But I’m already hanging up and continuing my stride toward the cubicles. Eliana is turning away from her conversation as I approach. She almost screams when she turns to find me nearly on top of her.
“Jesus! You need a bell or something. Like a cat.”
“Get your coat,” I order.
“Excuse me?”
“Your coat. You’re coming with me.”
She blinks, confusion clear on her face. “Coming with you where?”
“Investor wine tasting at Coruscant.”
“I’m not dressed for?—”
“You’re fine.” She’s more than fine, actually. The black skirt and silk blouse she’s wearing are perfectly appropriate. Less appropriate are the thoughts I find myself having of teasing down the zipper of that skirt and seeing what color her panties are underneath. My money’s on black.
She looks back at my office, then at me, clearly trying to figure out my angle. “Is this a work thing?”
“Everything’s a work thing.”
“That’s not an answer.”
I could tell her about the investors, how having my lead project manager there would actually be beneficial. I could make this about business, keep it clean and professional. Instead, I hear myself saying, “My date canceled. I need someone who can talk about Project Olympus without boring everyone to death and looking half-decent while they do it.”
Her smile curdles. “Flattering, as always. You truly have the gift of gab.”
“Can you just not be difficult for five fucking minutes?”
She stiffens, but then bends past me to grab her coat from the back of her chair, and,fuck,the smell of her strawberry shampoo is light years better to my nose than Aleksei’s godforsaken fucking cigarettes.
She pulls it halfway on, then stops. “There are nicer ways to ask someone to do things, you know.”
Obviously, she’s right. But Aleksei’s visit has me all fucked-up and manners are the last thing I feel like remembering. “Are you coming or not? Keep in mind that I’m not really asking.”
Eventually, she sighs, and I know I’ve won. “Fine,” she says. “But I’m getting hazard pay for this.”
“You’re already getting eleven thousand dollars a day. Thatishazard pay.”
She shudders as she finishes zipping up her coat. “Clearly, you’ve never been to a wine tasting with venture capitalists. They’re like vampires, but worse. At least vampires have the decency to kill you quickly.”
Despite everything, I feel my mouth drift toward a smile. “Sounds like you have experience.”
“I’ve been your project manager for two years, Mr. Hale. I’ve seen things. Terrible things. Most of them were your fault.”
We fall in step as we walk toward the elevator together.
“By the way,” she says as we press the button and wait, “you have something on your cuff.”
I look down, and sure enough, there’s a smudge of truffle dirt on my white shirt. Contamination from Aleksei’s gift. The past bleeding into the present.
“Don’t worry about it,” I mutter.
She gives me a strange look but doesn’t comment.
The elevator arrives, and we step inside. As the doors close, I catch our reflection in the polished steel. She looks impossibly small beside me. But the jut of her hip, the clench of her jaw—there’s fire there. We both keep our eyes forward. For some reason, that feels safer.
“So,” she says as we descend, “any particular reason you’re bringing me instead of, what was her name? Svetlana? Tatiana? Something else that sounds like a Bond villain?”
