by Nana Malone
Ricca looked confused and Micha just rolled her eyes. “Okay you two, I don't speak nerd, but I do speak chemistry and that smile on your face? That only comes from a fun flirty exchange. Why didn't you tell me you had the hots for someone at work already? And where did you even meet him? You don’t start till Monday.”
“Don't be ridiculous. We’ve met once, on an interview.” Not that she hadn't tried to stalk him online or anything. Research. It's called research. But she’d quickly realized she had no last name to go on. Her belly gave a little flip. She’d see him again on Monday.
Micha crossed her arms. “So, you're not flirting with him?”
“Uh, no. We’re … ” What were they? “Friends. It's not like that.”
“Honey, is he hot?” Micha smirked when she flushed. “He wants to fuck you. No guy who can get laid on his own, chit chats for fun.”
Oh. Well. Then. “Uh ... ”
She continued, “I am about to be married to a man that will singe your fucking hair, he's so hot. He pretended to just be friends with me for two years. Your new friend is biding his time.”
Jaya handed them all lists with check boxes. “Micha’s right. Now get off your butts. We have work to do.”
Ricca just laughed. “Yes ma’am. And yeah, team Micha.”
Ricca’s phone rang and Kyra stared at the image on her phone. “Uh, girls? Who are those models in the picture?”
Micha and Jaya grinned. “That picture was taken in Hawaii last year on vacation. That’s my husband Alec on the left and Caleb on the right.”
Beckett, Ricca’s husband, was in the middle. But neither of the other men were getting kicked out of bed by anyone ... ever. Bryan would fit right in.
She’d better guard her loins. She was not looking to be that girl. Fresh start and all. She was not going to be another notch on the bedpost for a man too good-looking for his own good.
And she wasn’t flirting with him. It was just a friendly exchange. Besides, she was starting a new job. It never hurt to have a friend. Unless of course he looked like a walking, talking god. “You guys are hilarious. I promise it’s not like that. I’m not looking for anything. Especially not with someone I work with.” That, she already knew, would be a recipe for disaster.
* * *
Bryan stared down at his email and couldn’t control the grin spreading across his face. Kyra was sassy. And had a totally misguided love of The Next Generation, but she was witty and funny. He’d made a good hire. Yeah, dumbass, a hire, not a date. Clearing his throat, he closed down the email app on his phone.
He hadn't intended for his initial email to be flirtatious. That sort of just happened. Well, really, it was her fault. She'd replied to his quote and now they'd been chatting of a sort via email for two weeks since she'd been hired.
Dangerous waters. Not like he didn't already have enough problems. The last thing in the world he needed was some kind of distraction right now. Not with so much on his plate.
But that didn't stop the rush of adrenaline whenever he thought of seeing her. He just liked talking to her. Or emailing rather. And she was so different from other women he knew. He had a type: Beautiful, aloof, and modelesque.
Yeah, he was that guy, but so what? He'd spent enough time on the other side. Ten years ago, women like that would never have looked at him twice.
Funny what a trainer, a billion dollar stock portfolio and a new attitude would do. Now, he could have any woman he wanted. And no way in hell he was going back. Aaaand, we're not excited about Kyra Benson because she's hot. Even though she was.
But she was also clearly witty. And bright. And just what he needed. The new project was daring and exciting and he needed a project manager that could take it to the next level. Kyra could be that person.
So it didn't matter what she looked like. His cock begged to differ as the damn thing twitched in his jeans. This was the last shit he needed. Since when did he get hard on at the idea of a woman being funny and smart? Since fucking never. Usually he went for a nice rack and an ass to bounce quarters off of, which she had.
* * *
After the girls left, Kyra surveyed her new place. It was too late to run now. She'd already unpacked all her shit. And made some friends so there was no turning back. Not that she'd want to. Like she told Bryan, this was her fresh start.
