Initiate Me (9 page)

Do I tell Max his little sister came on to me at his wedding and propositioned me? Fuck it, I’ve had enough of all these lies. It’s now or never.

“I told you she wants me, and yeah, I admit we had a little interlude at the wedding.” I held up my hand to control Max as he was ready to pounce on me. “Don’t get all hot-headed about it. It was all innocent and I didn’t take it any further. Your sister is upset that I rejected her, and she’s been giving me the cold shoulder ever since. She’s probably embarrassed more than scared, or she was worried about what you and your brothers would do,” I pointed out.

It was time to make a deal with the devil. “I’m thinking I have a solution on how to please everyone around here so we can work harmoniously.”

Max drummed his fingers on the desk for several seconds before saying, “I’m listening.”

“That Security and Information Technology Convention in Queensland is coming up,” I stated, referring to one of the biggest information technology conventions in the country. Businesses from all over the world attended to view new, cutting-edge security technologies for their businesses. It was only a week away. “Let me take Mia with me as my assistant. If at the end of the business trip, she’s still resisting my irresistible charms, I’ll back off. I’ll move on.”

“This convention is in North Queensland, in Port Douglas. You and Mia alone for a week at a secluded Brunetti Resort? If you think I’ll agree to this, you’re insane. I don’t like it and I won’t allow it.”

“Oh, come on, Max. I think you want Mia to be happy. Don’t you want harmony back in the office? Let me do it. I can cut it back to three days instead of the whole week. I promise it will make a difference.” Max got out of his chair and paced his office.

From the look on Max’s face, I was almost afraid he’d fire my arse on the spot. He had every right to do it, too. So I was surprised when Max said, “If Mia wants to go, I won’t stop her. But it’s her choice, not yours. I won’t have you forcing her to go because you are her boss. You got it?”

I said a silent prayer that she wouldn’t fight me and refuse to come with me. “Yes, I understand.”

Max came around the desk and leaned against the edge. “Before we end this conversation, there is one more thing I need to add.”

I stood, sensing a warning of some sort. “Yeah, I’m listening.”

“Mia is and always will be my little sister. I want you to be very careful with her.”

I nodded. “Look, I know how close the Brunetti family is and how close Mia is with Jada and Milan, but this is between me and her. No disrespect to you, Max, but I don’t want those two interfering, especially Milan.”

Max crossed his arms over his chest. “I know, and it’s time I realise Mia is all grown up now and she can take care of herself. But that doesn’t mean I won’t kick your arse if you upset her or hurt her in any way. Remember that while you’re trying to cajole her into coming with you.”

“You’ve already condemned me before you’ve even given me a chance.” I laughed. “Perhaps you’d better hold off loading your ammunition until we return? I wouldn’t want you to waste any of your energy.”

Max shook his head. “It’s not going to be easy, convincing my sister to come with you. She is a hard-headed Sicilian when you try to tell her to do something she doesn’t want. You will need a bit of luck.”

“We’ll see. That’s my problem, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, it sure is. And don’t say I didn’t warn you. Mia may come across as Little Miss Innocent, but she can be a hothead.”

“Really? Gee, I wonder who she took after in that department?” I joked.

As I headed out of his office, Max called out my name. I stopped as I reached the door and turned to face him.

“Yeah, now what?”

“If I so much as hear you have tried any of those bondage things on my sister, I'll fucking kill you.”

I laughed and slammed the door shut.

Max knew me too well.

MIA

I
sauntered back into my office, feeling better than I had in weeks. I had taken well over an hour and had lunch with Brandon. He was so sweet and we had been out together a couple of times in the last two weeks, but I made sure I told him they weren’t ‘dates’ and we were only friends. He understood, thank God.

Having a long lunch was wonderful; I took my time sipping my latté and devouring a warm chicken salad. When I got back, I headed to the gym on the top floor so I could get in a workout. I normally did that during my lunch break anyway but right then, it didn’t quite take away all my frustrations. It did help a little, though.

