by M. E. Carter
“Uh, you aren’t really going to call her if another position opens up, are you?”
I look over my shoulder at Rian like she’s lost her mind. “Hell no. I’m pretty sure Nancy shredded her resume and then set the pieces on fire already.”
Stepping out in the street, I flag down a cab while Rian laughs. “Oh, well, good. And by the way, you’re doing a bang-up job on that reassurance thing, because that was pretty damn sexy.”
“You think that’s good, just wait until I get you back to my place.”
Her eyes light up with excitement. “Yeah?”
“Yeah. I’ve got a charcoal mask you are going to die for.”
She scratches the top of her head in confusion. “I… um … yeah, I didn’t ever expect those words to come out of your mouth.”
“Life. Changing,” I mouth, just as the cab drives up. We climb in and head back to my place for a day of mindless television while we pamper our skin. Maybe if I get lucky, we can pamper each other as well.
Chapter Thirty-Three
RIAN
“Jennifer, this is Steven. He’s one of my colleagues and is the guy in charge of determining how to best place the cameras in your home.”
“Hey, Jennifer.” Steven flashes a grin that would melt the panties off any normal woman. But Jennifer Johnson isn’t a normal woman. She’s terrified of just about everyone and has needed more hands-on attention than a normal client. While her sister is wearing shorts and a tank top because it’s summertime, Jennifer is fully covered including a hoodie zipped all the way up.
We’ve made a lot of headway toward what she needs, but part of that is because I quickly discovered video messaging is a better way to do business with her. It lets Jennifer see who she’s talking to, which goes a long way toward her feeling comfortable. When I pitched the idea to Carlos, he offered to let me use his office during our calls to ensure more privacy as well.
Plus, it gives me a chance to show her what our guys look like before they knock on her door. With the amount of fear she has, I felt like it was an important step.
“I know you’re nervous about us coming to take a look around,” Steven continues, and I appreciate him not pussyfooting around the situation. “That’s why I want you to think of a safe word. Since it’s just the four of us here, we’ll be the only ones to know it.”
Jennifer looks at her sister who nods, and then back at us. “Um, what kind—um, I mean, why do I need a safe word?” Her hand claps the top of her hoodie at the neck. I’ve learned that this is her tell that she’s feeling panicky. Sure enough, Janet immediately begins rubbing her back.
“Two reasons. One, I want you to be able to verify that it’s really me. When I knock on your door, all you have to do is ask me to say it, and once you hear it, you’ll know it’s all clear outside.”
“Oh. Yeah, that makes sense.” Her hand unclenches just a bit. This is good. Getting her to trust Steven will be the biggest hurdle to overcome.
“Also, if at any time when we’re inside your home, if you want us out for any reason, you just say that word, and we’ll book it outside, no questions asked until you give us the all clear to come in again.”
I bite back my smile. When I explained the sensitivity of the account to Steven, I knew he’d be a professional. What I didn’t expect is for him to get with Alex’s wife to come up with ways he could do his job while making sure Jennifer always feels like she’s in control. To me, that goes above and beyond his job description. I suppose it shouldn’t surprise me, though. If Cipher Systems has nothing else, they have a code of conduct that would rival the Secret Service.
I’m pretty sure a few of our guys may have worked for a president before. I’ll need to ask because now I’m curious how many of those Joe Biden memes were stages. They make me laugh every time I see them.
Jennifer’s sniffle causes me to refocus on the task at hand and look up at her again. “I… um, I need to think.” She puts one of her hands over her eyes, trying to control her emotions. Janet continues to comfort her, and my heart breaks watching this broken woman try to be brave. “I’m sorry. I just get really weird talking to people because I just always wonder if they’ve seen me… I mean…” She takes a deep breath and wipes her tears away. “I’m sorry. I’m working on it.”
We sit silently, giving her a minute to pull herself back together. What I want to tell her is how I admire her for taking on the people who hurt her so badly. What I want to do is give her a hug and comfort her. But the only thing I can do is work my hardest to make this set-up as easy as possible.
“Jennifer, I’ve been doing this for a long time and there are professional boundaries in place for a reason.” I look at Steven, startled by his statement because I have a feeling he’s just beginning. “But I’m going to cross them for just a second, in the interest of making this relationship work.”
As he talks, I happen to glance up and see Carlos walking off the elevator. He’s carrying two coffees. I can’t help wondering if one is for me. But then he heads straight into Nancy’s office. Drat. I’ll have to make a coffee run later.
“I’ve never seen one of your movies.”
Well, that’s not at all where I thought Steven was going with this.
“Really?” I’ve talked to Jennifer almost every day for the last week. This is the first time I’ve picked up a hint of relief in her voice.
“Nope.” He shakes his head and crosses his toned arms over his chest. “And I never will. I won't go into all the reasons why, but you don’t have to wonder about that again. I’ve also talked to the colleague that’s coming with me and he said the same thing. I made sure before adding him onto your account. No one you interact with in this organization has or will see you in one of those… movies.” He stalls out at the end of his sentence, and I know he’s trying to control his own anger. Apparently, Steven is passionate about human rights. Yet another reason he’s perfect to work on this account with me.
