“Oh, finally, a response,” she says, dead-pan. “I wondered what I’d have to do to get one.”
“I was listening,” I lie. “I was thinking of the regulatory impact.”
“That’s convincing.” Her words drip sarcasm. “I’m not going to embarrass you by asking what I’ve been talking about for the past twenty minutes, because we both know you have no idea.”
I chuckle, caught out and not caring. “Give me the too-long-didn’t-read version.”
Rita stares at me in disbelief. “Did you justlaugh?”
“I laugh,” I say, a little defensively.
“When?”
When Vicky is around.
The thought comes quickly, and is strangely disconcerting. I laugh at work too, right?
Judging from Rita’s incredulous expression, maybe I don’t.
“What’s so distracting?” Rita’s out of her chair and leaning on my desk before I can reach the mouse, and sees the map on my screen, the dot in the center. I minimize it a second later, annoyed that she’s been so forward.
She seats herself again. Crosses one leg over the other. Balances her laptop back on her lap. “I see.”
“What do you see?”
“Your vapid little investigator is intruding on your mind. And you’re tracking her, no doubt to ensure her welfare. I’m certain it’s nothing to do with control or trust issues.”
I stare at her coldly. “You’re overstepping.”
“No, I’m protecting myself,” she replies candidly. “Your success is my success, don’t you recall?”
And your failure is my failure.It goes unsaid, but hangs in the air.
She closes her laptop in exasperation. “Why don’t you go home? Go find that woman you’re infatuated with, and put her on her knees.”
My mind summons images of Vicky in thehallway, just inside the door, looking up at me with tears in her eyes as she chokes on my cock. I’m instantly hard, and grateful the desk hides that from Rita.
But she’s still way the hell out of line, even if she’s not wrong.
I lean back in my chair and let my disdain show. “Jealous, Rita?”
To my surprise, she doesn’t bite. She crumples. Her shoulders hunch, her head lowers. “Actually… I’m worried.”
My eyebrows go up. “You? Why on Earth…?”
She doesn’t respond at first, then speaks to her lap when she does. “You know the other day, when I said I’d let you bend me over that desk? That love doesn’t compare to what we do here?”
“Yes,” I say slowly, not sure how that’s at all related to her being worried.
“I wasn’t entirely honest.”
My curiosity is piqued, despite myself. “About which part?”
She laughs, a bitter sound. “The second.” Her head comes up, and her eyes find mine. “I was absolutely honest about the first.”
It takes me a moment to put that together. “You’ve found someone you love?” The moment the words leave my mouth, I know they’re wrong. I don’t need the scoff she lets slip to confirm it. “You’re in love withme?”
She shrugs one shoulder. “For the longest time, I didn’t think I was. I convinced myself it was just lust,and power.” A pause. “An easy mistake to make, isn’t it?” She laughs dismissively, then sobers. “But when I saw you with Vicky at the dance… howpossessiveyou were…” She trails off and gives herself a little shake. “I spent this last fortnight unable to get the images out of my head.”
