“Oh, perfect!” I threw my arms up and turned toward my bedroom door. “You know what? You two can just show yourselves out when you’re done with your macho show down.”
I slammed my bedroom door behind me and marched over to my closet. Muttering curses under my breath, I rifled through my clothes for pajamas. I smiled as I spotted my flannel Superman pajama pants. Just to be ornery, I threw them on and added a white tank. I shut off the lights, crawled into bed and turned on my bedroom television.
I was just nodding off to sleep when a soft knock at the door startled me awake. I got up and opened the door. Figaro snuck through first and snaked around my ankles. Behind Fig, Emmett and Eric stood side by side, hands in their pockets. I scowled and walked back to sit on the edge of my bed. When I turned around, both of them were smiling at me.
“What?” I demanded.
“Nice pants, Jennings,” Eric commented.
I responded with a stiff middle finger. Emmett let out a bark of laughter and slapped Eric on the back. Eric took a deep breath and stepped in the room.
I sat on the edge of my bed, looking at two gorgeous men. In my bedroom. Two of them. With me. Obviously, my mind started to drift a bit. I’m only human. My face must have given me away. Eric’s eyebrows went up and he launched into a coughing fit. A few moments later, he finally recovered and slanted me a look that was a combination of amusement and warning.
Emmett was the first to speak. “Blake insisted upon saying goodnight before leaving.”
Eric closed his eyes for a moment in an obvious attempt to control his temper. “Goodnight, Anna,” he said with a sigh. Figaro twisted around his legs and purred like a fool. Eric smiled and bent to pick him up. “Tell your cat to control himself. He’s not my type.”
He smiled and set Fig on the bed next to me, where he purred and kneaded the bedspread.
Eric leaned in close so only I could hear him. “I apologize for being rough on you. You scared me tonight. I’ve lost a lot of important things lately and I can’t lose you as an employee, or as a friend.”
I stared at him, not knowing how to react.
“Anyway, let’s go, Vance.” He motioned Emmett toward the door.
Emmett smiled smugly. “I think I’ll hang back here for a while, thanks.” He moved toward me and put his arm around my shoulders, clearly marking his territory.
Eric’s eyes narrowed. Luckily, his cell phone rang just as he had opened his mouth to speak. He yanked the phone out of his pocket and checked the caller ID and his face softened instantly. He winked at me and answered the phone.
“Hi, Sugar.” His face broke out in a grin. “Just finishing up some work. Guess who I’m with? Yep. Anna Banana! Hold on …” He held out the phone. “Sophia would like to speak to you.”
I squealed and snatched the phone from him. “Hi baby!” I crooned into the phone.
“Hi Anna Banana! What are you doing?” Eric’s four year old daughter, Sophia, has the most adorable little voice.
“Oh, just booting your dad out so he can come home to see you.” I replied. “What are you doing?”
“Minni said it was time for bed. She said I could call Daddy to say goodnight. She said I can only sleep with one teddy.” Minni was Sophia’s live-in nanny.
“I see. Well you’d better pick the best teddy then, huh?”
“Yes,” she replied, matter-of-factly. “Anna, can we do lunch?” Sophia loved to mimic her father’s business talk, a trait that only made her even more adorable.
“We can absolutely do lunch,” I replied. “Are you free Friday?” I glanced up at Eric who smiled and nodded.
“Let me check my planner,” Sophia said. “Yes. I’ll pencil you in.”
I laughed. “I already asked Michael to lunch Friday. Is it okay if he comes along?” Sophia’s answer was a squeal of delight. “Okay, Sophia. I’m going to hand you back to your dad. I’ll see you Friday, okay?”
“Okay. Goodnight Anna Banana. Kisses!”
“Good night, Sophia. Double kisses.” I handed the phone back to Eric.
He covered the receiver with his palm. “Goodnight, Anna Banana.” He ruffled my hair and left.
I sighed and looked up at Emmett. Even with dark circles under his eyes, he was gorgeous. He smiled and fixed my ruffled hair. “Anna Banana, huh?”
I scowled. “Just try calling me that once, pal, and see what happens. Why are you here anyway? Not that I mind, of course.”
