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For a second, Ria was amused. She wasn’t a stranger to pretty clothes; she just never let anyone she knew see her wearing them. This woman, she didn’t know. She didn’t matter where the clothes were concerned.
But when Alaiya’s gaze lit on Mercury with lascivious hunger, Ria had to clench her fists inside her new jacket to hold back her rage.
“Jonas is waiting on us in your office,” Mercury said softly as he placed his hand at the small of Ria’s back and they moved toward the other woman. “He’s getting impatient.”
“That seems to be a Breed fault,” Ria muttered.
“I consider it a strength,” he told her, amusement lacing his voice as Alaiya straightened and smiled back at Mercury tentatively.
“Mercury, could I have a moment?” She stepped forward, reaching out, then drawing her hand back, her fingers trembling, the false nervousness causing Ria to nearly roll her eyes.
“Not right now, Alaiya.” His voice roughened as they moved past her.
Perhaps later. He didn’t say the words, but Ria felt them. She parted her lips to speak.
“Watch what you say, Ria,” he warned her suddenly, his voice low. “Remember how little control I have when you’re so hot you’re sparking. And, baby, you’re definitely sparking.”
She closed her lips quickly and cast him a fulminating glare as they turned into the hallway and moved for the offices set at the back of the mansion.
Just for spite, just because she was an inferno from the inside out, she added a little extra sway to her hips, a little sensuality to her stride. Oh, she knew how to do it. She had done it often when she was younger, before she had learned better. And she heard his sharp, quick inhalation behind her, a second before the door to the office she had been assigned jerked open and Jonas stepped outside.
He came to a hard stop, stared at her, inhaled slowly, then stared behind her at Mercury.
“I hate men,” she muttered, brushing past him, careful not to touch him.
The few times the clerks or salespeople had brushed against her at the mall, it had been horrifyingly uncomfortable.
“Well, at least she doesn’t just hate Breeds,” Jonas replied cautiously as Mercury came up behind her.
“I hate them too,” she informed him a little peevishly as she stared around at the disarray that had been made of the files she had placed in such careful piles weeks ago. “What did you do to my office?”
He and Mercury stepped inside as he closed the door behind them.
“Blame Dane,” Jonas snapped. “He was making himself right at home in here earlier.”
Ria closed her eyes and counted to five. She added another five just to be certain before she turned back to Jonas.
“Never, ever, allow Dane Vanderale to have access to anything in your office,” she informed him with studied politeness, as she battled the anger that still wanted to fire inside her. “He does okay in his own little space, but he wrecks anyone else’s.”
She shed her jacket and tossed it over the back of the chair before propping her hands on her hips and staring at the mess.
Shaking her head, she tugged out the hair band she had stuck in her front pocket that day, pulled her hair back to her neck and secured it before bending over the table and restacking her files.
Behind her, Mercury narrowed his eyes at Jonas. Normally, the director was smooth as silk, but if he was looking where Mercury thought he was . . . Hell yes, he was.
Mercury moved behind her and turned to face his commander, lifting his lip in a snarl he couldn’t quite control.
Jonas pursed his lips and blew out in surprise, shaking his head before turning away. Mercury caught the smile on the other man’s face, though.
“These files need to be left alone,” Ria informed them, a snap to her voice that had Mercury’s cock jerking in his pants.
Defiance and challenge filled her tone.
“Talk to Dane about it.” Jonas sh
rugged. “I just finished up-loading some information that came through after the party. We had a transmission go out across the secured server that didn’t come from any of the computers. We haven’t been able to track its destination as of yet. And there was code in it. Dane, Callan and Kane are in Callan’s office working on that.”
“Good place for them,” Ria said impatiently. “You should help them.”
