Watching Ryan address the staff, Sam quickly revised her earlier opinion of him as a bored playboy. It was fast becoming obvious this was a job he enjoyed doing, and was really good at it.

She noted the light jokes with which he used to begin the meeting, putting everyone at ease before delving into serious issues. He didn’t raise his voice, but spoke in a cool, confident tone that had every ear - including hers - hanging onto his every word.

Matter of fact, the only thing he did that irritated the hell out of her was the way he ignored her presence. Other than the initial surprise he'd displayed on walking into the room, Ryan hadn’t shown the slightest bit of interest in her.

Sam quelled the flash of irritation at the thought and reminded herself why she was here. What should it matter if he chose to treat her like she didn't exist? She wasn't here to care about his opinion of her. It was supposed to be the other way round!

Glancing down at the screen of the iPad, she pushed those thoughts to the back of her mind and tried to focus on the notes she'd jotted down while Ryan spoke. The words seemed to swim in a jumble, much like her scattered thoughts and she scowled, miffed at her reaction.

“Right then, I believe we’ve covered everything to do with the projects.” the note of finality in Ryan's voice had her looking up, scowl still plastered on her face. “I don't intend this to be a long meeting, wouldn't like to bore everyone to death.”

While the rest of the team chuckled at the joke, he glanced down at her, noted her expression, and raised an eyebrow, lips curving in a smile that set her pulse racing.

He looked away and took his seat, leaning forward to place his hands on the table. “But, before we go back to our duties, I would like to say one thing.”

Sam sat up straighter, mentally rehearsing the speech she'd give when he introduced her.

“I know we've all heard the news about the present circumstances by now,” he began quietly. “And I want to assure all of you that nothing will change. I apologise for shirking my responsibilities and bringing us to this point where job security has suddenly become a real fear, but I give you my word, that I will sort this out.”

The relief amongst the team was palpable. Everyone seemed to sit easier, shoulders eased and there was even a smattering of applause.

Sam on the other hand, was boiling.

What the hell was he thinking? The point of this whole appraisal was to weed out redundant staff, downsize to the most efficient team possible without affecting production.

Telling everyone their jobs were safe was undermining everything she hoped to achieve. At this rate, they were going to think she was the next wicked witch of the West by the time the ax started falling.

Damn the man!

“And on that note, let's get back to work, shall we?” Ryan smacked the flat of his palm on the table in dismissal.

Chairs scraped, murmurs rose as people made to leave. Sam sat glued to her chair, leveling a glare at Ryan who leaned back in his chair, arms clasped over his stomach, watching the exodus, lazy smile in place.

It hit Sam at that moment that his ignoring her was his way of making a statement. By not introducing her to his team, he'd effectively passed a message that this was his domain, and he would never recognise her role in it.

Well, too bad for him then, because she had every intention of making her mark.

“One minute, please.” She pushed to her feet and raised her voice to be heard over the din.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Ryan straighten and shoot her a a frosty glare, his gaze burning into her skin.

The room froze, as all eyes swerved her way.

“The hell do you think you're doing?” Ryan murmured, his voice a low growl.

She ignored him, gesturing instead for everyone to take their seats. A few glanced over at Ryan, expectant, questioning looks on their faces, but he sat still, face like granite, though his eyes sparked grey fire.

Sam waited until everyone was seated, then began. “Thank you for indulging me with a few moments of your time. I just wanted to seize this opportunity to introduce myself to you all.”

Since your boss is severely lacking some manners.

“I'm sure the grapevine has already done most of the work, but still, it is proper to do this formally.” She added the jab for Ryan's benefit.

“To cut to the chase, I'm Sameera Bhatt, but I go by Sam. I'm going to be working closely with you all to see that we bring this department up to speed with the rest of Silvercorp.”

She made sure to lock eyes with a few people, all too aware of one gaze in particular, her skin pricking with awareness.

“Over the course of the next few days, Ryan and I will be sitting down with each of you, for an impromptu appraisal, to get a feel for -”

“What Ms. Bhatt is trying to say is, she's been hired by my father to keep us all in line. So be sure to cross your ‘t's’ and dot your ‘i's’ or you'll be sent down to the principal's office.” Ryan cut in.

