8. Hot Pastrami
Sacha
It’s almost 9 PM, and I’m sitting in my office, staring at a pile of documents, again. The dry recycled air from the AC rattles in my chest. I loosen my tie.
“Just take it off,” Ness grumbles. “There’s no one left in the office to see you in mild disarray.”
I scowl in his general direction. He doesn’t take his eyes off of his laptop screen.
“We wouldn’t be here if I’d just worked last Saturday,” I mutter, but then I wouldn’t have seen Bailey’s home, met her cat, or her roommate, or learned anything about her life.
Ness and I have been hashing out the final details of this presentation for far too long. The office has been empty for hours, it’s only filled with the colorful rays of the sunset through the wide windows, when an unexpected knock comes from my office door.
“Who is it?” I snap, irritated at being disrupted.
“Sorry for the interruption,” Bay says. “It’s only me, sir.”
Dammit. I love it when she calls me sir.
“Ms. Thorn, you shouldn’t be here this time of day. I thought you went home hours ago.” I glance to the door, she’s cast in the golden rays of the setting sun. How does she always look so beautiful?
Ness finally looks up from his computer, stretches his arms, and leans back against his seat to get a better view of the scene.
“Midnight oil, sir. If you are staying late, I thought I could catch up on some work, and be here if you needed anything.” Bailey steps into the office with a small smile on her lips. She’s painted them bright red today.
“I’m sure I could think of something Sacha needs.” Ness curves his long neck to watch me. I could kill him.
“That was thoughtful, Ms. Thorn, but we don’t need anything.” I manage not to say that I need her to scream my name while I’m inside her.
“Well, I thought you might need dinner?” Bay holds up a brown paper bag that smells like heaven.
“Food?” I grumble at the same time that my stomach does.
“Just a bagel, with cream cheese and lox.”
I sniff the air. “Toasted?” I don’t know which smells better, the food or her.
“Of course. You always get it toasted.” She smiles lightly.
She remembers my order. I could kiss her.
I really want to kiss her.
“What did you bring for me?” Ness asks with a smirk.
Bay turns to him in surprise, seeming to realize he is there.
“Sorry, I didn’t think…Can I get you something, Mr. Loch?”
Ness watches her with a heat in his eyes that makes me furious.
“Thank you, Ms. Thorn.” I step between Bay and Ness to block his view, my hand out to retrieve my dinner, pausing just as I wrap my fingers around the paper bag. “How did you get this?”
Her nose scrunches. “It was just a quick ten minutes to the deli across the street. I didn’t think you’d mind if I took a break. I was getting something for dinner for myself; I thought you might want something too.”
“Don’t do that again.” I pull back my empty hand and move toward my desk.
“Sorry, sir,” she says quietly, “I didn’t think you would mind if I took a quick break for food. I just got carryout. I’m going to eat it at my desk?—”
I jerk open my desk drawer and pull out the envelope for discretionary funds. “Ms. Thorn, you aren’t in trouble, but you shouldn’t be using your personal money to buy me food.”
I cross the room and replace the bag in her hand with my credit card.
“The company makes allowances for these types of purchases. Please, in the future use this.”
“Oh! Okay. Certainly, Mr. Kwatch.” She smiles softly and meets my gaze, her blue eyes glittering. I wonder if she likes to make eye contact when she gives head. I’d love to see her look up at me like that with my cock in her mouth. “Please, let me know if I can do anything else.”
“Well, if the Amex is on the table,” Ness says, “then order us dinner from Nobu.”
“Is that…what you want me to do? I can find the phone number, or—” she asks, seeming confused.
“Don’t indulge him. Just get him a sandwich from the deli too.”
“Hot pastrami,” Ness says begrudgingly. “Extra pickles.”
“Absolutely.” Bay hurries from the room, her hips sway in a pair of pants that perfectly hugs her ass. I long to wrap both hands around that ass, spread her legs, and sink into her.
“Was that the company black card?” Ness asks when the door closes behind her.
“She’s my assistant. She needs to be able to purchase things for me.”
“You gave your other secretaries access to the company card?”
“None of my recent assistants have lasted long enough to justify it,” I mutter.
He snorts before turning back to his computer.
“She passed all the background checks we ran. I don’t see a problem with it.” The company has strict security protocols to eliminate any possible ties to certain competitors, or some of our customers’ competitors.
“Not a problem! I just love how clueless you can be.” He moves his computer from his lap before he stretches his long legs wide.
“Clueless about what?”
“The crush situation.” He waves his hand through the air gesturing to the room in general.
“I’m not interested in her.” I scowl, not wanting to rehash this argument with him. I don’t want to talk to Ness about fated mates, not when his rejected him years ago.
“I mean the lass.” He grins slyly. “She likes you.”
“No—” I spare a glance to the door to see if it’s possible she heard. “Do you think so?” I’ve had a few human girlfriends. Some humans certainly don’t mind sleeping with cryptids, and this woman, who is meant to be mine, might be one of them?
“Oh, mister boss man, I just thought you might be hungry…” Ness mocks in a breathy voice, fluttering imaginary eyelashes at me.
“You’re being ridiculous.” Unless he’s right. I’d love for him to be right. I can’t stop fantasizing about her. My cock is getting tired of the constant self abuse it’s received when I think of her.
“She’s different than the other females you’ve dated. The human women or the other ones,” he says. “I like it. I think it’s good for you.”
“Different how?”
“First of all, she’s not some stuck-up rich kid,” he mutters. “She’s actually nice.”
“She’s too nice,” I say. “She wouldn’t like dating a monster.” She won’t appreciate the things I want to do to her. There’s a driving need inside me to rut her like a beast—to claim her, knot her, chase her through the woods and ruin her for anyone but me.
“Pft,” Ness dismisses me, “don’t underestimate nice girls. They can get wild too. Give her a chance.”
If only it were that simple. Bailey is the only one for me. I will only get one chance, I have to be sure not to fuck it up. I just hope I can keep it together long enough to wait for the perfect opportunity.