Sweet Surrendering (9 page)

He laughed and I wanted to strangle him through the phone.

“So, when do I start?”

I gritted my teeth before I answered.

“How about tomorrow? We can get you set up on the company software and Mrs. Andrews can show the ropes. Be here at eight.”

“I’ll be there. How do you take your . . . coffee?” Oh, he was going to make this a miserable experience, wasn’t he?

“Look, whatever happened, happened and I think we’re both grown-up enough to put it behind us. Besides,” I said with a smirk I hoped he would hear in my voice, “if it’s a choice between he said, she said, I win. Cream and sugar. Eight o’clock.”

Before he could say anything else, I hung up on him, slamming the phone into the receiver, but I swear I could still hear him laughing.

As fate would have it, I was running late the next morning. Traffic was horrendous due to some construction and I skidded into the lobby, nearly wiping out on the smooth floor. A hand reached out and prevented my face-plant.

“Good morning, Miss Clarke.” I peered into those blue/gray eyes and they were smiling and laughing at me.

Damn, he looked good in the morning. I stood up and adjusted myself, trying to gain composure.

“Coffee?” he said, holding out a tray with two cups on it. “The one with the happy face is yours.”

I give him a look and took the happy face cup. I hadn’t had a chance to have my fix yet, and I was jonesing.

“Shall we?” he said after I took a sip. He turned and didn’t wait before striding toward the elevator and hitting the Up button. I sighed to myself and followed him. This time he was dressed in a perfect gray suit and sapphire tie, and the diamond stud was back in his ear.

“I never wear my nipple ring to the office, if that’s what you’re wondering,” he said when he caught me staring at his chest and wondering that very thing. My face flamed red and I tried to glare at him.

“I wasn’t thinking that.”

Yes I was.

“Yes you were.”

“Shut up.”
Wow, brilliant response, Rory. You sound exactly sixteen years old.

He just grinned and handed me a bag.

“Cheese Danish, cherry Danish, croissant and donut with strawberry frosting and sprinkles. I wasn’t sure what you liked.” His face was smug and I wanted to smack it and then smack a kiss on it.

He seemed to read my thoughts again and turned his head to the side and moved his face closer to mine. I was captivated by his eyes and the enclosed space of the elevator and his smell and . . .

The elevator dinged and the doors slid open, cutting off the moment. Lucas pulled back and shook his head and tried to hand me the bag again. I snatched it from him.

I was going to eat every single pastry in that bag. I was an equal opportunity pastry eater, but the strawberry donut was my first choice, though I wasn’t going to tell Lucas that.

He said hello to Mrs. Andrews as he walked past her desk and she gave him a genuine smile, as if she was happy to see him. God, not her, too.

I showed him around the office again, the break room, bathrooms, copier, etc., and he was too close for comfort, even though he was almost completely silent.

He followed me all the way to my desk and I was about to snap at him to stop following me, but then I realized I hadn’t showed him to his desk.

Get your head in the game, Clarke.

I set down my coffee and the bag of pastries.

“Your, um, desk is right over there,” I said, pointing to the desk that was right in the middle of the hallway across from my office. Granted, I had a door in between us, but I almost never closed it (BLB, Before Lucas Blaine) unless I needed privacy, and that was rare. So basically, we’d be facing each other. All day. Every day.

Those stormy eyes would be staring at me for at least forty hours a week. More if we had a big project to work on.

He faced me and walked backwards to his desk with a come hither smile. He wasn’t making this easy. Well, I could make it hard.

Head in the game, Clarke.

I tried to snap my spine straight and made sure my heels made the maximum amount of noise as I crossed the space between us and started explaining everything.

We did have a dedicated person whose job it was to train new employees, but I was a bit of a control freak and I’d rather teach him once and have him do it the way I wanted, than have to spend time making him unlearn one way and relearn my way.

This meant there was a lot of leaning over his shoulder and trying not to breathe in his scent too much, or let our faces get close when he turned to ask me a question. I’m pretty sure he did that on purpose, along with leaning back in his chair and bumping into me, and the half-dozen chest grazes.

It was evident within a few minutes that he was smart, he learned fast and he could remember it. I’d had a little hope that he’d turn out to be a moron, but he was sharp and took everything I could throw at him. I needed some space, so I started him out with the task of going through my inbox and flagging anything that might be important and deleting all the chain emails that were against company policy, but still seemed to make the rounds anyway.

