“I am the boss, Miss Andrews,” Hugo reminded her from between his teeth. “You are the employee. Everything about the way you are speaking to me is disrespectful, not to mention foolish. Why would you try to antagonize the person who pays your spectacularly generous salary?”

      Eleanor’s frown smoothed out a bit, though it didn’t precisely soften. And still Hugo wanted to taste that faint crease between her brows, where the edge of her fringe kissed her skin the way he wanted to do.

      “In point of fact I won’t be paid for two weeks,” she said after a moment, as if she couldn’t help herself.

      Maybe she really couldn’t. He couldn’t have said why that notion washed through him like a new sort of heat.

      “A notable distinction,” Hugo murmured.

      And then, because he loved nothing more than complicating any given situation beyond repair, the better to make it worse, he kissed