Read Online The Boss's Mistletoe Maneuvers by Linda Thomas-Sundstrom - Free Book Online

that was the truth, right?”
    “More than you know.”
    “There’s still time to explain, Kim.”
    She shook her head.
    “I wasn’t the only one who wanted that kiss,” Monroe remarked. “And it wasn’t planned.”
    “How dare you presume to know what I want?”
    “Well, at least one of us is honest. I’ll admit that it wasn’t the goal of tonight’s discussion, but I will also confess that I liked it. I liked it a lot.”
    “It was business suicide for me, and you know it.”
    “So, you’ll use the kiss against me?”
    “Do I have a choice?”
    “Well, if it’s a lawsuit you want, we might as well make the best of it. There’s no need to slap me this time. What good would it do if no one is watching?”
    Each time Kim inhaled, his shirt rubbed against the red silk of her dress, sending pangs of longing through places she hadn’t focused on in a long time. The closer he got, the more of his disarming scent she breathed in.
    She wanted that kiss his lips were promising. Another kiss. A better one, if there was such a thing, especially given that no one, as he said, was there to witness it.
    With that thought, Kim knew she was screwed. Chaz Monroe wasn’t merely an intelligent bastard, his actions were highly suspicious. Was he a man ruled by what was in his pants, or did he have some nebulous plan of his own to humble her with?
    When his mouth brushed across her right temple, Kim squirmed and glanced up to meet the directness of his gaze. She absorbed a jarring jolt of longing for the closeness she had to repel. Monroe was her boss. No one in the company could condone a relationship with him that might eventually lead to the promotion she already deserved. Rumors were a plague in business. If she were to get a promotion in the near future, some would now say she had slept her way to the top.
    Several coworkers had witnessed what happened in the bar. Whereas it might have gone unnoticed if she’d kept quiet, in a moment of panic she had idiotically made sure it hadn’t gone unnoticed. Plan C had been set in motion.
    Damn him. Damn you, Monroe.
    “Why can’t you leave me alone?” she demanded.
    His breath stirred her hair. “Obviously, that contract involves personal issues for you that I hadn’t anticipated.”
    “Bravo for concluding that.”
    “I have no way of knowing what those issues are unless you tell me about them.”
    “They aren’t your business. Not something so personal. Leave it, Monroe. I’m asking you to let it go.”
    “Or what? A bit of blackmail will back your request up?” He sighed. “I’m concerned, that’s all. Neither of us has to be those people in the bar. We can be friends if you’d prefer that. I’m actually a good listener. We could go someplace quiet and talk things over.”
    “Like your apartment?”
    He shook his head.
    “But you’d like to take me to your apartment,” she said.
    “What fool wouldn’t? But that’s not the point here.”
    “I’ve asked you to back off.”
    He touched the cheek she had slapped. “Right. I got that.”
    “And you refuse to listen,” Kim said.
    “I don’t tend to take no for an answer when a moment like the one in the bar told me otherwise.”
    “Then we can finish this tomorrow,” Kim said. “After we’ve thought it over and had some distance.”
    “I’m fairly certain we should finish this now,” Monroe countered. “I’d really like to know what upsets you. I thought you were going to cry.”
    His gaze was volcanic. He had nice eyes. Great eyes. Light blue, with flecks of gold. Those eyes wouldn’t miss much, if anything. He would see her cave. Right then, his gaze sparkled with a need to understand what she had been thinking, beyond the possibility of blackmail. Or else maybe he just wanted to know more about the terms of their deal.
    Letting Monroe strike a nerve is what had gotten her into this mess. He was too handsome, and too willing to get to know her better. Men like him often used women, her