Chapter 7
Ethan
I avoid her like the plague for the next two weeks.
She was right, I'd deliberately tweaked the schedules to place her the furthest away from me that she could be. But now, even for the team meetings that she is likely to be in, I make sure I’m either not there or she isn’t.
Will, my personal assistant does my scheduling, and without having to say much to him, he started picking up on my need to be away from her, albeit for the wrong reasons.
We are in my office discussing the week’s schedule when he tells me that Bonnie has been asking for a meeting to discuss my requirements for a system update.
“Get Saj on it.”
“Mr. Hawthorne, about that…” he begins.
“Ethan.” He can’t seem to remember to call me by my first name.
“Ethan, are you sure about continuing to put those two together? They already spend a ridiculous amount of time with meetings and training sessions.”
“Meaning?” I ask.
“I think Sajid likes her.” My heart wrenches with an unfamiliar feeling before I get a chance to apply reason to his statement.
Saj is married, happily so. He’s crazy about his wife. He’s not lusting after Bonnie. Besides, Saj is like a child when he has a crush, he can’t hide his feelings for shit.
I watch Will until he squirms. Then, I start to laugh. “Will! You’re jealous of all the time she spends with Saj because you like her!” He blushes hard.
Christ!
The whole tech floor is suddenly high on pheromones. Not only is Bonnie killing it with her work and deadlines, she’s also littering the floor with hard-ons and broken hearts. I’ve caught the tail end of the guys' chatter in the break rooms and while waiting for meetings to start, and more times than I find comfortable, it’s about her.
Even fucking Owen Foster isn't immune. And now, my own PA.
Even you, the voice in my head accuses .
She certainly left me with a raging boner and an unquenchable thirst for her that night in the kitchen two weeks ago.
Right before my eyes, I saw her go from livid to being overwhelmed with desire. Then I saw her retreat in fear, only to finally emerge as a brazen, demanding sex vixen.
I was intrigued by her mind before. Right now I just might be obsessed.
I now know that she puts up a front when she’s uncomfortable with something. I'm fixating on thoughts of tearing down those defenses.
It's crazy, but want her naked, fully exposed, and unable to hide from me. I want her hot and needy and trusting.
But to get her there, I will have to give up some control.
Because she needs control, too. That much was clear as day from what happened two weeks ago.
But why was she scared?
Will's voice pulls me out of my thoughts, but instead of responding to his query of which I didn't hear a single word, I say, “Don’t worry about Saj, Will. You just worry about getting your eyes off Ms. Russo. Is that clear enough?”
“Yes, sir. Still on the topic of Ms. Russo, though,” he says apologetically.
“What is it?”
“She needs to come in and change out your hardware and do some software updates on your computer. That’s what she's been wanting to speak to you about.”
We, or rather, everyone else, had a security scare a couple of weeks ago. Since then systems security team decided to move our communications to a more secure platform and to upgrade our existing hardware.
I have no issues with that, the only problem is with my extra layer of security it can't be done remotely. It needs to be manually updated.
“Can’t Saj do it? No need to trouble her,” I suggest.
“I asked Saj already if he could do it, but says he’s trained Ms. Russo for that reason. Besides she's done the same for the other senior executives,” Will responds.
Fuck. I don’t want her in here, touching my things. It’s bad enough that thoughts of her are driving me to distraction.
Will knows about my obsessive need to have things returned to their original state—envelopes, packages, books, everything. So do all the senior partners, although they don’t know why.
“Fine, then. Find a time I’m away, and be sure to clean up here afterward.”
“I understand, sir.” He knows I mean to get rid of fingerprints.