Dirty Boss: A Second Chance Romance Read Online Free

how to react.
    She dipped her fingers into the dessert plate. She came up with some cheese and put it in her mouth. Ryan’s gaze followed her actions and he licked his lips as she swallowed.
    “You have the most beautiful eyes I have ever seen,” he whispered. “And sexy lips too,” he said bluntly.
    It took her a moment to know that the cute ‘I am King’ Ryan was flirting with her. Her! Emily Wilson. She fumbled about in her head for what to say. If it were Shannon here at the table in that moment, she asked herself, what would she do? Most definitely smile and flirt right back, the answer was undisputable. But she wasn’t her friend even though she would like to be just for the sake of throwing a witty comeback to this handsome guy’s flattery.
    “Come on, a guy compliments you and you ignore him?” Ryan said with a teasing grin.
    “I never asked for your compliment,” she replied.
    She was starting to get used to the grin that was all over his face.
    “You are bored with the party, so am I. How about we head out right now?” he asked out of the blue again.
    What was wrong with this guy? She thought. He throws out a couple of cheap lines and now expects her to leave with him. She didn’t understand him at all. It was like he was playing a game that only he understood.
    “I can’t do that. I barely know you.” She murmured.
    He relaxed in his chair to give her that look again and she felt like squirming.
    “Yes, I got it - you are the hesitant type, never impulsive, always cautious.” He exclaimed suddenly like he just had a eureka moment. “Tell me, what have you ever done just for the fun of it?” he asked her.
    His remark and question was so sudden and perceptive that her gaze instantly flew up to meet his. This guy was more astute than she gave him credit for. He had been studying her personality the entire time and she had been helping him each step of the way!
    “As you must have rightly surmised, I am logical and think things through before acting upon them,” she said tartly. It bugged her that she had given away any air of mystery she might have had in the first few minutes of meeting this guy.
    “Then, you need to change.” He declared with a firm nod of his head. He reached across the table and held her hands in his. “Emily, life will not wait on you forever. You have to take those chances, live for the moment, hope for nothing, anticipate the best and go to bed each night, rest assured that you have squeezed out everything you can from each unforgiving minute that you are lucky to see.”
    Perhaps it was the wine in her head but his words were sinking into her head with resounding echoes.
    His words were similar to the mantra that Shannon kept telling her over the years but to which she never heeded. Live for today, there is no promise of tomorrow. But Emily was being extremely careful of making mistakes. She had made one mistake with her thoughtlessness and she had paid dearly for it; her parents had lost their lives over that one mistake. Now, the same message was said to her from a stranger that barely knew her.
    Was she that much of a drag? Was it so obvious that her life was pretty much empty?
    “Cautious is good, it saves people from death.” She whispered. She had no idea who she was trying to convince; Ryan or herself.
    Ryan was looking at her curiously now.
    “Correct me if I am wrong but is there anything that can save people from death?” he asked as if he totally understood how she felt. When she continued to look at him unseeingly, he added quietly, “People die, Emily. We can’t help it.”
    That was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Before she knew it, she told him all about her parent’s death. She told him how they had gone for a much deserved holiday in the Bahamas and how she had called them incessantly, wanting them to come home a week before her sweet sixteenth birthday instead of the scheduled three days originally planned. She had been so churlish