There isn’t any time for him to ask what I mean by that, as everyone starts taking their seats and someone turns the projector on.
Actually, sitting up front and focusing isn’t as terrible as I thought it might be. Then again, my mind still isn’t exactly on the topics at hand. Each presentation creeps by, and I’m doing the best I can to look normal while I keep my plan in mind.
Usually, I would be agonizing over whether people could tell I was wearing underwear in this skirt; now I've spent most of the meeting wondering if it's overly obvious I'm not.
This is kind of a leap, a bit of an assumption. Yeah, we've been flirting. I keep rationalizing it to myself. I don’t think I’m actually off base here. Maybe if the kiss wasn’t enough to demolish our friendship, maybe we could sleep together one time and be fine.
It’s equal parts terrifying and thrilling and sets my heart racing to even sit on the precipice of my plan.
I've been sitting with my legs crossed tight almost all day, giving my knees a little extra squeeze together when it feels like I can't bear to watch Vlad from across the room. I don't know if it's because of my decision to go after what I want, or just the raw attraction he exudes, but the shift of his wings and massive shoulders together, how every half hour he rolls and stretches them, makes me have to fight to keep from chewing my pen open in my nerves.
His presentation is the last, and I wait until it seems he's halfway through his slides. I could watch him do this all day. The sound of his voice washes over me like a hot summer day, absorbing me in its hypnotic lull as he talks about numbers that don’t really mean anything to me. He makes them sound compelling though.
The only thing that keeps me from forgetting my plan is my body thrumming with the need to climb him like a boulder.
I gather my skirt, my hands flat in my lap, inching up the fabric until it's just under unprofessionally short in my seat.
“The Dark Reign has been doing twenty percent better than projected for this quarter, but the question becomes, how can we make that growth sustainable for this company?” he says, and the way he makes eye contact with me and decisively clicks to the next slide makes me shiver.
I stifle a groan behind my hand and bite down on a knuckle. If he's going to keep talking about sustainability, I might climax in my seat.
His eyes linger over me, and I uncross my legs and cross them again—a brief flash of the fact I’m not wearing underwear.
His nostrils flare, and I have to press my knees together hard at the feeling of liquid heat that rolls through my body. I try not to just melt out of my seat onto the floor. Somehow, kneeling before him seems like an amazing and terrible idea right now.
My face feels like it’s burning, even as I hold myself poised, waiting for it to end. My coworkers clap scatteredly as the “End” slide flicks by and the projector goes dark. All of it registers only distantly.
I get up just a little too early and leave the conference room first before Lily can even begin telling everyone what’s next on the never-ending list of elbow-rubbing activities.
I make it to the elevator and press the button before I hear the conference room door open behind me.
It’s him, just him, following me with heat in his eyes.
Oh no, baby girl. What have you done?
He follows me into the elevator with heated eyes, and I lean against the back wall, half hoping he'll pin me against it. His eyes are on my mouth, and I don’t know that I have the patience for kissing, with everywhere else my body is begging to be touched, kissed, licked, everything.
“Hi, Vlad,” I whisper, saying his name a little too much like I could stroke myself with it.
The distance between us starts to close as the elevator doors do. I clutch the railing behind me, nearly arching off the wall in anticipation, if only to press into his touch that much sooner.
“Wait, hold it open!”
My lust-addled brain falters for a moment, and I blink. There’s a lot I’d consider holding open in this particular second but the moment I see someone’s hand catch the elevator doors, I just want to whine with frustration. The doors trundle back open with resignation that feels all too appropriate. I share a glance with Vlad, as he stands back to let the guy on. I can see it in his expression as well, that exasperation that we just can’t get a moment alone.
Then to my horror, not just one person, but a whole bunch hurry in, as if the elevator can't make more than one trip. Each one of them asks for a different floor button to be pressed, of course. Vlad and I are practically tucked into the back corner with how many people have decided to gamble with the elevator’s load capacity today.
At least it’s no one from our company who might have wondered what we were doing so close to one another in the elevator.
It’s pretty packed, but not so much that I’m physically touching anyone. There’s maybe an inch or two of space between everyone.
I startle a little at the touch I feel at my ankle, grazing lightly over my skin. Glancing down, there’s that flicker of stone-gray scales weaving between my and Vlad’s feet. I look at him, his wings pulled in close to give everyone more room, his shoulder barely brushing mine. He holds my gaze steadily and raises a brow a fraction of an inch.
His tail grazes higher up on my leg, and I realize he’s asking me a question. My cheeks flush red.
I look around at the rest of the occupied elevator, but everyone is facing forward. No one is looking at us.
I don’t know exactly what he’s thinking, but I want whatever he’ll do to me. I nod the barest amount, biting hard on my lower lip.