As I made my way back to my office, I spotted Winter placing some forms on my desk. I smiled at her. I really liked Winter; she was really sweet and always listened to what I had to say. She was also absolutely stunning, with natural wine-coloured hair and an amazing figure. Every time we worked out in the gym together, she never even looked puffed out. Marco had tried numerous times to ask her out but she always refused him. She was very secretive and I knew she was hiding something, but I wasn’t exactly sure what it was. All I knew was that she was a friend of Zane’s and he had asked Max if there were any positions available as she was moving into the area.

“You have a good lunch?” Winter asked.

“Oh, yes, it was the best. I wish I could do that every day. But back to reality now, I suppose,” I said on a long sigh.

“What about you, did you have lunch?” I asked her, knowing very well she probably skipped it altogether. That’s probably how she kept so trim. I could never skip meals; I loved my food too much!

“I had my usual protein shake and salad. I can’t leave the desk; I just have so much work to do,” she explained.

“No way! Tomorrow, we are going out for lunch together. You can keep that protein shake as a snack. You need to eat, Winter!” I called out to her as I headed over to my desk, smirking.

I tried to concentrate on the forms in front of me for the next hour, but it wasn’t any use. All I saw was Zane’s grin as I’d walked out of Max’s office. I admit I felt a touch juvenile to take my problems to my brother. I knew how Max would have reacted; he had always been way too protective of me. I knew I could have gone into Zane’s office to confront him, make him tell me what the both of them had said after I’d left. Did my brother fire him? Did they have a fight? Shit, what if both of those things happened?

“Stop frowning; you’ll get premature wrinkles.” I looked up from my MacBook to find Zane grinning down at me, his hands in his pockets. God, the man was delicious. His short, dark hair and chiselled cheekbones always made me think of one of those actors in an action movie. Vin Diesel was coming to mind as I glanced over his hard, muscular frame.

For the first time, I wondered if he’d ever done military training to be a cop. My brother Miccah was in the military and he had an extremely fit and muscular body. Zane’s green eyes were hypnotic and his powerful physique was dangerous and sexy.

“So, I see you have no wounds or black eyes. Am I to assume you two didn’t engage in a fist fight then?”

“We are adults, angel. We solve things like men, not prickly teenagers,” he teased.

I let that one pass, though I had at least a dozen good comebacks on the tip of my tongue. “Still have a job then, do you?”

He pulled his hands out of his pockets and braced himself against my desk. As he leaned down, I could smell his masculine scent, wild and untamed. “What, were you praying for Max to fire me?”

My cheeks burned at his words. “I apologise. I shouldn’t have gone to Max. I’m sorry.”

Zane reached out and touched my cheek. “That almost seemed sincere, angel.”

I jerked backward out of his reach, and growled, “Screw it. I’m not sorry.”

Zane’s grin disappeared. “Come into my office. I need to talk to you.”

“This isn’t—”

He cut me off with a hand in the air. “I need a little privacy. Please?”

I didn’t really have a choice at that point and I damn well knew it. I melted the minute he murmured
please
in that sexy baritone voice of his.

I stood and unwillingly followed him into his office. I barely gave eye contact to Winter as I breezed past her; my gaze was fixed on the way his arse moved beneath his black dress pants. God, he was sexy. If I could just get one squeeze, one squeeze of that arse, I could live the rest of my life with a grin on my face.

As he closed the door to his office, panic welled up inside me. Most men didn’t send my blood rushing through my veins, and I never felt panicky around them. It never happened when I was around Brandon, but with Zane, I was a lost cause.

He moved around his desk and sat, indicating I should follow suit in one of the chairs across from him. I sat and braced myself, unsure what his new mood was all about. He seemed pensive, and I wasn’t used to that. Zane was usually flirtatious or ribbing me until I wanted to pull out my hair, or his. Those were moods I could handle. The serious side had me fidgeting in my seat.

“I want the truth. I want to know why you went to Max. Is it that bad working for me?”

I clutched the arm of the chair. He was asking for the truth. Since the moment I’d started working here, Zane had never actually pushed me into dealing with our mutual attraction. He seemed content to let us dance around each other. In turn, I tried to avoid him and suppress my insane attraction to him.

“No, it’s not so bad. But you really pissed me off and I reacted. I’m sorry.”

