Occupational Hazard: The Ultimate Workplace Romance Box Set

by Eve Langlais

  Ian stared at Mac, not sure what to say. Why would corporate want to do that?

  “Someone has to go. We just got that major contract, so we’re in the clear. That office is the smartest choice to be cut. The fact this project came up gave us an in.”

  Ian felt his blood boiling. “An in to what?” he asked through his teeth.

  “I need you to prepare a consolidation plan on their outstanding projects, showing how their work can be absorbed by other associates within the company at other locations. Cassandra Tucker is high enough up in the company that you should be able to get all the information you need from her under the guise of this project.”

  Ian shot to his feet. “You want me to deceive her?” he asked incredulously.

  Mac’s face turned venomous. “Well, now. You’ve been champing at the bit to work with little Miss Tucker. So here’s your chance. Get to know her. Get to know everything about that office. And do it without her finding out why. As of now, she’s already out of a job. Don’t lose yours too.”

  * * * * *

  Cassie ate lunch at her desk so she could read over the coding on the application her office had built for the local home security company in preparation for her meeting with Ian. She hardly ate, though. She dug herself into her work because she wanted to make a good impression. She’d never worked with him in the past, so she felt as if she had something to prove. Her track record was impeccable, but it wasn’t as if she could pull out all her old projects and gloat about what she was capable of. She had to show him on this project.

  But why did her thoughts wander to inappropriate things? Things like how his touch would feel when he caressed her cheek with his barely calloused hands. He wouldn’t have rough hands since he didn’t do manual labor, but they wouldn’t be really soft either. He was the type of man who didn’t mind getting his hands dirty doing his own work around the house. And because his hands would show signs of work, so would his chest, his biceps. He’d be able to hold her down, keep her still while she tried to writhe as her orgasm built from him licking her pussy.

  Cassie felt flush just thinking about what he could do with his tongue, hands, body. God, she needed to get laid something fierce! She was a professional, for crying out loud.

  Her company cell phone buzzed, startling her with the signal she had a new text message.

  Stuck in another meeting. Need to push ours back thirty minutes.

  Ian. If he only knew what she’d been thinking about. Her heart raced, which was silly. It wasn’t as if he were some guy sending her a personal text. This was business. She should use that extra half-hour reprieve to screw her head back on straight.

  No problem, she responded.

  Really sorry if this messes up your schedule.

  Hmm. She didn’t think he’d respond again. What should she say? It’s okay. Just let me know when you’re ready. There. That was professional enough. Now he could get back to his meeting and she could try to keep her mind out of the gutter.

  I’m ready now but can’t get away from these goons.

  Cassie smiled. Ian was texting her, chatting with her. Her palms started sweating. She knew this was business, but she could pretend for a minute he was just a hot guy texting her.

  Shame on you, not paying attention to your meeting. She chuckled as she sent that message to him.

  LOL! Didn’t take you long to use my words against me.

  What can I say? I’m good.

  After a couple of minutes with no response, Cassie shook her head with a smile as she tossed her phone onto her desk. Time to get back to work. She logged back into her laptop as her phone buzzed again.

  I intend to find out.

  Was she on a roller coaster? Because her stomach just dropped. Surely he was just talking about finding out how good she was at her job. That was what he had to have meant.

  We’re finishing up now. I’ll be online in ten minutes.

  God, she was an idiot. Of course that was all he had meant. She quickly typed a confirmation and gathered her notes for their meeting. When she logged into the webinar, he was already there.

  Time to put her game face on. They had a job to do and she wanted him to be impressed by her. Fantasies would have to wait for after-hours.

  * * * * *

  Ian waited for Cassie to log on to their meeting, reading over their texts. He didn’t know if he wanted the innuendo to be blatantly obvious or for her to be oblivious to his come-on. God, he was in another state. It wasn’t as if anything could come of this. Especially not now that Mac had him doing his dirty work. Yeah, Ian was in a meeting earlier, but what he’d found out was that Mac was the one who was supposed to devise a migration plan for the closure of the south regional office. But when this project started, it was his way to pawn off the work to Ian.

