69 Million Things I Hate About You

by Kira Archer

  “Mr. Harrington, maybe you can explain the reason for that projected profit delay.” Then he glanced at Kiersten as if he’d just remembered she was there. “Would you get me a water there, hon? Those damn planes always make me parched.”

  “That’s it.” Kiersten loomed over Mr. Daniels, who looked up at her like she was a sweet little poodle who’d suddenly grown two heads and was trying to attack.

  “I am too tired to sit here and listen to you mansplain my own chart to me or treat me like your own personal fetch-and-carry girl. Like it or not, the fact that I don’t have a penis does not, in fact, mean I have no brain. You are a rude, condescending ass who doesn’t know a good thing when he’s got it.”

  Mr. Daniels looked like he couldn’t decide if he should be scandalized, angry, or impressed. Cole voted for impressed.

  Unfortunately, the man couldn’t seem to help running his mouth. “Whoa, there. Just calm yourself, sweetheart. No need to get all emotional about it.”

  Cole almost closed his eyes and groaned. Kiersten just smiled, though the steel in her eyes should have been enough to have Daniels quaking in his boots.

  “Mr. Daniels, you really need to stop talking and start listening. Mr. Harrington is willing to take a chance on you, and you’re so busy posturing you’re going to talk yourself right out of a deal. Those numbers don’t go up for a while, because it’s going to take us a few months to undo the mess you’ve made of your business. And you’re going to take the deal, and gratefully, because no one else is interested in it and you want to save your company. He’s the only one who’s going to be knocking on your door,” she said, pointing at Cole. “And most of the time, the only way to get to him, is through me. So if you want a water, you can damn well get it yourself or ask one of the several gentlemen who are sitting three inches from the bottles to pass one over. Now, if you gentleman will excuse me, I think I’ve had about all I can take for the day.”

  She turned and marched out the door without another word.

  “You’ve got your hands full with that one,” Mr. Daniels said.

  Cole pinned him with as cold a gaze as he could muster, his patience rapidly fraying. “Actually, it’s more accurate to say Ms. Abbott has her hands full with me. I’m typically the emotional one who needs calming down. She is one of the most intelligent and talented people I know, and it is an honor to work with her. And she was correct. We have the expertise and capital needed to produce and market your product. The numbers she worked up are sound. If you want to keep your company afloat, you’ll sign the papers and we’ll get started. If not”—he stood and nodded at Mr. Daniels—“then good luck to you. I’ll give you until the end of the week to make your decision.”

  He left the conference room in time to see the elevator doors closing on Kiersten. He thought briefly about going after her, but between his mother and Mr. Daniels, he figured she’d earned a few hours off. And he needed a reprieve to get himself back in line. Now that Mr. Daniels was no longer in his face, distracting him, he couldn’t keep his mind off that sleep-induced kiss. If that was how Kiersten woke up, he could only imagine how she went to bed. And he really needed to stop imagining it or he was going to cross all kinds of boundaries and break every rule he’d ever made. A task not nearly as simple as it sounded. Because he’d never wanted to break a rule so badly in his life.

  He was so screwed.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Kiersten sat on the couch chewing on her lip. She felt much better than she had the day before. She’d slept most of the day after her brief foray into the office and the disastrous meeting—not to mention that kiss beforehand that she couldn’t get out of her head—and when her alarm had gone off that morning, she’d been physically well enough to go in. Mentally…well, she’d never taken a personal day. It seemed like a good time to remedy that.

  Her phone went off again for the third time in less than a minute. She sat slightly forward, but Izzy’s voice stopped her.

  “Don’t touch it! Wait another full minute at least.”

  Kiersten glanced down at her iPad where she had Izzy pulled up on chat. Izzy leaned out of the frame a bit and then came back into view.

  “He’s looking at his phone and starting to pace now. You’ve got him on the rocks, don’t give up yet.”

  “But what if he’s calling to fire me? I had to have gone far enough this time.”

