Free The Gift: Book 1 (The Billionaire's Love Story) by Lily Zante Page A

bold step of sitting down.
    “Did I tell you to sit down?” he asked.
    She frowned. Was he being serious? She turned to stare at him.
    “I didn’t realize we were in a military academy.” She wished this man, always so stiff and so cold, would pull that steel rod out of his ass. “If you think I’m going to stand back up again and wait for your permission, you can think again.”
    She thought she saw the faintest wisp of a smile on his lips.
    “You’ve got some spunk.”
    “Excuse me?” She leaned forward, taken aback by his choice of word.
    “Bravado. I like it. You’re not afraid to speak your mind.” It had cost her dearly when she hadn’t. She’d only learned recently that the best way to fight bullies was to stand up to them. Not cower from them.
    “It seems to me that most people are afraid to tell you what they think.”
    “Why do you think that is?”
    “You really want to know?”
    “I really want to know.” His gaze was cool, magnetic, and she could not look away if she tried.
    “Because you have money, and power, and people want to please you.”
    “People want to please me,” he said, slowly repeating her words. He walked over to his side of the desk and sat down. “Do you want to please me?” he asked, entwining his hands together and placing them on the desk.
    “I want to work. I don’t look at it in terms of whether it pleases you or not. You don’t really factor into my equation.”
    He nodded, and placed his elbows on the table, lifting his hands so that his chin rested on them. He said nothing for a few moments, and she was left with a mouth that had suddenly gone dry.
    He stared at her, as if awaiting an explanation, and she, remembering the way he had interrogated her the other day, chose to remain silent. Finally he spoke. “I’m sorry.” It sounded as if it pained him to say the words.
    “ You’re sorry?”
    “It’s not a trait that is alien to me.”
    She drew her eyebrows together.
    He continued. “I’m sorry for implying that you had taken the Dalton file.” Now she remembered. “For thinking I was a spy, you mean?”
    “I have enemies everywhere, Savannah. I can’t let my guard down, or trust anyone.”
    “What a sad way to live.” The words slipped out before she’d had a chance to put them through her internal filter.
    “It’s not for everyone.” He adjusted the cuff of his sleeve and she wondered if he was buying himself more time or thinking of something else to say.
    “Was there anything else?” She was anxious to return to Jacob. This whole exchange with Tobias had taken her by surprise and she knew she would analyze their conversation later. In a place of safety, away from him.
    “No. Please close the door on your way out.”
    She was more than relieved to leave his office and escape to the safety of hers. Walking back into her office and seeing Jacob’s smiling face made her forget the awkwardness of meeting with Tobias.
    The rest of the morning went smoothly enough. Nobody had tried to come in. The phone had rung a few times, but it was things that could wait until Briony got back. She responded to all the emails that came in otherwise she continued to tidy up Briony’s network folders.
    Then Jacob spoke. “I’m hungry, Mommy.” He’d been a good boy all morning, playing with his Spiderman figurine and doing some drawing. He’d been a good boy and hadn’t even needed to go to the toilet yet either.
    But now he wanted food and she had forgotten to make lunch. She usually brought sandwiches to eat but with both of them leaving so early today, she’d clean forgotten. She had to go out for lunch. There was no way around it. It meant she had to leave the office and leave Jacob unattended—something she hated to do. Yet to take him out of the office during the busy lunchtime risked her getting caught.
    The building had no restaurant, except for vending machines on a few floors and she wasn’t going to feed her boy snacks for lunch. She