Jennifer’s entire body sags against the counter she’s leaning against, as does Janet’s.
“Thank you for that,” Janet says. “Those thoughts torture her pretty much all the time. You should hear some of the disgusting things people think they have a right to say to her in public. She just wants to put this behind her, and they make it practically impossible.”
“I can only imagine.” Steven takes on a very seriously scary tone. “People can be vicious. I experienced my fair share when I came out of the closet.”
Pretty sure the three women in this conversation all come to a full stop with this bomb.
“You’re gay?” Jennifer finally asks. Thank goodness, because I certainly don’t have the guts to clarify myself.
He nods once, completely unaffected by our reactions. “One hundred and ten percent into men. Not even bisexual over here. Again, that information is usually not important, professional boundaries and all. But if it’ll give you just a tiny bit more comfort, so be it.”
For the first time, I see Jennifer flash a tiny bit of a smile. “You know, there are plenty of gay porn stars who still do it with women on camera, no problem.”
Her joke elicits a smile from me and a chuckle from Steven. I’m thrilled she is letting her guard down a bit. “I’m sure that’s true. Fortunately, I’m not a porn star. I’m just a security guy who is dating someone.”
Ugh. Why are we on a professional call? I have so many questions for him now!
“So, about that safe word…”
“Dignity,” Jennifer replies quickly, no hesitation on her part. “My safe word is dignity.”
“Perfect.”
We go over a few additional details of what will happen when Steven flies out. By the time the conversation is over, Jennifer seems really comfortable with the idea of this man being in her home. I know it’s all about her, but I’m also pretty proud of myself for this account. From what Steven says, this is arguably the trickiest situation the company has worked with, but it’s smoothing out just fine.
When we hang up, I swivel Carlos’s chair so I can nudge Steven with my foot. “I’m so impressed. You won her over faster than I thought you would.”
He shrugs like it’s no big deal. “I have found over the years that working with a client doesn’t just mean finding the best way to keep them safe. If they don’t feel safe, it doesn’t matter what systems are in place.”
“That’s awfully astute of you.”
“I’m an astute guy.”
Carlos exits Nancy’s office with two coffees still in his hand. My heart jumps as he heads this direction. I called him this morning to make sure it was okay to use his office first thing, so he knows we’re in here. That means the java may be for me after all. I hope so. We had another marathon love-making session last night. After two days of not sleeping, I need the pick me up.
Steven grumbles, “Sometimes I wish I wasn’t as observant as I am,” but I don’t really comprehend what he’s saying. I’m too busy trying to push thoughts of Carlos flinging my leg over his shoulder out of my mind.
Gesturing for Carlos to come in when he waves, Steven crosses the room and opens the door. “I take it that’s not for me?” He gestures to the coffee, but Carlos ignores him and hands it over to me instead.
“You know how to use the coffee maker in the break room,” Carlos jabs.
Steven rolls his eyes and stalks off, mumbling something like, “Here we go again,” as he leaves.
“How was your meeting?” Carlos gives me a quick peck on the lips. The gesture surprises me, seeing that last week we were keeping this whole thing on the down-low.
“It was good. Thank you for letting us use your office.”
He waves me off and takes another drink. “I think you’re right to treat this one with extra sensitivity. Whatever we can do to make sure she trusts we have her best interests at heart, right?”
“Yeah.” I continue to swivel back and forth, and I think about how much goes into covering all areas of people’s security. I’m amazed at the kinds of checks and balances put in place. “Did you know Alex is designing an entire system where she can check who has been monitoring her cameras?”
“He’s been talking about doing that for a while.”
“That’s just so much effort to make sure someone inside the company isn’t logging in when they shouldn’t be.”
Carlos shrugs like it doesn’t take hundreds of hours to design a program like that. “She’s paying us a lot of money to do it.”
“I guess.” Someday, I’ll get used to it. For now, it’s just really exciting to see things in action. “Anyway,” I push myself to standing, “I need to go check on some other accounts and give them a heads up about Janie leaving. And I need to call the woman herself and see if she wants to meet again this week. What are you doi—“ My question is cut off when he pulls me against his body. I don’t mind getting a little PDA, but we’re in the office. This is not our normal.
“I’m just giving you a hug. You raced out this morning, and I didn’t get to snuggle with you.”
Laughing, I relax into his embrace a bit. “But we’re in the office. Anyone can see.”
“So?”
“So, I thought we weren’t doing that.”
He sighs and allows me to put some distance between us. Not that I want it. I’m just not sure what changed.
Pressing the intercom button on his phone, he calls out, “Hey, Nancy.”
“Yeah?” she answers through the speaker.
“Can you come in here for a second? I have a question.”
“Yeah. Give me two minutes.”
I narrow my eyes at him and cross my arms. “What are you doing?”
“Look,” he says, reaching for me again, but now that Nancy is on her way, I take another step back. “I know this is new, but do you plan on getting tired of me anytime soon?”
“That depends. How often are you going to make me do a charcoal mask?”
“Oh, come on. It wasn’t that bad,” he argues.
