Chapter 33
Chapter Thirty-Three
Adeline
I hop in the elevator with my son going to the top floor.
Taylor seems reluctant to hand him over, and I laugh at her when she pouts, knowing she now actually has to do some work.
The doors open on the way up, and Bella steps in before also pressing the button to my floor. She looks rather flustered.
“You okay?” I ask her.
“Yes, just so much going on. I am having issues outside of work as well. It is just getting to me, and now I find out that this Latham person will be sharing my office with me. I can barely think in his presence. How the heck am I going to get any work done?” she says, pinching the bridge of her nose and blowing out a breath in frustration while tapping her foot.
“He isn’t that bad,” I tell her, though I doubt he is going to be as well-mannered as he is around me.
He had Cyrus and Eli to warn him away, but I know Bella is on her own and Latham will be unstoppable.
I find it a little strange, considering Latham says he doesn’t want anyone, but he seems rather interested in Bella.
She is beautiful with red curly hair, though today, she’s actually straightened it, and it sits in the middle of her back.
She looks tired, though, and I can tell she hasn’t been sleeping.
I have never seen her this tired before, making me wonder what is going on outside of work that has her up all night.
Her phone starts ringing, and she glances at it before rejecting the call.
Halfway up, it rings again, and she rejects it, but I catch a glimpse of the name this time. Brian.
“Ex?” I ask her, nodding to her phone.
“I wish. He would be easier to deal with. No, it’s my brother.”
“The one that was in prison?”
I know she hates talking about her family, and her brother is a touchy subject, seeing as he killed her father when they were teens.
She’s never mentioned her mother, so I am not sure about her, but I can’t bring myself to ask her.
All I know is that her brother went to jail as a teen, and ever since, he has been in and out of jail. I haven’t realized he is back out.
“What’s he want?”
“What he always wants. Money and time. Possibly wanting me to bail him out again,” she says, just as the doors open.
Latham, Blaine, and Xavier are waiting in the foyer with Cyrus, talking among themselves.
“Finally. Bella, can you show Latham to your shared office and find a place for these two? And when you are done, come see me, please,” Cyrus tells her.
Bella nods, and Cyrus comes over before taking our son and walking toward Eli’s office.
I watch Bella, who looks quite intimidated by them, and I would be, too.
Little does she know she is about to start working with Latham, and I just hope he behaves and keeps his hands to himself.
Little does Bella know he is also a demon, all three of them are, yet I am curious why Blaine and Xavier haven’t been asked to leave yet.
I step inside Eli’s office, closing the door and wondering what is going on.
“Everything sorted?” Eli asks Cyrus, who nods, sitting on the couch with our son.
“Yes, Bella is taking them down now.”
“What? Are all of them going to be working here?” I ask.
I knew they would submit to Latham’s demands but didn’t think they would actually agree about Blaine and Xavier. Damn, Bella is going to have her hands full with those three; I actually feel bad for her but know Eli has his reasons.
“Yes, they all will be working here. Besides, Bella could probably use the help. She looks rather tired,,” Cyrus adds, and I nod in agreement. I wonder what is going on with her.
* * *
Bella
I am furious. How the hell am I supposed to work with them and have them all on the same floor?
They give me the creeps, and to work with this Latham person will be impossible.
I can already tell he is a cocky, infuriating man by the smirk on his beautiful face.
I stare at them, looking them over, trying to figure out where to put the other two.
“Xavier,” says the blond-haired one.
He is all muscle but leaner. And who wears a singlet to a corporate business?
He holds his hand out for me to shake, and I grip his fingers, giving it a little shake.
I don’t want to touch them. My thoughts run rampant with desire I haven’t felt in ages.
His blue-green eyes are watching me. He has flames tattooed up his exposed arms and over his chest. Gosh, he smells nice.
The man beside him clears his throat, and I realize I still have a hold of this man’s fingers. I hastily drop my hand, forcing my gaze away from him to look at the man beside him.
“Blaine,” he says, offering his hand, but I fold my hands across my chest, wanting nothing more than to get away from them. Blaine is just as intimidating.
Where did Eli and Cyrus find these men? At the gym?
Do they live there? They definitely don’t look like they belong here.
I give him a once-over, trying to be discreet.
His eyes are so dark, endless pools of black.
He has short-cropped dark hair, his fringe falling in his eyes that twinkle oddly back at me.
“Bella,” I tell him, tearing my gaze from him to look at the one I know as Latham.
His hair is longer, his skin darker, the color of mocha, and he reminds me of a Viking with the way his hair is braided neatly.
Damn, I wish my hair was that long. I want to run my fingers through it.
It sits just above his lower back. He has high cheekbones and thick eyelashes, his eyes gray like storm clouds, yet they are set hard as he glares at the other two men.
Does he not like them? I thought they all knew each other.
“Well, shall we head down?” Latham asks, motioning toward the elevator.
I nod, pulling my head from my daydreams, shaking off the strange feeling that has me feeling quite damp between my thighs. I push the button, and they step in and seem to take up all the space in it, forcing me to be pressed against Blaine.
I try to reach around Latham to press the button to the floor we need to go to but only manage to press into his back.
“Space. Seriously, move over and stop rubbing up against me,” I snap, becoming quite overwhelmed.
Latham presses the button before turning around to face me.
I want to shrink under his intense gaze.
Something tells me he is dangerous. No, it doesn’t tell me; it screams at me that something is seriously off about him—something sinister that makes my skin prickle and a cold shiver run up my spine.
I shut my mouth suddenly, finding I can’t speak while he is watching me like that.
“Why, don’t you have quite the temper,” Latham says, and I glare back at him.
He presses closer, his scent overwhelming me.
