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My fingers shake as I pull up my phone and dial his number. Within moments, his seductive baritone flits through the phone, making my body tingle. Swallowing my pride, I say the three words I never thought would ever come out of my mouth.

“I need help.”

CHAPTER 6

REX

My lips curl into a grin as Stephanie hesitates. So close. So very close to actually asking me specifically for what she needs.

“You need help?” I repeat back, taking on a more stupid tone. “Whatever would you need my help for? Is it your car? I’ve already said my mechanic can look at it at any point.”

Her frustrated sigh makes my cock twitch. “It’s not the car. Well… It is, but not just the car.”

“Oh? This sounds serious. Perhaps you should come by my office so we can talk it over. I’m sure there’s nothing so bad that we can’t fix it together.”Or I can just fix it myself, I say silently, knowing exactly what’s going on with my baby girl.

Again, she hesitates. I can hear the pause in her breath, the way it catches in her throat. Is she wishing I’d just kiss her and make it all go away? Of course, I can certainly do that as well.

Shaking my head, I tap my pen against the stack of papers in front of me. “I haven’t got all day, Stephanie. Whatever it is you need from me, I’d rather you just spit it out. I’m a very busy man.”

“I know that,” she blurts out. “Any chance you have a job opening?”

Well, this certainly isn’t the direction I expected things to go. Seems as if my soon-to-be little girl is still trying to do things her own way instead of relying on me for what she needs. Time to disabuse her of that notion.

On my end, I make a grand show of clicking about on my keyboard, letting my fingers fall hard enough so she can hear it. It doesn’t really matter. I know every opening in my company. I know exactly where she could fit if I wanted her to work for me.

But I don’t. I want her to finally have an easy life, to know what it’s like to be pampered and coddled. Granted, to earn those things, she’ll also have to submit to my depravity, but all in good time. With a heavy sigh, I click about some more.

“We have nothing open. I thought you had a job. What happened?” As if I don’t know, but it still would be nice to hear how she might spin things.

“Oh. Ummm. Well... You see,” she hedges.

“Yes?”

“I was laid off.”

“Laid off? But how? Why? Profit margins show a massive record growth. All companies should be hiring right now.” The line stays silent. “You’re not lying to me, are you?”

“Why on earth would you think that?”

“Answer the question, and stop deflecting.” My balls clench as my little omega weaves her lies, forming a net around her for my capture.

“I’m not lying.” Another pause. “My position was terminated.”

Irritation crawls up my spine as she spins her half-truths, leaving out the pertinent information I already know. “Really? And that’s why there’s a set of red marks over your photo with the words fired with prejudice?”

“Fuck,” she murmurs under her breath.

“Yes. Fuck. Come to my office now.”

“Please, Mr. Rothsbourne. I-”

A wicked grin crawls up my face as my cock pulses behind the confines of my slacks. “What did I say about calling me that?”

“Fuck!” Her words fly from her lips so loud and hard I nearly pull the phone away from my ear.

“No, my dear. Fuck is not what I said. Tell me what I said.”

Moments go by where there’s not a sound. Nothing. I pull the phone away, making sure the girl didn’t actually hang up on me. But the call is still there. She’s just not saying anything.