Sean looked at Marcus, waiting expectantly with an excited grin, and was extremely thankful he had dirt on the guy. “Never mind. Let’s go save her from Jacob. We’ve wasted a lot of time and I still have a million things to get through before day’s end.”
As Sean stepped through the door, his body taut and flexed, he spied Krista halfway to her office and rushed to catch up. He couldn’t bat down a strange anxiety pinging through his body. A surge of adrenaline pumped his blood, forcing his breath out in fast pants.
He didn’t want another man touching her. It was a first. He’d always thought his complete lack of jealousy was one of his greatest flaws. When a girl revealed she was dating more than just him, he’d usually shrugged, completely unaffected. Rarely he’d believe it was true, and when he did, he’d assumed it was to make her seem more desirable; the carrot to the donkey. It never worked, although he always appreciated the excuse to end the acquaintance.
Not so, now. As Krista hurried toward a room Sean had set aside for her, invaded by another male, something primal in Sean opened up and blossomed out, consuming him. Filling every inch of his sizable frame with purpose he felt raw and invigorated, as if a pure shot of testosterone boosted his strength and prowess, making him feel more powerful. If he didn’t feel like such a man, he’d be worried about the reason behind this sudden rush.
“Krista, wait,” Sean instructed as he drew near, Marcus following along behind.
Krista stopped, bowed in on herself, embarrassed at her behavior. She needn’t have been, but Sean couldn’t deal with that now.
He stepped in front of Krista into the room, blocking her from view, eyes finding, then sticking, to Jacob, currently sitting in a visitor chair with a notepad resting on his lap, “Jacob.”
Startled, Jacob looked up with wide eyes.
“Why are you sitting, unattended, in someone else’s office?”
The color drained from Jacob’s face before indignation rushed in. Jacob’s chin tilted upwards. “That isn’t any of your business, McAdams.”
Sean took two more steps into the room, now further in than Jacob. “Despite the fact that it is rude and unprofessional, as someone in your position should know, this office belongs to one of my team members, who is working on a sensitive project. You shouldn’t be in here, especially unattended.”
“I’m here on business,” Jacob said brusquely, defending his position with a puffed up chest.
“Ooo, he’s going for the showdown. Risky,” Marcus whispered in a hurried hush.
Sean ignored Marcus, though he couldn’t help but notice Jacob flinch. They both knew Marcus was right.
“What business?” Sean asked, stepping closer to Krista’s chair.
Jacob’s face hardened by Sean trying to claim the space, “I am checking out her equipment. Making sure it is satisfactory.”
“You could have left a message or sent an email. Even so, being that you were sitting in the chair, you’ve finished your analysis, I presume?”
Jacob stared in defiance.
“Well, then,” Sean continued, “I assume that means you have no reason to be loitering in her office?”
“I also planned to warn her about her email use.”
Krista’s face lost its color. Her lush lips slimmed down into a thin line as her body imploded, the strength of her character sapping at the threat. Her eyes sunk to the ground, waiting for punishment from a clown acting like nothing more than a bully.
An urge to bodily throw Jacob from the room came over Sean in a wave. Like it did when he’d realized Krista had been abused in the past, something awoke. Something violent. Those witnessing saw a new light shining in his eyes. Something wild. Something disturbed and unruly.
Jacob unconsciously took a step back.
“Who do you report to? Chris, isn’t it?” Sean asked in the smooth tones of a predator. Marcus faintly gasped.
Jacob brought himself to his full height. “Just doing my job,” he said in a matter-of-fact tone. “Nothing you can do about that, despite your threats.”
“No?” Sean asked quietly.
“They’re throwing down!” Marcus whispered excitedly into Krista’s ear. “Going for a power play to see who rates over the other. They’ve wanted to do this forever, but never had a good enough reason. You are gossip gold, girlie.”
Jacob stared at Sean, suddenly faltering on confidence. He turned to Krista. “Sorry Krista,” he said, in a tone that did not sound sorry in the least. “Personal email is a warning for your file. If it doesn’t stop you may be terminated. I’m going to have to write you up.”
Krista gasped.
“You will address the complaint, as is standard for your department, and I will take up the matter,” Sean said, slowly sauntering to Krista’s side. He wanted to put his arm around her so badly he had to put it in his pocket to keep it at bay. “You will then be shut out of reviewing the emails or web content of everyone on my team.”
“Is that so, McAdams? On whose authority? Yours?”
“If I don’t get you fired first. Now please leave. You’ve overstayed your welcome.”
Jacob huffed as he left the room, confidence restored at the firing threat. He didn’t think Sean could do it, a mistake he wouldn’t realize until he was packing his desk.
“I should have handled that myself,” Krista said in a small voice.
The power play had shaken her.
“Do you have reason to believe he is reading your emails?” Sean asked, bending to catch her eye.
“I told Kate yesterday that I was having second thoughts about Paul. He shows up today. In the past he has only shown up to ask me out. You do the math.”
“Have you ever mentioned anything in emails about our project?”
“To me, all the time,” Marcus chimed in gleefully, mentally taking notes on the conversation, adding it to the story in progress.
“To Ben, getting help on format, to Kate and Jasmine about a couple of statistical issues. There was never anything in there about the client’s name or anything. It was just numbers or colors. Ben or the girls wouldn’t know anything beyond that.”
Sean nodded, thinking. He turned to Marcus. “Get some gossip. Find out who else Jacob has been spying on. Get some proof if you can.”
“I can talk about this?” Marcus asked with one foot theoretically out of the office, ready to sprint down the hall and find the first ear he could.
“Go crazy. This though…” Sean held up a finger. “Not anything else.”
