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“What the… Do you think I’m going to tell her?” I asked in disbelief.
“I don’t know,” she answered tightly, narrow shoulders lifting in a jerky shrug. “It would mean you’d win. You wouldn’t have to deal with me anymore.”
“What the fuck, Anita?” I exploded, hands clenching into fists. “I’m not a fucking monster. You seriously believe I’d email your boss and tell her about this to get you fired?”
“I don’t know!” she repeated in a louder voice. “I don’t know you, except that you’re… really fucking competitive and annoying and—Jesus Christ, I’m making this worse.”
She scrubbed at her face again, taking a few deep breaths to try and calm down. When she looked back up at me, her emotions had been masked by a carefully blank expression.
“I’m very sorry, Mr var Rorik.” Her voice wavered slightly. I flinched, not liking the sudden tightness in my chest. “I’ve been beyond unprofessional, not just today, but… It won’t happen again.”
“Don’t.” My mouth twisted into a grimace. “Don’t go all weird.”
“I’m not going weird.” She tugged on the wrinkled hem of her shirt before turning to pick up the armchair.
“Just leave that,” I rushed out, stepping forward to stop her.
She heaved it up and strode quickly around the desk to set it back in its usual place. “It’s no problem.”
“Seriously, stop.” I followed her. “Don’t go all weird, polite robot on me. It’s freaking me out.”
“I’ll be out of your way in a moment.”
“Anita.” I lunged forward to grab her arm, but stopped myself at the last second, even though an unsettled feeling in my gut told me that if she left right now, while she was feeling like this, everything was going to go terribly wrong.
What if she asked Corva to replace her as my event planner? What if she maintained this freaky, distant persona every time we interacted?
Unexpected panic flared and made me blurt, “Come on, dude, just be normal.”
That got her to stop and blink up at me, and my ears fluttered from the dude that had popped out until I saw her mouth twitch. My pulse leapt at the sight of the almost-smile, face spikes flexing once.
“Look, I promise I’m not going to tell your boss about… what happened. I swear. I wouldn’t do that. It’s no one’s fucking business.”
She crossed her arms, clutching her biceps as she stared up at me. After a few seconds, her shoulders relaxed and she nodded. “Okay. Thank you.”
“God, you don’t need to thank me for it.” I huffed in exasperation. “I’m not a complete prick, Anita.”
Her mouth twitched again, and this time a tiny smile tilted her lips. My dual hearts thudded hard in my chest.
“You’re right.” She exhaled, and I thought I saw a hint of regret in her dark eyes as her gaze darted to my mouth. “But… it can’t happen again.”
Why not? No one would know.
My gut clenched as I shot a quick look at my desk.
How the fuck was I going to sit there and concentrate on work tomorrow?
“Alright,” I said evenly, hoping the disappointment wasn’t evident in my voice.
Not that I was super interested in her or anything. Of course not. I’d just… thoroughly enjoyed eating her pussy. I wouldn’t have minded doing it again. That was all.
“It really can’t.”
“Okay,” I said, my tone a little sharper this time.
Her gaze dropped to my mouth again. “Seriously.”
“I get it,” I snapped. “I’m not an idiot.”