Sam shot him a fulminating look, over the nervous laughter that followed his statement, fists clenched in an effort to keep from rising to his bait. He shot her a grin, eyebrows raised in silent challenge, daring her to react.

You would like that, wouldn't you? You pompous, juvenile ass!

“I'm afraid that's an exaggeration of my duties here.” Sam replied, projecting calm into her tone while she raged on the inside. “however, it is true that I will be evaluating the performance of this department, and at the end of my role here, will forward my findings to the CEO along with some recommendations.”

“I look forward to working with you, and please know that should you have any questions or require assistance in any way, my door is always open. Thank you.”

She nodded a dismissal and once the room had cleared, turned to Ryan, eyes blazing.

“What was that?” Hands on hips she glared down at him, eyes narrowing when he pulled out his phone and made a production of checking his messages, before he deigned to look up, wearing an innocent look.

“What was what?” He smiled up at her, and for the first time, Sam noticed the dimples on his cheeks, that gave him a false angelic look.

She pushed the thought of dimples aside and forced her mind to focus. “Don't try to play innocent. You know full well what I mean.”

“I don't read minds, Sam.” He gave a shrug and went back to typing something on his phone.

“You made promises to those people, knowing full well what we are going to be doing!” She kept her voice low, mindful of possible eavesdroppers.

“What you're going to be doing, you mean?” He set the phone aside and pinned her with a steely glare, all traces of humor wiped away. “I'm not going to let innocent people pay for my mistakes.”

“This isn't professional, Ryan. Mistakes aside, this department needs an overhaul if there's any hope of getting the results your father wants to see.”

He snapped the lid of his laptop shut and rose, one hand buttoning up his suit jacket. Despite her irritation, Sam had to admit, albeit reluctantly, that he looked just as arresting in a suit as he did in the casual outfit from earlier. Her fingers itched to trace the outline of his broad shoulders and biceps.

She clenched her fists instead, nails digging into the soft flesh of her palm. The stinging pain brought her wayward thoughts back to the issue at hand.

“There are other ways to achieve this vaunted efficiency,” he replied, tone tinged with steely frost. “You seem to enjoy seeing people suffer, hell from what I've seen so far, you're the type to get off on playing god with people's lives, but I'm not.”

“That is not fair,” the accusation stung, and she felt the prick of tears as his words catapulted her back to a time she'd much rather forget, when those words had been hurled in her face with bitter hatred.

She shook her head, willing the memories and thoughts away and took a deep, shaky breath, conscious of Ryan's gaze. She forced herself to meet his puzzled eyes.

“I do not enjoy playing god, Mr. Silverton, and I'm not the cruel, heartless monster you seem determined to think I am. Wasn't it you who accused me earlier today of making assumptions? Well then, pot, meet kettle.”

She spun around and stalked from the room, head held high in defiance.

****

Sam let herself into the quiet apartment, her gaze falling immediately on the cream Gucci purse sitting on the coffee table and heaved a sigh of relief.

She set her own less elegant bag down beside it, crossed to the fridge and pulled out a bottle of chilled orange juice. Twisting the cap open, she took a long swig, one hand reaching up to loosen her hair from its confinement, letting the heavy mass tumble past her shoulders to the small of her back.

Her body felt like a tightly coiled spring, body aching from the tension that had seeped into every pore, hell, even her gums ached.

Clutching the remnants of her drink, she headed for her bedroom, with the intention of taking a good, long luxurious bath. As she passed Yash's bedroom, the sound of muffled feminine laughter, followed by her brother's deeper chuckle floated through the shut door.

She tapped twice on the door to let them know she was home and to limit their hanky panky to the bedroom, and continued on her way, a wry smile playing on her lips as she recalled the first...and hopefully the last time those two had treated her to an unwanted show in the living room. Her poor retinas were still traumatised by the sight.

She pushed open the door to her bedroom, the soothing familiarity of the cream and light green furnishings easing some of the tension.

