Sitting outside Andy Mason's office feels like waiting for my execution. My face still throbs from the broken nose, but at least I don't need surgery to fix it and the bruising hasn't started yet.

I can only imagine what I'm going to look like tomorrow. The last time I got punched in the face was college, and it wasn’t pretty the next day. I’m lucky it’s held off this long.

I wish I could've avoided this altogether and just turned in my resignation, but I'm not a total fucking pussy. I need to at least attempt to stand up for myself and argue to keep my job when Andy tries to can me.

It wasn't like it was my fault. I certainly never planned for this to happen.

They can’t fire me for an accident, can they?

Who am I kidding? Of course they can.

Everything on television is about appearances, and right now, I'm The Bone Doctor, the friendly TV host who teaches kids about dinosaurs and skeletons and other fun, scientific things. If they don’t fire me, it’s only a matter of time before I’ll be called The Boner Doctor or Dr. Boner or something equally terrible. I’m sure Munro has already started calling me any number of things in his circles.

I’ve avoided my phone and social media completely since I got home last night. I don’t have the stomach for it right now. I’m sure Mom and Riley have called a hundred times, but I don’t need my mother and my sister weighing in on this incident. I have more important worries than what they think about it.

This is bad for my image and the image of the network, so they have to fire me. They don’t have a choice.

Seriously, one dive for a ball and this is where I find myself, waiting to be fired. So much for helping out a charity.

“Rafe?”

I glance up and see the new assistant, Penny, waiting for me at the end of the couch. “Andy will see you now.”

Wonderful.

I push up to my feet and follow her to the large double doors that lead into the CEO’s office. Andy's reputation precedes him. I've heard about what a fucking hardass he can be and how impossible it is to please him, so I can only imagine how this conversation will go.

Not fucking smoothly.

Penny throws open the doors, and I follow her in and stop in my tracks when a beautiful blonde rises from her chair behind the desk and walks over to me in long, elegant strides wearing heels high enough to almost put her on my eye level.

Her smile lights up her face and a faint pink blush covers her pale cheeks.

“Rafe, it's nice to meet you. I’m Andy Mason.” She holds out her hand, and it takes me a moment to realize I’m supposed to shake it.

Fuck.

She must be an Andrea. It would've been nice if someone had mentioned that to me so I didn’t come in here looking like a fucking idiot. I manage to stop drooling long enough to take her proffered hand and give it a shake and a squeeze. Her firm grip matches mine, and she smiles at me again, flashing bright, perfectly straight teeth.

A small hand points toward a chair. “Please, take a seat. Can Penny get you anything to drink?”

I clear my suddenly dry throat. “Uh, no. I'm fine, thank you.” I lower myself into one of the high-back chairs that faces her desk, and the whole city of Los Angeles is sprawled out behind her.

“Beautiful office.” Lame, Rafe. Real fucking lame.

But I can't think of anything else to say. The situation is pretty fucking awkward as it is, and finding out that she's not a man makes it ten times worse.

How do I talk to my female boss, my smoking hot female boss, about my dick coming out in the middle of a basketball game?

She leans her elbows on the desk and gives me a knowing smile before clasping her hands in front of her.

“Well Rafe, you know why I’ve called you here.”

I shove my hand back through my hair and tug on the ends. “Yeah, I have some idea.”

“Pretty embarrassing, wasn't it?” The corner of her mouth tilts up into a grin, and I can't help but smile back despite wanting to crawl under the desk and die.

“You could say that.”

Humor and concern play in her green eyes. “First and foremost, let me ask, how is your nose?”

I instinctively reach up and press my finger against it then wince at the pain that shoots in my sinuses. “It's okay. They reset it and said I don't need to have surgery or anything. It should heal in a couple weeks.”

She nods and offers a soft smile. “Well, obviously, you won’t be filming during that time because I assume you're going to start getting some pretty nasty bruises around the eyes.”

“Filming?” I jerk my head back up to look at her. I must have heard her wrong.

“Of course. You are in the middle of filming your new season, aren’t you?”

“Yeah, but I just assumed—”

She holds up a hand to stop me. “You assumed you were going to be getting fired when I called you in here.”

Ding. Ding. Ding.

“Well, yeah, I mean, it seems like a pretty logical assumption.”

She laughs and the light tinkling sound hardens my cock unexpectedly.

Damn, she's fucking gorgeous, especially when she laughs. I’m thankful this giant desk separates us so she can’t see this massive hard-on I’m sporting.

“Well, the second thing I was going to tell you is that you're not fired. It was an accident, anybody can see that. As far as I'm concerned, we will make a statement to the press and then let it be done and over with. No one in their right mind believes that you intentionally did that.”

If only that were enough.

“It's not about whether it was intended or not. People saw it; it was all over the airwaves.”

She nods and gives me another soft smile, her compassion over the situation evident. “Yes, that's true, but you have a stellar reputation in the business, and you are our number one show in the kids’ categories. I'm not about to cancel it and leave that spot open so that Munro can sweep in and steal it.”

Well, I’ll be damned. Smart as a fucking whip, this one.

“I see you know about him.”

This time, her smile has a hard edge to it. “It's hard not to. The guy has been gunning for you since the show came on the air. He basically stole your platform.”

“Don't I know it.” Munro’s show, Bones and More, aired on a rival network a mere month after The Bone Doctor premiered. I have no doubt in my mind somebody from our team leaked the plans for the show and they just rushed to try to get to market before we did.

They're trying to jump on the same bandwagon we were with the revival of the Jurassic Park series. Interest in dinosaurs and other archaeological things has skyrocketed again, and this seemed like a great way to get in on it. I was basically poached from the Natural History Museum to act as host. They said I was a natural in front of the camera with my good looks and paleontology background.

I was perfect for it.

And they were right; my show was an instant hit and has held the top of the rankings for the last two years. Even though Munro has been breathing down my neck, he hasn't been able to knock me out of that spot. The fact that Andy has this much confidence in me makes me feel marginally better than I did last night when I went home and drank a fifth of whiskey.

“You really think a statement is going to be enough?”

She holds her hands up and shrugs. “I don't know. All we can do is try. I’m meeting with the board tomorrow, and I'm going to argue your case. You get a couple weeks off anyway so just sit tight and try not to worry about it too much. I mean, a wardrobe malfunction is a wardrobe function. It's not the end of the world, just a little cock and balls.”

Her hands shoot up over her mouth as soon as the words are out of it, and her eyes widen. “Shit. I didn't mean to say that out loud. Please don’t sue me for sexual harassment.”

I laugh and wave my hands in the air to indicate it was nothing.

I can't believe she just said that, but her reaction is incredibly endearing. “Don't worry, I get it.”

Although, she did say little and that irks me more than I'd like to admit. I’ve never been embarrassed about the size of my dick, but now two comments in two days? It’s starting to hurt my already bruised ego a bit.

Andy pushes to her feet and smooths down the green dress she's wearing before walking around to my side of the desk. It clings to all her curves like she was poured into it. It should be a sin to look that good in a dress, especially in a business setting. I rise too, careful to discreetly adjust my raging cock so it’s not springing out in her direction.

“Well, on that note, thank you for coming, Rafe. I appreciate you speaking with me.”

I take her hand again, and our palms linger against each other longer than is probably appropriate. Sparks shoot up my arm, and my cock throbs again.

Jesus, who would've thought Andy Mason would be a woman and a sexy one at that.

Sexy and formidable.

She has me almost believing my job is as safe as she says it is.