With a sigh, she stood and reached into her pocket, pulling out a dollar, and shoved it into a jar on the counter. She’d been obsessing over that day. The hug. His muscles against her. That was the dream that kept lulling her to non-sleep since the other day. She needed help. And as she was going to work with him, she couldn’t go there. Especially since he so obviously didn't want to. Then why are you two emailing back and forth? Because she was a masochist. She turned back to survey her new home. She was not going to obsess over this guy. This was not why she was here.
She smiled at the shoebox on her coffee table. Micha had come back after the others had left and lent the Louboutins to her, saying her first day of work should be a fabulous one marked by fabulous footwear. The gold and red stunners were too much. Kyra couldn’t dare wear them. Then again, why not? She could use the boost of confidence. Lucky for her they were her size.
When her phone rang, she jumped up to grab it and smiled when she saw who was calling. “Hi Mom.”
“How's my baby girl?”
“I'm good. Settling in. I start work Monday so I’m pretty excited. How's Montreal?”
“Oh sweetie, it's beautiful. Old world style. You'll love it when you come to visit.” Kyra smiled. Her mother sounded happy. She'd seen her unhappy far too often. “I'm sure I will. Make sure you mark all the good bakeries. I plan on eating my way through the city.”
“You think I'm not already on it? Who taught you about the deliciousness of some really divine pain au chocolat?”
“This is true.”
“So spill. Tell me how is it? I know you have Ricca and you said you made some other friends. Any men on the horizon?”
Kyra hesitated. Men. Other than the somewhat unattainable Bryan I-don’t-even-know-his-last-name? “Uh, not really,” she lied smoothly. “I've just been focusing on the job hunt and getting to know the lay of the land.” Thanks to a too sexy for words guy who was clearly on the unattainable list.
“Sweetie.”
She recognized the tone right away and she was in no mood to hear it. “Mom, I'm fine. I'm not still hung up on that situation. The past is the past and I’m good. I'm happy. Clean slate.”
Not entirely true, but it was what her mother needed to hear. The truth was, all that shit with James still haunted her. At least in the job search it had. She'd been able to piece together some recommendations, but not as many as if she'd left on good terms.
Everything had happened too fast. He’d been a senior project manager with her at Mylec. Then he’d been promoted to director. They’d been seeing each other for six months and everything had been going great. It had been her decision to keep their relationship quiet especially when he’d become her boss. They’d just crossed into the “I love you” and meet the parents stage when one day a pretty brunette had come to the office for a visit.
He’d introduced her to the whole office as his fiancée. Kyra had lost her mind. He’d tried to make it seem like his being a lying, cheating ass was her fault. That he hadn't meant for things to progress with her but she’d somehow pushed him into it.
She’d wanted to quit and had been looking, but then a month after that, his perky fiancée had been hired as an account manager. She even confronted Kyra one day.
Only by sheer will had she managed to keep her temper under control and not flay her skin off with her sharp tongue. Besides, James was the problem. Or so she’d thought.
Within two weeks, she couldn’t get anyone to call her back for a job interview. She forced herself to inhale deeply. She had a new life and she wasn’t messing that up.
“Okay,” her mother relented. “I just don’t want you shu
tting yourself off to all things because something bad happened. You're an incredible girl and I want you to meet someone who makes you feel like you’re special.”
Yep. Did that. Not going to work out. “I hear you, Mom.”
“And when in doubt, sometimes you settle for good sex and a great pair of shoes.”
“Mom!”
“Hey, sometimes you take what you can get. But never settle for less than what you deserve. I'm proud of you for making the move. Now show them how badass you are.”
“On it.” Come Monday, she was kicking ass ... and looking hot when she saw Bryan again. Because … reasons.
Four
“So X2 occupies the 4th, 5th and 6th floors of the building. Each floor has a kitchen, vending machines and pretty decent coffee. The gym is used by the whole building, but it's on the first floor. Showers, saunas the works. And there's a pool on the grounds in the back if you like to do laps or something.”
