She took a deep breath. She didn’t have the luxury of feeling sorry for herself right now. So he saw her as the Ice Queen. That was beyond her control. Sure, it stung, but it didn’t really matter. This was business, after all.
“That may be how you run your company, but it’s not how I run my team. I will not have my people humiliated for your entertainment. I’ve worked with these people a long time and I’ve earned the right to challenge them. You haven’t.”
“I’m a partner here,” he reminded her, “which means I have every right. We owe our clients the best and that wasn’t it. I won’t apologize for pushing the team to be better, although I may have mishandled the situation today.”
“You think?”
“It won’t happen again, but I still intend to be very hands-on.”
“Yes,” she sneered, unable to cut off the snarky reply before it escaped her lips. “I believe we already established that fact.”
“Excuse me?”
“Nothing,” she recanted as common sense took root. What the hell was she thinking, antagonizing him like that? As a partner, he had Jonathan’s ear and with it the ability to make or break her future. The last thing she needed was for him to think she was a jilted schoolgirl. “I apologize. I shouldn’t have brought it up.”
“No, if there’s something on your mind, we should get it out in the open now,” he reasoned, crossing his legs and leaning back in his chair, amusement lighting his gray eyes. He looked completely relaxed, while Olivia herself felt like a bundle of nerves.
“What is there to talk about? You look like a guy who’s had more than his fair share of one-night stands. You know how it works.” A shaky laugh rolled off her lips. “But I guess it didn’t quite go as planned this time, huh? I’m sure you never expected to see my shining face again.”
“That’s hardly fair!” he growled, rising from his chair and closing the gap between them in a few short strides. He towered over her, looking both dangerous and sexy in that moment, with raw emotion flashing in his eyes. She wasn’t sure if he wanted to grab her by the shoulders and shake the shit out of her or if he wanted to do something a whole lot dirtier.
Judging by his ragged breath, her money was on door number two: down and dirty. The thought of his lips pressed to hers had her hormones in a damn frenzy. Desire coiled in her belly, reaching out and planting some very delicious, very NC-17 thoughts in her mind as her gaze drifted from his full lips to further south. Her body reacted to his nearness as though it had a will of its own, and she found herself craving his taste, her anger dissipating with each passing second. Cole’s hooded eyes and the erection he couldn’t hide suggested he was fighting the same losing battle.
For the first time in her career, she wanted to be the girl who had sex in the supply closet, and to hell with the consequences. The tension curling between them was a live, ravenous thing that threatened to consume her even as she resisted.
“You’re the one who ran out,” he whispered gruffly, breaking the silence. “You never even gave me a chance. Hell, I wanted to take you to dinner.”
He’d wanted to see her again? Olivia’s chest tightened at the revelation. She reached for him, but stopped short.
If she’d stayed that morning, would things be any different? She doubted it. Cole wasn’t the monogamous type. Neither was she. Besides, he was the boss now. She didn’t have the luxury of indulging in office romance. All it would take was one person catching wind of them sleeping together and any hope of promotion would go straight out the window. Or worse, if she did get a promotion, everyone would assume it was because she was screwing her boss. Her very hot boss.
And besides, she couldn’t forget it was his name on the door, not hers. Maybe it wasn’t his fault, but that didn’t change the fact Pritchard had picked Cole over her. He’d blown into town and taken the one thing she so desperately needed.
“Really, Cole? What did you expect?” Olivia stood, forcing him to take a step back. She smoothed her face to a look of indifference and squashed the burning need to feel his touch. This was how it had to be. “It was pretty apparent you only had one night in mind.”
“No,” he argued, his eyes raging like storm clouds. “Don’t you dare do that. Don’t pretend you didn’t feel it, too. You didn’t leave your friend with the check and sidle up to that bar for good conversation.”
Her cheeks flamed. She hadn’t counted on him calling her out. “You were watching me?”
“Of course I was watching you,” he retorted, his defenses melting into a crooked smile. “You were the most beautiful woman in the bar. Everyone was watching you.”
A thrill raced through her veins, but she quickly tamped it down. Fair or not, he was her manager now. And regardless of whatever everyone else might think, she didn’t sleep with her managers. “It doesn’t matter. It’s over now. It has to be. Do you have any idea what they say about women who get caught screwing the boss?”