13
Tanner
“Ethics for CEOs?” Flynn asks, sidling up to sit on the couch across from the chair I’m lounging in. “Looks boring.”
I sigh, putting the book aside. “I’m trying to at least do something to show Eva I’m taking this seriously.”
“She should already understand that. After all, you’re working for free,” Flynn says. “If I were you, I’d take the money.”
“I still don’t get the point,” Ian says, which is a bit ironic coming from a light fae since they have the best technology and magic. “Why would anyone want so much more money?”
“Why do you want a nicer castle?” Flynn asks, raising an eyebrow at him.
Ian shrugs. “That’s different. Better defense. Better ability to repel chaos. But as far as I’ve seen with humans, they simply want shinier cars that go faster than their roads allow.”
Flynn shudders slightly. “And cars are already terribly primitive forms of transportation.”
“I have to agree there,” I say. “Who thought it was a good idea to just let everyone run around in huge, hulking pieces of metal with nothing in place to make sure they aren’t drunk, incapacitated, or evil?”
“It’s horrifying,” Ian says, shaking his head. “If you’re a human, you can just be walking down the road, minding your own business, and get killed by someone on drugs steering a giant metal beast far faster than anyone can run.”
“Chaos,” Flynn agrees.
“The humans don’t really have a choice,” I say. “They don’t have wings or localized communities like we do.”
“Another reason this whole place is unsalvageable,” Ian mutters. “Chaos and death everywhere.”
“Not everywhere,” I say, a little worried about how negative he’s getting.
“Speaking of which, why do you care if you help that company or not?” Ian asks, leaning back on our other couch with his arms behind his head. “Don’t you hate them for how they treat Eva?”
I shake my head. “The company really does mean a lot to her. I’m hoping to help find some ways to stabilize it once I’ve taken her back to my world.”
Flynn and Ian share a look.
“What?” I ask.
“You know, you really shouldn’t just assume she’ll want to go with you,” Flynn says carefully. “But I already warned you about that, so I’ll hold my peace.”
I lean forward, rubbing my hands over my knees, trying to relieve the stress that comes from being away from my kingdom and thinking about it being in trouble without me.
“She is fae. She belongs in our world,” I say firmly. “Besides, I need to get back and hold the front lines.”
Flynn sighs. “Our kingdoms agreed to function without us. You should trust them to do so and focus on winning over your soul bond.”
“You think I’m not trying?” I run a hand through my hair. “It’s difficult when she’s someone who won’t admit what she is.”
“True,” Flynn says.
Ian pins me with a look. “But your brothers are very strong in their own rights. I would have thought they’d be able to hold off the chaos waves without issue.”
“Yeah,” Flynn chimes in. “Don’t you guys just mass kill—”
I stop him with a glare. “It’s not that we want to. But yes, our powers are better for taking out large groups of weaker foes, whereas someone like Ian—”
“Can take on any foe,” Ian supplies cheerfully, looking even more cocky.
I grin. “Even Flynn, with his seduction lessons?”
Flynn goes slightly red, even over his olive complexion. “Why are you bringing that up now?”
“To take the pressure off me,” I say with a grin.
“I’m enjoying the lessons very much,” Ian says, straightening. “In fact, I—”
“Can we not talk about it?” Flynn asks, folding his arms as he goes over to stand by the window, looking down in the direction of Eva’s apartment.
I narrow my eyes. “Why don’t you want to talk about it?”
Ian rolls his eyes. “Flynn’s still embarrassed about knowing so much about seduction techniques.”
Flynn shoots us a glare. “I’m still a warrior.” He looks out the window, and there’s a slight sadness to his expression. “It’s not all that fun, having so many princesses after me, you know. Or growing up being trained in how to please them one day.”
I bite my lower lip, feeling for Flynn. Just because fire fae males are known for being alluring and attractive, it doesn’t mean their own kingdom should be farming them out.
The females are fiercely strong. In fact, Brett was saved by his soul bond, Avery, who is a fire fae princess.
I know Flynn is strong as well, and perhaps we don’t acknowledge it enough. He was chosen for this mission, after all.
“Flynn,” I say, walking over to the window to put a hand on his shoulder. He looks over at me, surprised, his glowing golden eyes a little like embers. “I’m glad you are on this mission with us. We can use a strong fire fae like you on our side.”
Ian comes over too, slower to pick up on things but happy to join in when anyone needs support.
He stands beside Flynn, bumping him lightly. “Yeah. I’m glad you’re here too.”
Flynn flushes bright red and turns away from us, striding over to the kitchen to get some juice. “You two are so pushy with your bonding sometimes,” he says, though he’s smiling, looking glad to be included.
“Yeah right,” I say. “You’re the easiest one to bond with, Flynny.”
He pins me with a glare. “No. That is not going to be a thing.”
I just shrug. “Okay. But you’re an important friendship bond with us now. You can’t get around it.”
“Friends for life,” Ian says, plopping back on the couch again.
I grin over at him. “Friends for life.” I reach for my CEO ethics book. “Now I’m going to keep reading, because the sooner I help Eva with her business, the sooner I can move this all along and get you guys on to finding your own soul bonds.”
