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“What are you doing?”
“I’ve been wanting to do this the entire ride here.” I lowered my head and pressed my lips to hers. She made a low noise in the back of her throat before melting against me. Martha shuddered and wound her fingers through my hair. I kept one hand on the small of her waist and the other cupped the back of her neck, a shiver racing up my spine.
I had no idea how long we stood there, drawing attention to ourselves in the middle of a crowded sidewalk. All I knew was that when she drew back, her face was flushed and her eyes alight with pleasure. I realized I couldn’t let her go into the building alone. Banks was probably counting on her crawling back to him with her tail between her legs, and I wanted to make sure he didn’t take advantage of her.
I needed to.
“I should go inside.” Martha stepped out of my arms and pushed her hair off of her shoulders. “I don’t want to be late for my first day back.”
“I’m coming with you,” I told her, with a lift of my chin.
Martha blinked. “I don’t think that’s a good idea. Mr. Banks is going to be pissed because of what happened last time.”
I draped an arm over her shoulders and squeezed. “He’s not going to do anything. Don’t worry. Besides, I’m not letting you go in there alone.”
Not when I knew what kind of man she was dealing with.
Martha opened her mouth to protest, then shook her head. “Nothing I say is going to make you change your mind, is it?”
“No.”
Martha sighed and stood up straighter. “Alright. Let’s go then.”
With that, she stepped away from me and hurried into the building. In the elevator, I kept brushing my hand against hers. The elevator doors pinged open, revealing a semi-empty floor with cubicles on either side, I quickened my pace to match hers. On the other side of the floor, I saw a glass office overlooking the entire floor and Banks sitting in it in his expensive suit, a phone pressed to his ear.
He glanced up when we stopped at the door and frowned.
When his gaze settled on me, I could see the anger radiating from him in waves. Then he sat up straighter, pulled the phone away from his ear, and set it down on his desk. With a frown, he picked up the landline on his desk and said something into it. A tall redhead materialized out of nowhere and smiled at us. She pushed the door to his office open and waited until we were inside.
“Will you be needing anything else, Mr. Banks?”
Banks shook his head and linked his fingers together over the table. “Thank you, Honey. Shut the door on your way out.”
“Yes, sir.” She stepped out of the room, and the door clicked shut behind her. Martha inched closer to me, and I resisted the urge to take her hand in mind. It was one thing to insist that I go with her into the office, intent on keeping her safe. It was another thing entirely for me to flaunt our relationship in front of her boss. Given that he had tried to make the moves on Martha himself, I doubted it was going to go well.
And Martha didn’t need another complication.
I was here to keep her safe, not rub Banks’ face in it.
Still, I could feel the weight of his gaze as he glanced between us, saying nothing. Eventually, he gestured to the chairs set up on the other side of his desk, and Martha stirred to life. She perched on the edge of her seat and folded her arms in her lap. After a brief pause, I took the seat opposite hers and leaned back.
Banks opened a drawer and rummaged around. He tossed a stack of papers onto his desk and cleared his throat. “Thank you for coming in, Ms. Auden.”
“I look forward to reaching a suitable agreement, Ms. Banks,” Martha replied in a clear voice. “Gent’sis a great magazine, and I want to be part of the process.”
Banks raised an eyebrow. “I don’t feel like you’re serious about that, Ms. Auden.”
Martha frowned. “What do you mean?”
“You don’t show up to work, and when you do show up, you bring someone else along? That’s extremely unprofessional.”
“She didn’t bring me along. I insisted.”
Banks’ cut his gaze to mine, and I saw a flicker of annoyance move across his face before he stamped it out. “I didn’t ask you.”
“Mr. Banks, I can ask Mr. Arkwright to leave if it’ll make things easier.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” I said without looking at her. “If Mr. Banks has a problem with me, he’ll have to have me dragged out of here. Otherwise, we can continue with the meeting.”