  “I don’t know. He looks worried, not pissed,” Izzy said.

  “By the way,” Cassie said, scooting into view. “The pool is up to a grand now.”

  Kiersten blinked at that. “How did that happen?”

  Cassie shrugged with a mischievous grin. “People saw you yesterday all hungover, heard about the meeting with Mr. Daniels, and then no-showing today. And one of the secretaries overheard Mr. Larson talking to Mr. Harrington about what was going on with you, and so of course, they asked us…”

  “And you told?” Kiersten asked, not sure if she was more amused that the whole office was now betting on when she’d get fired or terrified Cole would find out what she was up to. “The lawyer said we shouldn’t tell anyone until we claim it, and he’s still getting all our accounts and paperwork in place.”

  Izzy chimed in. “Not the whole story, of course. They know you’re leaving, they just don’t know the real reason why.”

  “They must all think I’m insane.”

  Cass snorted. “Hell, no. They think it’s brilliant. Harrington drives everyone nuts. You’re their new hero.”

  Before Kiersten could answer that, Izzy said, “Oops, he’s on the move, gotta go.” And the screen went black.

  Kiersten’s phone rang. Cole. She let it go to voicemail. When the phone rang again, she got up and went into the bathroom. Sitting there staring at the damn phone was going to drive her crazy. To be honest, she was surprised someone from the office hadn’t shown up at her door with a box full of her stuff yet. She’d taken the boss’s mother to a strip joint, gotten her smashed and arrested, then bailed out of work after chewing out a potential client because she was too hungover to put up with his shit. How the hell could she not get fired?

  She still thought she should answer the phone in case that was why he was calling. Then again, he probably wouldn’t fire her over the phone. Not his style. He liked to watch people squirm live and in person.

  It had to be driving Cole nuts not being able to get ahold of her. She ran most aspects of his life. The thought of him running it on his own was almost enough to make her break out into hives. It must be doing a real number on him.

  Maybe if she took a shower she could relax. At the very least, the running water would drown out the incessant sound of the phone ringing.

  She lingered under the hot water for as long as she could. But once the water lost its pleasant steamy heat and started venturing into lukewarm territory, she climbed out. She dried off, wrapped her favorite fluffy towel around her, and sat on the couch to towel-dry her hair.

  The phone rang. Again. Okay. She’d let him stew long enough. There was no way she was going to make it all day. She took a deep breath and answered.

  “Hello?”

  “Are you dead?”

  She choked off a startled laugh at that. “No.”

  “Good. Are you coming in to work today?”

  His voice was smooth and deep, like a video she’d seen once of Tom Hiddleston reading the phone book, only with no English accent. Despite his more irritating qualities, she’d always loved his voice. Even when it was barking at her to do something. No wonder the man was so successful. All he had to do was speak and he had his opponents hypnotized. Thank God he had no accent. There would be no defense against that. He already had too many cards stacked against him.

  “Kiersten?”

  Her stomach bottomed out at the sound of him saying her name, and she reminded herself that he had no power over her anymore. She no longer needed her job so there was nothing Cole could do to her. She wished she were better at acting like a bada
ss, like Izzy. Kiersten had never been anything but polite and professional. Never burn a bridge had always been her motto. And there she was, trying to burn the biggest bridge of them all.

  But seriously, the man had spent the last several months torturing her. A little payback was in order. “Nope. Just not feeling up to it today.”

  There was silence on the other end of the line, and for a moment Kiersten thought she’d done it. Pissed him off enough he’d cut her loose. Frankly, she’d been stunned he hadn’t fired her the moment she’d walked into his office the day before. But maybe a second day of no-showing was enough to break him. She was starting to run out of firing offenses to try.

  “Yes, I can imagine. If you’re anything like my mother, you’re having a few regrets about your choices right now.”

  “How is your mother?”