“I was in the neighborhood. I got your text when I was just a couple blocks away, so I figured I’d pop in to say hello and apologize in person for leaving so suddenly after lunch.”
He was a bit too smooth with the lie about being in my neighborhood. Had he really not seen me in the warehouse or was he just going to pretend it didn’t happen? He pulled the same thing at lunch that day. Maybe they had some rule like in Fight Club where nobody could talk about their superhero activities.
Emmett just stood there and watched as I mentally ran through every possible scenario. After a few moments he let out a sigh and sat down beside me. He looked tired and a bit pale.
“Are you okay?” I asked. “You look a little rough.”
“I’m fine,” he sighed. “We had a late meeting tonight and I haven’t been sleeping well lately.”
Concern blossomed in my chest and I rubbed at the sore spot. “You haven’t? Why’s that? Work stuff?” I asked.
He smiled at me and tucked a stray strand of hair behind my ear, his hand lingering long enough to stroke the shell of my ear. “No. Work is work. I’ve become pretty good at leaving it at the door when I go home at night. My mind has just been a bit preoccupied with a certain coworker of mine.”
The concern I felt for his haggard appearance quickly morphed into jealousy. Wait. Why was I jealous? We’d been to lunch. He held my hand. No biggie. It’s not like we were dating, let alone dating exclusively. I tried to hide my disappointment, but must not have done a good enough job. Emmett leaned in and cupped my jaw, humor dancing in his sexy blue eyes.
“Anna. I’m talking about you,” he whispered. “I’ve been working up the courage to ask you out for months.”
My mouth dropped in a very unladylike fashion. “Me?! But you’re Emmett Vance. You could have anyone. Look at you!” I stammered.
Emmett laughed a deep, husky laugh. “Trust me, Anna, things aren’t as easy as they used to be. I’m getting to the age where women only want to be with me because of my money. My father’s money, really. Nobody really wants a 40-something workaholic asshole.”
“I do.” The words were out of my mouth before I realized I wanted to say them. So much for playing hard to get.
The corners of Emmett’s mouth turned up into a sexy smirk. “You want me?” He scooted closer so that our thighs were pressed against each other, the heat of his body soaking into my own. His eyes drifted to my lips before returning my gaze.
I bit my bottom lip and tried to quickly process the pros and cons of kissing a man I worked with. Hell, kissing a man who could have me fired with a snap of his fingers. Unfortunately, at that very moment, with his thigh pressed against mine and the smoldering look in his eyes, I couldn’t for the life of me think of a single con.
Taking my silence as a yes, Emmett curled a hand around my neck and pulled me in to lightly brush his lips over mine. It was a simple, quick, warm kiss. Much too quick to satisfy my thirst for his gorgeous lips. As I leaned in to lengthen the contact, Emmett’s cell phone pinged. Groaning, he withdrew to check the display.
“It’s Blake,” he muttered. “Checking to see if I locked the door on my way out.” He smiled at me and cocked a mischievous eyebrow, “Shall I tell him I’ll make sure to lock it when I leave in the morning?”
I laughed and shook my head. “Don’t play with fire, Emmett. He’s not thrilled with the idea of me dating a coworker in the first place. We’d better play it cool for a while.”
“I don’t think it has anything to do with me being a coworker,” Emmet
t muttered.
“What do you mean by that?” I asked. Was there something about Emmett I didn’t know? Was Eric pulling a big brother moment and being overprotective?
Emmett sighed and stood, grabbing my hands to bring me with him. “Nothing,” he said. “I’d better go. It’s been a long day and I might actually get some decent sleep knowing you’re mine.”
“I’m yours?” I asked, hiding a smile. “I didn’t know one lunch date made me your possession.”
“You aren’t my possession,” he countered. “Although there are things about you I’d like to possess. In due time.” He winked and started toward the door.
Holy cheese and crackers. My body went up in flames and I could feel the blush climbing up my face.
I followed Emmett to the door, trying not to jump on his back and dry hump him. (Cosmo says that’s a turn-off.)
When we reached the door, Emmett cradled my face in his large hands and moved in for a goodnight kiss. He smelled so good and his lips felt so soft against my own. I angled my head to deepen the kiss and moaned as he met my pace and kissed me back with fervor. The man could definitely kiss. Just as my tongue connected with his bottom lip, he pulled back, resting his forehead on mine.