While the bathtub filled, she slipped out of her clothes, checked her personal email and groaned aloud at the message from her mother, as usual with a new list of ‘suitable’ Indian men currently living in the States. Parvati had actually included a short bio next to all five names. She scanned the first name on the list.

Vihaan Patel(34) - Lawyer, graduated top of his class at university and makes a very good income. (Best of all, he also lives in Boston! I know his grandmother and she has promised to help you get in touch with him. She also assures me he is a very nice boy).

Okay, this was getting ridiculous. How in the world did her mother even get ahold of these names?

Not bothering to reply, she skipped to Instagram instead and spent the next few minutes chuckling at pictures from some old friends back in Mumbai.

Much as she'd been eager to leave, there were moments when she sorely missed her old life back home.

She'd had a bustling, carefree, social life, days spent at work, and evenings hanging out with friends she had known since secondary school and university, going places with Zahir or just spending a quiet evening indoors with him, watching old movies, discussing their wedding plans, and making love.

After his death, unable to stand the whispers and pity, Sam had slowly withdrawn into a shell of secret guilt and grief, much to her parents’ dismay.

She’d endured for eighteen months, then had made the decision to start over in a new place, as far away from the past as one could get, and resolved to avoid any emotional involvement.

That is, until a drunk handsome stranger with the most entrancing eyes had smiled at her.

She snorted in derision and tossed the phone on the bed and headed for the bathroom.

Now that she had come to know the man behind the grey eyes, her infatuation with Ryan Silverton now seemed a grave error on her part, though her body still hadn't got the memo.

Sure, he was still sexy, even more so sober, but he was the most annoying, stubborn man she'd ever had the misfortune to meet.

Heaving a sigh as she slid into the welcoming scented bath, Sam leaned back and closed her eyes, feeling tightly coiled muscles loosen. The tension eased, to be replaced by a different kind, and almost of its own volition, one hand slid down to delve into the heat between her legs, head thrown back and the room filling with soft moans as she brought herself to an orgasm.

Minutes later, dressed in a pair of cotton shorts and tank top, she followed the mouth watering aroma of dinner back to the living room, where Deepti, her best friend and Yash's girlfriend was busy stirring vegetables over the stove, clad in a deep blue silk slip that hugged her full curves.

“There you are!” Dee caught sight of Sam and paused from her cooking to beam at her. “I was just about to come drag you out of your room. How'd your first day go? Did you meet Grey Eyes? Did he remember you?”

“Okay, yes and no.” Sam grinned, and slid onto a stool on the island counter, and grabbed piece of roasted chicken, which she bit into, savoring the burst of flavours that hit her tongue. “Mmm, this is heavenly, Dee! Thank goodness you’re around to cook today. I don't think I can stand another takeout. Where’s Yash by the way? Sleeping?”

Dee frowned, light brown eyes studying her friend in concern. “You're trying to change the subject. That's not a good sign.” She flicked off the fire and crossed to take a seat beside Sam. “What happened?”

Sam sighed, taking her time to chew and swallow before she replied. “Know the saying that goes, ‘never meet your heroes?’ well, let's just put a twist and say ‘you should never meet the stranger you're infatuated with.”

“Okay, so what exactly was the problem? He's gained thirty pounds? Has severe halitosis, or has the personality of a door nail?”

“He’s leaner, but it suits him,” her mind replayed the scene in his office, when they'd stood so close her breasts had brushed against his chest, and the way her traitorous body had responded, the way her nipples had hardened, and heat had pooled between her legs. A flush crept up her neck at the memory of how she'd gotten off just minutes ago thinking about him.

Oh god! I'm a lousy creep!

“The first time we met, he made it very clear he didn't want me in the office.” She replied, hoping to hell Dee hadn't noticed her flushed skin. “And there wasn't even the slightest flicker of recognition in his eyes when he looked at me.”

She gave Dee a rundown of their encounter, grateful to have someone to unload the burden she'd carried.

“After that argument, we just kind of spent the rest of the day avoiding each other, until he left to meet someone, I guess -” she studied her hands and shrugged again. “I guess we're just not compatible.”