That First Kiss by J. C. Valentine Read Free Book Online

resisting the urge to point and shout that she had stolen the streusel. Some might call her passive aggressive. She liked to think she chose her battles wisely. 
                  Sighing and happy to see that he had overcome whatever little tantrum had been plaguing him, she plunked the tote containing her new PDA and mini laptop on the table and yanked out the chair with a little more force than was necessary.
                  “Hey,” Tate snapped at her when his feet hit the floor. “I was using that.”
                  She thought about apologizing, she really did, and she would have, had she not already witnessed what a Grade A jerkoff he was, but she changed her mind. Shrugging, she plopped down. “So, where do you want to start?” She could make this work. She had to make this work. There was no way she was going back to Alabama.
                  “We can start with you leaving.”
                  Piper snorted. “Yeah, that’s not going to happen.” She flattened her hands on the table and sighed deeply. “Okay, look. I think we got off on a bad foot here. Working together after, well, you know, doesn’t have to complicate things. I had a nice time, I’m thinking you had a nice time, and we’re both adults here. I’m capable of putting the past behind me if you are. What do you say we start over?”
                  “That’s not going to work for me.”
                  “Why not?” She was losing patience with this man.
                  “Because you’re fired.”
                  “So we’re back to this again?” Piper stared at him as he went back to work, disregarding her completely. “Alright, buddy, I don’t know what crawled up your ass this morning, but this is ridiculous. You need an assistant, and I am one. I fail to see what the problem is.”
                  He tapped at the keyboard a couple more times before slowly closing it and placing his palms down on the table. “The problem is,” he said slowly, “that you were late. I don’t work with irresponsible people.”
                  Piper looked at him, incredulous, as she held up her phone to display the time. “It is five after nine and I have been here for at least five minutes.”
                  “Obviously no one ever explained to you the business side of being on time. Allow me to enlighten you. Ten minutes early is on time. On time? Not so much. You were late.”
                  “Are you freaking kidding me?” Piper practically yelled, drawing attention from a few people in line and from the surrounding tables. She didn’t care. “You are willing to dismiss probably the last person willing to work with your miserable ass without even giving me a chance?”
                  “I just did. You screwed up.” His expression was smug, almost as if he enjoyed pissing her off.
                  “I did not screw up,” she growled, unaware that she was leaning across the table until he angled forward, bringing their faces so close together that she could smell the coffee on his breath.
                  “Face it, lady, you screwed up. If you can’t make it to your first day on the job on time, then how can I trust that you won’t fuck up my schedule? I’ve dealt with enough lax workers to know one when I see one, and, honey, you scream disaster.”
                  Ass. Hole. “I brought you coffee and cake.” She was fuming. It was all she could think to throw at him.
                  He sat back, all trace of annoyance gone from his handsome face. Damn his handsome face! “And I thank you.”
                  She glared at him. “So that’s it, you’re firing me?”
                  “Yep.”
                  “Fine.” She grabbed her tote and shoved out of her