Kyra followed the lively redhead down the hall as people smiled and waved at her and called out, “Hey, Megan.” It was clear she was well liked. And, as she was the head of QA, she and Kyra would be working together a lot.
Megan brought Kyra to her office and she looked around, impressed by the size. “I expected to be in the cubicles with the team.”
Megan laughed. “The open plan thing works for the teams, but not so much when you have to do a shit ton of reports. Or, have meetings and focus on stuff as the conference rooms can be hard to come by.” The redhead sat on the couch in the office and Kyra put her bag in her new desk.
“So how long have you been here?”
Megan thought for a second. “Four years I guess. Not counting the year I interned. This was my first job out of college and I’ve stayed. It's a good place to work. The CEO isn't too much of a pain in the ass. He can be a bit I-want-what-I-want-when-I-want-it, but that's normal. He's fair. I think you'll like him.”
“Hope so, since HR told me I'll be reporting directly to him. I sort of expected more layers in the company, but I guess this place is different. Anyway, there’s no VP of Technology right now so I suppose we’ll make it work.”
Megan dropped her head back. “Don’t even get me started in on the drama. Your would-be boss was not very nice to say the least. All the developers hated her. So I’m glad for their sakes she's gone.”
“Any idea why?” She'd heard some of it from Bryan but she was longing for some detail.
“Oh my God. It's a long story. Maybe we can talk at lunch and I’ll give you the blow by supposed blow.”
“You're on.”
“And she had the worst taste in shoes, unlike you. I'm having major shoe envy right now.”
Kyra glance down at the Louboutins. She’d paired them with a simple black skirt and a muted black flowy top. That way, they were the only things that stood out about her outfit. She'd have to figure out what casual dress looked like here. “Thank you. A friend let me borrow them for some added confidence.”
“Sounds like my kind of friend.”
“Actually, speaking of friends …” Oh boy, was she actually going to go there? Yes, yes you are because you are a glutton for punishment. “I was interviewed by someone named Bryan. I think he works in Operations. Do you know him? I wanted to stop by and say hi. He showed me around the city a little the other day.”
Megan frowned. “I dunno. There are a couple of Brians. I don’t deal too much with the Operations team, except for the CEO, of course. But there is an internal employee list; we can photo stalk him later on the company directory after you meet the boss.”
“I love that you’re totally on board for that.”
“Honey, you’re looking that smoking hot for your first day, you ask about a guy who works here —I want to see this hot guy for myself. And then I want to know how I've missed him all this time. Come on. Boss man is this way.”
As she followed Megan out, Kyra smiled to herself. Now she had two friends in this place.
* * *
He was fucked. So fucked. Kyra was the one starting today and Bryan was the nervous one. You could have told her at any time. Yeah, but he didn’t. He liked just being able to talk to someone. Someone cool who got him. Never mind that she was so fucking beautiful it hurt to look at her. Or that every night he had one hell of a persistent hard on after they texted.
“Bryan, your new PM is here.”
He wiped his sweaty palms on his jeans. “Thanks; send her in.”
You will not fuck your new PM. You will not fuck your new PM.
She walked in with a wide smile. “Mr. Ross, it’s so nice … ” The words died on her lips as she stared.
He was screwed. Those fucking shoes. Twice he’d seen her, and twice she was wearing shoes hot enough to be worn by themselves … Without the assistance of clothes. His ever-helpful brain offered him a mental picture. This was just fantastic. Focus, damn it.
“Kyra, I—”
Her eyes went wide, and then she grinned. “Hey! I was wondering when I’d run into you. Are you here for a meeting?”
Shit. He was an asshole. And now, she would know it. “Welcome to the team. And I am here for a meeting … with you.” He paused and let the words sink in.
Her brows snapped down. “Wait, you’re—”
“Look, I know I owe you an explanation.”
“You’re Bryan Ross?”
He met her gaze levelly. “Yes. I should have told you and was going to, we just—”
She put up her hand. “No. Don’t. I don’t want to know.”
