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“What kind of plans?” he asked, not liking to think she might have a date.
“Really hot ones,” she teased. “You know, like laundry, cleaning, making a grocery list—all those glamorous things. Besides, someone needs to hold down the fort for a bit longer. But you two go ahead. Tell King I said hi and tell him to tell Samantha that I love the new book. I’m one of her ARC readers, you know.”
Her words made sense, but Brock had a sneaky feeling that there was more to Alicia than she let on. He couldn’t say for sure that she was lying, but he was sure there were things she wasn’t saying; things she didn’t want any of them to know. If she read Samantha’s books, she knew a lot about the lifestyle and had to be aware she was submissive.
“So, when does the new person start here at Cerberus?” Brock asked. “You shouldn’t be doing all the work.”
“I don’t mind. I’m kind of picky about who I want.”
“Brock is right. Your new job is more than just a clerical assistant. You’ve taken on training staff and acting as the liaison when the rest of us are out in the field. If you hadn’t alerted Brock and pinged Miley’s cell phone, well, I don’t want to think about what might have happened.”
Brock nodded. “You facilitate a lot of the interagency support and have shown yourself to be talented in critical research. Sully keeps threatening to steal you, and then Nigel and Royce threaten to kill him, then Fitz has to get involved—it’s a big mess.”
“Yeah, but we have her, and possession is nine-tenths of the law.”
“But if she wanted to go to London,” started Brock.
“Oh, I don’t. I love it here in Chicago, and I love working with you guys. Go on. I’ll be fine.”
Reluctantly Brock turned back to head out the door. He’d spent a lot of time talking to Alicia over the past couple of months and felt like he was really beginning to get to know her. He was glad to hear she wasn’t interested in London.
He liked talking to her. In fact, lately, he’d spent more time talking to her than playing in the club. He was still available for discipline sessions for those who needed it, but lately there had been no sexual component whatsoever—not even a blow job.
Shaking his head, Brock acknowledged that he’d like to do a whole lot more to and with her, but he didn’t think that could ever happen. For now, he was content to do without, but he wasn’t sure he could settle for a lifetime of vanilla sex.
Brock followed Seth out onto the dark street, vowing that he’d find out more about Alicia. What he had yet to figure out was, would it be for Cerberus or himself?
CHAPTER 2
ALICIA
Alicia watched as Brock turned away from her and followed Seth out into the dark of the early evening. It seemed Brock always turned away, but who could blame him. He was gorgeous: tall and brawny with dreamy hair and eyes a girl could fall into and never come out. And that voice—the one the other girls called his ‘Dom voice.’ That just made her want to curl up in his lap and stay there forever.
But girls like her didn’t end up in the laps of guys like Brock—not for an evening, much less a lifetime. Besides, she had more baggage than just the extra pounds she carried around. No, men like Brock went after girls like… well, Amber. Maybe not ones as conniving as Amber, but certainly the ones that looked like her.
The dance music was drumming through from the other side of the wall—the Club Southside section of the building. Sometimes Alicia thought it got so loud that it seemed the very walls vibrated. She’d told Seth and Brock a little white lie. All her reports were already finished, collated and sent to Sully in London.
Waiting to be sure Seth and Brock were gone, Alicia walked to the front doors that led into the Cerberus portion of the building and locked them, setting the alarm for her side from behind the reception desk.
Alicia needed to get next door; she’d asked one of the subs to cover the reception desk for the club. Amber was late… again. She slipped through the door between the two parts of the building.
“Thanks, Carla. I appreciate you watching the desk.”
“It’s not a problem, Alicia, but you can’t just keep covering for Amber.”
“I know, but she was my first hire on my own, and I’d like to make sure that there isn’t something I can do to make this work out for all of us.”
“Good luck with that,” said Carla. “Mind a piece of advice?”
Alicia wasn’t a fool. Carla was the head of human resources for a large financial firm in the city.
“I’d love to hear anything you have to say.”
“Well, first, hiring somebody is always a crap shoot, and Amber is the perfect example.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’ll bet she had a great resume.” Alicia nodded. “Terrific references?” Again, Alicia nodded. “And she gave the perfect answers to all your questions and was so friendly and personable…”