  Now Ian was stuck. He’d waited and practically begged to work with Cassie for two years. Well, he got exactly what he wanted. He had to get close enough to her to get her talking about work not specific to their project. He hated lying to her, and he knew even if she was interested in him, he couldn’t forge a relationship on a lie. He needed to cool it, get this project finished, and maybe then he could look her up. Maybe he should friend her on Facebook. It’d provide an opening to her afterward since all their interactions so far had been through company means. He’d then be able to lend a sympathetic ear to the atrocities of corporate cutbacks and even help her find a new job.

  When she logged on to the meeting, he sighed. God, she was beautiful. Brown hair and light-green eyes. Her brown suit and tan blouse would probably look bland on anyone else, but it complemented her creamy skin tone, making it look as if it were bathed in milk. He needed to snap out of it and get this ball rolling.

  “Hey there, sorry for the delay. I copied the application and loaded it into a development environment. I’m sending you the path now.”

  “Great.”

  “I’m also sending you the notes I have on what our client wants. I’ve already noted some changes, but since you’re more familiar with this application, you might be able to tell me where best to modify it.”

  “Okay. I’ll read over that tonight.”

  Ian shook his head and adjusted his earphones. “No, no. I don’t want you working after-hours on this. We should be able to finish without any overtime.”

  Cassie laughed, and Ian could swear he felt her breath on his neck. He stifled a groan when his cock twitched.

  “I don’t mind. Really.”

  “Well, if you are, then I am.”

  She laughed again, the sound that of an angel. Fuck! What was wrong with him?

  “You must not have a life either,” she said, still chuckling as she jotted down something in her notebook.

  “Married to my job.”

  “Same here.”

  Ian felt a pang of sadness. She was dedicated to a job she was about to lose. He was such a piece of shit for not giving her a heads-up.

  But there wasn’t anything he could do, so he needed to use this opportunity to start his investigation.

  “You got a lot of projects going on?”

  “Not too many. How about you?”

  Crap. Her answer was not only too vague, but she threw his question right back at him. Maybe if he was specific, she’d be too.

  “I lead three projects that are long-term and handle smaller ones as they come up. You?”

  “Wow. No wonder you stay busy. I don’t have anything going on long-term. When I’m in the last leg of a project, my time gets scheduled on whatever’s up next. Sometimes they overlap, but I’ve never worked on more than three major projects at the same time.”

  “I’m jealous.” Ian chuckled. “No wonder you produce good work—you’re not frazzled out from being stretched too thin.”

  Cassie smiled softly and Ian had to clench his fist to keep from stroking the monitor like a moron.

  “Why, thank you.” Her Southern drawl was thicker than it had been, and it was quite possibly the most
adorable thing he’d ever heard. “But it is how things are done here. Everyone is assigned projects based on their area of expertise, and we work in teams to complete them on schedule. Even if I’m not assigned to a particular project, I’m known to jump in and help when I think I have something to contribute.”

  He smiled and leaned closer to the monitor. “I wish everyone was like that. It’d make my job a lot easier.”

  Her head fell back as she laughed carelessly. Even the column of her neck looked inviting. He’d give anything to collar it. No, he wasn’t a Dom, but he knew he had some dominant tendencies that flared to life every now and then.

  Like right now.

  “Then I wouldn’t be special.”

  “Nothing would change how special you are,” Ian said huskily.

  Cassie gasped, her eyes boring into the screen.

  Fuck! Why did he say that? He cleared his throat. “Um, I think we’ve got enough to go on for now. How about we meet back up in the morning and compare notes?”

  “Er, okay.”

  “Great,” he said quickly. “Talk to you later.”

  “Bye.”