“I should go,” he murmured, still breathless from our mini make-out session.
I nodded and smoothed his shirt over his hard, muscular chest. Yum. With one last smoldering look, Emmett turned and walked out my door. After making sure to lock it behind him, I made my way back to bed for a very long, very frustrating night of attempting to sleep.
7
Because it’s totally normal to name body parts after Liam Neeson characters.
I came out of a particularly disturbing dream at 4:30a.m. and opened my eyes to not a cat butt, but what sounded like a chainsaw. Figaro was sitting on my stomach, kneading and purring loud enough to wake the neighbors. Strange. I gave him a good scratch behind the ears and got up to start the day.
For the first time in as long as I could remember, I wasn’t overly excited to go to the gym that morning. The night before had left me exhausted both mentally and physically, and Hot Ian never took it easy on strength training days. Not to mention I had to look halfway decent if I wanted to focus on my workout instead of how I looked frumpy in front of my sexy instructor, even if he is dimmer than an Edison bulb.
After a quick stretching routine, I joined the others in the weight room. Hot Ian caught my eye right away and sauntered over. He cocked his head as he took my appearance in. I had opted for a matching coral spandex top and black shorts with coral piping. It was as cute as I was going to get for the day.
“Hey Anna,” he drawled as he reached me. “You look a little rough today. Bad night?”
Ugh. Apparently “as cute as I was going to get” was not cute enough to hide the bags under my eyes.
“Hi Ian,” I replied as I mustered up a sleepy smile. “Yeah, you could say that. But I’m here and ready to hit it, so let’s get started.”
“I’ll tell you what,” Ian started. “If you can make it through this set, I’ll double my protein shake and bring you one for your morning.”
I smiled and placed my hand on his muscled forearm, the sparks of attraction waking me up more than a double shot. “Thanks, Ian. But I am going to need more than a protein shake. How about you buy me a coffee and don’t mention the inhumane amount of cream and sugar I’m going to dump in it?”
Ian reached around my shoulders and squeezed my side affectionately, sending a bolt of tickly tingles up my arm. “Switch it to Stevia and skim milk and you got it, babe. We’ll get this out of the way and we can hit the café across the street.”
I smiled back at him for a fraction of a second before it hit me that this coffee run could be a date. A coffee date. But it wasn’t a date. Right? It was just two friends going to get coffee. Never mind that just days earlier I had been fantasizing about duct taping his mouth shut and licking Nutella off his triceps. Just friends getting coffee. I would make that clear to him. No biggie.
I somehow made it through the grueling workout, showered, and found Ian waiting for me at the front desk. He was wearing his customary gym shorts and muscle shirt, looking relaxed and friendly. As we made our way to the café, we ran into Eric Blake and an extremely pregnant woman who looked vaguely familiar. Eric said nothing, but raised his brows at the site of Ian and me together.
“Hey, Eric. Ian and I are just running out to get a cup of coffee. I’ll be back in a bit.” I said, trying not to make it super obvious I was uncomfortable.
“That’s fine,” he replied. “I’ll let Mae know you’ll be in a bit late.”
As we departed, I tried my best to focus on enjoying the moment with as little guilt as possible over Hot Ian and my calorie-ridden beverage.
Ninety minutes later, I returned to work hyped up on a mix of caffeine and anxiety. There was no way Ian didn’t think of our coffee break as a date. He made googley eyes the entire time and talked about his biceps in the third person. By the time I finished my latte, my right eye was twitching. If I had ever entertained the idea that Hot Ian might be worth a shot if he just kept his mouth shut, I was wrong. The man spent twenty minutes explaining the significance behind naming his biceps Zeus and Thor. (And no – not because he was a fan of Greek or Norse Mythology. Because he strives to achieve Chris Hemsworth’s good looks and Liam Neeson’s “badass-ness.”)
As we reached the doors of Vance Publishing, Ian pulled me in for a hug and made his way back to the gym. Ninety percent of me was happy our departure was so relaxed and friendly. The other ten percent was metaphorically bashing my brain with a baseball bat, demanding to know why I couldn’t be one of those shallow girls who didn’t care if the outrageously gorgeous guy had the brain capacity of a goldfish.
