Page 12 of Claimed By the Boss

“I know,” she says, a little stiffly.

She’s embarrassed. I can see it in the way she glances at her hands.

“You know you can do better.”

Her head jerks up, eyes wide. She opens her mouth like she’s going to argue. Then she closes it. “I do,” she says quietly.

I like watching her think, watching her regroup.

She’s good at it.

“I assume you have experience with Python?” I ask next.

She nods. “Four years. Mostly for scripting, but I’ve written production code.”

“C++?”

She hesitates, but just a fraction. “It’s not my favorite, but I know it.”

I snort softly. “It’s not anyone’s favorite.”

That wins me the smallest smile.

I have to look away for a second, or I’ll let something show. I flick my eyes back to her resumé.

“You worked in a lab as a research assistant,” I say.

“Yes,” she says. “I mostly did data analysis. Statistical modeling.”

“That’s useful.”

She nods.

I set the folder down. She’s possibly the perfect candidate for this job, which makes this hard. It means I can’t reject her. I also can’t let my personal feelings get in the way.

“Tell me,” I say, voice lower. “Do you handle yourself well under pressure?”

She bristles again. “I think I proved that last night.”

I smirk. “I thought we weren’t talking about last night.”

She shifts, crossing one leg over the other. The movement drags my eyes down for a second.

I force myself to look back at her face.

“I thought that would be the polite thing to do,” she answers.

“Look,” I say finally, voice going hard again. “I don’t hire people because they’re polite. I hire them because they’re better than everyone else in the room.”

Her lip trembles for a second before she bites it. That shouldn’t be as fucking hot as it is. I take a deep breath.

“Your resumé is solid,” I tell her. “Your project leadership is excellent. Your recommendations are glowing. And you didn’t fold when I pushed you.”

She’s speechless. I take a deep breath.Fuck it.“You’re hired,” I say flatly.

She stares at me for a moment, slightly dumbfounded. “What?” she asks breathlessly.

I tilt my head. “I said you’re hired.”