Free INDISPENSABLE: Part 1: A Billionaire Romance by Maryann Barnett

he stood up and paced the floor.
    “Brock, you can’t see it, can you? It might be a billionaire thing, but you can’t keep thinking you know what’s best for me. You haven’t lived my life.”
    “I’m sorry, but the company…”
    “If you say it’s company policy one more time, so help me…I’ll get the folder full of policies and stick them where the sun don’t shine. You wanted this for you. Not me.” She waved her arms indicating the apartment. “You aren’t treating me like any other employee. You’re treating me like a special project. Like some Eliza Doolittle from My Fair Lady.”
    “I’ve done the same for many employees.” He looked away, and she knew he still hadn’t got why she was upset.
    “So you look up everyone’s drug-overdosed, artistic, dead brother’s artwork and hang the works on the walls for them? Stop hiding behind the damn company and grow a set, will you?” Sarah moved a step back from him. The anger still seethed through her. But it wasn’t a panic attack, so far so good.
    “Drug overdose? I’m sorry. I didn’t know.” Brock looked surprised, but it wasn’t enough to stop the rush of emotions hitting Sarah right now.
    “Of course you didn’t know. You were too busy trying to be my savior instead of my friend.” She wanted to cry, or scream. She wanted to hit something. “You have no right to try and fix things for me. To try and fix me. To get me on your side so you can get me to have sex with you.”
    “Sarah…I—”
    “Shut up. Just shut up.” Sarah held her hands over her ears. Her voice peaked with frustration. “You just don’t get it, do you? You can’t even understand why I’m hurt and angry.”
    “Of course, I can understand it. You don’t have a monopoly on being hurt, let down, and abandoned.”
    “Then, why find the one thing that will rip me apart. Are you trying to break me down emotionally, so I’m dependent on you?”
    Brock just stood and stared at her. Then, he flopped down on the sofa. “No, Sarah. That’s the last thing I want. Don’t you get it? I like you. I never like anyone. I respect people. I admire people. I hate people. I can even love people, but I just simply do not like them. Ever.”
    “That is the craziest thing I’ve ever heard. You’re playing God in a world of people you don’t even like ?”
    “I’m not playing God.”
    “Wait. You throw me into a job, I don’t think I’m even ready for. You find me a place to live, and include my best friend, and artwork by my dead brother. You’ve likely got the perfect car ready for me…” She waited for his answer.
    “I guess it is a little God-like.”
    “A little?”
    “Okay a lot.
    “If all of that is perfectly normal to you, you have serious issues.”
    “I’m trying to be organized.”
    “You know what? Organize your own life. Not mine.”
    Brock threw his arms up. “Alright. Point taken. I stepped over the line. I’ll try not to do that anymore. What do you mean you don’t think you can handle the job?”
    Sarah sighed and sat down on the sofa opposite. “Brock, seriously, your company is huge. What if I stuff it up? I could live on one year’s salary for the rest of my life. I know what happens here…where I’ve worked…for the most part. But internationally? No way.”
    “Sarah, whatever you think you need to give you faith in your abilities, you got it. Training. Travel. Anything.”
    “I’m not sure I can handle the global aspect of it all.”
    “I think you can. I admit, we did throw you in at the deep end.”
    “I’m human. I’m not a robot. I need some time to digest all of this, and adjust. I can’t just change overnight.”
    “I guess I’ve lived this life for so long now, I’ve forgotten how big an adjustment it is.”
    Well, that was a start. For now, Sarah was satisfied he’d connected the dots. But she had one burning question left. “How did you get the paintings?” Sarah couldn’t stop from crying. She had to know,