Reed: Bowen Boys (4 page)

“What is this?” Reed turned it over in his hands twice before he realized it was some sort of drive. He’d seen this sort of thumb drive in the stores a lot lately, different character shapes that had a drive as part of their inner workings. This one was a small white dog with a little yellow bird on his shoulder. He took it to his nose and sneezed when he smelled it.

“She’s touched this, but there is also wolf on it. Her scent is stronger because its fresh, but I would bet that this belongs to the wolf.” Reed looked up at Monica and his mom. “I don’t think he likes her overly much either.”

He wanted to take it and put it into a computer to find out what was on it. He knew for some reason it wasn’t going to be a good thing, and looked up when his brothers came back in. This time they were very serious as he told them what he’d found.

“You think it’s hers?” He nodded at Marc. “Well, I wouldn’t just put it into a computer without having something secure attached to it. There’s no telling what could be on it, or once it’s in the system what it could do if connected to a network. Would you like for me to have a look?”

“I can do it, but just in case there is something on it I’d very much like for you to be there. It might be nothing more than a few pictures, but I don’t think so, do you?” Marc shook his head. “I have a laptop here if you think that’ll do it. We’ll take off the wireless and make sure it’s dead to the rest of them before we start.”

He went out to the car to get his computer and thought about the woman. He wanted to go and find her now, but knew that if he did she’d more than likely hit him again. Smiling, he wondered what she would taste like when he got her to let him mark her. He adjusted his cock as it hardened and told him to behave. He was going to have to work on making her trust him before he could think of her under him. He felt his cock stir again and his cat race along his skin, begging him to go and find her.

“Later buddy. I promise.” He grinned bigger. “And when we do have her where we want her, we’ll make sure we can keep her there. I’m thinking we’ll keep her sated. That way she won’t have the strength to leave.”

He was still smiling when he entered the house. Reed knew he was only twenty five, but he was ready to settle down with his mate. More than he’d thought possible.

Chapter 4

Kerry knew it was too much to hope that the Bowens wouldn’t be in the office the next morning when she got there. Five people had told her that the new owners had come in the three very large limos that sat out in the front of the building. Marvin had told her last night after she’d gotten home that they’d bought the cable company. And that both Robbie and Russ had been terminated.

“He, that bigger man, said that he’d not have the type of problems that occurred with you again. He seemed to think you’ve had issues with Robbie before and asked me about them. I had to tell him love, I’m sorry.”

“Not to worry. It was bound to come out anyway.” She had already been told that the Bowens were interviewing everyone about the working conditions, and wanted to know what was needed to improve things. “A couple of people told me that they’d told them about Robbie and Russ anyway.”

“They were a pain in the ass to a great many people. I’m just hoping the new owners keep this up with weeding out the bad.” Marvin laughed. “Well, okay, not too many of the bad weeds. We do need people to answer the phone. Not to change the subject too quickly here, but how are you feeling from yesterday? Did you finally get something to eat?”

“Yeah, and a good night’s sleep too. Amazing what a few hours of exhausted sleep will do for a person.” She smiled at him. “And a thick hamburger with all the trimmings, large order of fries, and three glasses of water. Thanks for the loan until payday.”

He waved her off. “When you fainted I nearly joined you. I should have made sure you had plenty to drink before I put you in there with them. And that’s another thing. Mr. Bowen is making sure that everyone has a way to communicate with the offices. He said that we should have had that all along. I told him that you’d said so too on many occasions, even as a CSR. I started to explain to him that a CSR is a customer service representative, but he knew already. I like the man.”

She’d told him last night about being taken to his house, but left out the part where she’d been licked by one of his brothers. She was still trying to wrap her mind around that one. And then there was the small bite mark on her shoulder she’d found this morning after her shower, where she just knew that man had bitten her.

Kerry was just clocking in when she heard her name being called. She turned to look at another problem she had. This one woman was ten times worse than Robbie had ever been. She started to smile at her but thought
Fuck it, I don’t answer to her any longer
.

“They want you in the big office.” Kerry didn’t ask who but Agnes seemed to be on a mission to tell her. “There are six men and five women in there that look like they stepped out of some rich and famous magazine. I think they want to fire you. Be a blessing if they did. You’re a pain in the ass.”

“I doubt it. They would have told me yesterday when I was at their house if that was the plan.” She walked away from Agnes, smiling. That was fun. Childish, but extremely fun.