“Someone has their panties in a knot. Would you like a hand with them?” he asks, and I gulp, his hand moving to my hip and his fingers playing with the waistband of my black slacks.
“Try it, and you won’t have a hand,” I warn him. I knew this impossible man was going to be a nightmare to work with and he is now proving it.
“I could always use my mouth,” he says, smiling deviously back at me. His smile is breathtaking, and I suddenly forget how to breathe before coming to my senses.
“I could always have you for sexual harassment. Eli and Cyrus don’t take kindly to men harassing their co-workers here, Latham. Keep that up, and you won’t last the day,” I warn him.
He smirks and goes to say something when my phone rings again. I answer it, using any distraction to break the weird eye contact.
“I have been ringing you all morning. Where the fuck have you been?”
I should have checked the call before answering. Latham is still staring at me, and he cocks his head to the side, his eyes narrowing. He steps away, and I see Blaine watching me curiously, too.
“Do you mind?” I ask him. He presses his lips in a line and turns around.
“Bella, where are you? I will come see you,” my brother snaps at me over the phone.
“That is none of your business. When did you get back out?”
“You don’t talk to me like that. Don’t forget what I did for you. You still live in the same place? I will be waiting for you when you get home,” he says before hanging up.
I shudder at the thought. My hands are shaking as I jam my phone back into my pocket when the doors suddenly open.
Latham hops out, and I step out after him. He is watching me with a strange expression on his face, and I notice the other two are always looking at me with the same look.
“Who were you on the phone to? You seemed…” He doesn’t finish; instead, his eyes dart to Blaine over my shoulder.
“This way,” I tell them, ignoring his question.
I walk down to my office before shoving my key in the lock, my hands trembling, knowing my brother will be waiting for me when I get home. Blaine suddenly takes the keys from me and unlocks my door after I fumble with the keys embarrassingly. He pushes the door open.
“Geez, what happened in here?” Latham asks, and I feel my face flush.
My office is a mess, with piles and piles of paperwork everywhere. I never seem to have time to file anything. I am becoming swamped with more and more work. I could actually use someone to share the workload, but why him?
“Yeah, sorry about that.”
Even the smaller desk is littered with paperwork. They look around, and Blaine pulls a stack of papers off the couch before sitting down.
“Where do you work exactly?” Xavier asks.
“You sure this isn’t the filing room?” Blaine adds, and I roll my eyes.
“I don’t have much time, and Troy, the old manager, was not very good with filing either,” I admit.
“So, you need a secretary?” Blaine asks.
“No, I am fine. I know where everything is. Don’t touch that,” I squeak, rushing over and slamming the door shut on Latham’s fingers as he goes to pry the drawer open.
“Ouch, what is in there?” he asks.
“Nothing that concerns you,” I tell him, locking it with the key. With everything going on, I only lock my door before rushing out to meet everyone downstairs.
“Well, until we figure out what to do with these two, they can help sort out this bloody mess,” Latham says.
They get up and start rummaging through everything, and it is infuriating; they just help themselves.
“I don’t need help. I already said it, if you don’t like the office, ask Eli to put you in another,” I tell him.
“No, I am fine here, and you do need help. Look at it. How can you work in this?” Latham says, looking at my trashed office, the bin overflowing with paper coffee cups. “Is your house this messy?”
“God no, that means I actually would have to live in it.”
Plus, at home, I can be the freak I am with my OCD.
I usually avoid the office and work around everyone else or elsewhere, just coming in here and leaving the filing before walking back out.
I prefer to work in the conference room.
When I was given this office, I opened the door and didn’t know where to begin sorting it without having a meltdown.
Man, if they see my house, all they would smell is bleach.
I am rarely home anyway with my workload.
Mainly just to change out of my clothes.
I have lost count of the number of times I have fallen asleep in the conference room and had to race home to get changed.
“You aren’t home much?” he asks, grabbing a stack of files and sorting them alphabetically.
I grab the next stack doing the same. “No, my hours are horrendous,” I admit.
“When was your last day off?” Blaine asks, sorting my desk.
It makes me nervous having them in here.
“Sunday, but usually I take work home with me,” I tell them.
Yeah, I am that boring. The only thing I am good at is my job. I work my ass off to prove I can do this job, and I am not about to let them ruin it with their godlike looks. They are going to be a distraction.
“With our help, hopefully, you can have more time off,” Blaine says.
I don’t answer. I don’t want time off, especially with my brother out. That will just give him more reason to force himself back into my life.
“How about you go get coffees and then come back?” Latham says.
“Do I look like a coffee bitch?” I snap at him. How dare he dismiss me from my own office even if I rarely use it? I hear the other two laugh at my words, and Latham raises an eyebrow at me.
“Regardless of what you look like, you need help. And I am offering it, so go get coffee. We will take care of this disaster,” he says.
I shake my head. I am not being kicked out of my own office by some newcomer who thinks he can do my job better than me.
“Get it yourself,” I tell him, folding my arms across my chest. He smirks before moving quickly. I find myself pressed against the desk, piles of documents falling onto the floor.
“I can see we are going to have fun working together, Bella, but since you seem to think I am trying to shove you out of your job, I will be nice just this once by letting your attitude go. But mind your tongue around me, or I will put it to better use,” he says, pressing himself against me.
I can feel the bulge in the front of his pants, and he bucks his hips against me, his hands on either side of my legs on the desk, trapping me. Why the heck do I find his words so arousing? My mind is flooded with inappropriate thoughts.
“Are we clear, Bella?”
“Crystal,” I tell him, shoving him back before storming out of the room.
I hear him laugh as I throw the door open. I need air. Damn it. I need coffee. These men are going to be the death of me, I think to myself while walking to the small kitchen and flicking the kettle on.