting for me two blocks down. Julian was leaning against it, casually dressed in chinos and a black leather jacket. He had sunglasses on, arms crossed, looking deadly attractive.

He couldn’t possibly be here for me. I was the girl who still knew all the songs to childhood musicals by heart and used to ask teachers for extra homework. Girls like us don’t get guys like him.

Julian looked over and his handsome face split into a smile. “I feel like I’m doing something wrong,” he teased. “Picking you up down the street. Did you sneak out of your bedroom window?”

“Yes. I scaled the ivy and crawled through a bush, too. Look. We match.”

He glanced from his leather jacket to mine. “So we do. Let’s go. I’m taking you to lunch.”

“That’s why I had to dress comfortably? To eat?”

Julian laughed as he opened the passenger door for me. The interior of the car smelled like new leather and I sank deep into the seat. We would practically be hugging the road in this car, it was so low. This had to be the Porsche he’d been talking about the first time we met.

“No,” he replied. “It’s for what we’re doing before.”

“What are we doing before?”

“That, my friend, is a surprise. I have to keep you on your toes.”

“Consider me kept.” I smile at him and open the passenger door. “I can’t believe I finally get to ride in the infamous Porsche.”

Julian snorted. “Famous, if you please. She has a stellar reputation.”

He drove with one hand on the steering wheel, eyes glued ahead, the faint scent of his aftershave making it difficult for me to think. Somehow he managed to look competent regardless of what he did-moved like a man sure of himself and his rightful place in the world.

I wasn’t sure any man after him would be able to live up to this.

Before long we were driving through thick forest, greenery, and shrubs. Gorgeous, as always, and not for the first time I was glad to live in a place where nature always was close.

He broke the silence first. “So your brother doesn’t know about us, then.”

“No,” I said. “Though what are we, exactly?”

“You tell me, Ace.”

“Friends. Dinner companions.” I paused. “Leather jacket aficionados.”

Julian’s fingers tapped against the steering wheel. “The last one. He doesn’t know that we’re both aficionados?”

“No. I think it might be safer to avoid telling him something that I don’t really understand myself yet.”

Julian glanced at me. “And we work together.”

“Yes.” As much as I tried, I could never forget that fact.

“It’s okay. I don’t mind being your secret for now.”

I leaned back in the seat and watched him. “Am I yours? Your secret, I mean?”

“No. In the office, yes, because I know you want it that way and I respect that. But I can’t wait for the day you’re more. I’ll make sure the whole world knows you’re mine.”

I rolled my eyes at the exaggeration, trying to hide the way my heart had leaped at his answer. Being around Julian made me feel both brave and beautiful, and more powerful than ever before. “Don’t hold your breath, Hunt.”

Julian laughed. His right hand rested on his thigh, fingers drumming along to the music as he drove. I contemplated reaching out and threading my fingers through his and see how it felt like. Pretend there was an us.

I shook away the crazy impulse. We hadn’t even kissed yet, for Christ sake.

He turned off from the highway and up on to a dusty road, off the tarmac. Tall trees crowded the side of the road, wilderness all around us.Content (C) Nôv/elDra/ma.Org.

“Oh no,” I said. “Is this the part where you say that ‘you’re sorry, but there’s just no other way?’ And then you barter me to a drug cartel or toss me to the wolves. Don’t tell me that you’re secretly a billionaire mass murderer, Julian.”

“Millionaire,” he replied smoothly. “And no, I’m not going to go American Psycho on you. Look ahead.”

I squinted. There was something at the end of the road, just past the trees. Buildings came into view and behind them… an asphalt track.

“No way. Is that what I think it is?”

“It is.”

“It’s a race track. Julian, are we racing?”