Chapter 22
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Lianna smiled again. “I would be delighted to share a drink with you. I’ll be back as soon as I deliver this.” She held up the contract.
Two minutes. That’s how long it took her to return. Did she have clients waiting in another room or something?
She went to sit on the other side of Konni. Thankfully, he’d learned from the last time and stood, motioning for me to do the same.
“We’ve already shared a drink,” he said. “I’ll let you take the lead, Ms. Stonestock.”
He moved down a spot, and I followed, which put her between the clients and me. Not a hint of dissatisfaction showed on her face, but something still told me she wasn’t happy.
While they poured her a drink, the talk turned to business gossip, which was interesting to listen to.
Until it turned to TAS Solutions.
“I heard Steele Corp was suing for a data leak. Whatever happened with that?” the taller man asked.
“We dropped the lawsuit and are continuing to investigate internally,” Konni said. “It was bidding information, not client information.”
“I heard Elmantas nearly had a stroke,” the shorter guy said. Then he paused and looked at me. “Are you related?”
“He's her father,” Lianna said, calmly taking a sip of her drink.
All their gazes swung to me.
I smiled serenely, even though I wanted to claw the bitch’s eyes out.
“Since it’s an ongoing investigation, I can’t comment on anything other than to say I wasn’t involved and Steele Corp has recognized that.”
“I would need to be blind to think otherwise,” Konni said. “Steele Corp does everything possible to keep its talent.”
Lianna’s next sip was a bit bigger as talk shifted to Steele Corp talents and the marketing team Pennly had been working with.
When one of the men offered to refill my drink, I declined.
“I have to work in the morning, and my boss won’t believe any excuses I make for being late.”
They laughed as I’d hoped, and Konni set his drink down.
“Ms. Elmantas makes a good point.” He stood. “It’s been a pleasure, gentleman. We look forward to your decision.”
Following his lead, I moved toward the door.
“You’re going too, Ms. Stonestock?” Pennly said behind us.
“Steele likes to keep his talent close,” she said with a laugh.
What the hell was that supposed to mean?
Konni’s gaze swept over my face as we left, and I had the feeling I’d let some of what I felt show. Could he blame me, though? She was obnoxious in just about every way.
In the hallway, I kept my distance from Konni. She didn’t. She grabbed onto his arm, holding it as if he belonged to her.
“Would you mind giving me a ride? I sent my driver home.”
“So did I,” Konni said. “Ms. Elmantas, would you mind ordering a car for Ms. Stonestock?”
I wanted to chuck my phone at his head until I realized why he’d asked me. I wasn’t here as his plus one, but as his assistant, by my choice. One word from me and I knew he’d change my status in a heartbeat.
“Of course,” I said, pulling out my phone. “What’s the drop-off address?”
“The Steele Estate is fine,” she said. “We can share a ride, and I can visit your mom.”
Nope. Don’t use your phone as a weapon, Soph. You can’t afford to replace it yet.
“I’m not familiar with the address,” I said. “Can you—”
Konni took my phone, entered the address, and submitted the request.
I seethed and ordered myself a ride home, already planning the late-night venting call to Miranda.
As soon as we stepped outside, Lianna shivered lightly.
I didn’t. My rage was warming me from the inside. And if Konni took off his jacket to cover her, my rage would be keeping me warm in a jail cell tonight, too.
My phone dinged.
“Your car is here, Ms. Stonestock,” I said. Then I fought not to grin as I saw the car. It was mid-class nice, not the luxury option I’d selected for her.
“That?” she said with condemnation.
“It was the closest one,” Konni said. “You should go before you get any colder.”
She stared at him, her mouth open and her disbelief painfully obvious.
“You’re not going with me?”
“No. I have other obligations and already spoke to my mom earlier today. She’ll enjoy the visit, though.”
“What obligations?” she asked.
I slowly edged away from them, watching my phone for my car’s progress. Whatever Konni said to her was soft enough that I couldn’t hear, but it had her striding angrily toward the waiting vehicle. I switched over to her ride and gave the driver a generous tip as they drove off.
Konni chuckled, and I looked up to see him watching what I was doing over my shoulder.
My gaze narrowed on him.
He sobered. “You’re mad.”
“Steele likes to keep his talent close,” I mimicked. “We can share a car.” Then I grabbed his arm and pressed close to him with a quick pout.
His eyes started to glitter, and I pushed away from him. He caught my wrist, stopping me from going too far.
“Let go,” I said.
