Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 93387 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 467(@200wpm)___ 374(@250wpm)___ 311(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 93387 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 467(@200wpm)___ 374(@250wpm)___ 311(@300wpm)
I dared to look up. His gaze was enough to incinerate me. He began to tap his finger on his desk, another sign of agitation.
“I need you to assure me that I was having an out-of-body incident, perhaps a stroke, leading me to imagine you told my mother I was ‘shitting my pants with explosive diarrhea.’ I couldn’t possibly have heard that.” The tapping increased. “You did not use the words blowout and clogged pipes.”
“Um,” I said hesitantly. “Would you believe me if I said that, yes, you had a stroke? I’ll call your physician.”
“Myers.”
I threw up my hands. “You said by any means possible! It was the best of the two ideas I had!”
“Telling my mother I shat my pants was the best idea?” he roared.
“She left, didn’t she?”
That made him pause. He rubbed his eyes, muttering. I frowned. He was anxious, tapping the desk and shaking his head. All signs of high stress for him. Plus, the muttering. He might have a stroke yet. I wasn’t sure if that was a bad thing right now or not.
He dropped his head to the back of the chair with a low groan, covering his eyes. “God give me strength. I meant for you to tell her I was in an afternoon meeting or on a client call that would take hours. Something business-related. Not—” he waved his fingers “—that.”
“Oh. I did tell her you were busy, but that didn’t work. She is difficult to deal with.”
He dropped his hand and sat up. “I know.”
“So, should I clean out my desk?”
He met my gaze, the electric-blue of his eyes mesmerizing. They didn’t look as angry as they had when I first sat down.
“Maybe I’ll tell Pete downstairs that the next time she shows up, to call ahead. You can hide,” I offered.
“I’m a grown man. I do not hide.”
“Um, the locked door and ‘get rid of her’ from earlier begs to differ, Bane.”
He scowled. “I’ll leave my office so you can be honest and say I am not in.”
I nodded. “You can hide in the supply closet or somewhere.”
His finger was shaking as he pointed to the door. “Out.”
“For good?” I asked, worried.
He sighed. “I’ll let it go this once. You did get rid of her.”
“Thank you, Bane. I mean Mr. Bane. I’ll be more circumspect next time.”
“See that you are.”
I stood, and he looked at me with curiosity. “What was your other idea?”
“I was going to tell her you had an STI.”
He gaped at me. “What the fuck?”
I nodded. “No mother wants to walk in on her son playing with his knob like some high schooler with his first Nintendo joystick. I’ve heard those STIs are itchy.” I risked winking at him. “I planned on telling her that I informed you the two Brazilian strippers weren’t a good idea at the bachelor party you’d planned on the weekend, but you refused to listen.”
He stared, his mouth open, and I wondered if he had indeed had that stroke.
Then he swallowed. “Get out of my office.”
I shrugged. “It was either shitting your pants or pulling on your Long John Silver to relieve the itch. I went with the classier one. Either one assured her leaving.”
“My long—” He pointed to the door, his voice sounding odd. “Out. Now.”
I walked out, beginning to shut the door when I heard it. It was the oddest noise. I turned and poked my head back in the door, making sure he wasn’t choking on his tongue. I would have been less surprised at that than the sight that met my eyes.
Alexander Bane was leaning back in his chair, covering his mouth, and laughing.
He was actually laughing.
For a moment, I watched him, fascinated. He was incredibly sexy as he chortled, wiping his eyes and sitting up, only to start chuckling again. I shut the door quietly and returned to my desk.
A hundred points to me.
I made sure to behave on Thursday and Friday. I didn’t want to push it. I purposely let all his mother’s calls go to voice mail, though.
Bane didn’t bring it up—not once. But I had a feeling I would hear about it again at some point.
Friday, an unplanned staff meeting was announced. After some trivial items were addressed, Mr. Lawson stood and discussed the awards, thanking everyone for their hard work and dedication to the company. He indicated Bane, clapping him on the shoulder. “And of course, the man of the hour.”
There was a round of applause, and to my shock, Bane stood. “Thank you again. Now, I rarely speak at these meetings, but today, I have something to say. I have been in early talks with HR and my partners, and I want to bring everyone up to speed on a new protocol that will be implemented at Balanced Designs.” He paused, looking down at the wooden surface of the boardroom table, his hands closing into fists on the top. His voice deepened as he looked up, his face and voice serious. “Nothing bothers me more than a bully. Than people using their position, their words, or their attitude to make another person feel less. Here at Balanced Designs, we discourage any conduct of that sort, but it seems there are those who engage in that exact behavior.”