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Jillian looked like she was considering planting her feet and refusing to leave, but Kent snorted on the way out. “I’ll get everyone coffee,” he called. “Requests, bossman?”

“Don’t care.”

“New guy?” Kent asked.

“Anything’s fine,” Dakota said. His voice broke a little. He was nervous—smelled like it, too. Sharp and worried and... was he embarrassed?

Okay, that didn’t seem like a guy with a grand master plan. But how could this be pure coincidence?

“Got it,” Kent said. “Two mega big cup soy mocha choka lattes or something.”

Jillian spared me one more worried look before she sighed. “I’ll make sure he gets you something normal.”

She left, shutting the door behind everyone, and I still waited until I knew they were out of earshot. For werewolves, that meant a long and awkward silence stretched between Dakota and me while he went pale, his heart rate sped, and my jaw started aching again.

“Last night,” I snipped when we were well and truly alone, “did you know who I was?”

“What?” Dakota started. “How the hell would I have known who you are?”

“Well, you showed up at Howl the night before starting here. Seems like a hell of a coincidence.”

“Right, sure. I totally knew who you were and where you’d be.” Dakota crossed his arms, leaning back enough that my wolf whined high in my head. Wrong direction. We were fucking this up.

“You could’ve.”

“Are you accusing me of something?” he demanded.

“I don’t know,” I shot back. “Should I?”

5

Dakota

My eyes narrowed at the man before me. My boss. No, more like my boss’s boss. But also, a man accusing me of something fishy on my very first day on the job, just because I’d gone to a random club and... picked him up, of all the people in there, the day before I started working for him.

Okay, I could see where that looked weird.

But dammit, I hadn’t done anything wrong, and I wasn’t going to be accused of it, either.

“Just what am I supposed to have done, then? Is sleeping with a hot guy I met at a club a crime now? What, do you think I’m going to demand a raise because I know you’ve not-so-secretly got a big dick?” My cheeks flushed even as I said the words, and I couldn’t believe my own fucking audacity, but dammit,I hadn’t done anything wrong.

I sure as hell wasn’t going to let the first time I’d done anything for myself in my whole fucking life turn into a bad thing.

No. That wasn’t allowed. It had all been so very good right up until I’d walked into the conference room. Even the ache in every step had been a delicious reminder of the night I’d had.

He frowned at me, like I was being deliberately obtuse. “Well, do you work for Igarashi? Are you?—”

I barked out a laugh. “What, just because I look Japanese? Newsflash, I grew up right here in the bay. My adoptive parents are whiter than you, and I’ve never even met anyone named Igarashi. My last name is Morris, for fuck’s sake. I learned Japanese in college, not because I lived there.” I threw my hands up. “Are you honestly expecting... what, corporate espionage? The world’s clumsiest corporate espionage ever? You’ve met me. You know my name and control my future employment. What underhanded thing do you think I’m up to?”

Oh hell, he controlled my future employment.

The single man I’d ever had sex with in my life controlled my future employment.

I was fucked and a half.

He stopped and cocked his head at me, mildly confused, but didn’t explain what it was he thought I was up to by having slept with him and then showing up to work.

I spread my arms wide as though to offer myself up as a target. “Well?”