Page 18 of Fair Trade

This is a mistake. A massive, colossal mistake.

I don’t know what I’m doing when I start to pull my arm back, but it seems he’s not having any of that when his arm darts out and both his hands clasp mine in a firm grip.

He raises a brow, and I realize what I’m supposed to say next. “And you’re Stonehaven…Uh—”

“Nicholas Stonehaven. My name isNick, Luisa.” He squeezes my hand, and I feel it all the way between my legs. Especially when his eyes linger on my shoes for a moment.

My devil has a name, and it’s Nick.

No. Not my devil. Myboss.

As in the person holding my career in his hands. His very strong, large, and talented hands.

His gaze seers my skin, like he can read the dirty thoughts running through my mind.

“You can let go of her, Nick. Don’t make it weird.” Daisy’s strained laugh has me whipping my hand out of his grip before he can tighten it. “Sorry about that. Luisa. My brother can be intense sometimes.”

“Thanks for the glowing review, sis.”

“Anytime.” She faces me. “And to think you were anxious about meeting him. I promised you’d get along great with the new owner.”

His entire demeanor changes at the drop of a hat.

Eyes that were moments ago heating my skin have now turned cold.

He straightens, and the rigid movement makes him look like he’s made of stone.

But his voice? Might as well belong to a completely different human. “So you knew who I was,” he states instead of questioning.

Daisy’s phone rings, and she excuses herself. I want to tell her to stay, or that I’ll leave. Because I’m still trying to wrap my head around the last few minutes.

The office door clicks shut and Nick takes a sizable step forward. “So you knew who I was,” he repeats, eyes lasered in on mine like a human lie detector.

“No! I didn’t know who you were. I didn’t know the owner was Daisy’s brother either. I didn’t even know Daisy had a brother!” My voice rises as the accusations start to become clearer.

His laugh is sinister, worthy of the name I gave him while we were in the throes of passion. “Oh, now that’s rich.” He shakes his head while looking down, fixing his cufflinks. “I must say, it’s been a long time since someone’s duped me like that. Gotta hand it to ya. You really had me fooled.”

“I’m sorry. Are you really—”

“Oh, good. You’re starting with an apology,” he clips.

I put my hand up between us, my mind struggling to decide whether to defuse the situation with my new boss or curse him out six ways till Sunday.

“Look, I’m going to need you to simmer down for a second and listen like a damn adult.” His eyebrows rise, but he allows me to continue. “We had sex last weekend.”

“And here I thought you were about to tell me something I didn’t know.”

“Wow. You’re a real gem, aren’t you?” I mutter.

“You know I’m worth way more than a gem, so at least make your analogies accurate.”

“Honestly, if my job weren’t on the line, you wouldn’t even be worth the headache.” He huffs as I tread on. “What I was trying to say is that, yes, we had sex. Like two consenting,matureadults. And if you recall, I didn’t even want to know your name.”

“Because you already knew it!” His voice booms, his eyes quickly darting to the office door, probably looking for any signs of Daisy. He takes a deep breath and lowers his voice. “You knew who I was and seduced me, and for what? Job security? To ensure that if I tried to fire you, you’d threaten a lawsuit? Or bestcase, see how much money you could squeeze out of me?” He shakes his head, lost in thought. “Just tell me if you took photos of me while I slept, and we’ll deal with this privately. I’ll even keep the lawyers out of it.”

My jaw drops, and it takes everything in me to keep the tears rimming my eyes from falling.

The fucking nerve of this man.