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I chuckled. “I’ll keep that in mind for my first marketing project.”
“What are you doing here so early, anyway?” He looked at his watch. It was then I realized he was dressed in running gear, not a shirt and tie like he had been at the office last week.
“I wanted to get an early start.”
“Building doesn’t open until six-thirty. I was just about to go for a run. But I’ll show you how to get in when it’s closed after we get our coffee.”
“It’s okay. I can wait until it opens. I don’t want to interrupt your exercise.”
“Fucking hate running. I’ll take any excuse I can get to put it off. Showing a beautiful woman the way to my office is at the top of that list of excuses.” He winked. “Especially one who’s going to sleep with me eventually.”
God, he is cocky. And apparently, cocky really works for me.
The line had moved up a few places, but I hadn’t noticed since I was turned around talking to Chase. He lifted his chin to point to the gap between me and the person in front of me, and then put his hand on the small of my back to guide me forward. His touch felt so natural.
When it was our turn at the register, he told me to order first.
“I’ll have a venti dark roast, black.”
Chase smiled and added, “Make that two.” Then he insisted on paying for both.
Caffeine in hand, we walked a block north and around to the back of the building, where he knocked on an unmarked set of steel doors. A guy opened one and greeted us as we entered.
“Mr. P., how’s it going, man?”
“Not too shabby, Carlo. You?”
“Can’t complain, can’t complain. Wife’s a bitch, but I can’t blame her for that. She’s married to a fat, lazy guy.” The uniformed maintenance man patted his beer belly and smiled.
“Carlo, this is Reese Annesley. Today is her first day with Parker Industries.”
“Nice to meet you, Ms. A.” He wiped his hand off on his shirt and extended it to me while speaking to Chase. “You shooting a new catalog? You know those are my favorite times of the year.”
“Not this week. Reese isn’t a model, although she’s pretty enough to be.” Chase winked at me again, and I felt a flutter in my belly.
He’s your boss, you pathetic thing. Maybe I should have sex with Bryant already, might help to take the edge off.
Chase punched a code into the keypad above the elevator call button, and the doors to the service elevator slid open. “The code is 6969.”
“How will I ever remember that?” I teased.
As I went to step in, Chase wrapped his arm around my waist. “Wouldn’t want you to trip again.”
“Wiseass.”
“I’m your boss now. You can’t call me that.”
I looked at my watch and smiled. “Not on the clock yet, wiseass.”
“Is that how this is going to be?”
“It is.”
“Works both ways then. Before and after office hours, I can say whatever is on my mind as well. That’s a game you might want to rethink playing with me.” He pushed thirty-three and leaned closer. “Wanna know what’s on my mind right now? I can shut my eyes and describe the visual in detail, if you’d like.”
The elevator was suddenly very small. And hot. Very damn hot.
Just as the doors were about to close, a man in a suit stopped them and joined us. He grumbled something unintelligible and hit twenty-two.
Chase backed up a little and cleared his throat. “You’ll need to use that service door before six-thirty and after eight.”
“Okay.”
In the tiny confines of the padded service elevator, Chase stood far enough away that it seemed normal, yet close enough that I could smell him. And he smelled incredible, woodsy and clean, which had me thinking… He probably doesn’t get up and bathe just to go for a run. So that smell is how he wakes up in the morning? Damn. For some strange reason, I got a visual of Chase in the middle of the woods chopping down a tall oak. He was wearing jeans (with the top button left open, of course) and work boots, sans shirt.
Being this close to him had me losing my mind. I turned my head. “Do you have a cabin in the woods, by chance?”
He looked amused. “I don’t. Do I need one?”
“Never mind.”
Once we arrived on the floor, Chase gave me a quick tour. As we walked, I could feel the passion he had for his company while he gave me a brief overview of each department we passed. I’d lost flirty Chase and met CEO Chase Parker, and I liked him just as much.
He was so smart and fervent that I hadn’t even noticed we’d spent more than an hour in the product development lab until people started coming in to start their workday. Chase showed me each product and gave me its history. When he came to the last product, Divine Wax, he left out some of the details Sam had filled me in about—namely, how The Pampered Pussy kept him busy getting laid through most of college.