“I’ve got this, boss,” he said with another smirk as I walked back to my desk and I could feel his searing gaze on my ass. I tossed my hair back and closed the door behind me, breathing a small sigh of relief before going for my coffee and belated breakfast.

An hour later I was knee deep in approving a presentation and wondering why it was that the people I worked with could speak html and CSS, but not English when there was a knock at my door. Wonder who that could be?

I crumpled the empty pastry bag and shoved it in the trash bin before answering. For some reason I didn’t want him to know I’d binged and eaten everything due to the fact that he stressed the hell out of me.

“Yes?” I kept my voice calm and cool and glued my eyes to the computer screen before the doorknob turned and he poked his head in.

“I’m sorry to interrupt. I just wanted to know if you needed anything. Coffee, or . . .” he trailed off with a smile. Bad boy.

“I think I’m all set for now, but thank you. How are the emails coming?” I pretend to type something on the computer so I had an excuse not to look at his face. His freckles were especially cute today.

“You seem to have a lot of spam coming in, so I reconfigured your filters. I hope you don’t mind.” That made me look up. I hadn’t messed with that in months, and not since the last software upgrade. You’d think, living my entire life inside this company, I would be on top of something like that.

“Oh, thank you. Yeah, I have noticed a lot of funny stuff getting through, but I’ve been so swamped I haven’t been able to deal with it.”

He gave me a smile and it was like I’d given him another gold star.

“You’re welcome. Anytime. Just let me know if or when you need something, Miss Clarke.” He managed to make the last part sound just a little bit dirty.

“Thank you, Mr. Blaine.” I called my last assistant Sal, but that was because he treated me like a granddaughter and that was just the way things were. I would have to keep the boundaries very clear with this one so he didn’t get any ideas.

And so I didn’t get any ideas, either.

Sloane texted me and asked if I wanted to have a lunch date, and I was thrilled because I needed her. I needed my best friend to vent to.

I gathered up my purse and locked my computer and walked myself to Lucas’ desk. Mr. Blaine’s desk.

I wanted to smash my head on his desk.

I swear, everything I thought turned dirty in his presence. I shoved it aside as he looked up from the computer. His earring winked at me.

“I’m going to lunch. When I come back, you can go. You, can, um call me if there’s an emergency, but I’m sure Mrs. Andrews would be able to help you out with whatever you need.”

“Thank you very much, Miss Clarke. I hope you have a wonderful lunch,” he said with such a sweet voice and such a sweet smile I knew he was messing with me. Well, it was about time.

“Thank you, Mr. Blaine, I’m suuuurrreee I will.” With a wink, I strutted slowly away from the desk and I knew he was watching me and I hoped he was remembering how awesome in bed I was because that was NEVER happening again.

“You look all hot and bothered,” Sloane said as I sat down and she shoved a mimosa across the tablecloth at me.

“Do I?” God, I hoped not. I didn’t want anyone at the office getting wind of my history with Mr. Blaine. I pulled out my compact and checked my face for signs of hotness or botheredness. My eyes were a little wide, but other than that I looked the same. Warm blonde hair, brown eyes, small nose.

“Jesus, take a Valium, why don’t you?” I picked up the mimosa glass instead as the waiter made his way over and I ordered a pear and goat cheese salad and a bowl of minestrone. I figured it was the healthiest option since I’d had so many pastries this morning. My ass couldn’t deal with too many more calories.

“So, how is it going?” Sloane said as she dug into her steak sandwich. Yes, she was one of those bitches who could eat ANYTHING and stay skinny without purging. Feel free to hate her for it.

“It’s fine so far, although he has ogled my ass so many times, I feel like I should walk in slow motion so he can better admire it. Or maybe I should play sexy slow motion walking music
while
I walk in slow motion.” I was babbling and Sloane listened without interruption. This was our thing.

When I was done she made a sympathetic face.

“Well, I don’t know him, but I know you and I know that you take your job seriously and you won’t let anything get in the way of it. So I know that you’re going to put on your big girl panties and go back to work and be a goddamn professional.” She raised her glass and I clinked it with mine.

That’s right. I was a goddamn professional.

No guy with stormy eyes and a fuck me smile and a magic tongue was going to stand in the way of that.

Because I was a goddamn professional.