They were all there, and as she was walking in the elder Mr. and Mrs. Bowen were shown in as well. Marvin stepped forward and she could see the strain on his face. They had upset him, and she looked at Khan.

“You have no right to make this man feel upset like this for no reason whatsoever. He’s been running this company for nearly a year without much in the way of support from anyone. If you want to be pissy to someone, be that way to the previous owners, who took all our retirement money as well as all the extra equipment with them when they skipped the country.” Khan raised a brow at her but she was on a roll. “And what the hell did you come in here full force for? You trying to make the rest of the people here feel afraid? Or is that your plan, to intimidate them enough that they quit? I think you’re going to have your work cut out for you on that score. There hasn’t ever been a more lazy bunch of supervisors working anywhere than the ones here, and they haven’t a clue how this place runs. And they bark and bite all the time. The CSR’s will make or break you.”

She looked at Reed when she realized what she’d said about biting. She felt the one at her shoulder tingle when he looked back at her. There was something both terrifying and sexy about the way he was staring at her, like she was a Thanksgiving meal and Christmas gifts all in one. She shivered as she turned to Khan again.

“Are you finished?” She flushed when he asked her. “We came in here together so that we could all look the company over. Walker is a doctor, so you’ll see the least of him. Dylan is a teacher, but will come in from time to time to have a look at some of the rules and make sure they’re up to date. He’s going to be the head of our human resources department. Marc here has a great deal of experience in other fields, such as investigative work, and will assist Dylan when necessary. Sebastian, as well as Reed, have a great deal of knowledge about computers, and are going to see about getting the ones here updated to something in this century. My parents are here because they, for whatever reason, like you.”

“And you?” He grinned at her and she had a feeling that he was here because he was head honcho. “What do you think you can contribute to this company besides the money and being bossy?”

“I
am
the boss.” He pointed to the chair that was next to Reed and asked her to sit. She really didn’t have a choice and they both knew it. She needed this job until she found something else. And she was going to start looking as soon as she had a break.

“These are the orders taken over the phone for the past ninety days.” She took the papers that Dylan had given her. “I’ve taken the names off to protect the others, but not yours. Can you tell me why you transferred to be a line person and didn’t stay at the phones? You’re very good, as you know. And the best person we have on staff to encourage and get upgrades.”

“It’s lineman, not person. And you met Robbie I take it?” He nodded. “Then you know. Besides, I love being out of doors no matter the weather. I’ve been working at the same desk for more years than most people stay married. I needed a change.”

He nodded. “You’re the best this company has. Your sales alone count for over three quarters of what all the others sell. And that’s not all. You handle issues that come up well, too. You’ve been able to save more customers than the others because you’re extremely good at calming the situation and making the customer feel good about the fact that you’ve had to shut him off.”

She was embarrassed. Kerry squirmed in her seat and her breath caught when a hand landed on her knee. She looked at Reed and he moved it back, slowly running his fingers up her thigh to her hip. Her body burned for more but she turned away, not understanding this at all.

Kerry looked at Mr. Bowen and had a feeling he knew what his son had just done to her. She looked at Sebastian, who stood up to turn on a computer. She was surprised to see his screen shining on the wall behind him. The cables in this office hadn’t worked since she’d been there.

“Here is a list of all the people who work here. Most of them are doing well, but we feel they can improve with a bit more training.” He looked at her. “I don’t think they’ve had much more training than a few sheets of paper handed to them, have they?”

“There used to be a training program when I first started here. It would help new hires to get the terminology down, as well as how to reference anything you needed off the system. But the system hasn’t been updated in the past five years, and the trainer was promoted to something over her head and was fired shortly after. I think she works for your competitor in another state.” She felt Reed’s heat when he moved his leg closer to her, and she tried to think what she’d been saying. “I have my old training manuals if you want them. They’re mostly outdated, but I try to keep up with them. I used to make copies for anyone that wanted them, but quit that when I was written up. I couldn’t prove I’d paid for the copies out of my own pocket, and no matter how many receipts I brought in, it didn’t seem to matter. I don’t do it now.”

Sebastian nodded. “I’d like to have them if you don’t mind. And would you mind going over them with me? When you bring them in, we’ll figure out what we need to update and what no longer applies.”

Kerry nodded. “They’re in my car. I’d planned to give them to you anyway. I’ve no real use for them anymore. I also have the manuals that I was given the other day to look at for the lineman position. I wondered, do I still have the job?”

