“Are you sure you’re not hurt?”
She smacks my hands away.“I’m fine!”
I study the chair before glancing at her, blinking innocently.“What happened?Did it give w?—”
Her eyes narrow into tiny slits.“I dare you to finish that sentence.”
Flora claps her hands, beaming.“Well, as long as you’re okay.We need you in top shape for the presentation.”
Iris sighs.“If you’re all quite done here, I think the other two divisions are heading towards the conference room.”
Eve lingers behind, brushing some imaginary dirt off her pants.As I follow the others, walking past her, I catch her words.“You’re treading on dangerous waters, pretty boy.Very dangerous waters.”
I look over my shoulder at her, grinning.“I’m sure I don’t know what you mean.”
When she looks up, her smile is so sweet that it makes my teeth hurt.She approaches me with a swagger in her hips that should be illegal in at least forty states.The distance between us is closing in, and she’s inches away from me.I can smell her perfume, something expensive and sultry.Her breath is hot against my ear as she leans forward.
My pants are beginning to feel a little tight.
“This is my turf.Fuck with me again, and I’ll make hell seem like a spa day.”
I stare at her, taking in the way she looks at me through her lashes, her body so close to mine that she’s all but pressing against me.Soft curves everywhere, legs up to her?—
My cock stirs.
Fuck.
My voice is rough.“You’ve changed, Lopez.And here I thought the only thing you knew how to do was stick your nose in a book.”
She sneers at me, and somehow it makes her look even hotter.“Well, you’re in for a surprise.Don’t try me, Wilder.I’m not as harmless as I appear.”
“Harmless?You?”I raise my brows, tucking my hands in my pockets, leaning back as I look down at her.“You’re as harmless as a rattlesnake.”
She flips her hair with her hand, the scent of her shampoo hitting me like a punch to the gut.“Good.Then you know I bite.Hard.”
I watch her stride towards the conference room after the others, and once she’s out of earshot, I let out a small wolf whistle.“That doesn’t sound too bad, actually.”
She was hot back then, but now she’s a bombshell.Too bad we can’t stand each other.She’s just as arrogant as she was back then.
The moment I step into the conference room, the energy hits me like a wall.The place is already packed with familiar faces from the Branding and Strategy team, along with two other divisions I haven’t met yet.Everyone is gravitating toward their respective sections, the invisible boundaries between departments as clear as if they’d drawn lines on the floor.
I spot a tired looking, middle-aged man with wire-rimmed glasses and a perpetual scowl that suggests he’s been dealing with creative types for too long.Frank Kolinski, I’m guessing, head of the Communications and Experiences Division.Standing next to him is a blonde woman with a sour expression, her eyes darting frequently to Iris with thinly-veiled contempt.
On the other side of the room stands a surprisingly young woman, probably not more than twenty-five, dressed in a trendy yet professional outfit.Her blue-tipped black hair is tied in a messy bun, wireless earbuds visible in her ears as she simultaneously texts on her phone and gives rapid-fire instructions to an older assistant who’s struggling to keep up.That must be Veronica Hayes, director of Digital and Content Division.According to my briefing, she’s a social media wunderkind who rocketed from intern to director in three years after her TikTok strategy for a previous yacht model went viral in exactly the right circles.She has the confident, slightly impatient air of someone who’s been explaining digital marketing to boomers since she was sixteen.
A young girl files in, and her eyes flit around nervously as she searches for a chair.I get up, gesturing towards mine.Given how old she looks, she’s probably an intern.She hesitates, and I wink at her.“Going once, going twice….”
She sits down, giving me a grateful look.“Thank you.”
“It’s okay.It’s my first day here.Consider it a rookie tax.”
Her cheeks flush.
“Now, aren’t you a gentleman… and a flirt.”Flora’s voice from beside me has me looking to my left.
I grin.“Can’t have a lady stand, now can I?Now, who’s that?”My eyes return to the woman with a scowl on her face.
“That’s Charlotte,” Flora whispers, nodding discreetly toward the blonde.“Used to head our division before she was demoted.Now she’s under Frank.She and Iris used to be friends.Then Iris got promoted, and Charlotte started icing her out.Don’t let her catch you looking.She bites.”
