Her eyes narrowed and she paused. Was he really angry on her behalf? How. . . unsettling.
“All you did was undermine my authority by making it seem like I couldn’t resolve tensions without your involvement,” she smoothly replied, refusing to admit to the guilt of having accused him unfairly. “If I am meant to lead my team, then let me do my job without interfering.”
His brow tugged up. “You do realise you’re talking to your boss.”
“In that case, is there anything else I can help you with before I return to work,sir?” she insolently shot, watching the veins at the back of his hand pop out when he clenched his fist.
“Leave,” he snapped, looking as pissed off as she was.
Vera’s lips thinned into a line, glowering at him for his swift change in demeanour. She should have known all that support was for show. This is what he was at the end of the day. A rude dill-hole who was bent on trying to find a weakness to exploit.
She harrumphed for good measure before spinning on her heels, her hair swishing as she indelicately slammed his door shut behind her.
The farther she got from Vihaan, the more her ire faded. She was being watched by everyone in the office with a wariness that told her word had spread already.
Ten minutes was all it had taken for people to know that someone had been fired because of her.
She dropped into her seat and frustratedly combed her hair to one side, hiding her face.
Yeah, she admitted to herself, heaving a deeply disappointed sigh at the kind of day she’d been having. She should have called in sick.
12
No Man's Land
Vihaan
Vihaan watched the swayof Vera’s sweet ass as she exited his office, before the door thudded to a close. Only then did he release the breath he’d been holding in. Hearing ‘sir’ from her in that sassy tone had made him want to do unholy things to her that would’ve had her screaming that exact word for the entire office to hear. A memory of her lips wrapped around his cock, her eyes on him as she sucked him off, flashed through his mind, his body reacting immediately. It was a small mercy that he’d been concealed behind his desk, because his pants had gotten tighter with every glare she’d thrown his way.
He glanced down at his erection, hating that his body had betrayed him in her presence.Stupid fucking dick with its own brain!
No matter how much he told himself he hated Vera, her effect on him remained as potent as it’d been when they were teenagers. It was insane, unnerving and disorienting because of the agonisingly opposing feelings in his mind and body.
Worse yet, after finally managing to get her alone today, he’d gotten completely derailed from what he’d wanted to discuss.
He’d spent the morning barking at the building management for not having placed a fire alarm trigger inside the storage room, threatening to bring a lawsuit upon them. Add to that, the discovery that he was wrong about Vera making all those errors had him torn. Was he glad that she was still the same hard-working girl? Or did he hate that knowing this made him want to find out in what other ways she’d not changed?
He sent off a note to Laila to follow up on Olivia’s dismissal before he sat back, sights swinging out past the glass wall to the busy office just beyond, landing upon the one woman he wasn’t supposed to care about. She had her head down, ignoring any looks that were being thrown her way as people passed by. The redness in her cheeks wasn’t because of anger. She was sad. Why the fuck was Vera acting unlike herself?! Why had she allowed Olivia to walk all over her? Where was the spitfire woman who would have chewed out anyone for failing to do their work correctly? He’d been on the receiving end of her sharp words often enough when she’d tutored him.
Her eyes remained downcast, as if she’d still not recovered from the discovery that someone she’d worked so closely with had put her through such a harrowing experience. Fuck, the reminder of it made him want to insist that Vera sue the snivelly woman, just to get revenge for the fear she must have felt when locked alone.
He jolted slightly, the suddenness of this need to avenge Vera taking him by surprise. He didn’t have space for soft emotions when it was directed towards her.
Still, her silence when subjected to Olivia’s cattiness pissed him off.
She’d been stunned in the break room when the truth had been revealed—he’d seen that. But moments later, she’d been hacking into him like he was an overdone chicken, so readily believingthat he’d only helped her for nefarious reasons. Her mistrust of his intentions was like getting poked in the eye with a hot needle.
Goddamnit, why did he care what she thought? She did this to him. She made him question everything and behave in ways he otherwise wouldn’t.
Case in point: their little escapade yesterday.
He’d never been bare when he’d fucked any woman. He’d never lost his senses while intimate before. He was far too experienced for that, far too controlled. With Vera, that control had been non-existent. He’d been out of his mind with a need that outweighed sense. He hadn’t been able to stop himself from coming inside her, and instead of being horrified at the possibility of an unwanted pregnancy, some deranged part of him had crowed in victory at having marked her.
He needed psychiatric help.
Vera walked past his office, shuffling files in her hand. His body turned in her direction, a moth to her flame. His eyes unwittingly followed her as she walked away, leaving him with an aggravating desire to invade her personal space out of spite. She’d gotten under his skin because even now, the memory of his cum glistening down her silken leg had him hungering to go to her and. . .
And what? Being around this woman came with an uncertainty he was unused to. For years, he’d believed he’d made a great life for himself. He was successful, rich, could have his pick of women, and answered to no one but himself.