Read Online An Exquisite Challenge by Jennifer Hayward - Free Book Online Page A

Closing the door, she retreated to the kitchen instead, a tiny rebellious part of her refusing to let him order her around.
    “Lemonade,” she murmured in response to Elena’s curious look.
    “You’re in trouble?”
    “I would say so.” She retrieved the carton from the fridge and sloshed some into a glass. “Got any advice?”
    “Normally I would say appeal to his reasonable side. But these days?” Elena shrugged. “Keep your head down.”
    Which was obviously not what Alex did when Gabe found her there ten minutes later, chatting with his housekeeper. “You,” he snarled. “In my office.”
    She followed him, wincing as he slammed the door behind her.
    “What the hell do you think you’re doing walking into the middle of my meeting?”
    “I didn’t know it was still going on,” she said calmly. “I’m sorry.”
    “I told you I’d come get you.”
    She set the lemonade down on his desk. “You keep disappearing, Gabe. We are behind. Significantly behind. Emily needed an approval on the catering yesterday, I need an approval on this interview list now or we aren’t going to have any one-on-one media interviews at the event.”
    “To hell with the media,” he roared, making her take a step backward. “They can wait.”
    Her stomach clenched at the fury streaking across his face. “There’s no need to shout,” she murmured. “And they can’t wait, Gabe. You need them if you want this launch to be a success.”
    “What do you think, Alex? That I’m working twenty-hour days because I don’t?” He took a step closer to her, then another, until two hundred pounds of pure male aggression was staring her in the face. Her heart started to pound furiously in her chest. She tumbled back in time to another room, to another big male bearing down on her, laying his hands on her, and her breath came quick and hard. This is Gabe, she told herself, sucking in a breath, not him.
    Breathe.
    Gabe scowled. “I want you to stop disobeying my orders and start doing what I say, because you are treading very, very close to the line.”
    That snapped her out of it. “What line?” she demanded.
    “The creative differences line. The one where I fire you.”
    “Fire me?” She let out a bark of laughter, releasing the tension inside of her. “I only wish you would fire me, you’re such a pain in the ass.”
    His hands clenched at his sides. “I am not having a good day, Alex. Rein it in.”
    “No.” She stuck her chin out. “You are killing us, Gabe. You need to start letting us make decisions.”
    “Like adding people to the guest list I haven’t approved?”
    She frowned. “Your PR agency missed some key influencers.”
    “You added my ex-girlfriend and her husband.”
    “Oh.” Her fingers flew to her mouth. “Who is that?”
    “Darya Theriault.”
    She thought hard. “Right. Yes, well, she and Peter are a Bay Area power couple. Don’t you think you can swallow your pride for one night and do what’s right for the event?”
    “No, I cannot,” he yelled at her. “She is not coming to this event.”
    She squeezed her eyes shut. This was getting just a little out of control. “Okay, maybe I should have checked with you on that. I should have checked with you on that. But it isn’t my fault you fired the last agency and left us with zero time. It isn’t my fault you can’t prioritize what’s important and it isn’t my fault you are a serial perfectionist.”
    He gave her a dangerous look. “A serial perfectionist?”
    She opened her eyes, looked up into his furious face. “You have me chasing down Ligurian anchovies. How stupid is that? Ligurian anchovies, Gabe. ”
    “It is a treasured cultural food for Italians,” he bit out.
    She waved a hand at him. “It’s ridiculous. Ridiculous. However, I would be inclined to pander to your little whims if you would just give me my goddamned approvals before we all go down in a big, fiery flash.”
    “You are driving me crazy,” he rasped,