Free IF YOU WANTED THE MOON by Mallory Monroe Page A

food and then wiped his mouth before responding. “Ethan,” he said.

    “Sir?”

    “Cal me Ethan. I’l cal you Tori.”

    It’s about time, Tori thought. “That’s not my real name, you know.”

    “Your real name is Victoria Deborah Douglas. I won’t cal you Victoria, although I’m tempted, because I’m sure you hate the name.”

    “I don’t hate it, I just got out of the habit of it. When I was a kid, you see, my parents used to cal me Victoria-Deborah al the time, like it was one name, and they’d cal me that in front of everybody, embarrassing the hel out of me. Then my classmates, seeing that as the perfect opportunity—”

    “Started caling you Victoria-Deborah.”

    “Oh, no, they didn’t let me get off quite that easily. They started caling me VD.” Ethan burst into laughter. “That’s not funny, Mr. Chandler!”

    “I’m sorry,” he said, between laughs. “And you’re right, it’s not. . . . funny at al. But I’l tel you what. I’ve got a bargain for you.”

    “A bargain?”

    “Yes.”

    “Okay. I’m al ears.”

    “Yes, you do have rather big ears, don’t you?”

    “Mr. Chandler!” Tori yeled smilingly, unable to believe how relaxed with her this, let her coworkers tel it, inhumane ogre was becoming.

    “Just kidding,” he said, stil smiling himself.

    “So what’s the bargain?”

    “You don’t cal me Mr. Chandler anymore, and I won’t cal you VD.”

    Tori looked at Ethan. “You wouldn’t.”

    “It’s not information I sort, Tori, but as a businessman I wil tel you that I use every detail to my advantage. So yes, I would. Now,” he said, returning to his serious side once again, “what did you want to ask me?”

    Tori sighed before beginning. She was more confident now that she saw that side of him she most liked, but she was stil cautious. “I was just wondering about a few minor matters,” she said,
    “concerning my situation.”

    Ethan leaned back again and stared at her. “What situation is that?” he asked.

    “Why did you chose me for this trip, for instance?”

    Ethan exhaled. “You run my logistics department.”

    “That’s correct.”

    “Which means you’re competent.”

    “I’m competent?”

    “Aren’t you?”

    “Is that it? Is that the reason you chose me?”

    “Is that not a good enough reason?”

    “Excuse my bluntness, but no. It’s not good enough. I’m competent, yes, but so are al of your other department heads.”

    “Yes, Tori,” he said, impressed with her forthrightness, “but they didn’t try to knock me down a flight of stairs—”

    “Mr. Chandler!” Tori said with amazement. “I mean Ethan. How could you say that? It was an accident, I didn’t do that on purpose!”

    Ethan smiled. “I understand that, but you did it.”

    “So coming here with you is my punishment, is that what you’re trying to say?”

    “You owe me, Tori. I had a busted lip because of your little door trick. My employees, as I’m sure you’ve heard, view spending any discernible time with me as torture. Pure torture, according to Arthur. So why torture them? They didn’t bust my lip.”

    Tori smiled as if she understood fuly his jest, but, in truth, she couldn’t believe it. He was admitting what she had most feared. He was out for blood just as she had thought. Oh, he said it calmly, he even said it with a smile, but she’d been warned about that too. “If he starts smiling at you,” Herb Baxter in Accounting had said, “watch out. You’re in trouble then.”

    Tori took another bite of her sandwich. This was her punishment, after al, she thought, not her pleasure. A fact, she was sure, that he planned to demonstrate in that bedroom he expected them to share. But that wasn’t going to happen. She may not have a say over how hard he worked her, since she was on company time and she aimed to do her job, but she had more than a say about where or
    with whom she slept. And after lunch, she decided, she would