“Why on earth would you think otherwise?” She looked at Khan when he answered her. “Christ woman, I can’t run this company without you. You’ve single handedly kept this company afloat. I’m hoping you’ll continue.”

When she stood to go and get the manuals, all of them stood as well. She looked at Mrs. Bowen, wondering if she was the one who’d taught them to stand when a woman did. It seemed old fashioned, but they were all a little on the weird side. When she went out the door she hadn’t realized that Reed had come with her until he opened the outer door for her.

“I can do this by myself. Why don’t you go in there and wait for me?” He just smiled at her and she wanted to punch him in his very beautiful lips…mouth. She turned and left him standing there to go to her car, and nearly screamed when she turned around and he was right in front of her.

“I’d very much like to kiss you.” She shook her head at his request. “Why not? Are you afraid of me, Kerry?”

His voice was low, and she thought if it were something real she could feel it touch her skin. When she shook her head again at him he leaned closer to her and she licked her lips.

“Do you have any idea what it does to me to have you sitting so close to me and not be able to do all the things I want to?” She didn’t know what he meant, so didn’t answer him. “Let me kiss you, please. I’ll try to behave for the rest of the meeting if you do.”

He wasn’t going to behave anytime, and she had no idea why she knew that. As his head lowered to hers she licked her lips again, wanting to beg him to please hurry. When his warm mouth brushed over hers gently, she felt her knees weaken. He put his hand on her hip and held her as he ran his tongue over her suddenly dry lips.

“Let me in, Kerry. Let me taste paradise.” She moaned when he nipped at her lower lip then suckled it into his mouth. When he let it go she could almost taste him, and wanted more. He cupped the back of her head and brought her to him.

Christ, he didn’t just kiss her, but took her. His mouth, his tongue danced along hers as if he was devouring her. When his body pressed against hers she put her hands on his waist to hold on, because he was making her weak.

Reed tore his mouth from hers and looked down at her. His eyes had darkened and she could see something deep within them. A beast was all she could think of, but before she could be afraid he was kissing her again. She nearly cried out when he rocked into her soft folds.

Her body wasn’t just hot but flaming out of control, and he was the accelerant. Moaning against his mouth when he cupped her ass and brought her closer to him, she moved her arms up to his neck to hold on, she told herself. What she really wanted was for him to tear her clothes off and take her right then. As his mouth moved from hers to her neck, then to the sensitive place behind her ear, she felt his teeth nip at her again.

He was going to mark her and she felt her body react to the thought. She wanted him to sink his teeth into her hard, and wondered for a brief second where that thought had come from when he whispered for her to come. He rocked hard into her again and again, and she couldn’t stop her body from reacting even if she’d wanted to.

She cried out her release. It was quick, hard, and not nearly satisfying enough. When he commanded her to come again, she felt his teeth graze her throat and knew that he was going to do it. He was going to bite her. When his teeth sank deep she screamed out a release so powerful that she felt explosions and saw stars behind her closed eyes. Then everything went black.

~~~

Reed held her to his body as he realized what they’d done. What he’d done. He’d marked her. Not that he didn’t want to take her, but he’d hoped to do so without it being against her car in a very public place. He looked around, glad that she’d parked in this lot and that no one was around. He picked her up in his arms and held her while he reached for his brother.

I’m here with her and she’s…I think she’s fainted.
He couldn’t help but grin at that.
I’m…I’ve claimed her, marked her. She’s…Christ, Khan, all I can think about is taking her home and finishing what we’ve started.

Damn it Reed.
He felt his brother’s anger but it was soon replaced with a great deal of humor.
She’s going to fucking kill you when she wakes up. Bring her in here so we can all watch.

I’m not…what the fuck, Khan? I tell you I have a mate and you want to watch her be upset with me because I’ve done it? What is wrong with you?
His brother laughed through their connection.
I’m not bringing her in unless you promise to behave.

Oh, I’ll behave all right. And if you think she’s only going to be upset, then you’re nuts. She’s going to be fucking pissed, and you know it as well as I do.

Kerry started to stir in his arms and he closed the connection to his brother. All he was doing was laughing anyway, so there was no point in continuing. When she opened her eyes she smiled at him and he let out a breath. She wasn’t mad. But her fist connected with his nose so quickly that he nearly dropped her.