He glanced down at his desk and frowned, then moved a few files around. As he leaned back and crossed his arms over his chest, he said, “Well, that’s the part I’m confused about, angel. What set you off? One minute I was talking to you like any other co-worker, and the next thing I know, you’re running to big brother and complaining. What was it that I actually said or did to get you revved up?”

Damn, I was going to have to tell him the truth. I was not a good liar at the best of times, especially with him. He always saw right through me somehow, which was yet another infuriating thing about him.

“You were talking about your night with that floozy,” I blurted.

“What floozy? Lauren? What does she have to do with anything?”

I rolled my eyes and stood up. “You know, for an educated man, you can be so stupid.” I started for the door, but I never managed more than a few feet before a pair of large, strong hands pulled me to a stop. I swung around and glared. “Let me go.”

“You were jealous,” he stated. Like I hadn’t already figured out that part on my own.

“Spot on. You win first prize.”

“Well, how do you think I feel when you throw that little punk Brandon in my face? And don’t say you don’t mention him just to piss me off, because we both know the truth.”

I secretly smirked knowing I did use poor Brandon to make Zane jealous. But I really only went out with him on the off-chance I’d be able to forget about Zane. It didn’t work; all I did was compare them.

“Well, at least I wasn’t talking about Brandon like I wanted to devour him as if he were my last meal!” I watched a muscle in his jaw twitch angrily. It made me want to lean over and lick him.

“Don’t piss me off by lying. All I did was mention I wouldn’t mind going to dinner with her, that’s all. Then you behaved like a spoilt brat and damn near shot out of my office like a cat that’d just gotten her tail stepped on.” His imagery stung my pride.

“That’s not true.”

He leaned close and murmured, “Stop lying, sweetheart. You were jealous. Just like I was whenever you mentioned Brandon or went out with him, like when you had lunch with him today. You think I didn’t notice? I notice everything you do, angel.”

I tried to break free of his strong hold on my arm but got nowhere. “Fine, I was jealous,” I admitted. “Are you happy? Can I go now?”

“No. We need to fix this. We can’t continue working together as a team if you think you can go running off to tell Max every time you feel troubled.”

I made a point of wiggling my arm. “Then stop troubling me.” He released me, and I stepped back. He stepped forward, but I held my ground. His nearness sent fire dancing through my veins and I could feel my arousal for him escalating.

“Admit it, angel; you like it when I trouble you,” he said as he looked me over. “You’re just too chicken to let me in.”

My eyes narrowed. “That is so not true. Take that back right now,” I said with my hands on my hips.

He grinned. “No way, it’s true. You’re too afraid to come and get what you want, and we both know what it is.”

“I changed my mind. We work together and you’re my brother’s best friend. Being involved with one another would be a really bad idea.” Crap, even I knew that was a lame excuse.

He pointed to the door. “Look at Max and Jada. She’s your best friend, isn’t she? And Max married her.” Damn, I hated it when he was right.

“That’s different. Max wasn’t a stalker.”

He laughed. “Oh, right, and I am?”

“You may as well be.”

“How about you just prove to me that you are not scared? Put me in my place, angel.”

I knew exactly where the conversation was leading. “So, now you want me to go out with you? And that will prove to you I’m not scared of this thing between us? Get real, Zane; that is just ridiculous!”

He shook his head, looking entirely too sure of himself. “Go to the Security Convention with me. Spend three days by my side in Queensland. I want you to prove to me you can resist this chemistry between us. If you resist, I promise I’ll leave you alone. I won’t bother you again. Ever.

“I know exactly what you’re thinking. You just want to get me tipsy so you can take advantage of me again. I’m not dense!”

He stepped closer and touched the tip of my nose. It was completely platonic, nothing flirtatious in the touch at all. Yet he may as well have touched my breasts; I was so turned on by him.

“No way, sweetheart. You know better than that. I would want you alert for what I have in mind.” He paused before adding, “What do you say? Can you handle three days alone with me? Or is it too much temptation for you?”

I should have walked out. Turned around and walked away. I couldn’t let him suck me in. My inner voice was ignored. Instead, I stepped forward, barely grazing his hard body with the tips of my breasts. Even through the material of our clothes, I felt my nipples harden as if begging for more. I felt him tense.