I disagree. “You wanted to take a video of me as I tried to rip it off my face.”
“I told you not to leave it on that long.”
Rolling my eyes, I know we’re never going to agree on this topic. “Regardless, it felt like my face was literally being scalped.”
“You can’t be scalped if it’s on your face.”
“I disagree.”
“At least your skin is baby soft now.”
I open my mouth to argue, but he’s got me on that one. As painful as it was, my cheeks do feel soft as a baby’s bum after being doused with powder.
“Ahhhh…” He points at me, smiling in victory. “I told you it would be worth it in the end.”
Grabbing his finger, I push it away. “Still debatable. But how is this related to us canoodling in the office?”
“Did you say canoodling?”
I don’t know why he’s so ornery today, but the back and forth is making me laugh. “Stop distracting me, you weirdo.”
A knock at the door has me moving even further away from him.
“Knock, knock.”
“Come on in, Nancy.” Carlos doesn’t even look up. He’s too busy staring at me, humor filling his eyes.
“Welp, that’s my cue to leave.” I pick up my coffee cup and start my way around his desk. “Thanks for the joe, Bossman.”
“Not so fast.” He stands up and crosses the room to close the door, leaving all three of us in the room.
Nancy and I look each other, confused, and then back at Carlos. Glad I’m not the only one who doesn’t know what he’s doing.
“Tell me, Nancy, do we have a company policy on fraternization?”
Oh, shit. This is happening. This is really happening…
My heart starts pounding and I swear my boobs begin to sweat. Is that a thing? Boobs sweating when I get nervous? I’ve never noticed before.
“Carlos—” I warn. I can’t believe he’s putting me in this position.
Nancy’s eyes widen, and she looks back and forth between Carlos and me for a few seconds before realizing that she’s not being as couth as she could be.
Clearing her throat, she finally answers him. “We don’t have an official one beyond our policies on sexual harassment.”
Stalking slowly toward me, Carlos keeps his eyes trained on mine. I’m not sure how I feel about this turn of events, but I think I might be flattered and excited. I told Carlos I would need reassurance that he was serious about me. There’s no more confirmation that he wants to be with only me than setting the office rumor mill in motion.
“So, if I told you Rian and I were dating, that wouldn’t violate any company policies, right?”
“Um, well, that depends.” Taking her focus off Carlos and putting it onto me, she asks, “Rian, do you feel threatened or bullied into dating Carlos, or as if your job depends on whether or not you have sex with him?”
I look back at the man stalking toward me, a playful smile on his lips.
I shake my head. “Not at all.”
“Do you plan on having sex in the office, in particular, on my desk?”
Carlos and I both turn and look at her quizzically for that one.
She shrugs like it’s not the weirdest question ever. “Look, you want my blessing? I’m covering my bases before I give it. You can’t be too sure in this office.”
I burst out laughing at the ridiculousness of the whole situation.
“Of course not, Nancy,” Carlos huffs. “Geez, what kind of a guy do you take me for? Is this legal or not?”
Nancy cracks the tiniest of smiles and winks at me. That, right there is approval enough. “You’re fine. Just keep it professional, and if things get weird, I’m going over your head to shift the chain of command. She can always have a new boss to answer to.”
Carlos’s focus is back on me, a sensual smile playing on his lips. “That’s not gonna happen.” Before she can get to the door, Carlos is on me, kissing me like his life depends on it.
<
br /> “Oh, come on!” Nancy complains loudly. “You couldn’t even let me leave first?” As she whips the door open, she yells, “Code Red! Cupid struck again!”
I barely register Steven yelling back, “I knew it!” while someone else complains about whatever is in the water.
I’m too wrapped up in this perfect moment. With the perfect man. At my perfect job.
I guess this pretty girl really can have it all.
Chapter Thirty-Four
RIAN
Six months later
“I can’t believe I’m doing this,” I grumble while signing my name. I make it extra hard to read just to be obnoxious. Somehow, my scribbly signature doesn’t faze Abel.
“Come on, Rian,” Abel says with a huge grin that I just wanna slap off his beautifully chiseled little face. “You love my class. And what a better time to join than now, when you get a discount thanks to our fantastic new facility?”
I look around at the new building and grudgingly admit that he’s right. The old building was deemed a total loss, so the gym had to be rebuilt from the ground up. Everything in it is new. Even the floor plan had some modifications made, although the biggest changes are in the locker room. The gym gods apparently heard my bitching for long enough and convinced the plan makers to give us bigger showers complete with actual doors.
I almost threw my hands in the air and yelled “Hallelujah!” when I saw them. Okay, fine. So, I actually did do that. Tabitha thought it was funny, even if everyone else gave me dirty looks.
“I’m only signing this because of that discount,” I say, handing my paperwork over to my trainer.
“I don’t care why you’re doing it.” He takes it out of my hands and shoves it in a folder. “All I know is your ass is mine three days a week now. This is gonna be fun.”
“Give me my paper back.” I grab for the folder, but he holds it over his head so I can’t reach it. I’ve never been good at climbing, so it is well and truly out of my reach. “I change my mind.”
