Chapter 3

 

Six months later…

 

I sat in my car.

New car. New suit. New home.

New life.

Almost.

The old one still haunted me, lurked around every corner.

It took Jack hours of back and forth to convince me to take his offer, but in the end, I relented, with conditions. No litigation—that was key. I couldn’t do litigation again. Checking to make sure the verbiage was correct and there were no loopholes in contracts? That I could do.

It had taken six months of paperwork and Continuing Legal Education courses to get my license reinstated after having dropped off the face of the earth. In that time, the woman Jack had talked about firing up and left them high and dry one day. He was furious, and helped me get things moving faster.

My heart raced, hands shaking as I sat there waiting for the numbers on the clock to change. Every part of me wanted to run away. But what would I be running to? Back to the black hole I’d been living in for years? At least there was a good chance my mind would be pulled away from my hell.

The parking lot was still pretty empty when a sedan pulled up beside me. I glanced over out of habit, and my eyes widened beneath my sunglasses.

It was her.

The blonde woman I’d seen months ago in the same parking lot. The enigma.

I couldn’t help but stare, watching as she threw her hair up into a bun. The frown as she noticed something I wasn’t able to see. Couldn’t look away when she lifted her hips, dragging her skirt up to her waist. Her thumbs hooked into her pantyhose and pushed them down over her fuck-perfect round ass.

Holy fuck.

My cock was as hard as steel in seconds.

Inch by inch, more smooth, pale skin was revealed as she slid the pantyhose down her legs. She was so innocent looking while doing something so provocative.

Her gaze caught mine, and I couldn’t stop my lip twitching up into a smirk. My dick strained against my pants as a blush spread over her skin.

I then startled when she flipped me the bird before climbing out and walking away.

My enigma was cheeky.

Fuck.

Fucking fuck.

I was fucking screwed if she was anywhere fucking near me in the building.

Holloway and Holloway had a non-fraternization policy that I had no interest in breaching. It was one of the reasons I agreed to take on the position.

There was no getting close to anyone because there were consequences. Lives that I would not allow to be lost due to me.

After those sobering thoughts, my dick had thankfully gone down and I headed in to find Jack. Part of our arrangement was that no one who knew me was to speak a word about who I was or how Jack and I knew each other.

As fresh of a start as I could get.

The elevator was packed, and when I got off a familiar face smiled at me, then looked around before going into a neutral expression.

“It’s all right, Cassie,” I said to Jack’s secretary.

She gave me a small smile. “Go on in. He’s waiting for you.”

I nodded to her. Grabbing hold of the handle, I pulled it open, which happened to be just as Jack was pushing it to step out.

“Ah, there you are.”

“Am I late?” I asked.

He shook his head. “No, no, of course not. I was hoping you’d be a bit early so that I could introduce you to your partner before the announcement.”

I held my arm out. “Lead the way.”

We headed to the stairwell, which surprised me. He looked back at me as we ascended the stairs.

“Mary says I need to get more exercise.”

My mother-in-law.

It left me wondering if working there with all the reminders was really going to work.

I tried to smile at him. Faked one, then forced it to look natural.

When we reached the landing, I took in a steadying breath and brushed it all away. The accident, my family, Marconi—pushed aside.

New life.

New beginning.

All channeling the old me.

The one that got me just about anything I wanted. The one I channeled every time I went out to the bar in search of a fuck.

I stood behind Jack as he called a woman in a larger office over. The beast perked up as I noticed the way her voice seemed forced, fake. Much like a voice used over the phone.

“I wanted to introduce you to your new roommate before the announcement was made.” Jack stepped aside and ushered me in.

Fuck.

Standing before me was none other than my enigma.

Her mouth popped open, strangely beautiful gray-green eyes wide as she stared at me. It was unnerving, because it felt like she was seeing past the façade.

Fuck.

Not her.

Anyone but her.

“This is Nathan Thorne. He’ll need your guidance until he’s acclimated to how we operate. Please take good care of him.”

“Delilah, was it?” I smirked at her, just as I had in the parking lot, hoping for the same reaction.

Not wanting to be rude, I held out my hand. It took a beat too long for her to slip hers into mine. A stiff, formal shake, neither wanting to give anything away.

Then we parted, Jack and I heading out.

My hands shaking, heart racing, the beast inside drooling.

Fuck.

The cheeky little enigma was my office mate.

I wanted to fuck her.

Fuck her so hard bent over her desk.

Lusting after my off-limits coworker was a shitty way to start a new job. Hopefully the non-fraternization policy would be enough to keep me in check. Maybe I could make sure she stayed away.

Whatever I had to do to keep my distance.

 

 

After hours of announcements, meeting people, filling out forms, and a long lunch with Jack, I returned to my new workspace. The one that held her.