  He disconnected the meeting, yanked his earphones off and threw them on his desk. What the hell had gotten into him? Had he not just told himself to cool it where she was concerned because nothing could come of this? Not right now, anyway? Jesus! He was acting like a sixteen-year-old with his first girlfriend. Next thing he knew, he’d be having wet dreams at the thought of just copping a feel.

  He ran his hands through his disheveled hair, realizing he had to get out of here. He logged off and grabbed his laptop, thinking over the rest of their meeting as he bolted. At least he did learn a little about the dynamics of her office. It didn’t seem as if she was juggling too many projects, and the way she talked, that was the norm for everyone there. It was a start.

  A start to his betrayal of her. Fuck! He needed a beer.

  Chapter Two

  Cassie was snuggled in her pj’s, sitting on her bed with her laptop while she worked. So what if she was on her second glass of wine? She needed the help relaxing her nerves after her meeting with Ian. Damn, but the man was sex on a stick and she’d love to eat him up. What had he meant about calling her special? That comment was so out of the blue, and she could tell that it caught him off guard too.

  Great. There she went again, getting distracted. She downed the rest of her glass and filled it back up. She’d had enough of work, anyway. Ian got a good start and was definitely on the right track where the changes needed to be made. She documented some other areas where modifications were needed and emailed everything to Ian. Now she wanted to chat with Sasha to get her perspective on what happened today, and if she knew her good friend, she’d be on Facebook playing Farmville by now. Yeah, Sasha didn’t have a life either. She just didn’t spend her free time working.

  Cassie logged on and saw that Sasha was too, just as she’d figured.

  Quit playing Farmville so we can chat! Cassie messaged her.

  LOL! You know me so well. What’s up?

  Cassie relayed her meeting with Ian in short messages that Sasha quickly responded to.

  Holy shit! Methinks he has the hots for you.

  Methinks you’re crazy. He couldn’t end the meeting fast enough after that slip.

  So you think he was just distracted and didn’t realize what he was saying?

  Cassie sighed as she sipped more wine. She didn’t know what to think. That was why she told Sasha. I need an unbiased opinion on what I should do.

  Girl, you need to tell Dick Weiner that you need to fly out to the west coast office to work one-on-one with Ian.

  Cassie laughed as she gulped more wine. Shut up! I’m not doing that. I need help staying focused on my job, not help plotting ways to seduce the west coast hottie.

  You’re no fun. Okay, fine. Quit fantasizing about him.

  Ugh! I need reasons why.

  Hmmm. How about, you don’t know him. He could live at home with his momma.

  Cassie laughed and nodded. That’s good. I need more, though.

  What could be worse than a titty baby? Okay. You’ve only ever seen him from the waist up. He could be five-two. Oh, wait. His dick could be broken. You’ve never even seen a cock bulge.

  Cassie snorted and almost spat out her wine. A short titty baby with a broken dick. Only you could come up with that.

  I aim to please, sister. Hold on a sec while I check my crops.

  Good Lord. Sasha was a Farmville junkie. Cassie used the opportunity to check her messages and new friend requests. She ignored the ones she didn’t recognize and accepted a few old classmates from high school.

  She nearly dropped her glass when she saw her request from Ian Cope. No way. She hadn’t checked her Facebook account in almost a week, but this had to have been recent.

  Okay, I’m back, Sasha messaged.

  You’ll never guess who sent me a friend request.

  Not Paul from accounting again? Just ignore it. He’ll get the picture eventually.

  Er, no. Ian.

  Well, well, Mr. Short Titty Baby may have a broken cock, but he sure as hell has balls. You accept it?

  Not yet.

  Whatcha waiting for? He might have nekkid pics of himself on his page.

  Cassie sighed. What was she waiting for? It wasn’t as if she hadn’t accepted friend requests from others she worked with. She quickly accepted it before she could give it any more thought.

  Just did.

  Good girl.

  Either Cassie was starting to feel the effects of all this yummy wine she’d downed so far or she was lightheaded from what just happened. She preferred to put the blame on the alcohol. She was getting ready to respond when a new message window popped up.