“Kyra. I—”
“You must think I’m a complete idiot.”
He took a step toward her, but she squared her shoulders and tipped her chin up to meet his gaze. With a shake of her head, she held out her hand. “It’s nice to meet you Mr. Ross.”
The “Mister” was said with a hint of bite, but her grip was firm and her eyes flat. The girl he’d teased onto the coaster at Mission Bay was gone. This woman was all business. Fine. It was better that way.
Five
Bryan “I’m a liar” Ross was good looking enough to melt diamonds. If she thought he was hot in a T-shirt and jeans, she was unprepared for Bryan in the blazer and jeans.
She had never been tongue-tied a day in her life. Her mother always said she had a knack for talking her way out of anything. She could have used some of that today.
Maybe the electricity coursing through her body had fried the synapses that told her mouth to move. Their email exchange went unmentioned as if the two people flirtatiously sending Star Trek barbs back and forth were other people entirely.
After their stiff introduction, he’d led the way to the all hands team meeting. Now as he paced in front of the packed auditorium, she couldn't help but watch him.
Bryan was more “sexy elite athlete” than “tech wunderkind.” He wore jeans that hung low on his hips. And he wore a Captain America T-shirt under his blazer. The T-shirt looked well worn and hugged his pecs just so, showcasing the lean corded muscles of his traps.
She’d read his entire story in the welcome packet. He'd started as a gifted coder when he was a kid and built a company that he sold when he was sixteen for several million. He did it again and now at twenty-five had a company worth a hundred times that. And she was his newest director of project management.
As the morning meeting went on, he addressed her directly. “I hope you all will get to know Miss Benson well and show her an X2 Games warm welcome. She'll be taking over the Raptor project and will help us get it to completion on time.” He then addressed her directly. “Kyra, I'll expect you to meet with your team after this meeting. Ron there is your engineering lead and he'll let you know our status and let me know how we're coming against our June date.”
She blinked at him. Wait a minute. She'd been sent over a list of projects she'd be on and she didn't recall one called Raptor. Nor did she recall any of them having due dates in two freaking months. Everyone knew it took new hires a while to ramp up
. She sat forward. “Maybe you could shed a little light on the project. It wasn't part of my packet.”
His gaze narrowed a hair. “We can discuss it in detail after you've met with your team, but it is our new gaming system. It's quite high profile and we've got the devil on our backs to get this to market so it's all hands on deck.”
Except, if it was that important, she should have been given a head’s up. “Of course. Understood. I'll obviously need to see where we are with everything. I'll report back as soon as I've met with the team. Who's handling product development so I can get up to speed on goals?”
He frowned. “I am your product manager.” His voice was chilly.
Oh, that was just fantastic. “So, you set the moving target of a goal?” Flaming heat washed over her skin and she swallowed hard. Maybe a little sassier than she’d intended. Shut up. You’re gonna get fired.
His lips pursed. “We will discuss it, Miss Benson. Now if you don’t mind, I’d like to get back to the meeting.”
She’d been here exactly forty-two minutes and was already at war with her boss. She was so totally fired.
Six
Dick, hard.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Yeah, I second that. Bryan’s dick had a mind of its own and pulsed with heat. No way in hell was he going to sport wood in front of his employees. He abruptly turned from her and focused on Tom Mills, his best friend and one of the five board members present. Yeah asshole, focus on Tom. Do your damn job.
With a deep breath, he continued. “The spring quarter. We've had an amazing winter with a lot poised to happen.” He ran through the high-level numbers for the previous quarters. Talked about where they excelled and the products that had underperformed. Mentioned the ones that would likely get cut while assuring everyone that they'd be absorbed into other projects.
All the while, he could feel her intense gaze on him. The right side of his face prickled with heat. The kind of heat that only burying himself inside her and never coming up for air would solve. Fuck. Dragging his attention back to the employees, he started to lead them into the focus for the new quarter.
