Read Online If I Were You by Lisa Renée Jones - Free Book Online

Amanda asked, seeking my agreement. 
    “Very, but that’s a good thing.”
    “Not when Rebecca was at the helm of most of it and even
knowing this Mark has interviewed at least fifteen people and hired no one
until you. Thank goodness you did whatever you did to win him over because I’ve
been helping and I’m way over my head.”
    Whatever I did to win him over , I repeat in my mind.
I did nothing and he hired me without so much as a question. Why? Because I
asked about Rebecca? Because I pretended to know her. Oh crap . I told
Mark that I had a sister. This is why I hate lies. They always come back to
haunt you. My heart begins to thunder in my chest at the idea of being cornered
and busted in this one. I’m still contemplating how to best make this right,
what my story will be, when Amanda slides a folder across the table.
    “This is the new hire paperwork and some test Mark said you
need to take.”
    “Test?”
    “Yes. Test. Do you have a problem with that Ms. McMillan?”
    Mark’s voice, dark and commanding, draws my gaze, and I
barely stop myself from sucking in a breath at just how striking my new boss
really is. He is wearing a light gray suit that enhances the unique silvery
quality of his eyes that are more pale blue than gray as I had first thought.
His features are finely carved, his bottom lip full, his jaw strong. He is
tall, and athletic, his blonde hair neatly styled. He is…beautiful.
    “I’m a school teacher, Mr. Compton,” I finally manage to
say. “I love a good test. I’m simply curious as to what kind of testing?”
    “We’ll start with basics and I’ll decide where we go from
there,” he says, cutting a quick look at Amanda. “I’ll finish up the paperwork
with Ms. McMillan, Amanda.” He is curt, authoritative. Intimidating. Intimidatingly
sexy.
    “Oh yes,” she says, popping to her feet like a
jack-in-the-box who’s just had her handle cranked. She wasn’t kidding about
being intimidated by the man, and with him present, I am not without
understanding of how she feels.
    “Coffee is ready, by the way,” she announces to him, and I
can feel her angst, her plea for his approval that she doesn’t get. She grabs
her cup and heads toward him and he steps aside to allow her to exit, but his
eyes are locked on me, impassive, unreadable. That insecure part of me that
Michael played on flares its ugly head inside me, that part of me so like
Amanda. Heat lashes through my veins and I will it away. I could so easily want
to please this man and it terrifies me that I still have that in me.
    You are not the same person you were with Michael , I
tell myself. I’m not naive. I’m not inexperienced. I will not be captivated by
this man’s power, his presence, even if I am not blind to his appeal. I am in
control. Besides, he is my boss, not my lover.
    He saunters to the coffee pot and fills a cup, and without
asking, refills my cup. His eyes meet mine before he moves away, and I see the
steel there, I see the dominance in the otherwise polite act. He didn’t ask if
I wanted more coffee. He simply decided I did and thus I do. I need to
establish parameters with this man and do so now. I am not going to
touch that cup.
    In an instant, he’s claimed the seat across from me, and the
entire room along with it, and I am staring into those silvery grey eyes and I
do not dare look away. I tell myself it’s my show of strength, but deep down, I
know I am captivated, commanded, to hold his stare.
    “I wasn’t sure you’d show up today,” he finally says.
    “Why wouldn’t I?”
    Several seconds tick by before his lips quirk slightly and
he reaches into the folder and passes me a piece of paper and a pencil. “I
hired you without so much as a reference check, on pure instinct. My instincts,
Ms. McMillan, are very good. I’d like you to prove that an accurate statement.”
He reaches for the powdered creamer.
    I glance down at the paper and see ten questions, and
quickly determine they