Shattered Composure

KAT

I stared at the glowing screen of my iPad, realizing I had let the upcoming Boston trip slip my mind. The itinerary had been locked in a month ago, sitting right there on our shared digital calendar. Losing focus on a logistical detail this crucial was uncharacteristic of me. I desperately needed the mental preparation to endure two full days alone with Mr. Mercer in a different city.

Torture was the only word for it. Sharing the confined space of a plane and staying in the same hotel with him always drained my sanity.

"Get everything ready. We will return on Friday morning." He said, his deep voice cutting through my thoughts.

I nodded, finalizing the notes. When I finally looked up, he was running his thumb along his sharp jawline. I tried my hardest to ignore his distracting, model-like face staring at me from across the heavy mahogany desk. His dark eyes were intense, making it impossible to concentrate.

I snapped my planner shut and leveled my professional gaze at him. "Do you need anything else, sir?"

He fell silent. His intense stare drifted away, focusing on some unseen spot in the distance for a long, agonizing moment. The ambient hum of the air conditioning seemed to roar in my ears.

Then, he dropped a conversational bomb.

"What have you decided about Nolan?"

My fingers tightened around the edge of my iPad. "What? Are you serious?"

I glared at him, irritated that he was relentlessly insisting on this issue. I shoved my chair back a few inches. "My personal life is none of your damn business."

His tone turned dangerously cold. "Don't forget you work for me, Voss. Both of you work in this company, so it is not just about your personal life."

"Do not worry about me. I know very well how to keep things separate." I shot back, keeping my chin high.

He leaned forward, bracing his forearms on the desk. "I want to know what decision you have made so I can take the necessary steps. It is not personal, Voss, but do not think I am going to feel sorry for you. You are an adult. You can certainly deal with the consequences of your choices. I cannot let you tarnish the company's image by making headlines as the secretary having a cheap affair with the boss's brother."

My patience evaporated in an instant. A hot flash of anger surged through my chest, burning away my professional restraint.

I slammed my palms flat on the glass surface of the desk. "Wait. Is this a threat? Are you using this to fire me? Go ahead and try."

I let out a harsh, sarcastic laugh. "It is not personal? Are you sure about that? Because from where I am standing, all you have done for the past year is try to find faults in everything I do. I am the one constantly saving your ass out there, cleaning up every mess and making sure this office runs smoothly."

"Watch your words." He warned, his voice dropping to a menacing growl.

I stood up abruptly, my chair skidding backward across the carpet. "Screw that! I am tired of this. I am tired of having to put up with a jerk like you. I have been giving my best for this company since the day I set foot here, and you refuse to admit it. No matter how hard I try, you decided on your own that I am not good enough. You simply chose to hate me for no reason! You can take all your arrogance and shove it."

"Voss." He warned again, a dangerous edge creeping into his demeanor.

His calm facade finally cracked. The cold, indifferent boss vanished, replaced by a furious man whose eyes burned with unchecked rage.

"Enough! Poor Katarina, so defenseless. Do not be a hypocrite. You want to talk about arrogance? Just look at you. You are always flaunting that ass of yours, strutting around with your nose in the air because you know you are untouchable thanks to my father." He snapped, his voice booming through the room.

My jaw dropped, shocked by his crude attack. The audacity of this man was unbelievable.

"Fuck you! Unlike some people in this building, I have earned everything I have through my own relentless efforts." I growled through my teeth, my hands balling into tight fists.

"There it is. You are finally showing your claws. The perfect Katarina Voss, always so composed and intelligent, but you are about to throw it all away for a fuck with my brother." He sneered, a muscle ticking in his jaw.

I refused to let him intimidate me. The sheer arrogance of his words fueled the raging fire in my veins.

"I will say it again. This is none of your business! Do you think I plan to go around telling everyone about this? You are such an idiot. Women can have their fun and pretend it never happened just as easily as men." I declared proudly, lifting my chin to challenge his furious glare.

I could not stand his fake, righteous composure. I wanted to tear down his moral high ground and expose him for the fraud he was.

"Do as you please, Mercer. But before you try to fire me, you will need to prove something, and I will not give you that satisfaction. Or do you think you are the only one here who can mix business and pleasure?" I crossed my arms over my chest, glaring daggers at him.

He arched a dark eyebrow, looking momentarily confused. "What are you talking about?"

"Who is being hypocritical now? You know very well what I am talking about. You might not have realized it, but I was there. I watched everything. I saw your well-known affairs with various female executives during our business trips. The late-night meetings, the lingering touches in the hotel lobbies. I saw it all." I called out loudly, throwing his own hypocrisy right back in his face.

"The difference is they do not work for me." He countered, his voice thick with defensive anger.

"The difference is you think you can do whatever you want because you are the boss and a big arrogant bastard." I sneered, refusing to back down an inch.

"You are to blame for all of this!" He roared, the sound tearing through the quiet office like a thunderclap.

He abruptly stood up from his leather chair. His massive frame dominated the room as he marched around the heavy mahogany desk. His long strides ate up the distance in a matter of seconds, his eyes fixed on me with terrifying intensity.

I instinctively stepped back. My heart pounded a frantic rhythm against my ribs, and my blood boiled white-hot in my veins. I forced my trembling body to stop retreating. I planted my heels into the plush carpet and took a deliberate step forward, closing the distance toward him.

"Oh, now it is my fault? For what? For you being an arrogant son of a bitch, or for fucking those women?" I asked sarcastically, tilting my head back to meet his gaze.

He stopped right in front of me. We were barely a step apart. His massive chest heaved heavily under his tailored dress shirt. I could feel the intense heat radiating off his body. The iron grip on his control was gone, shattered into a million pieces.

"For everything. It is all your fault. Do you think it is easy to resist your provocations? Every damn day of my life is spent living on the edge. I have to endure being by your side, fighting a brutal war to keep my hands off you." He said through gritted teeth, his voice a dark, raw rumble.

What?

My mind spun out of control. The breath stalled in my lungs. I swallowed hard, blinking up at his intense, dark eyes as my brain desperately tried to process his breathless, raw words.

He took another heavy step forward, closing the remaining inches between us. There was no space left. His broad chest rose and fell uncontrollably, brushing against the silk of my blouse with every rapid breath he took. Explosive anger transformed instantly into uncontrollable, raw passion in the dark depths of his eyes.

"I am sick of resisting that ass and that mouth. Fuck it!" He growled, the raw sound vibrating from his chest.

A second later, he lunged toward me.