10
Tanner
Just a couple hours until lunch, and all I can do while sitting here in my spacious corner office is savor how she tastes, the memory of her pleasure.
I’ve never thought much about finding my soul bond. I was so busy with my kingdom, and I’d never felt a connection.
But now that I’ve met Eva, it feels like my soul is on fire.
After seeing Brett’s troubles in winning over Avery, I wanted to do things differently with Eva.
Give her a chance to get comfortable, maybe more than comfortable, with our connection before I tell her more about our world.
If things were better in my world, I could afford to wait even longer. But as it is…
Still, while I want to win her over quickly and take her back to my world, I want her to be able to slowly adjust to this new reality.
I can’t imagine what it’s like to not know who you really are, what you’re capable of.
By the time we’re fully bonded, she’ll know.
She knows something is different about her. I see it in the way her eyes avoid mine, and she flushes and gets nervous whenever I bring up the subject about being different.
Whether she’s trying to hide from me or herself, I don’t really know.
My phone rings, and I grimace, seeing Flynn on the ID. I just know he’s going to pick up on my mood with how perceptive he is.
I answer the phone, putting it on speaker so I can kick back in my chair and talk as I watch the world pass by outside.
“How’s life as a CEO?” Flynn asks.
“Good,” I say. “Bored again?”
“Yes,” Flynn says. “Though, Ian brought up the possibility of me giving him lessons in seduction during our free time, so—”
I nearly fall out of my chair, which is oddly roll-y anyway. “He what?”
“Oh, that’s the other thing. Chad thinks Isabella has located another beacon. Maybe. Ian really wants the next one and says he needs to know some more moves.” I hear a smile enter Flynn’s voice. “Obviously, he thought I, as a fire fae, would be the best to ask.”
“Aren’t you?” I ask, still shocked by this turn of events and still distracted by the taste of Eva.
Flynn sighs, clearly a bit irritated and pleased simultaneously for his reputation of incredible sexual prowess. He’s a fire prince who is wanted by every princess for his body and skills but strong enough to fight as a warrior. “I suppose. Though, it’s not what I would choose to focus on. Given how stiff Ian is, I don’t mind helping him. He’s practically going stir-crazy here.”
“I know,” I say. “I talked to him last night.”
“Before the two of you came in to laugh at me for getting a bunch of love letters.”
I bite back a grin at that. “It’s entertaining, true. But I’m glad you two are getting along.”
“Yes,” Flynn says. “So how are things going there with you, Mister CEO?” He clears his throat. “And, uh, what was that husky sound to your voice when you picked up? Making progress?”
Of course he noticed. “Maybe.”
He laughs. “Thought so. Shouldn’t take the commander of darkness long to conquer this as well. Speaking of which, how are things as a CPU?”
“CEO.” I correct him. “A CPU is a computer.”
“Right, right. How’s it going? How does it compare to leading an army of darkness?”
I laugh because Flynn is always able to relax me. To relax anyone with his easy warmth and wit. “It’s fine. I’m still learning many things about this corporation. In many ways, it’s not unlike a kingdom. Except it is very unequal, with almost no responsibility from those at the top toward those at the bottom. Something I hope to change while I’m here.”
“But you don’t want to be there long, right? Ian said you were worried about your kingdom. What was in your message last night?”
I’ve mentioned my worries a couple of times to them, but I don’t want them knowing more.
“I’m fine,” I say. “My brothers can hold the kingdom, and I’ll be back before too long.”
“But Eva… she loves that company, right?”
I snort. “Only because she doesn’t know she could have so much better. Her own kingdom. A place that would actually deserve her. They work her to the bone here and don’t give her the respect she deserves. She’ll be better off without this place.”
Flynn lets out a sigh. “I’m not sure she’ll see it that way. It seems like she has made her life there.”
I frown, impatient now. “This is my soul bond we’re talking about. I think I should be trusted to know what she wants.” I drum my fingers on the desk, grinning. “I did make progress, after all.”
Flynn just laughs. “Okay, I get it. I’m just saying sometimes we love something… even when we know it’s not good for us.”
I take a second to turn his words over in my mind, then nod. “That is a good thing to keep in mind. Perhaps I’ll make sure and talk more about it with Eva. I wouldn’t want to assume anything about what she wants.”
“You still haven’t told her what you are, right? Or what she is?”
“No.”
“Well, it’s probably for the best, so she can get used to you. They did say we could do this however we wanted, tell the beacons who they are or not, as long as we protect them.”
I let out a sigh of relief because at least one thing in all of this is simple. “That won’t be a problem.” I check my watch. “I have lunch soon and some business to finish up before I go.”
“Business?” I can hear Flynn’s disbelief. “You mean you’re actually doing the job there?”
“Of course,” I say. “At least whatever I promise to do. They apparently let CEOs stay pretty hands-off, but when Eva needs something done, I’m going to do it.”
“You big softie. Talking about her company like it’s unimportant, then trying to protect it.”
