The Man to Be Reckoned With by Tara Pammi Page A

years.”
    â€œThat’s because I’ve seen the pain you’ve caused Robert for so long. Much as I try, I can’t help wondering what kind of man stays away from everything he knows for a decade, without once looking back. You didn’t even stay for your mother’s funeral. You didn’t care about what happened to your father for a decade. You didn’t come when Maria... If I hadn’t realized that she knew where you were—”
    â€œEnough.”
    He leveled a hard look at her and Riya knew she had crossed a line.
    â€œI want a new software model created within three weeks for an executive membership and a package from your team on the front end. You’ll see the launch event.”
    Her mouth fell open, her stomach dropping into a vacuum. “It can’t be ready in three weeks. I’ll need to redesign the whole software engine, and we don’t have any of the product development team to put the package together. I have only worked behind the scenes till now.”
    â€œThen step into the front. Work smarter and learn to delegate. Use your staff as more than your cheerleader. And the next time a colleague professes undying love to you on office premises and continues to harass you, you’ll immediately file a report with HR.”
    She slapped her palms against the table between them, something snapping in her. “How long will you hate me for what my mother did?”
    â€œDon’t overestimate your place in my life, Riya.” Each word dripped with cutting incisiveness. “Although thanks to your manipulation, I’m veering toward moderate annoyance.”
    â€œThen how long will you punish me for lying?”
    â€œPunish you?”
    â€œYes. Lording it over me, dragging me across the world, setting goals that ensure my failure, enforcing this...this...”
    He stood up from his seat and she craned her neck.
    â€œYou’ve got quite the imagination for someone who’s determined to live her life by a plan. We made a deal, one that you started. You’re bending all out of shape now because I’m holding you to your end of it?”
    His voice was soft, all the more efficient for it. The angrier she got, the calmer he grew. And perversely she wanted to ruffle that frosty, still exterior, wanted to make him angry, hurt, feel something.
    That scared her more than anything.
    â€œOr is it me personally that you can’t deal with?”
    She stood up, meaning to get away. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
    He grasped her arm, the lean breadth of his body too close. “If we’re going for all-out honesty, one of us has to state it for what it is.”
    Panic unfurled in sharp bursts in her belly.
    As long as it was unsaid, as long as it was just in her head, and in their glances and in his knowing, arrogant smile, she could still ignore it, she could still believe it to be just a by-product of how much power he held in her life right now.
    â€œThere’s nothing to state.” She tugged at his fingers but his grip was relentless. Bending down, he neatly trapped her against her seat. His gaze moved over her as if it could touch her. Lingered over her eyes, her nose, her mouth. The sound of their breaths, labored and fast, surrounded her in the silence. She didn’t understand where this energy was coming from or why it was so strong.
    When she kissed Drew, it had been pleasant, nice. Like a breezy day on the coast, like sitting in front of a warm fire in cold winter.
    When Nathan touched her, it felt as if she would come apart from the inside if he continued. Left her feeling shaken when he stopped. Probably how someone would feel when jumping off a cliff. How someone felt when playing with fire.
    â€œPlease, Nate, let me go.”
    A smile wreathed his mouth. It was full of satisfaction, of understanding, even a little glimmer of resignation. The pads of his fingers pressed into her