Chewing my lip, I think about what I should do. Not telling him has been eating a hole in my stomach, but telling him might make things worse. I like Chance, a lot. He's such a nice man, and he's been so sweet to me. But he's my boss's ex-husband, and she wants him back.
I groan miserably. "Raisa ordered me to help her win you back."
"She what?" he says sharply, his gaze narrowing. "What exactly did she tell you to do?"
"Whatever it takes to find out if you're sleeping with someone, and if so, who it is. I'm also supposed to say stuff about how wonderful she is and how you two belong together."
He grunts with what sounds like disgust, leaning back in his chair. "The woman's gone off her rocker. I'm sorry, Elena, you should never have been put in the middle of this."
"Not your fault my dream job turned into pimping for my boss."
His lips flatten. "I'll have a talk with Raisa. Your pimping days are over."
"No, you can't," I say too quickly, with too much panic in my voice. "I mean, she'll fire me. I need this job."
I clasp my hands on my lap, my fingers twitching restlessly.
"All right," he says. "I won't let on that I know about her ridiculous plot, but I will make sure she understands I will never go back to her. I've told her before, but this time I will leave no doubts about my feelings for her." He lays a hand over mine, stilling my restless fingers. "At least now I understand why you've been so anxious about getting involved with me."
"You're my boss's ex-husband. Of course I'm anxious."
"But you might've gone to dinner with me in spite of that. Am I right?"
I consider my answer for a moment before I say, "Yes."
He gives my hand a quick squeeze. "Knowing Raisa thinks she can get her claws into me again makes you even more anxious, because you worry she'll fire you if she finds out you and I are seeing each other."
"That's right. Now will you give up on the idea of dating me?"
"No. I will not let Raisa bollocks up my life any more than she already has."
"Great." I tear my hands away from his. "I'm your revenge fuck."
"Elena, no." His gaze is so earnest it makes my throat go thick. "Being with you is not how I avenge myself on Raisa. I'm not vengeful at all. She cheated on me, repeatedly, and often with men who worked for her. I stopped loving Raisa a long time ago, because of what she'd done. When I found out about her infidelity, I walked out the door and never looked back."
"But you work for her now."
"As a favor. I may not love her anymore, but I don't want her to suffer either." He braces an elbow on the table and sets his forehead in his raised palm. "Meeting you is the best thing that's ever happened to me. I don't want to walk away from you, but I understand if you need to distance yourself from me."
Do I want that? Is being with Chance worth the risk of losing my job? Maybe I shouldn't want to keep my job, considering what Raisa has pressured me into doing for her. Not that I've enacted her plan yet. But still...
"I need to think about all of this," I say. "Maybe we should keep our distance for the time being."
He keeps his head in his palm while I slap money on the table to cover my part of lunch, grab my purse, and hurry out the door. I don't see any taxis, so I start walking and head for the subway station I'd seen down the street. I'm crossing in front of an alley when Chance catches up to me. He grasps my arm and tows me into the alley, backing me up to a building.
And he kisses me.
It's no sweet and tender kiss, either. He takes possession of my mouth like he's starved for the taste of me, his lips mashed to mine, his tongue hungry and unyielding while his teeth nip at my lower lip. I moan and give in, devouring him as completely as he's devouring me, dissolving into the kiss, reveling in the velvety heat of his tongue and the blustering of his breaths on my skin.
He cages me against the wall with his body, all those muscles crushed against me, flexing as he whisks a hand up and down my side. I thrust my fingers into his hair and wrap my leg around his, all but begging him to take me right here, right now.
A car horn honks, and still I want him.
Chance pulls his head back, breaking the kiss, but keeps his body plastered to mine. He's breathing as roughly as I am. "I want you, Elena. It's more than sex, but I swear I'll go insane if I can't have you again, soon. Why should Raisa drive a wedge between us? We can't let her have that kind of power."
"What can we do? She's my boss and---"
He silences me with his lips, peeling them away from mine so very slowly. "She's abusing her position by ordering you to help her with a personal situation. That means she has no bloody right to play the victim."