I hustled toward the elevators, managing to sneak on as the doors began to close, the only other occupants being a harried looking secretary trying to balance 8 lattes in her hands and a guy from the document shredding company. The doors slid open on the 25th floor, where the shred guy stepped out. I poked my head out and recognized a Staff Accountant, Whitney. I had never been on the Accounting floor. Intrigued, I stepped off the elevator.
Almost immediately, Lloyd Vance rounded the corner and spotted me. Behind his bushy white beard, his tense expression softened into a smile as he approached. “Ms. Jennings, how lovely to see you. Visiting the Accounting floor?”
I smiled and held out my hand to shake his. “Hello, Mr. Vance. Actually, I kind of landed here by accident. I’ve never been to this floor before. It’s …” I couldn’t think of the proper adjective. The entire floor was one boring shade of gray. Cubicles the same shade of gray as the walls were crammed in the center of the floor. The few staff members that were buzzing around were dressed in severe gray suits. I didn’t even see a random blue tie. Gray gray gray.
Lloyd laughed, putting a hand to his jiggling belly. “Yes, it’s a bit different from what you’re used to, I imagine. Come, I’ll give you a tour.” He held out his elbow in a gentlemanly fashion and waited for me to slip my arm through his. He took me around the monotonous gray floor, introducing me to several employees who didn’t exactly look thrilled to see me.
Lloyd was introducing me to the Accounting secretary Penny, who I recognized as the pregnant woman I saw at the café, when I noticed a familiar face in the office beside me. Emmett Vance was sitting behind a large mahogany desk in an office the size of two conference rooms. One entire wall was made of windows, overlooking the Loop and the hustle and bustle of consumer activity below. The walls were painted a light icy blue and a theme of multicolored stripes was consistent through curtains, throw pillows and paintings. One corner of his office was devoted to a large sitting area with a loveseat, two conversation chairs and a matching striped area rug. It was stunning.
Lloyd smiled. “Our last stop is my son Emmett’s office. Ah… he’s on the phone.” Lloyd turned us around and walked me to the elevator. “Well, that’s
the Accounting floor!” he said with a sweep of his hands. “Please feel free to drop by any time. I’m sure everyone would be delighted to see you.”
I sincerely doubted that. Not one person I had met on the floor had even the potential for having a personality. The elevator binged and the doors slid open. I slid my arm out of Lloyd’s and reached out to shake his hand. “Thank you for the tour, Mr. Vance.” I smiled and stepped on the elevator just as Emmett stepped out of his office.
“Hold it!” He called and crossed over to us. My heart lurched at the sight of him. Even in simple black slacks and a grey button-up, he looked gorgeous.
“Dad.” Emmett nodded at his father and turned to me. “Ms. Jennings. To what does the Accounting floor owe this pleasure?”
“Ms. Jennings here stumbled upon your floor by accident, son,” Lloyd interjected. “I just finished giving her a quick tour. We’d have stopped into say hello but you were on the phone.” He elbowed me lightly before fake-whispering in my ear. “Probably wooing one of his many dames.” He straightened and winked at his son.
I raised my brow and glanced at Emmett before turning back to Lloyd. “Oh? One of his many dames, you say? How very interesting.”
Emmett flashed his charming smile. “The word is no longer plural, Father. Currently, I’ve just got one dame I’m trying hard to woo.”
Again, cue the internal squeal. Could the guy get any greater?
Lloyd looked from Emmett to me and back to Emmett before the light bulb lit. “Ahh! I see … well then.” He turned toward the elevator and climbed on. “I’m off to track down Lilith. Haven’t seen her all morning. It was lovely seeing you, dear, and Anna, make him work for it.” He threw a wink at me as the doors closed.
“Work for what?” I asked Emmett as he took my arm and lead me to his office. His response was an ornery smile. I rolled my eyes and sat in front of his desk. “You know that’s not what he meant. Perv.”
Emmett just shrugged and walked around to sit behind his desk. “I stopped by your office earlier,” he said as he fiddled with his tie. “I wanted to ask if you’d share your moment with me, but you weren’t there.”
Power Surge (Anna Jennings Super Novel Book 1) Page 7
