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Thomas returned to his desk, his body warm after his exchange with Lorena. The lion inside him was unsettled. The creature wanted so much more than snarky exchanges with Lorena. The lion wanted all or nothing of Lorena’s bold and infuriatingly stubborn being.
When the sun was noticeably lower in the sky, the idea of using the need for Lorena to take more dictation became a viable ruse for getting more attention and interaction from her. He wanted to invade her bubble one last time and see the saucy, brassy personality beneath the surface squirm and hit back.
Thomas set his notebook on the corner of Lorena’s desk, leaned over slightly so she could see the scope of his arms and chest, and smiled a big smile.
“Let me guess, you want to borrow a cup of sugar,” she jested. “Just an innocent neighbor stopping by.”
Thomas didn’t answer her joke right away. Instead, he looked at her and smiled, watching her eyes sweep over his physique. She hid it well, but she was totally scoping him out. He could feel it. The waves of want and desire coming from her were palpable.
“I have one last bit of dictation I need you to take,” he answered.
“I’m ready,” she told him flatly. She was very good. She was really toeing the professional line without the slightest waver, and this only made him want her even more.
After the last sentence of dictation, Lorena made a few keystrokes and then began shutting down the computer and putting away her desk materials.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
“I could tell that that was the last line of dictation,” she noted to him.
“It was,” he answered her. “You are correct.”
“And I have stored the file, just as you instructed earlier, and now I am closing up my work area for the day.”
“Is that so?” he asked. He knew her workday was finished. He just wanted to see how she handled his attitude. He wanted to see her get sassy again.
“Here’s the deal,” she began, feigning seriousness. “Some of us came to work very late. Some of us showed up early and started right on time. Those of us in the punctual group are leaving so we can return tomorrow … ever-punctual … and have bright eyes and bushy tails.”
“You are so funny,” he replied. It was a good feeling, the waves of desire and attraction coming from her. He could smell and sense her arousal since he had a heightened perception of these things as a shifter. He couldn’t deny that his ego was as pumped up as his muscles. He wasn’t going to let her see his satisfaction, though.
“I am really not funny,” she told him. “I think what you are trying to say is that I am cute as a button and that no matter how hard you try, my feathers won’t ruffle,” she added, standing as she spoke and grabbing her bag and sweater. “You are correct. I am cute as a button. The tactics you used to ruffle my feathers today may have worked twenty years ago, but not anymore.”
Then she turned and left with nothing more than a wave of her hand. “Goodnight, sir.” She swung her hips as she walked and seemed to give some extra sway. Thomas hoped the display was for his benefit.
The office was quiet after that.
Thomas sat in that silence. The solitude brought voices and howling from dark places, from the gap between the shadow and the soul. This was it, this was really it. The feeling that filled his pores from the inside out. And the big bad lion who she had been teasing, although she had clearly been unaware of what great beast she was taunting, had the taste of the blood of the hunt in its jaws. The lion from down deep had hold of his prey, and he would never let go.
Lorena was the perfect puzzle to solve. Not only would he solve the Lorena riddle, but he would also claim her in every way possible for his own.
Chapter6
Lorena
Lorena was under a lot of pressure. Sonny had told her if she didn’t have some results by their meeting that afternoon, then there would be trouble. She hadn’t asked what kind.
She arrived at work an hour early, clutching the precious keys Thomas had so trustingly given her.
Until now, she hadn’t been brave enough to access his office. When she was alone, she lacked the courage. Whenever she finally worked herself up to the task, he had very annoyingly been around, peering over her shoulder or watching her from his office with the door open. Was it by chance that her desk was perfectly lined up so he could sit at his, with the door open, and have a direct view of her back?
She let herself into the main office and stood for a moment, torn once again with indecision. “Do you really want to do this?” she asked herself. “There’s no going back now.”
Until now, she had done nothing that she couldn’t pretend was the result of her being new and finding her way around. This was different. There would be no excuse for being in his private office and going through his files.
Then an idea occurred to her. She found an old receipt in the drawer of her desk yesterday. She rummaged around and pulled it out. It was a thin excuse, but it may work for a cover story as a desperate measure.
With a lump of guilt she couldn’t swallow in her throat, she let herself into his office and fired up his computer. It was not password protected, to her surprise. That was incredible, but Thomas was rather old school.
Her fingers flew over the keyboard. She didn’t have much time. Sonny had been pretty vague about the information he wanted, which didn’t help. Dates or times when he would be alone, large transactions of money, or names of contacts was all he’d said.