I frown, uncomfortable as always with praise. “It’s nothing. It’s just—”
“Yeah, yeah,” Flynn says. “Anyway, Ian says hi and good luck with everything.”
“Thanks,” I say. “That means a lot.”
“Even Brett was talking about you this morning, worrying if there was anything he could do.”
I grin. “Good to know. Tell him thank you, and tell Ian to stay out of trouble.”
“I will,” Flynn says. Then he hangs up.
I smile as I lean back in my chair, facing the window for another moment. I’m glad to have the friends I do in this world, even if I never could have imagined coming close to them in the fae world.
Then I spin around to wake my computer so I can get what I need to done and go to lunch.
My heart is already aching to see Eva again.
11
Eva
Tanner still confuses me.
After I enjoyed a frigid shower in the company gym, a few hours working on my benefits proposal, and a couple meetings, he came as promised to take me to lunch.
Now I’m sitting across from this devastating man who can’t stop upending my life in every way possible.
I was just floating through life, sleepwalking, and every time I see him, it forces me to wake up.
The restaurant he chose for us is pretty nice, only a couple blocks from work, with an upscale café vibe, perfect for casual co-worker conversation.
But I think we passed the possibility of ever being casual co-workers one screaming orgasm ago.
“How did things go in your meeting with Morgan?” He flips through the menu but watches me as he does.
“Fine. Just fine,” I say, trying to keep my tone calm. “He seems intent on stalling my benefits plan as much as he can, though I can’t tell why.”
“And how about the meeting in the printer room?” His smile is mischievous.
I glare at him because he knows exactly how that meeting went.
I see a saltshaker in front of me and imagine chucking it at his too-perfect face. But he’
d probably just catch it and say something ridiculous like, “Oh, thank you for the salt, Eva.” Or something.
Just ignore how ridiculously hot he is and keep it cool.
“Well, I wouldn’t consider that a meeting since nothing got done and the printer is probably even more broken.” I try not to blush, but it’s impossible. I was so brazen.
“Oh, I think at least one thing was accomplished,” he says, grinning at me. “Something very important in my book.”
I think steam is about to come out of my ears, but thankfully, the waitress appears to take our orders.
Though, I wish she wouldn’t have looked over her shoulder at Tanner fifteen times before heading back to the kitchen.
“So what’s the plan here, Tanner?” I ask, drawing on the condensation on my water glass. “Kiss a VP in a bar to catch her off guard, apply to her company, seduce her in the printer room, and then what?”
He grins at me. “What do you think?”
I sigh, shaking my head in exasperation. “I think we’re playing with fire here.” I gulp back a bracingly cold swig of water to cool my head.
“I’m not playing,” he says confidently. “I think you know that.”
“We’re going to get in trouble. I just know it,” I say warily.
“I refuse to think we did anything worthy of getting in trouble,” he replies, leaning into the table slightly. “But that being said, all pressure is off the table, and I just wanted to take you to lunch and learn more about you without someone interrupting us every ten seconds.”
“They do come to me for help a lot,” I say, biting the inside of my cheek. I know I take on a disproportionate share of the work sometimes, but I’m the only upper management a lot of the employees trust.
“Right, so for now, just put aside that stress and enjoy lunch with me.”
“Okay,” I say quietly. I’ll put aside my stress and the fact that I just made out with the interim CEO and just try to enjoy being around Tanner for once.
“I want to know more about you. Tell me how you ended up at Qualtechnics.” His relaxed posture puts me at ease, so different from the intensity he gets when we’re… close.
“It’s hard to say how we end up where we are sometimes,” I say. “One decision led to another.”
“So you magically became a senior VP of a company as big as Qualtechnics?”
I snort at that, remembering the faces of hundreds of douchebags who stood in my way. “Hardly.”
“I would think so. Being a commander of anything requires expertise and boldness. And last I heard, it’s not like you have any relation to the owners.”
He props his chin in his hand, which looks so elegant next to his strong, masculine jaw. I can see one of those leather bands on his wrist again, and I’m curious for the millionth time what they mean.
“Nope, no nepotism here,” I say. “I actually interned for the company ten years ago. It was a lot smaller then. We were just a handful of employees working out of a rented office space on the other side of town. I was looking for something to believe in. We were all so passionate back then.”
“What happened?”
I shrug. “Other senior founders moved on, sold their stake to the new owners, so they became majority owners. As we’ve grown, people have left for other companies. But I stayed because this place has become like a family to me, and—”
“A dysfunctional family,” Tanner mutters.
“What?” I raise an eyebrow at him.
“I just don’t like how the upper management treats you,” he says.
I wave a hand. “I’m used to that. Every company has its flaws, but I truly care about this one. I see employees every day who can put food on the table because of the company.”
“A company you helped prosper into what it is today,” he says. “Very impressive.”
I flush, unused to someone actually seeing me, let alone praising me. “Well, not just me. It’s not like I own the place. I just got in early. And when I graduated college, I continued to work full time. I even got a graduate degree a couple years ago. They wouldn’t promote me until I did.”
“It sounds exhausting, jumping through hoops like that.”