Marcus’s face lit up. “This is so much better than anything else!”
And he was gone.
“You didn’t need to do that, Sean,” Krista said uncomfortably.
“That wasn’t really about you, Krista,” Sean replied sincerely, trying to catch her eye again. Embarrassment was covering her like a blanket.
“Him and I—you were just the catalyst. I’ve wanted to get him fired for years. Now I get the green light to try. You, unfortunately, were just the modem.”
“Okay,” Krista deflated. “I need to get to work.”
“You won’t get written up, Krista. None of his grudge matches ever do.” Sean reached to put his hand on her arm, but resisted at the last second, landing limp at his side. He worried she’d flinch again, or worse, that tears would spring up.
“I need to get to work,” Krista said again, still avoiding his eyes.
Sean sincerely hoped it was the thing with Jacob that caused her face to point at the floor, otherwise he didn’t get it. The woman licked him, for God sakes. How could she go back to acting like she didn’t want him?
Although, maybe she’d thought he rejected her. He had gone still. Not even a playful remark. Certainly no encouragement. Maybe she felt she’d stepped over the line and no one was there to catch her. Or play with her.
Sean closed his eyes, ignoring those who said hi to him. Oh holy God, he would love to play with her. With his tongue. Until she was writhing, tangled in his sheets, begging to come.
He slipped into the bathroom to hide his hard-on. He had on boxers and slacks. Not a winning combo in this situation. He needed to start wearing boxer-briefs when she was around.
When he finally got back to his desk, something occurred to him. Two seconds after the bite, after she’d softly moaned and stroked his chest while breathing on the wet skin from her lick, she’d jerked and swore. Like she hadn’t meant to do it, but did it anyway. Like she’d lost control there for a minute.
Which meant…she liked him. She liked him, but didn’t want him. She felt it, but didn’t want to give in to it because of his reputation. A reputation she was convinced he deserved.
How do you compete against your other, more experienced half and win?
With a girl like her, friendship was the pits. It was like being in a race car and slowing down for a yellow light. It wasn’t his style.
Game on.
An hour and a half later, Sean saw a pair of troubled blue-gray eyes looking at him from over a packet of paper.
“Done already?” Sean asked, surprised.
Krista stayed in the doorway. She still looked extremely embarrassed. He tried to keep the smile from his face. “Passable, right?”
“Right. Come in.”
She hesitated.
“Are you expecting me to go to you?” Sean laughed, trying to get Krista comfortable again. It was a little disconcerting how seriously she was taking that physical slip-up. It didn’t bode well for Sean’s chances in getting her to go out with him.
“No, of course not.” Krista gingerly entered the office.
“I don’t bite,” he said without thinking.
Her face flushed a furious shade of red. Sean immediately reached for the paperwork to try and hide the moment. He couldn’t stand up too far, though—not without a barrel to hide his once again raging hard-on.
Krista nearly threw the packet at him and backed up toward the door. “I put it together the best I could,” she said quickly. “But Ben will probably change it.”
Sean looked through her materials. It was nearly ready to go as it was. “Did you put in different images?”
Krista nodded, looking out at the hall. “Now that I have access to the art database I can look for images that go better. Art and Research need to communicate more often or all the presentations will continue to be disjointed.”
“Fat chance.”
Krista shrugged.
“Okay, let’s get going. Do we need to call Ben before we leave?”
“You want me to go?” Krista’s face drained of color again. She didn’t want to be alone in close proximity with him. She probably felt she owed him an explanation. She wasn’t aware that he didn’t need it.
“I think that would be best, don’t you?” Sean asked casually, leaning back and putting the packet on his desk. “I don’t know where you live and I’ve never met your roommate.”
Krista sighed. “I guess. When?”
“Now-ish?”
“Okay.”
Sean moved from around his desk, closed and locked his office door, and then he was ready to go. They took the elevator down to the basement level parking garage.
“You pay for parking?” Krista asked, surveying all the fancy cars.
“No. Perks of making the company money.”
Sean led her around a candy-apple red Corvette to his BMW.
“Who does the Corvette belong to?” Krista asked as she eyed the shiny sports car.
“One guess.”
“John.”
“Correct.” He opened her door and waited until she was comfortably inside before closing it softly.
“Where are your driving gloves?” Krista asked after Sean climbed into the driver’s seat.
Sean reached over her bare knees, making her flinch back slightly, as he popped the glove compartment open.
“Shut up,” Krista peered in the little cubby, trying to find the driving gloves he alluded to.
“What must you think of me?” Sean laughed, flicking the glove compartment shut. “Of course I don’t have driving gloves! Who am I, John?”
“He has’em, though, doesn’t he?”
“He does. Black leather ones. He wears them when he drives fast on the freeway or windy roads, supposedly. I’ve never seen it myself.”
They exited the parking garage into the mild, late winter day.
“Where to?” Sean asked.
“46th and Quintara.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, I know, way out there.”
“Do you surf?”
“Funny story. I intended to when I moved out from Seattle, but …”
“What happened?”
“The temperature of the water.”
Sean barked a laugh, “Say no more.”
“Do you know the way?” Krista asked, scanning the streets with squinting eyes.
“Sure do.”
They sat in silence for a second before Krista ventured to speak, “So…”
“Sew buttons.”
“About what happened earlier…with the…episode I had…“
“When you turned into a vampire, you mean?”
“Yeah, about that. Sorry that I…you know…”
“Tried to suck my blood?”
Krista blew out her breath. “Yeah. I wasn’t in my right mind. I don’t usually make it a habit of going around...”
“Chewing on people’s necks?”
Krista laughed nervously, “That, yeah.”