eyes glittered, sharp and metallic. ‘You really think I’m that kind of man?’ There was real anger in his deep voice now and for a second I couldn’t focus on anything else. Because I’d never heard it before. Xander King, Mr Robot, having an honest-to-God emotional reaction?
‘I don’t know,’ I said, wanting to push him further, to see how far I could go. ‘Are you?’
‘No.’ His reply was instant and full of that dark note of anger. ‘I don’t need to blackmail women to get sex. And, even if I did, you’d be the last woman on earth I’d blackmail. Because, quite frankly, I don’t want you anywhere near my cock.’
‘Why not?’ I demanded before I could stop myself.
And the instant I said it I wished I hadn’t. I didn’t care about his stupid dick and I certainly didn’t care whether he wanted me or not.
‘Why not?’ Xander echoed, raising one black brow. ‘I would have thought that would be obvious. You’re my stepsister and I don’t like you. I never have. And, apart from anything else, I’m not attracted to you in the slightest. Does that answer your question?’
The heat in my cheeks deepened.
Idiot. I should never have said that. Why had I? The only explanation was that I was so conditioned to arguing with him that it must have been some kind of weird reflex.
‘Yes.’ I refused to look away. Refused to acknowledge, too, a strange disappointment that wouldn’t go away no matter how hard I ignored it. ‘Not that I’d do it anyway. I’d rather blow Vlad the Impaler.’
Xander said nothing. Instead he looked down at his watch, some heavy platinum thing that highlighted the strong bones of his wrist. ‘Are you going to accept my offer or not? I have a meeting in five minutes and time is money.’
I dearly wanted to tell him no, that I wouldn’t be working for him, not now, not tomorrow, not ever. Not even if he paid me a million bucks.
But there was a little voice in my head nagging away, telling me I’d be stupid to give up this chance at something I’d been wanting to do for years simply because I hated Xander King.
It was just a month. That was all. I could do that, couldn’t I?
‘You know I’ve never had an office job in my entire life, right?’ He had to know exactly what he’d be taking on, since my entire career was a sorry list of retail and hospitality jobs that I’d either left or been fired from for stating my opinion, or because of my attitude. Or they didn’t like my jeans or my hair or whatever.
I didn’t care. Those jobs weren’t what I wanted to do anyway.
You might care about this one.
I gritted my teeth as Xander’s black gaze continue to pin me.
‘Are you saying you can’t do it?’ His voice was so cold, like an ice cube brushed over my skin.
I repressed my instinctive shiver, keeping my chin high. ‘Of course I can do it. Seriously, how hard could it be? Making coffee, getting your dry cleaning and little gifts for your girlfriends. Easy.’
His beautiful face was expressionless. ‘I have other people to get my dry cleaning and I can make my own coffee. I also don’t have any...girlfriends.’
He said the word like it tasted bad and I didn’t know why it made me feel something like satisfaction. What did I care if he had girlfriends or not?
‘Whatever.’ I kicked my boot harder against the door. ‘It’s not like it’s hard—’
‘You’ll start at eight-thirty sharp every morning and I don’t like lateness so you’ll need to be prompt. The work day finishes when I do—unless I send you home early—and I don’t finish before six. At the earliest. And as for your duties, they’ll be basically anything I tell you to do.’ He paused and his gaze sharpened. ‘Do you understand?’
My heartbeat sped up and I had no idea why.
You like the idea of doing anything he tells you to do...
No. God, why would I like the idea of that? I hated being told what to do.
‘Sure,’ I said. ‘You basically want a slave. No wonder no one wants to work with you.’
His expression didn’t even flicker. ‘I don’t like attitude and I don’t like backchat. If you disagree with me I’ll be open to discussing it, but if it’s to argue for the sake of it then you’ll get short shrift. Once I make a decision you will not argue with it.’ He pushed his chair back and got to his feet, six foot three of tall, dark and compelling. ‘You get one chance with me, Poppy. One chance and that’s all.’
My jaw ached with keeping in all the words I wanted to fling at him. The need to tell him he was a controlling douchebag and I’d rather crawl naked over broken glass than work for him or do a single thing he said.
But...the promise of that internship was enough for me to swallow any sarcastic comebacks.
‘You’re serious about this reference?’ I asked instead.
He moved purposefully towards me, obviously expecting me to get out of the way of the door. But I didn’t.
I stayed exactly where I was.
He came to a stop in front of me and at last that stony expression on his face flickered. ‘One thing to understand about me is that I never lie. You’ll only get the truth from me. So if I promise you a reference, I mean it.’
I tried not to feel satisfied at that flicker of expression. ‘Well, I guess that’s—’
‘But you’ll only get a good reference if you perform to my satisfaction,’ he went on coldly. ‘If you don’t then you don’t get a thing.’
Perform to my satisfaction...
The words echoed weirdly in my head and I became suddenly aware of how close to me he was, towering over me, his gaze like black ice.
Heat began to prickle across my skin.
He was so tall, so broad, and he wore some kind of subtle cologne that smelled fresh, like water or rain, with an edge to it, a darkness. A rainstorm...
My mouth dried, my heartbeat thumping uncomfortably in my ears. Standing here had been a mistake. But then if I moved, I’d be betraying something and one thing I knew was that I couldn’t betray any kind of weakness in front of this man. I’d already given him power over me by admitting how much I wanted the internship. I couldn’t afford to lose any more ground.
I pushed myself away from the door and took a step.
Towards him.
Xander
POPPY TOOK A step towards me, her copper eyes full of challenge, clearly having no idea how fragile my control was.
Apparently, she’d been put on earth solely to test me.
In the normal scheme of things I had no problem keeping myself in check. But this woman... Christ, she’d done nothing but push me from the moment she’d stepped into the room. And now my patience—usually limitless—was almost extinct.
Then again, I didn’t know what I’d expected. She’d been doing that since she was ten years old.
At first, I’d been happy at the thought of having a little sister to spoil since I’d been rather isolated as a kid. But then she’d turned up, made of nothing but anger and spite, and had decided, for some reason known only to herself, that I was the worst person on the planet and had treated me accordingly.
Things had gone downhill from there.