Was forced to reach over and save his assistant before she fell on her cute little ass and destroyed the plans that he had for her.
*-*-*-*
“Is something wrong, Miss Jones?” the sick bastard asked while Kylie lay there, struggling to move her arms that refused to cooperate.
But, since she refused to give him the satisfaction of knowing that he was getting to her, she simply slapped a smile on her face, pretended that every muscle in her body wasn’t in agony, and said, “Of course not, Mr. O’Mallery,” even as she prayed for a miracle that she damn well knew wasn’t coming. Knowing that she had no other choice but to keep going, she slowly exhaled, placed her hands firmly on the mat, and pushed herself up only to fall flat on her face a few seconds later when her arms gave out.
“I guess that’s enough for now,” the horrible man said, as he picked her up, ignoring her groan of agony, and set her down on her feet only to end up grabbing her and pulling her back up when her legs gave out. “Why don’t we knock out a few more miles on the treadmill, hmm?” Hunter suggested, already dragging her towards her demise and inwardly making her snort, because if he thought something like this was going to break her after everything she’d been through, then he had another thing coming.
Chapter 9
“Now, will that be ribbed for her pleasure, double ecstasy, ultra-thin, ultra-ribbed, or lubricated?” the devious thing that refused to admit defeat calmly asked, as she looked up from the list that he’d given her.
“Double ecstasy,” Hunter bit out, beyond fucking intrigued by the cute little thing nodding absently as she returned her attention to the list that he’d made with the hopes of finally getting a normal reaction from the woman who was proving to be a challenge.
Yesterday, when he’d decided to move their morning meeting an hour early and had her join him for his workout, he’d expected her to balk at the idea, or at the very least, beg for mercy after the first mile so that they could finally come to an understanding, but not Miss Davis. When any other woman would have cried, bitched, or tried to entice him with a sweet smile and a little cleavage, she’d simply redoubled her efforts. Instead of admitting defeat so that he could clear up any misunderstandings that she may be harboring about her job and duties, she’d slapped one of those disturbing smiles on her face, clung to the treadmill, and forced her severely uncoordinated feet to move as she’d tried to discuss the busy work that he was throwing at her to keep her out of his hair for the day.
Everything that he’d thrown at her yesterday she’d accepted with a smile, a nod, and a murmured, “Yes, Mr. O’Mallery,” and if it hadn’t been for that defiant glimmer that he saw in her eyes every time she did it, he would have grown bored and dismissed her as a fucking kiss-ass and moved on. But it was that defiant look that had him once again wondering about her. He’d been around a lot of ass-kissers in his lifetime, men and woman who could make anyone believe that it was their greatest joy in life to be at someone’s beck and call, but Kylie definitely wasn’t one of them. It made him wonder why she’d taken a job where she would be expected to kiss someone’s ass and fucking love it.
So, when she’d shown up bright and early this morning, dragging herself into his gym without waiting for him to summon her, his respect for her had doubled. Without a word, he’d climbed onto his treadmill and started it while she did the same, periodically reaching over to pick her up when her feet gave out as he wondered what he was going to do with her.
“Now, did you need me to contact an escort service as well?”
Beside strangle her that is.
“I don’t need an escort service,” Hunter bit out, narrowing his eyes on the devious little thing that was clearly enjoying herself and truth be told, so was he, probably more than he had in years.
“No, no, of course not,” she murmured, making his lips twitch as she scribbled something on that list he’d created simply because he’d wanted to see what she would do.
“And this personal lubricant, should I look for oil-based? Flavored? Is warming a deciding factor?” Kylie asked, as she continued making notes.
“Surprise me,” he drawled, leaning back in his chair as he watched her.
“Well, if that’s everything then I should probably head to the store before they run out of edible glitter,” Kylie said with that determined look in her eye that told him that this bullshit list of his hadn’t fazed her in the slightest.
“Get back to work, brat,” Hunter said, as he reached over and snatched the list out of her hand.
“Of course, Mr. O’Mallery,” Kylie said with a nod and a triumphant glimmer in her eye that had him giving this round to her as she stood up, gathering her things, and left his office to finish today’s list of bullshit.
He’d get her next time, Hunter decided, as he shifted his attention to the emails that she’d flagged for him, wishing that he could call it a night, only to dismiss the idea because he could only take so much television before he lost his fucking mind. Before he’d been sentenced to house arrest, and he really wished that he’d kept walking that night instead of letting some drunk asshole take a swing at him, he’d never watched television, never had time for it. But now, that’s all that he seemed to do. He needed to find something else to do before he lost his fucking mind.
Then again, he thought as a chime alerted him to the fact that the email that he’d been waiting for was finally here, maybe he already had.
*-*-*-*
She was dying, Kylie realized later that night with a small groan as she lay there, waiting for the hot water to do what five ice packs, four Advil, and a heating pad hadn’t been able to accomplish. Everything hurt from the top of her head all the way down to the tips of her toes and she had no idea how to make it stop. The only thing that she knew was that she was expected to do it all over again tomorrow.
Oh, God…
She couldn’t do it.
She just couldn’t.
But even knowing that it was most likely going to be physically impossible to move, she knew that she didn’t have a choice. She was going to have to do whatever it took to drag her ass down the hallway and back onto that treadmill because she refused to give up. Not now. So, for that alone, she would suck it up, get her ass back on that treadmill and handle everything Hunter threw at her with a smile.
No matter how much it hurt she could do this, she told herself with a firm nod, hoping the positive affirmation would help, but unfortunately, it only reminded her that she was only a few hours away from having to jump back on that treadmill. She really didn’t want to get back on that treadmill or do another pushup, Kylie thought as she reluctantly forced herself to sit up so that she could drain the tub and call it a night. Taking a deep breath, she grabbed hold of the side of the tub and pulled herself up, biting back a gasp of pain as every muscle in her body screamed in agony.
It took a few minutes, but she eventually managed to get a towel wrapped around herself. Once that was done, she headed for the bathroom door, wondering as she went if she should get another ice pack only to immediately dismiss the idea since it meant stairs, something that she really wasn’t sure that she was going to be able to manage at the moment.