Romancing my Boss

Chapter 22

In the days - or was it weeks? - following that near-miss with Max, I drifted in a stupor of confused longing and exquisite, unfulfilled need. What was once an adrenaline-spiked game of romantic one-upmanship had become something darker, richer, infinitely more dangerous.

We had shattered through the fragile borders restraining our provocations. Undeniable wanting had been unleashed in its most primal form, and something inside me had been irrevocably ruined for anything less than total possession.

As I prepared for the upcoming Pemberton Financial gala, a plan began to take shape in my mind. This year, I wouldn't settle for merely observing from the sidelines; No, this time I had a specific goal in mind.

With a slow, devious smile, I pulled out the slinky black dress I had been saving for just this occasion. Holding it up, I admired how the clinging ebony fabric skimmed over every lush curve before flaring out in a tantalizingly sheer lace overlay.

Yes, this dress was pure seduction sewn into silky restraint, equal parts classy and sassy. It was my secret weapon in the tantalizing dance of escalating provocations with Max.

The arrogant bastard was in for a wake-up call this evening - I'd ensure it.

After suffering through his aloof dismissals and that suffocating tension lingering between us, a night of making Mr. Control Freak visibly squirm was precisely what the doctor ordered. Max may have won the latest battle by coolly shutting down whatever this charged thing was brewing between us...but the war was far from over.

Well, this evening's main course was most definitely on the menu - and I intended to ensure Max Pemberton's hungry gaze didn't stray from the banquet for even a single second.

Staring at my reflection, I almost didn't recognize the vision staring back - lips pursed with audacious confidence, eyes glittering with impish challenge. No meek assistant in sight, that was for damn sure.

"Let's go ruin a few nights, shall we?" I told the other me while giving an approving look at my reflection, along with one last lingering once-over.

The black car idled out front, ready to whisk me away into the sort of trouble that made a girl's toes curl. I could already picture Max's arctic stare boring into me, roiling with disapproval and that darkly scorching promise that made my veins thrum with shivery feminine power.

The ballroom was already in full swing by the time I arrived, but my fashionably late entrance ensured all eyes swiveled eagerly towards the vision I presented.

Chin lifted in unconscious challenge, I sashayed through the parting crowd with a defiant swish to my hips, utterly reveling in the weight of every single agog stare drinking in my decidedly unsubtle display.

There were a few ingrained suck-ups I recognized from the office, no doubt preparing to rush over and offer slobbering compliments. As if I would have a single ounce of patience for their placating after this bold transformation. Fortunately, I was promptly waylaid by an unexpected, albeit vastly more enticing, intrusion.

"Pardonnez-moi, mademoiselle." The smooth accent stopped me in my tracks.

I turned to find myself locking gazes with quite possibly the most devastatingly handsome man I'd ever laid eyes upon. Oh la la. With one dark wing of glossy hair falling roguishly over his brow and bedroom eyes simmering with unabashed heat as they roamed over my figure, he truly looked as if he'd sauntered straight off the cover of a cosmopolitan magazine.

"Hello?" I replied with a polite smile.

"Forgive me for interrupting your entrance," he said silkily. "But I simply could not allow such incomparable beauty to walk past unacknowledged."