Free STEP BY STEP by Clarissa Black Page A

my bag down on my desk, almost
missing a tiny envelope with a jewelry store logo on it sitting right next to
my keyboard. I gently pulled the seams apart on the envelope and poured the
contents into my hand.

 
    My grandmother’s pendant.

 
    The chain was shiny and new, and it felt
slightly thicker, sturdier. He must have found it that night after dinner and
had the chain replaced. I unhooked the clasp and secured it back around my neck
where it belonged, gripping the tiny stone between my fingers. That necklace
meant the world to me, just like my late grandmother.

 
    The sound of Preston’s door opening
forced me to look up and out my doorway. His footsteps traveled the short
distance between our offices only he didn’t stop. He kept walking.

 
    “Preston!” I shouted out towards the
hall.

 
    Seconds later he appeared in my doorway,
face expressionless. I motioned for him to come in and shut the door.

 
    “Yes?” he said as he closed the door and stepped
towards me, his hands clasped and eyebrows raised. This was not the same man
who just last week couldn’t keep his hands off me.

 
    “Oh,” I said, my cheeks reddening. “Is
everything okay between us? Or are you having second…”

 
    I couldn’t bring myself to finish the
sentence. The fact that I’d had sex with my boss and former stepbrother went
against every morale fiber of my being. Saying it out loud only made me feel
worse about it, especially now that it appeared to have been a glaring mistake.
He was such an asshole. He hadn’t changed at all.

 
    He rolled his eyes. “What do you need, Mirabelle?
I’ve got somewhere I need to be.”

 
    My fingers twisted around the diamond
pendant that hung from my neck. “I just wanted to say thank you.”

 
    “You’re welcome,” he said as he turned to
leave, his hand gripping the doorknob in haste.

 
    “Wait,” I called after him. I walked
around my desk and stepped closer to him. “What’s going on with you today?”

 
    “Come clean, Miri ,”
he said through gritted teeth and with averted eyes.

 
    “What? What are you talking about?”

 
    “Come clean,” he repeated.

 
    “Yeah, I heard you the first time,” I
snapped. “Now what are you talking about?”

 
    “There’s something you haven’t told me,”
he said. “Something very significant.”

 
    I racked my brain. Nothing came to mind.
I was a pretty simple girl ; a straight A college
student with a penchant for avoiding needless drama. I had no skeletons in my
closet. Not a single one.

 
    “I don’t know what you’re talking about,”
I said with my head held high. “You’re being weird right now. I don’t like it.”

 
    “Yeah, well, I don’t like being lied to,”
he said, facing the other direction. His hand gripped the doorknob and began to
turn it to the right.

 
    I palmed the door and held it shut. “I
don’t play games, Preston . You’ve been
inside me, at least give me the privilege being able to have a decent
conversation with you. I don’t have time to try to read between your blurred
lines.”

 
    He turned back to face me, obviously
surprised at the heat and intensity of the words leaving my mouth.

 
    “I’m a damn fine intern,” I said with my
hands on my hips. “You’re paying me pennies compared to what I’m worth and you
know that. And on top of that, I let you inside me. Not just in my body, but in
my heart as well.”

 
    He stared at my lips as I spewed my
venom.

 
    “Look me in the eyes, Preston,” I
commanded. “You give me this job. You give me this office. You kiss me. You
take me out to dinner. You make love to me. You fix my diamond pendant. And now
that your ex-girlfriend is back in the picture, suddenly I’m chopped liver?”

 
    “No,” he said, his eyes locked into mine
and filled with angst and confusion. “It’s not about her. It’s not about her at
all. It’s about the fact that you lied to me.”

 
    “I