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“He’s based in California, but he has a building in New York City as well. He’s an important client. I need to make sure the meeting goes well. If he likes our work, then it will open up a client base in the Los Angeles music scene.”
I followed him out. “I’m not up with the music scene, but I don’t think that’s why I know his name.”
“He’s a venture capitalist. You might know him from a few of the startup companies he’s been involved with. Most recently the car app that everyone uses in the city.”
“Oh.” I’d definitely used that app a time or twelve.
“Yes. He’s a wealthy and connected man. I need to make sure all the data I have is up-to-date and correct. So for the rest of the afternoon, I need you to verify that my research is still valid. I pulled the data ten days ago.”
“And you think it will be out of date?”
He held the door open. “You’ll learn that in the security business, one day is out of date, Ms. Copeland.”
The gallantry was going to be the end of me, I swear it. Just when I thought I was getting on an even keel with him, he was in my space. Today, the spicy scent outweighed the citrus. I didn’t know if that had anything to do wit
h the food we’d just eaten, or it was his mood and temperament leaking through his pores.
I scooted through the door, making sure I didn’t touch any part of him this time. When I got to the stairwell, Jack was coming down.
“There you two are.”
Mr. Carson crowded into my back, and my whole body went hot. I tried to move, but Jack filled the landing. Two men over six feet tall was just too much male in a tiny stairwell. I tried to move to the side and only made it worse. My butt slid across the front of Mr. Carson’s slacks.
He went completely still behind me, and I could feel his breath along my ear. Good grief, had my knees actually turned to water? Or was that just the first stage to suicidal tendencies? The urge to toss myself out the window into the harbor was strong, because no.
No way was I going to be attracted to my boss on top of the clusterfuck of my life.
“Lewis’s assistant just called—he wants to know if we can move up the meeting to…” Jack lifted his hand to show his watch. “Now.”
“I haven’t even prepped Ms. Copeland about him.”
When he said my name like that… Yeah, that was going to follow me home and into the dark.
I moved around both men and started heading up the stairs. “What are you waiting for, gentlemen?” I looked down at both of them. Jack with his fallen angel good looks and Mr. Carson with his brooding nature lit with that little bit of warmth in his eyes.
Why, oh why, did I have to go for the brooder? Jack would have been the easier choice.
Mr. Carson’s fingers fisted around the bag as he tipped his head up to meet my gaze. His hazel eyes edged more into an aged scotch color right now. The kind that burned going down my throat and heated my belly.
Okay, the timing on my dormant sexuality was so far past inconvenient I couldn’t even put it into words. So, I ignored it.
Good plan.
I turned around and flew up the rest of the steps. I knew someone was behind me, but I kept moving forward. A hand slapped against the door before I could open it.
I didn’t have to turn around to know it was Mr. Carson.
“You don’t have your badge yet, Ms. Copeland.” His scent blanketed me and tossed my system into chaos. Like the storm coming off the water this morning, he was a cold front slapping into a warm one. The thunder was his voice, and I was the rocks trying desperately to hold out against the waves.
And the water was rising.
Eight
The artificially clean air of the office was just the oxygen I needed. I hurried through the door and to my desk. Blake seemed to be in work mode as well, thank God. I slid into my seat and tapped my mouse until my screen came out of hibernation.
I typed in my password, popped open folders, and a browser. I scanned his prepared file and did a quick web search to make sure nothing had hit the social media pages that we’d be surprised about.
He passed me. “There’s a laptop in the drawer—bring it into my office.”