  “Still slightly hungover, which is impressive, really, though surprisingly cheerful, despite that. Apparently, she had a good time with you. Maybe a little better than I would have liked, but still, it’s nice to see her happy. Or at least it will be when she’s returned to the land of fully-functional adults.”

  “I know exactly how she feels.”

  “I bet you do. And while I’d love to let you languish in bed while you regret a few of your decisions, I’m afraid I can’t dispense with you today. But no worries. I thought perhaps it would be best if I came to you.”

  Someone knocked at the door and Kiersten shot to her feet. “What?”

  “Come to the door.”

  She stumbled to the door and looked out the peephole. Sure enough, Cole stood there in her hallway, looking for all the world as if it were something he did every day.

  “Hello?”

  She opened the door, so stunned to see him standing there she momentarily forgot she wasn’t dressed for company. At least, it slipped her mind until Cole’s eyes widened as they roved over her body. She clutched the towel to her, making sure it covered all her perkiest bits.

  Cole came inside, backing her up a step for every step he took.

  A small smile played on his lips, and she couldn’t help staring. She’d always loved his mouth. A lot of men had thin lips that almost disappeared when they smiled, but Cole’s were full. Kissable.

  She shook her head and tried to draw in a deep breath. Having him in her home was throwing her off, big time, like trying to understand some mind-bending philosophical quote taken out of context.

  “I’m suddenly feeling a little overdressed,” he said, with a heat in his eyes that had that delicious shiver running up her spine again.

  “Well if you’d told me you were coming here I’d have put on something a little less comfortable.”

  “Don’t feel the need to change on my account,” he said, letting his gaze wander again. “I think I like the new dress code.”

  She bet he did. “I’ll be right back.” She darted down the hall to her bedroom, her cheeks burning hot. She punched in Cassie’s number while she quickly threw on some yoga pants and a baggie sweatshirt then paused to gather up the strength to walk back out there.

  “Hey, Kiersten, what’s up?” Cass answered.

  “He’s in our apartment,” Kiersten whispered loudly into the phone.

  “What? Who? Hang up and call the police! Why did you call me?”

  “No. Cole. Mr. Harrington.”

  There was a slight pause. “Mr. Harrington is in our apartment?”

  “Yes,” she hissed. “I answered the door in a freaking towel, and now he’s just sitting out there on our couch. What the hell do I do now?”

  “I don’t know. He’s probably used to women answering the door in their towels.”

  That got a snort out of her. “This is true. Kind of my point, though. He’s got a strict policy against interoffice dating. I mean, even as much of a ladies’ man as the tabloids think he is, he has never, that I’m aware of anyway, dated anyone in the office.”

  “Well, it’s not like you were wearing a sign around your neck that said Date Me. And he came to our apartment. He’s the one with some explaining to do, not you.”

  “Yeah. That’s true.”

  “He runs from commitment like you run from spiders. You’re not some random model. You’re the assistant he’s spent almost every waking minute with for the last six and half months. I think if you were putting the moves on him, he’d probably be hauling ass right now.”

  “Huh,” she said, an idea finally sparking. Despite their recent bouts of flirtatiousness, it hadn’t been anything blatant. More spur of the moment unavoidable.

  “What?” Cass asked.

  “You might be right. Maybe his close, personal assistant suddenly showing a romantic interest might push him over the edge into firing her, especially since I already kissed him yesterday.”

  “Wait, you did what? Why didn’t you mention that little tidbit?”

  “Because it’s embarrassing. I was half asleep.”

  “Okay, you’re going to have to explain that scenario when we’ve got more time. But right now, maybe you should capitalize on that slipup. Because seriously, what’s more inappropriate than making a pass at your boss? Okay. So, what are you wearing?”

  “What?” another voice said. “What’s who wearing? Who are you talking to?” Izzy’s voice carried over the phone. Cass put her on speaker and quickly filled Izzy in.

  Izzy snorted. “I’ll tell you what she’s wearing. The baggiest sweatshirt she can find and a pair of ratty sweatpants or something.”