Ian grins. “I like the sound of that.” He looks up at the ceiling, hands behind his head again as he stares up dreamily. “I hope she’s a fire fae.”
I let out a laugh as Flynn nearly chokes on whatever he was eating in the kitchen.
Somehow, everything will be okay.
14
Eva
I think he’s just torturing me for fun at this point.
He’s been professional since our lunch, but I get the feeling he’s biding his time, waiting for me to break.
It might not be much longer.
Tanner is sitting across the conference table from me, both of us listening in on a conference call about something that seems so much less important than the way the buttons on his blue business shirt strain against his muscles whenever he takes a breath.
And whenever my eyes even come near his face, it’s like tiny magnets are pulling my gaze toward his. And the harder I resist, the more my body screams at me for looking away.
“I think we should take a conservative approach to filling out the two new teams, don’t you think, Tanner?” Vern asks.
Tanner nods thoughtfully, tenting his fingers in front of him.
Oh dear, the things he could be doing with those hands…
His dark eyes move to mine, catching me staring, and immediately, I look away, already feeling that rushing sensation inside me that’s getting stronger each day.
It’s only been a few days since he had me at his mercy on the printer.
It feels like a few lifetimes.
Part of that is due to the fact that he follows me everywhere, as if trying to keep an eye on me.
Aside from his necessary meetings with other company officers, Tanner has found an excuse to sit in on practically every meeting I’ve had since he arrived.
“I want to learn from your management style, Eva.” While bothering me in my office.
“Don’t you think bein
g in meetings like this will help me learn the company, Eva?” While sitting in on some HR meeting that has nothing to do with him.
I’m going to fuck you senseless, Eva. I only imagined that one…
I sigh to myself, tapping my fingers on my thigh, feeling the seconds tick by until this meeting is over and I can escape the choking tension between us.
It’s my fault we are at this standstill.
After lunch when I ran into Ray, I have to admit I was scared for a second. Scared of company politics. Scared of being thought a hypocrite.
Scared of my own overwhelming feelings.
Someone whispers something into Tanner’s ear, and just the motion of him leaning over, turning his face to show me his profile, draws my attention instantly.
The image of me grabbing Tanner by his lapels, ripping his shirt open, and telling him to take me right here on the table flashes through my mind, and I furiously start scribbling nonsense on my notepad, hoping nobody notices me flushing.
“You okay, Eva?” my associate, Debbie, whispers next to me.
“Yes?” I reply, sounding confused. “I mean, yes. I am.” My voice is just audible, but not loud enough to interrupt the meeting.
“I mean, you’ve just been scribbling in a circle for like five minutes,” Debbie says, and I finally look at my lap. The paper in front of me is so written on it’s tearing through the center. Oops.
“Sorry, just a bit distracted.”
“It’s okay. The sales team has no sense of brevity, so I don’t blame you.” She gives me a friendly grin, and we both sit through the meeting while I try to think of anything except the only thing I want to be thinking about.
Once we’re adjourned, I get out of my seat and head for my office, not wanting to be caught up in the post-meeting pleasantries and chitchat.
But as soon as I reach the hallway, I can feel someone tall walking up next to me. Someone whose scent haunts my dreams at night.
“So how are you holding up?” Tanner asks as he falls easily into step beside me. His proximity is just driving me crazy right now.
Is he aware of the effect he has on me? He has to be.
Yet he’s completely dismissive or downright oblivious to every other woman’s advances at all times, rain or shine.
“Here are the meeting notes, Mr. Shadeson,” Betsy, one of the office managers, exclaims as she rushes up to the other side of Tanner. She’s practically beaming up at him.
Tanner looks at the papers, nonplussed. “Oh.”
“If you want, I can deliver them up to your office personally.” She continues, her voice going sultry.
He shakes his head. “Please just scan them and email them to my secretary. I’m busy right now.”
He isn’t mean, but the coolness of his tone almost chills the hallway. Betsy’s lust dies a quick death as she scuttles down the hallway, leaving us alone for now.
“You’re becoming a pro at that, Tanner,” I say.
Tanner smiles a little whenever I say his name, and that makes me smile too. Among other things.
He lifts one shoulder casually. “I’ve always been good at turning down unwanted advances, unlike some of my friends.”
My eyes widen. “You have friends? Friends that also have to turn down tons of women?” The idea is staggering.
“Yes.” He grins. “I’ll have you meet them sometime. There’s something I wanted to ask you, though.”
His tone is serious, and I find myself slowing to a halt and turning to face him. Six feet three inches of pure sex leans over me, close enough that I can almost feel him, but not so close that anyone would suspect anything.
“What did you want to ask?” I feel that deep, hot, hungry sensation. I feel it every time he’s near.
I swear I’m close to the breaking point.
His dark eyes flit down my body, making my senses tingle.
“I know what you’re feeling, Eva. I know you’re struggling. I feel it too. It’s our bond, and it’s the realest thing I’ve ever experienced.”