I fold my arms because I like the distraction of work, and I never thought about it like that. “It was the good kind of exhausting. The kind where you feel like you’re accomplishing something.”
“What’s the other kind?” He cocks his head.
I sigh. “The other kind is what I grew up with and what I was glad to escape when I left home. Qualtechnics gave me something to focus on when everything else was in chaos. The ability to stand on my own two feet.”
“What was wrong at home?” He leans in, looking concerned.
Sometimes I could swear this guy really cares about me even though he barely knows me.
“I… It’s a long story,” I say, fighting back the images that come with thinking of my family.
The waitress interrupts, bringing our food to the table. Of course, she throws in an extra-desperate, “Are you sure there isn’t anything else I can get you?” aimed directly at Tanner who, thankfully, ignores it.
Meanwhile, I pick up a loaded nacho, voracious after the day I’ve had. It’s delicious, but not distracting enough from the fact that Tanner is popping cookies in his perfect mouth.
I want to be that cookie.
Stop it, Eva.
We both eat for a minute, just enjoying the relative quiet of the restaurant. Just being around him is so easy. So… natural somehow.
“You were saying?” He pushes aside his half-eaten sandwich, clearly having prioritized the cookies. “About your past?”
I frown. “My family?”
“Yes.” He sits back in the booth. “I’m asking not as your co-worker, but just as someone who wants to get to know you. You don’t have to answer anything you don’t want to, but I have to say I find everything about you fascinating.”
I blink at him, trying to compose myself because no one has ever shown this much interest in me. I never thought I would like it, but with him, I kind of do. “I was an only child, which has its ups and downs, you know?”
“I have younger brothers, so no, I don’t. But I can imagine it was lonely. Were your parents around?”
“Brothers?” My eyes widen. “Like you?”
He laughs. “Yes, but we aren’t talking about me right now. Don’t change the subject.”
I send him a glare that lets him know we’ll be back on this topic later. “The answer is no, my parents weren’t really around, but that was a good thing.” I swallow, pushing painful memories back. “They were workaholics, always at their jobs, leaving me to take care of myself. When they were home, it was worse. Always fighting. Screaming. Throwing things. Yelling.”
Tanner’s eyes darken, his lips pulling into a frown. “I’m sorry, Eva.”
“It’s fine.” I wave a hand. “It got worse when I was a teenager and they divorced. They tried to use me against each other, forced me to move back and forth between two cities, so I could never have friends… Everything was just so chaotic and painful. I was glad when I could leave home. When I found a company with rules where I could contribute and no one was screaming.”
Tanner nods. “I can understand the appeal after growing up like that.”
“We all have to work for a living, right?” I shake my head. “Besides, there are much worse childhoods out there. I think I turned out fine.”
Tanner shrugs. “Everything we do filters through the lens of our experience. Just because there are more horrible things that happen to others that we can’t comprehend, it doesn’t make our experiences meaningless. And yes, you turned out better than fine, but I’m still sorry you had to go through that. Everyone deserves a loving family.”
His gaze is thoughtful, warm, even in spite of the slight stress lines I can see at the corners of his eyes.
“That’s… a very unique thing to say. Thank you,” I say, fidgeting.
> “You’re welcome.”
I’m still stressed just from remembering, and I feel Tanner’s warm hand cover mine. It’s soothing and nonthreatening, and I find myself wondering once again just who this marvelous man is.
“For what it’s worth, I admire you for making something out of your life after all of that chaos. I can see how strong of a person you’ve become in spite of it.”
And somehow, I don’t feel so stressed about it all, even remembering it. Like I needed to get it off my chest, and Tanner’s gentle touch is bringing me back to the present, making me feel lighter, better, accepted.
Maybe this is another one of those mysterious things I don’t understand yet.
Or maybe, just maybe, I’m falling for this man.
He leaves his hand there for a moment longer, and I can feel something warm building between us.
Tanner pulls his hand away, and if I could just be more honest, I’d ask to have it back.
But just the moment we had was enough for now.
“So what about you, Mr. Interim CEO?” I change the subject, trying to distract myself from the fact that I can still feel his hand on top of mine. “Tell me about your past now.”
He bites his lower lip, looking a bit nervous, which is rare for him. “Not a lot. Let’s just say I was expected to take on a leadership role in my father’s company from a very young age. I trained for that purpose throughout my childhood.”
I frown, wrinkling my nose. “That doesn’t sound like much of a childhood.”
“There were high expectations,” he says, spinning his glass gently with one finger. “And stress at times, sure, but there was love all around, from every direction.”
“That sounds nice,” I say, leaning in with my chin in my palms. “So your parents stayed together?”
His gaze dips. “Yes. Until my father died.”
“I’m sorry,” I say, unsure if I should reach out to him. Right now, he doesn’t look like he wants to go too deep into the subject.
“It was a long time ago. But yes, they stayed together as long as they could. I’ve never seen two people as in love as they were. And I believe they will be together again someday.”
Defended By Darkness: Wings, Wands and Soul Bonds Book 2 Page 6