The air around him started to shimmer.
“How far away is the car?” he asked.
“Let go, and I’ll check.”
Instead of listening, he stole my phone, then towed me farther down the sidewalk to the shadowed place between lights, not that it hid us, but it did conceal his heatwaves.
“Humans don’t want possessive mates,” he said. “I understand and respect that. But my kind craves them. Do you know what it does to me when you’re jealous or possessive, Sophia?” His voice grew rougher with each word, and his need burned through me, centering its heat on my shoulder.
The mark.
His mark.
Our bond.
“The respect I have for you and your request to keep things unofficial is the only thing stopping me from—”
I clapped a hand over his mouth, and he licked my palm. I didn’t take my hand away.
“You don’t get to be turned on by my anger, Konni,” I said in a harsh whisper.
“I don’t have a lot of buttons, but she’s one of them.
You say you’re not blind? Do you think that contract really had to be signed tonight?
She came here because she didn’t want to be excluded.
She hates me because she wants you, and she sees me as an obstacle.
Which really makes me wonder what happened during the hiring process because she’s had a problem with me since day one. ”
Something flickered in his gaze.
“I knew it!”
I pushed his face away, and he caught my hands.
“Sophia, Steele Corp hired you fairly,” he said.
“Then what was that look for?”
“She overheard my call with Miranda about job openings and that I would tell the hiring manager to pay closer attention to your application.”
A car pulled up in front of us, and the guy rolled down the window to say my name.
“That’s me,” I said, tugging my hands free.
Konni hurried to open the door, then nudged me over to get in, too.
“I’m going to my house,” I said.
“I know.”
“You’re not staying at my house.”
“I know.” Konni reached into his suit pocket, took out his wallet, and handed the guy a hundred. “I’ll need a ride to my townhouse close to downtown once we drop her off.”
The guy looked at me, and I nodded.
“You’ve annoyed me more than your quota today,” I said to Konni as I settled into my seat.
“I’ll do better tomorrow.”
“Annoying me?”
He chuckled and picked up my hand to hold it, not saying anything until the driver pulled up in front of my house.
“I promise I’ll be alone tonight. You can check on me any time.”
“No thanks,” I said, opening my door. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
The car didn’t leave until I was inside.
“How was Nexus?” Mom asked from the other room.
“Good. Give me a minute to change, and I’ll share tonight’s drama.”
I did more than change. I checked the mark on my shoulder. It was even more vivid than before, visual proof that Konni was growing on me, and I wasn’t sure how I felt about it.
Over the course of the next two days, Konni was well-behaved, polite, and stuck to the boundaries I’d set. Which meant the Snack Pack also had breakfast waiting on their desks, and the door to Konni’s office stayed open whenever I was inside.
Because he’d had it removed.
The lack of privacy annoyed the hell out of Lianna to the point it was comical.
We could hear their conversation uncomfortably well.
It was only uncomfortable for me because I was thinking of my discussions with Konni while the door was open.
Hers always revolved around work—specifically, off-site meetings, with her.
“Lianna, for a third time, talk to Edi. He has my schedule. You’re wasting your time walking over here and my time asking me about a schedule I don’t manage.”
Her frustrated huff had me grinning at the K-keepers group chat on my screen.
B: You’d think she would give up already.
E: She didn’t rise to her position by being a quitter.
Me: Wasn’t her position handed to her because she knows Mr. Steele?
M: Close. She came in as a marketing lead. It took her six months to move to management and another four to become the VP.
I minimized the chat at the sound of her footsteps.
“Edi, is Mr. Steele able to meet clients tonight at six?”
“Unfortunately, he already has an off-site meeting tonight. If you let me know the client, I can coordinate a meeting time and place with them that fits his schedule and theirs.”
“That’s not necessary. Just print off his schedule for the next month, and I’ll figure it out.”
“Let them do their jobs, Lianna,” Konni called from his office.
It took everything I had to swallow my laughter.
She huffed another frustrated sigh.
“Fine. I’ll forward you the information. When is his door going to be fixed?”
“Oh, it’s not broken. He said that no one here respects a closed door, even with a lock, so why bother with it?”
The typing on the other side of the workstation went quiet as we all waited for her reaction.
All we got was the sound of her retreat. I waited until it faded before swiveling my chair to face Edi.
“I need a detailed play-by-play of her facial expression from the second she walked out the door until she walked away.”
“Oh, no-no. She didn’t walk away,” Bomir said. “She fumed away.”