Locked in his embrace, his mouth on hers, their tongues sliding against each other’s, she finally felt what it was like to be kissed by someone who knew what they were doing.
A sharpknock knockon the door startled her. She pulled her lips from his and stared at the door like a snarling beast waited on the other side. Just like that, her elation was replaced with unease.
Remy immediately became alert, popped up to all fours, and watched the door.
“Charlotte, look at me.” Hawk kissed the tip of her nose to gain her attention, wrapped his arms around her and put his mouth close to her ear to whisper, “Remember, we’re assuming your office is bugged, okay?”
She nodded.
“I’m your boyfriend, and we’re just here to get something from your office.” His breath feathered across her ear, and a shiver ran through her.
He lifted his head and gave her a look for confirmation.
She nodded, and an involuntary smile broke across her face. This man was potent, with a big old capitalP.
“Good.” He gave her a quick kiss. “It’s okay, bud.” Remy plopped back down on the floor as Hawk lowered himself into one of the chairs in front of her desk. Then, casual as you please, he sat back and propped his ankle on the opposite knee. “Go ahead and open it.”
She walked over, unlocked the door, swung it open, and there stood her boss, Douglas Norcross, though he insisted everyone call him Doug.
He was responsible for overseeing the day-to-day operations.
“Good morning,” she said.
“Hey, Charlotte.” He had a look of concern on his face. “Is everything okay? I got a notification about you taking vacation, so I was surprised when Helene told me you were here.”
Of course, the annoying woman went running to him to blab. She was one of the biggest gossips in the building. Most of the time she worked at Mr. Pennington’s private office across town, so they didn’t have to deal with her. But as chairman of the board, he’d insisted on having an office on the top floor of this building as well, which meant they were stuck with her a few days each month. Lately, she’d been spending more time there, strutting around and acting like she was some sort of queen of the office. Like she was blessing the peasants with her presence or something.
Everyone suspected Helene was spying on them for her boss. Because of that, with the exception of a couple of misguided low-level admins who mistakenly thought she could help them move up in the company, they were all pretty tight-lipped whenever she was around.
“I’m just here to close out a couple of files and grab a few things I’m going to need in order to work from home.” She kept her voice light.
The chair creaked when Hawk stood, and Doug did a double take.
“Doug Norcross, this is Patrick Nakai.” She added, “My boyfriend.”
Wow, it felt weird saying that out loud, especially knowing it wasn’t true.
Hawk stepped up to her, set his hand on her shoulder, and she felt the warmth of his touch through her shirt.
Yummy.
“Nice to meet you, sir.” He extended his arm, and the men shook.
“You, too, son. And, please, call me Doug,” he said. “Charlotte, I left another message for Kimball about moving you to a better parking spot, and I’m still waiting to hear back from him.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “I’m not sure why this is such a difficult request, but I’ll keep pressing him.”
“I appreciate the effort, but I’m sure you have more important things to deal with than getting me a new parking spot.” Now that she knew Kimball put her in that crappy spot for a reason, she didn’t want to waste any more of Doug’s time.
“Your safety is important, Charlotte, so I’m going to keep bugging him,” he said.
“Well, thank you,” she said.
“I’d appreciate that, too.” A muscle in Hawk’s jaw jumped. “It would also be great if the lights could all be brought up to code before she gets back from vacation.”
“Speaking of vacation, why are you taking work home with you?” Doug teased, “I know you rarely take one, so youdoremember what a vacation is, right?”
“I do, and I may not need my computer, but I like having it with me, just in case.” She couldn’t remember evernottaking her laptop home with her, nor could she remember the last time she took any time off.
“Well, I’ll leave you to it so you can get out of here.” He shook Hawk’s hand again and tilted his head toward Charlotte. “She’s a heck of a catch, son. I hope you realize that.”
