Page 3 of Sexy Bad Boss

“About what?” He pulls his phone from his pocket and checks the screen.

I don’t need to ask any more to know the answer. It’s right there in the way he’s completely oblivious to anything other than business. But I’m so tired of these emotions I carefully hide away. “Don’t you ever want to fall in love, James?”

He looks up from his phone, his brow furrowed. It’s an uncomfortable few seconds before he speaks. “I guess I don’t really think about it. Besides, it’s not like I have the time.”

“Because you’re always working.” I push away from the railing and take a few clipped steps toward the house.

“Exactly,” he agrees, following me. “Where am I supposed to meet women worth dating? In boardrooms? In my office?”

I almost trip over my own feet as I stutter to a halt. Anyone else would assume he’s being sarcastic, but the truth is, that’s where he spends the majority of his time. Still, it doesn’t bolster my confidence if I don’t count as datable at all. “W-where are you supposed to meet suitable women?”

“Right. You know what I’d require, Myra. Where should I be looking for this mythical woman to fall in love with?”

Something catches fire. I’m pretty sure it’s my brain. It might also be my good sense. I spin around so fast my own hair whips me in the face. The man I have been pining over for longer than any self-respecting girl should is asking me where to find a future wife?

“Did you suggest that I, as your personal assistant, should help you find a woman to date, James?”

My face must say it all, because his jaw drops and his eyes widen. He slips his phone back into his pocket without looking. “That’s not exactly—”

“Don’t.” I hold up a finger between us. I can’t believe that I’ve held out hope for so long. That I told myself if I were just patient, eventually he might come around. He might notice me in a way that was anything but professional. “Don’t say anything more.”

“I didn’t realize it would bother you so much. If anything, I would have thought you would want to be involved in choosing the right woman for me to date.”

“I…” There’s a certain amount of truth to what he’s saying, if I take into account the fact that I would choose me to be that right woman.

“Look, forget we ever had this ridiculous conversation.” He shrugs. “Chalk it up to my mother being on my case about settling down. I doubt there’s a woman out there who could handle my work schedule, my habits, my lifestyle, anyway.”

“Excuse me?” I take a step toward him. Is he joking? Isn’t that exactly what I do day in and day out? Yes, I’m his assistant, but I don’t do it entirely for the money. I certainly wouldn’t have stayed with him so long if it were only for the money. I have my own dreams and aspirations. Working for James Frost was only meant to be a short pause on the way to my goals.

“Other than you, of course,” he says. “But you’re my Supergirl. Other women don’t have your abilities.”

“Stop talking,” I tell him.

He raises both eyebrows. “Myra, what on earth has gotten into you?”

That’s it. I’ve had enough. Five freaking years of being at his beck and call and never once has he looked at me like I could be more. Now he wants me to find him a woman to fall in love with who is basically me.

Call me toast. I’m done.

“Myra?”

“To hell with it, really.” There’s only one thing I can do with this cocked up situation. My stomach churns with nerves, and the back of my neck breaks out in a sweat. And the words...they just won’t come. So I suck in a deep breath and then I do what any girl who’s wanted the man in front of her until it’s sent her crazy would do.

The thick material of my cocktail dress swishes loudly as I rush him. Our bodies collide, the hard wall of his torso taking my impact with ease as I clasp his face between my hands and plant my mouth right on his.

“Myra? What is this?” he asks. Though he doesn’t push me away, he doesn’t kiss me back either. We’re toe to toe, and face to face, and I can feel his pulse under my hands. “What are you doing?”

“What does it look like I’m doing?” I whisper.

“It looks like you’re trying to kiss me.” He captures one of my hands, then the other, and pulls them both down together.

My heart feels weighed down like my hands. “It’s all me, isn’t it?”

“I-I don’t know,” he says, but he doesn’t let go of me. “We’re friends, we’re colleagues. This is—”

“You had no idea?”

“None.” He brushes a hand down his face, over those sculpted lips that were touching mine mere seconds ago. At least he didn’t know. It would be so much worse if he had been aware of my feelings all along. “I need time to process this. You’re my admin, not—”