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Chapter 3 - Sadie
Silence settled over the office as I plugged the laptop cord into the wall. Andres had cleared a space for me at his desk and moved his things to his drawing desk tucked into the corner of the room near the bookshelf. Multiple volumes of novels, engineering books, and architecture tomes lined the shelves, crowding them to such an extent that he resorted to piling texts one in front of the other.
Some of the dust was disturbed in places where he frequently grabbed books. Where I’d thought he’d been highly organized surprised me to find chaos. It looked like he really did need an assistant—so maybe this would prove to be mutually beneficial.
As long as I didn’t give in to any of my thoughts, of course.
I sat quietly in his chair, noticing the distinct black pepper and spiced rum that caressed my body. This was his chair. This was hisspace. I was sitting right where he sat, and brooded, and worried about things. It was such a palpable and distinct sensation to notice him, and then I noticed him noticing me, and I turned away so fast that I pulled a muscle in my shoulder.
I rubbed at it. “Alright, your laptop is charging. What do you want me to do first?”
“Go through my emails and respond to each one that you’ve received the request.”
“Yes, sir.”
The smile he gave me spoke of suspense. There it was again, that feeling like I was sitting on the edge of my seat. I managed to open the email account and started reading through each other, responding with a professionalism I learned from my mother. When she organized events and luncheons, she had this cadence in her invitations that always sounded so formal.
Who knew my mother’s rigidness would come in handy some day?
Andres sat on the stool without facing his drawing desk. For a second, I thought he was staring off into the distance to come up with something, but then I noticed him noticing me again. That was the second time in the same ten minutes. Was the keyboard too loud?
I stared at my fingers hovering over the keys. I couldn’t seem to do much with him watching me. But then again, we were cluttered int his room and I didn’t have much training in the art of typing. My closest resembling skill was my ridiculous reply text time, yet we hadn’t even discussed those things. Was Andres regretting his new hire?
“Here, like this,” he whispered near my ear.
I would have jumped if he hadn’t taken my hands. Warmth radiated from his palms as he directed my fingers to the proper keys.
“Do you feel the ridges on the D and J keys?”
My nod was nearly lost in my shaking. Yet he understood my response.
“Line your fingers up with the rest of the keys—yes, just like that, Sadie. That’s fantastic.”
Shivers traveled the length of my spine, reminding me that the rest of my body existed next to him. As he stood close to me. As he delicately held my fingers in place. As he exhaled over my neck and sent goosebumps tumbling over my breasts.
I closed my eyes. I focused on his proximity.
No, it wasn’t fair. I wasn’t allowed to enjoy this. All he was doing was showing me what to do. He wasn’t seducing me, and he certainly wouldn’t ever consider it. Right?Right. I had to be right. There was no other option.
Because if he really wanted me, if he truly was doing what I thought he was doing, then I was in a huge mess.
I squeaked. “I have to use the restroom.”
Black pepper and spiced rum trailed after me to the bathroom in the hallway on the other side of the lobby. I locked myself in a stall, slumped against the door, and stared at the wall above the toilet as my heart pounded ceaselessly. The beat of it drummed in my throat, thumping from the tip of my tongue down to my slit. After several seconds of heavy breathing, I was able to get myself under control.
What thehellwas that? All Andres had done was show me how to use the keyboard. Nobody had ever really taken their time with me like that, but then again, no one had made me feel things the way my boss did.
My boss, I reminded myself.He’s literally my boss. I shouldn’t be feeling a damn thing. If anything, I should be feeling disgusted.
Shaky breaths gave way to slow inhalations. I closed my eyes while rubbing the center of my chest, willing my heart to keep calm as I tried to carry on.
But there was no carrying on from here, not when this reaction had me exposed like a raw nerve. This was that seat-clenching emotion trying to get me to lose my grip again. Control was important. Control would keep mesafe.
Oh, goddess, but the way his breath rolled over my skin made the danger of giving in that much more appealing. Alarms went off when he was near me like that, sounds that should have sent me running instead of keeping my attention. Maybe it was his cologne. The distinct memory of pepper and rum in my nostrils made my back arch against the stall door.
This was why shifters weren’t supposed to wear anything in the pack. Outside of Silverdawn and Wolfcreek was fine because it was the human world. But here with other creatures, our noses were sensitive. Some of us wore body sprays that were diluted instead. How was Andres getting away with that sharp scent?
It might not be his cologne.
