The Naughty List Bundle - Kylie Adams [141]
One of the kids with Casey hurried to obey. Nate stepped forward. “Uh, Morgan, we were just—”
Morgan cut him off with a glare. Nate stammered for a moment, then clicked his teeth together and went mute.
With a sound of disgust, Misty stepped forward. “For heaven’s sake, Morgan. Stop trying to terrorize everyone.”
Morgan stared at her and silently applauded her courage. No one else in the room would have dared call him to task. She obviously didn’t realize quite how angry he was.
Her hair was mussed, her skin dewy, her eyes bright. She looked like someone had just made love to her. And she dared to stand there giving him defiant looks in front of everyone.
“Is this what I pay you for, Malone? To have a party?”
Her eyes narrowed. “We weren’t having a party. If you’ll just listen…”
The T-shirt clung to her damp skin, emphasizing her breasts and distracting him. Her cuffed walking shorts showed off her long, sleek legs. A pulse tapped in his temple, making his head swim. “Employees of this office,” he said succinctly, “do not traipse around dressed like that.”
She took a step closer to him and stared up, her brows beetled. “I had to change.”
His gaze dropped to the large cone she held, now dripping on her hand. “Nor do they eat ice cream cones during business hours.”
“Morgan.” She said his name like a growl.
He ignored the warning, too angry to care that now she was angry, too. “I pay you to work, to answer the phone and take messages. It’s little enough to expect that you might take those duties seriously.”
Casey groaned, then mumbled, “Now you’ve done it.”
Morgan paid no attention to his nephew. He was too fascinated by the way Misty’s eyes darkened, turning midnight blue.
She went on tiptoe. “I’ll have you know, I’ve worked my butt off today!”
He leaned to look behind her. “Looks to me like you’ve got plenty of ass left.”
Her gasp was almost drowned out by the groans of the spectators. Misty turned around and snatched up a stack of notes scattered over the desk’s surface. “These,” she said, slapping them against his chest one by one, “are from your various girlfriends hoping for a date tonight.” They fluttered to the floor to land around his feet. “They’ve been calling all day, tying up the damn phone.”
“Malone—”
“And they were rather persistent that you reply right away.” She gave him a sarcastic-sweet smile. “Before I leave, I’ll be sure to let them all know you’re most definitely free!”
“Malone…”
“And this,” she said, throwing a yellow bill at his face, “is for the plumber, because everything backed up and soaked the floor. If it wasn’t for Howard and Jesse helping me mop we’d still be six inches under.”
He started to get a little worried. “Uh, Malone…”
“And that constant banging you hear,” she practically yelled, “is the repair man working on the cooling system. In case you missed it, it’s about ninety degrees in here.”
So that was why she was all warm and damp. Not because she’d been playing so hard? His brow lifted, but she wasn’t through yet. Morgan was aware of Howard and Jesse trying to slip out unnoticed. Casey’s two friends had already slunk as far as the door. Nate was openmouthed beside him, not moving so much as a muscle. Casey, the rat, whistled.
“And finally,” Misty snarled, in a voice straight out of a horror movie, “this is the first break I’ve had all day. The flooding water ruined my lunch, and with no air-conditioning I was too hot to eat, anyway, so Nate got me an ice cream cone to tide me over until dinner. But since you don’t think I should be eating it, why don’t you take it!”
And with that, she aimed the damn thing like a missile, ice cream first, into the middle of his chest. Morgan gasped as the chill hit him, then made a face when he felt the first sticky dribble soak under his collar and mingle with his chest hair.
Casey stopped whistling. “Uh-oh. The fat’s in the fire now.”
Howard and Jesse ran out the door, slamming it behind them.
Nate made a strategic turn and crept out.
Like a stiff, well-trained soldier, Misty tried to troop out after him. Morgan caught her