  Kiersten’s jaw dropped. “How did you know that?”

  Izzy and Cassie both laughed, and Cassie said, “We know you, babe. He saw you almost naked, so you’re totally going to overcompensate for it.”

  “Yeah. So strip the sweats, throw on something skintight, and get your ass back out there,” Izzy chimed in.

  “And really sex it up,” Cass added. “We’re at the two-week mark. If you get fired today, I win the pool.”

  “I’m not sure I can do this,” Kiersten said. “I mean, I’m a decent flirt.” She ignored the scoffing on the other end of the phone. “I am. If Brooks were here, I’d have no problem.”

  “Well, sure,” Izzy said. “But that’s because Brooks would flirt with your eighty-year-old grandmother. He does most of the work, makes it easy for you. Cole Harrington is a totally different story, especially when it comes to you.”

  “And why is that?” Kiersten asked, already knowing the answer.

  “Because Brooks would be a fun distraction for a minute. With Cole Harrington, it might go somewhere, and that terrifies you.”

  “Need some help in there?” Cole called out.

  “No,” Kiersten said, her voice much too shrill.

  “Get a grip, woman,” Izzy said.

  “Take a couple deep breaths,” Cass said.

  Sure, that’ll help. She didn’t say that, though. Instead, she said, “Be right out.”

  “You can’t stay in there forever, babe,” Izzy said.

  “Why not? Surely, he’d go away eventually.”

  Izzy snorted. “Maybe. Or maybe he’ll come in there after you.”

  Kiersten’s stomach bottomed out at that suggestion, though she wasn’t entirely sure if it was because she would dread that or because she wanted it. “Good point.” She sighed. “Okay, I’m going.”

  “Call us later,” Cass said.

  “I will. Gotta go.”

  She hung up and quickly grabbed a skimpy tank top from her drawer, switching it for the sweatshirt. She had to suppress a shiver. It was warm in the apartment, but it was not tank top weather just yet, especially when she wasn’t wearing a bra—though that certainly wouldn’t hurt the master plan any.

  She took one more deep breath and sauntered out.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Cole took one look at Kiersten and nearly ran from the room. She’d been better covered in the towel.

  The clothes she wore now left very little to his imagination. The yoga pants hugged every delectabl
e curve of her body, and the tank top made it obvious that it was a bit nipply…er, nippy in the apartment. Her hair hung in damp tendrils around her shoulders, the color darkened with the moisture. She licked her lips, and he had to clench his fists to keep from hauling her to him.

  What game was she playing at now?

  She plopped down on the couch next to him, much closer than he would have expected, and leaned back a little. There was little doubt that she was feeling a bit chilly.

  “So,” she said, giving him a small smile. “What can I do for you?”

  Oh, the possibilities. He let his eyes rove over her one more time and then turned back to his briefcase, popping it open with much more force than was necessary. He needed to take back control of this situation. It seemed once again they were on the same page. If she was planning on driving him stark raving mad or pushing him into doing something physical she could then call him out on, she was off to a fucking amazing start. He’d been in her apartment all of five minutes and was damn near ready to concede defeat if it meant he could wrap himself around all those luscious curves.

  He yanked a stack of files out of his case and dropped them in her lap. She grunted a bit at their weight and frowned down at the pile. “What are these?”

  “Those are all projects that we’ve done for the Irwin Foundation in the past.”

  “Hmmm,” she said, picking up a file and lightly running her fingers over it.

  Cole swallowed hard and got back to his bullshit. “I…um…” She sucked her lower lip into her mouth, her teeth lightly scraping along the tender flesh, and all the blood drained from his head. “As you can see,” he said, trying to find a safe spot to stare at on her body that wouldn’t have his dick trying to jump from his pants to get to her. He settled on the line of her neck, on the soft pulse of her heartbeat that he could just detect beneath the surface. “We haven’t done a project for them in the last several years. I want you to go through the files, see if you can find some indication of why they’ve stopped calling.”