Sometimes he says the oddest things. Yet in those moments, I feel like he’s reaching something deep inside me that’s been locked away. Like a treasure box I never knew existed, but I don’t know where the key is.
Then again, maybe I do, but I don’t want to.
“What do you mean?” I ask, stuttering despite my attempts to stay calm.
Tanner firmly places a hand on the wall behind me, trapping me in the hallway. Thankfully, we’re on the south end of the building, and since everyone went the other way after the meeting, no one should stumble across us.
“How can you possibly resist, princess?” His gaze is intense, locked on mine. The binder in my hands goes limp, then falls to the floor at my feet, but I can’t even care right now.
Princess. No one’s ever called me that. Why would he now?
And why does it feel… right somehow? Like he actually believes it.
My palms grip the wall behind me, and my breath is hurried, urgent. I look from his eyes to his lips, then back to those swirling black galaxies he has for irises.
The heat inside is rising. Rising until I can’t possibly hold back any longer.
I don’t care where I’m at. I don’t care where I’ve been or what my plans for the future were a moment ago. Everything I want is right in front of me.
And something in me just snaps.
I grab his shirt with my hands. And even though he has a solid six inches of height and many extra pounds of muscle on me, I whirl him around, forcing him against the wall with a dull thud. Tanner’s eyes go wide in shock for a moment. Then they relax in a mixture of arousal and amusement.
“I can’t. I can’t resist you,” I say breathlessly. “I think of you constantly. I need you like… like contracts need signatures.” I take a deep breath, but it does nothing to calm the fire raging within me. “You’re right. I can’t hold back anymore.”
Before the last word has even finished drifting through the air, I reach up on my toes and kiss him deeply, desperately wanting his touch on me.
For a moment, Tanner’s lips just meld with mine, soft and sculpted. Then his hands are on my sides, supporting and squeezing me tight as his tongue clashes with mine.
Slowly, that little box feels like its unlocking, and all my senses are poised toward this unbelievably gorgeous man that is becoming the center of my whole, almost mundane life.
Suddenly, Tanner’s hands are around me, and he whisks me to the side, ducking us into a vacant conference room. At first, I’m annoyed he would even bother to stop kissing me. Then I hear footsteps and voices pass us in the hallway a second later.
He lets out a relieved breath. “As much fun as this is, I know you wouldn’t want to be seen, Eva. At least not yet.”
Even though I’m wild with lust, I’m relieved he had the sense to watch out for us.
Although, right now, all I’m wondering is if I tore his shirt open, would anybody notice he was missing buttons?
Probably.
He grins. “I want you so badly, Eva. But I want us to be able to share everything. Fully have each other. In private, where we can talk about what this is.”
“I can’t wait that long,” I practically whine, which is a new experience since I don’t think I’ve whined for anything in my entire life, ever.
He brushes my hair back gently, and it does nothing to quell the fire inside me. “It’s not just physical with us. I want to bond with you.”
“Bond?”
He nods. “You know what I mean because it’s happening right now. Every day, every conversation. Something stronger than mere attraction. Something that pulls us together.”
I bite my lip nervously because that does make sense.
He sighs. “But we’ll need privacy if we’re going to go further, because I have to explain so much more.”
“More?”
He pins me with a look. “About who you are. About the mystery between us.”
I’m scared
somehow to know more, but I also can’t resist him. And if talking about this is what it takes to get closer, then fine.
“When, then?” I ask.
“Tonight.”
I let out a frustrated breath. “How will I wait that long?”
Tanner pauses for a second, grinning as he looks me over. “Take this with you.”
At that, his hands entwine with mine, clasping tightly and pressing them to the wall as he kisses me more deeply than ever before. His tongue thrusts in to meet mine, and my body melts as I drown in the sensation of Tanner, all around me, inside me. Everywhere.
In too short a time, he pulls away, his lips swollen slightly as we separate. I take one last long look over him, and a full body shiver shakes me head to toe.
“Tonight, then,” I say.
“After work,” he says.
“Yes.”
Tanner follows me back to my office, giving me one last mischievous grin as I greet Dean, my secretary, who’s sitting at his desk.
“Clear my schedule for anything after four. I have some things I need to take care of after work,” I say, trying to sound officious and not so horny I could die.
Dean, whose twenty-something boyish face hasn’t quite caught up to his lean body, looks up from his screen.
“Um, what about the company officers’ party tonight?” he says nervously.
No. No, no, no, no, no.
I swear under my breath, pulling out my phone and looking at it. As the purple box on my calendar says, my evening is supposed to be full of kowtowing and vapid conversation with people that don’t like me.
Which doesn’t leave a lot of time for sexy sex times.
“Would you like me to RSVP saying you won’t be there?” Dean asks.
“No, no. It’s fine. I’m going.” I have to find something to wear. Craptastic.
And if I need to be there, Tanner will be expected as well.
I pull up Tanner’s contact on my phone and text him immediately.
E: Company party tonight. We’re supposed to be there. :( Booo.
There’s a pause, and Tanner replies.
T: Oh, good to know. I must have missed the memo.
Defended By Darkness: Wings, Wands and Soul Bonds Book 2 Page 8
