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“Keep your eyes in your fucking head.”
I can’t really blame him. Piper looked a bit mussed—probably something to do with why she was running an hour late—but it would take a lot more than a messy ponytail and a wrinkled blouse to make her unappealing. Even in the dark and the rain last night, my body responded to hers with that kind of crackling, carnal need that I rarely feel anymore.
“Down, tiger. I come in peace.” He holds up his hands as though to show me he’s harmless. “I’ve known you long enough to know when you’ve marked your territory. Just tell me who she is.”
“My new nanny.”
The offer was generous. Beyond generous, really. I didn’t need to pay her a dime; I could have kept her here on threats and blackmail alone. Fuck knows I have enough information on her. A girl like that, living in the system all her life? There was plenty of dirt to sift through.
“Seems like maybe she doesn’t know that yet,” he says, inclining his head towards the hallway. “Considering she told you to fuck off and then stormed out.”
I level him with a glare. “Don’t ask questions you already know the answer to.”
“Don’t lie to your best friend, then. It wounds me.” He flops down into the chair Piper just left, his legs dangling casually over the side.
Nothing actually wounds Akim. The man is a human golden retriever. You swat him on the nose and he comes back a minute later with an apologetic offering to drop in your lap. If he wasn’t the most loyal man I’ve ever known, he’d drive me fucking insane.
“How do you plan to catch this fly—with vinegar or honey?”
I frown. “The whole point of that phrase is that it’s hard to catch flies with vinegar.”
“Never stopped you from trying.” He grins. “Vinegar is your signature blend. You’re a surly bastard, God help you.”
I flip him off.
“Case in point,” he summarizes.
I’m not in the mood to deal with Akim right now. Piper Quinn set me on edge more than I’d like to admit.
“That woman isn’t what I expected,” I murmur. “Even last night, I showed up to talk to her—”
“Tothreatenher,” Akim corrects. “People don’t lurk outside of a woman’s place of business in the dark to talk to them. You went to shake her up a bit.”
“I went there to make it clear to her that life would be easier if she gave me and Benjamin the stamp of approval and moved along. Call it what you want.”
“I call it a threat,” he says. “But continue.”
“Well, I showed up in time to watch her traipse right into a mugging. I thought women were trained from a young age to be alert and carry their keys between their fingers. She shouldn’t be walking willingly into dark alleys. I thought I’d have to lure her into one, but she went in with eyes wide open.”
In my mind’s eye, I can still see her standing outside the front door of the office, her face turned up to the clouds above. I was going to charge her immediately, but the way her mouth puckered in disappointment distracted me.
It happened today, too. Her pouty lips pursed in displeasure. I’ve never seen her smile, but if it’s anything like her frown, I wouldn’t mind a peek.
“So your ambush turned into a rescue mission,” Akim summarizes.
“That’s overstating it. Themudakwho attacked her was hammered drunk. I’m not sure why she didn’t fight back. She’s had no trouble pushing back against me.”
“That’s true,” Akim chuckles. “I heard it firsthand. That woman hates your guts, like,bad.”
“If you were anyone else, I’d beat your ass for eavesdropping.”
“Close your office door then. Your voice carries and these hallways have amazing acoustics. I didn’t even have to try.”
I sigh. “Then you must’ve heard that I decided to change tactics. What I saw of her last night taught me two things: she shuts down during violence and she’s tough to intimidate.”
Akim spins his legs around to the floor and throws an arm over the back of the chair. “And third, you realized she was smokin’ hot and you’d like to keep her around.”
“Sounds like you’re the one who's interested. Should I set the two of you up?”