“Have a good lunch?” I asked as I glanced down at the half-eaten sandwich sitting next to her along with an unopened bag of chips.

She looked up from her screen, a bit surprised, but after months of quiet, I was sure she was in for a change as well.

“Are you here for the rest of the afternoon?” she asked, skipping over any pleasantries.

I nodded and moved over to the bare desk on the other side of hers. They’d taken two U-shaped configurations with hutches and pushed them together, leaving room for a few filing cabinets between the desk and the wall. Add in a fake tree, a small bookshelf, and two chairs for guests, and what once was a good-sized conference room didn’t have a lot of room for anything else.

“Yes. Jack said you would help me get set up.”

With a heavy sigh, she nodded and saved whatever she was working on. She stood and maneuvered her chair to my side of the room, slipping it next to my own.

It was my perfect opportunity to test her and to find a way to turn her off from me. If she felt even a little attraction to me, things were going to be bad, because after five minutes I was already having trouble keeping my hands off her.

She’s fucking ruining this.

Touch her.

Shut up.

I couldn’t stop staring at her as she explained Holloway’s intranet, the beast going wild with all the positions to fuck her in. Luckily I could pass off my staring as paying attention.

“Okay, so here’s the path to the shared drive. All documents have to be saved out on this drive for backup purposes.”

She was leaning across me, dangerously close, directing the mouse around the screen.

Jesus-fucking-Christ.

Touch her.

Shut the fuck up! I slammed my hands against the cage in my mind, eyes locked with his. Wide pupils, his irises almost glowing blue.

The fucking lust for her was fucking me up. I couldn’t think straight. “You know, you don’t have to climb all over me to get my attention. Lifting your skirt works very well.”

I smirked at her, made her remember our encounter that morning. The beast waited to see her reaction. First, there was a jaw tick, but no blush of her cheeks.

Instead, her head dropped and she pulled away from me. “Sorry, I didn’t realize there were any voyeurs around. Next time, I’ll lock myself up in an empty room to spare you.”

She rolled her eyes and attempted to move on, but her words made me and the beast stare at her, unable to understand what she meant.

I cocked my brow at her in confusion. “Spare me?” From what, getting hard?

There was no way she knew how much of a temptation she was to me, and the tone of her voice implied something darker.

“Yes. Temptation is the road to Hell, or at least that’s what I hear.”

Shit. She couldn’t have gotten that any more right if she tried. I smirked at her again, my temptress. “You think I’m tempted by you?”

She blinked at me, her neutral expression shifted to anger. “No, but I don’t want to give you the opportunity to be tempted by me.”

“Why so hostile?” I asked, pushing her further. I had to make space between us, take away any interest she might have. Better for the lust pumping through me to be one way. It would dissipate in time, but I didn’t need her teasing me while the high wore off.

She sat back and huffed. “Look, Nathan. I’m here to do a job, not to flaunt my breasts around to catch your eye. I like my job, I like doing my job, and I want to keep it. Plus, I know you are not, and will not be, interested in a woman like me, so why even try? Now, can we get back to your tutorial?”

She was flustered, annoyed with me, but, again, her words took on a darker tone. It made my pulse tick faster as I tried to understand anything she was saying.

“How do you know?” I pressed.

Her jaw ticked before she turned to look directly at me. “Excuse me?”

“You heard me.” I dropped the tone in my voice, allowing my own darkness to leak out. “How. Do. You. Know?”

I wanted to tangle my fingers in her hand and shove her mouth down on my hard cock so she’d see that, yes, my body was definitely interested.

Her eyes bounced between mine, and I saw it again. Her façade slipped, her words little more than a whisper. “Just drop it.”

“How?” I asked, pressing harder.

“Why would anyone?” she snapped, her lip curling up before she abruptly stood and ran out of the room.

I sat there, staring at the computer screen, and ran my hands over my face. What was that? Fuck. She was a strange woman, a mystery that intrigued me even more every minute.

I needed to get a handle on myself. Maybe it wasn’t a good idea to come back to work. My whole body vibrated with volatile energy, and it took every ounce of strength in me to not lash out or fuck the shit out of her.

Though fucking the shit out of her was one thing the beast and I could agree that we both wanted.

After a few deep breaths, I worked to pull myself together and to calm the fuck down. Being on all the time, acting, used more energy than I expected, and it would take a while to get used to.

It took Delilah more time to return than I expected, but it was a break I needed. I quirked my brow at her as she entered and watched her as she moved to sit next to me again.

“Email and contact list. Then we can see if you have access to the programs IT was supposed to set up over the weekend.”

She’s just going to ignore it? How odd.

“You’re very peculiar, Delilah.”

She blinked at me for a moment, then turned her attention back to the computer. “I’m just a woman, Nathan. Nothing special.”

Her response stunned me, and the beast, too.

What have I gotten myself into?