Chapter 5 - Landon

Landon knew Vincent was giving him directions, but he had a hard time focusing on what he was saying.

He had a perfect view of Brooklyn from where he was. She was sitting down in her office, a large window giving him a perfect view of her curvy body. Her light blonde hair was now thrown up in a bun. She had changed her clothes to look more professional and a pair of reading glasses were perched on her perfectly straight nose.

Her fingers flew over the keys of the computer and her brow furrowed in concentration as her mind remained focused on the screen in front of her.

Her scent had changed since he first met her. The smell of pears was similar, but he felt ashamed he didn’t recognize her scent right away.

However, Landon found he thoroughly enjoyed the strong aroma that came from her curvy body. He could still taste her and craved once more to have her in his arms, his lips pressed against hers.

He had felt so desperate when he saw her that he couldn’t help himself.

Somehow she was alive.

Landon noticed she was oblivious to his presence, but he couldn’t think of anything except for her.

“Hunter! Did you hear what I just told you?”

Vincent’s angry voice was enough to snap him from his trance.

“Uh, yes.”

Vincent’s scowl deepened and Landon knew he was aware of his blatant lie.

“You need to focus. Stop staring at Brooklyn, she is going to be mine anyway in a few months. You are here to be our mechanic and I won’t tolerate messing around. Do you understand?”

He could hear his wolf growl at Vincent for bringing up the fact once again that Brooklyn was engaged. Landon felt his stomach roll from the thought that Vincent was trying to stake his claim on his mate.

Landon fought down his wolf from punching the man in the face and stalking over to Brooklyn to claim what he wanted.

Landon instead stuffed his hands in his pockets and rocked on his heels.

“I wish I was looking at her, that would have been a much better view.”

Landon shot a sly wink at Vincent and felt slightly victorious that he coaxed a groan from the man.

“No, I was looking at the guy over there messing with the conveyor system. Are you having problems with it?”

Vincent turned around and saw the man at the conveyor belts. He was poking around at the screen as if trying to get something to work when it obviously wasn’t.

“Ugh,” Vincent pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. “I’m not sure, just figure it out. If you have any questions, you can just ask anyone.”

And just like that, Vincent turned and walked away.

Well, that was one heck of an orientation.

Landon pulled his mind from his mate and approached the man struggling on the machine. His brain finally pulled away from his enticing mate for a moment while he focused on fixing the machine.

While working for his father, Landon was in charge of all the machinery and software for the company. Levi was controlling employment for the most part and worked on the finances, although he wasn’t very good at it.

However, Levi preferred it to Laurence’s job. Laurence was the one to make an appearance everywhere. His father would go if there was an emergency, but for the most part, Laurence was always in the city and flying to his next conference.

The memory of working at his father’s company made his stomach feel like lead and his veins feel like they were on fire.

His father’s betrayal was still sharp and fresh in his mind.

After Levi found his mate, their father had kidnapped her and sent her back to where she came from to be killed. He was trying to protect himself and his company by sabotaging his own family.

It was still difficult for Landon to swallow. He shared everything with his father. He thought his father had returned the favor, but now he realized he didn’t know the man who raised him at all.

Landon focused on reprogramming the conveyor belts. They kicked back on after a few changes and he smiled at his progress, regardless of the sinking feeling stuck in his gut.

The man who was struggling with the machine earlier smiled brightly and clapped his hand on Landon’s shoulder. “Hey, thanks, Hunter. I don’t know how you did that, but I’m grateful it worked.”

Landon was taken back that the man knew his name. He must work closely with Vincent.

“No worries. Just do me a favor and restart the machine once you’re all caught up again.”

The man nodded quickly and held his hand out. “I’m Connor, by the way.”

“Hunter,” Landon returned, gripping the man’s hand.

“Your workspace is right through there, by the way. Vincent isn’t the most patient man and he’s been in a rough mood lately, so don’t mind him.”

Connor pointed in the direction of the line of offices and Landon nodded, giving him his thanks.

After explaining what he should look for, Landon headed for the offices, though the thought of exploring his own office was far from his mind.

He smiled when the fresh, mouth-watering scent led him to a different office door. There were no labels on the doors, but Landon knew without a doubt that Brooklyn was behind the wooden barrier.

Landon gently creaked the door open, grateful no sound that came from the hinges.

Brooklyn was in the same spot he saw her last time, her computed set in the corner of her desk. Her attention was pulled from the screen and her glasses laid on the table as she held a small device on the desk in front of her.

It was Landon’s phone.

He watched her poke and prob at it with her eyebrows drawn in adorable concentration. She seemed oblivious to the world around her.

“Usually those work with touch screens. Now they even have fingerprints.”

His voice seemed to startle her as the phone clattered to the desktop.

Her attention snapped to him, her wide blue eyes searching him from head-to-toe.

“How long have you been there?”

Landon shrugged and stepped in. “Not long. What were you looking at?”

Brooklyn let out a breath and motioned to the cell on her desk. The screen was now cracked and there were a few additional dings that were no doubt left from his shift last night.

“I found it yesterday and I’m trying to find out who it belongs to.” Brooklyn shrugged a single shoulder and picked up the small device, dropping it back into one of her drawers again.

“I can take a look at it if you want,” Landon quickly offered. “I am the new tech guy after all.”

“No, you’ve already helped me enough today. What can I do for you, Hunter?”

A sly smile appeared on his lips.

He didn’t need anything from her other than her presence.

He just had to see her before he dove into a merciless day of working followed by a long night of sneaking around.

“I couldn’t find my office.”

Brooklyn sighed and nodded, typing quickly on her keyboard before standing up and circling her desk to reach his side.

Heat enveloped his torso as she neared him. The undeniable effect she had on him was almost numbing. He watched her intently, forgetting what he was asking her to do.

As she came closer, her scent circled him, effectively shutting off his thoughts. He zeroed in on her, studying her face. Her high cheekbones were slightly curved like the rest of her body. She was taller than the average woman with curves in all the right places.

Landon stuffed his hands in his pockets to resist reaching out to her.

She stopped in front of him, her cheeks blushed a light pink. “Umm, can you move? Your office is not in here.”

Landon stepped aside, letting her walk down the hallway again.

“Can I ask you something?” Landon asked as he followed closely behind her.

“Go ahead.”

“If you’re engaged to Vincent, why doesn’t he just buy you a new car?”

Brooklyn snorted and turned around, crossing her arms over her chest. “Because I don’t always need help, Hunter.”

“No, that’s not what I meant. I mean, if he knows your car is so bad, he should give you rides. Or be willing to come help when you need it.”

Brooklyn uncrossed her arms and turned to look at him. Her eyebrows shot up in surprise before she took a step back.

“This is your office. If you have any more questions, please ask Vincent or his floor manager, Connor.”

And with that, she walked past him back into her office.

Landon stood there for a moment, going over the words he said to her.

Did he say something wrong?

He wasn’t being offensive, was he?

With a deep breath, Landon inhaled her scent that was left in the hallway. He placed his hands in his pockets again, once again restraining himself from spinning around and grabbing her luscious body.

He could still remember the way she felt pressed against him, his lips on hers.

Landon grumbled and walked into the small office Brooklyn took him to.

This was going to be a long mission.