  Hi. You’re up late.

  Shiiiiiit!

  Gotta go, Sasha. Ian just messaged me.

  Get out! Girl, I want deets on the morrow.

  She closed their chat and stared at Ian’s message. What the hell was she going to say? Guess honesty was the way to go.

  Was working. You have some great ideas. I sent you some other changes that I think need to be made.

  Good. You have a Skype account? Since you’re working anyway, we can meet right now and go over some things without being interrupted.

  Er, no, she didn’t have a Skype account. Her family lived close by and the only people she talked to online like that were through work.

  Nope. But I can sign up real quick. I’m sure it’s not rocket science.

  I’ll log on. Just do a search for my name and add me as a contact. Then select me and click video call.

  Cassie created an account and added him as he’d requested. It was really easy. She opened up another window and logged on to her work network through the VPN connection, so she’d be ready for their impromptu meeting. Then she clicked the appropriate button on Skype to initiate the call.

  “Hi, there,” Ian said when he came into view.

  God, he was gorgeous. Cassie had only seen him in a tie, unless he wore a polo on casual days. Now he was in a tight-fitting t-shirt. It was faded but showed some football team and fit him like a second skin. He sat far enough back from his computer that she could see the tops of his lounge pants and upper thighs, but was too far for her to notice any bulge to discredit Sasha’s silly broken-dick theory.

  He took a swig of his beer and set it aside, his muscles rippling with little effort. When he licked his lips, moisture pooled between her legs. She fantasized about what he could do with that wet tongue. Her nipples hardened, making her acutely aware of how thin her spaghetti-strap top was. She suddenly realized she’d had way too much to drink tonight and shouldn’t have agreed to this, but was too buzzed to care as much as she should.

  “Hey,” she said a little too breathlessly, grabbing her glass of wine, swallowing the last of it and filling it up again, damn near draining the bottle. With as much as she’d had to drink, her mouth shouldn’t be so dry.

/>   He chuckled. “Looks like you’ve had fun tonight. Unless you had someone helping you with that bottle.” He took another pull of his beer.

  “Nope. And I actually stopped working before I really started feeling the effects, just so you know.”

  He threw his hands up, one still holding his beer. “Oh hey, I’m not here to judge. I’m on my fourth one of these.”

  “Good, then if I go down, I’m taking you with me.” She chuckled as she took another sip.

  Something dark flashed across Ian’s eyes but was gone before she could fully analyze it. “So tell me about yourself, Cope.”

  He cocked an eyebrow with his beer halfway to his luscious mouth. “What do you want to know, Tucker?”

  She tilted her head as she thought. “Do you live at home with your mom?” Cassie blurted.

  He spewed beer before throwing his hand up to his mouth. He swallowed and coughed as he laughed. “Where the hell did that come from?”

  She was trying not to laugh at the scene he made, but she wasn’t doing a very good job. “Just answer the question, Cope,” she said with mock seriousness.

  “No, I don’t live with my mom.”

  “Damn,” Cassie muttered as she took another sip of her wine. There goes one possible theory.

  “What did you say?”

  “Oh nothing, nothing.” She waved her hands dismissively. “I probably should’ve just asked how tall you were instead.”

  “What does that have to do with living with my mom?” There was genuine amusement in his eyes.

  Cassie shrugged innocently. It wasn’t as if she could come out and tell him about her conversation with Sasha.

  “I’m six-two.”

  “Damn!” she mumbled into her wineglass.

  He laughed. “I don’t know if I should be offended or what. Normally, women like a tall man who doesn’t live at home with mommy.”

  “Not me.”

  Ian leaned forward, setting his beer down. “No?”

  “No. I like short titty babies all the way. Even better if they have broken dicks.”

  He threw his head back in a fit of laughter and slapped his chest, leaving his hand over his heart while he got his composure. Damn, but he was sexy. Cassie wished she could just crawl through the screen and straddle his lap.