Lily Morton

Alys," he exclaims happily. "I think this might work out. You're going to be excellent in getting rid of unwanted visitors.""I'm not a fucking Rottweiler," I say indignantly.

He leans back in his seat. His legs are spread and his head tipped back, with his eyes challenging me. __kay what__ next, boss?__ shudder theatrically. __ see why you like it. Just the word makes me feel all powerful.

He stares at me. __o you__e telling me that you obey all my orders, because honestly that would be news to me?___ always obey your orders,_ I say indignantly. __ am quite possibly the best assistant in history.___hat would certainly be true, if you were the only assistant in history.

I__e spoken to Sid,_ she admits. __e says he__ never seen Charlie so bad. He won__ eat, he__ lost weight and he looks terrible. Sid says it__ the first time he__ ever been so bored by him that he__ considered smothering him.

Gabe, you__e sick, and much as you__e a shithead sometimes, I__e trained you to be a fairly acceptable shithead to me. If you died I__ have to go to all the effort of training someone else.___f I died maybe you should consider a change of career into the nursing profession. With your lovely bedside manner you__ be a shoo-in.

The truth is that I will always need you more than you need me. It__ also the truth that I__ not a good bet for someone as vital and young as you. I__ bad tempered, a perfectionist who is too serious, and too used to being on my own. You could go out tomorrow and find someone better for you, but the truth is that no one will ever need you like I do._ He pauses and then says firmly. __o one will ever love you like I do.

Shithead Boss Man, eh? You know, Dylan, I really lucked out in the assistant department. The other partners in the firm have ended up with someone awful, who soothes them, is at their beck and call and agrees with them all the time. I got one who is sarcastic, argumentative, scruffy, rarely where he should be, and calls me Shithead Boss Man rather than Sir.__ude laughs at him, before reaching out and swiping one of the prawns from my carton of sweet and sour. __e__ call you Sir if you spanked him.

Listen to me very carefully, and think hard about what happens if you go over my head to do something for me that you think is right. What is my normal reaction?__abe slumps slightly. __ot favourable?

He__ adorably high-handed where you__e concerned, isn__ he?__y eyes slide closed. __ith anyone._ __o,_ he says thoughtfully. __nly you. He really can__ be bothered with anyone else, unless they__e connected to you. You__e all he sees.