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"And you’re o for the director’s job, which er an ally He’s the co to check in and see how you’re doing You’ve been ona lot about you Call nored the last three text es from her and now she had resorted to voice mail She must have some enormous event where she needed hiame?

Joanie had delivered about twenty-seven hours worth of work to his apartment and here he sat, on a Sunday, when most of his co-workers – no, Matt Jones’ co-workers – were catching up on errands or playing, going to theout with family

Bleary eyed, already on his fourth cup of coffee and it was, he looked at the clock, 10:11 am – he faced a day of dull work

Diane Just what he needed Diane was a Kardashian wannabe, which Mike had found char in a cute or an appealing sort of way, but chara Kardashian were the height of Diane’s dreahtmares were As tux candy, she'd been fine, but just as she used him for status, he had used her for public relations

As he stared at all of the work and all of the decisions that other people were afraid to ainst a wall to execute, he faced a growing sense that profits were not going to meet what he had hoped in order to achieve his coup He felt hi, the drive to win so great, so overwheloal

Soht to that burden of success

It teased hi a different view, another life One with swells and soft curves and flesh that went on and invited his hands, his ht there, was the proble him

From that frantic kiss in the supply closet to a very unprofessional but succulent hts, his fantasies – and his business

To that night in the bar, taking her ho her in, his decency the only protection fro full on, full blood, full ith her

A less respectful one for it A one for it and, until a couple of weeks ago, Mike would have called himself the ultimate alpha male with a killer instinct that put would put him into the Fortune 500 and would eventually make him the CEO of a top-ten colove co a smile to his face whenever he saw the The decency that said Bournhah The decency that saw the impact of cheap paper towels and horrible coffee on the workers The decency that kept his body froe of someone as so dependent on him but didn’t realize it – her career, her self esteem, her emotional state so wrapped up in what she did at Bournham Industries and her personal state so wrapped up in this fictional character Matt Jones, that he had created So much of Lydia intertwined with him

And she was completely oblivious to it all and certainly had been with ht to have been the case It was her vulnerability that et back in touch with that killer instinct, because that killer instinct – that hat had gotten hireed to do Meet the Hidden Boss with Jonah because his killer instinct drove him to find ways to make new profits His killer instinct drove hiot hies, into the newspapers, on social media sites, on TMZ and Perez and all the crazy places with his face here, there, and everywhere Branding was souys with a killer instinct knew

Decency? Decency had no place when it ca that guy who tapped on her glass, who uy she joked – or didn’t joke – was trying to be Christian Grey Miketo be

Lydia was the only thing standing in the way

The script was already sitting on his desk before he’d had a chance to take off his coat The s the surface as he whirled around to find Jonah standing there, back against the wall, trying hard not to be noticed filled the air

In a twelve-by-fifteen office, it wasn’t easy to hide

"Hey there, Mike Good ht I’d catch you kind of early" His hands out in a gesture of supplication, Jonah clearly had an agenda but was trying to act like he didn’t

"What do you want Jonah? I don’t have a lot of ti in here"

Jonah looked at his watch "It’s 7:30, none of the other doo-bies are going to be in and they don’t knoho I am I’ll just leave out the staircase and avoid the" he paused for drama, or so it seemed to Mike "elevators" A hard, wry look that made Mike stand on alert

"You shouldn’t have to worry The elevators don’t have caht, Jonah?" Hard look back