Page 28 of Defended

He cleared his throat, sounding only a little hesitant. "What's wrong, Melody?"

"My sharpie is missing."

The expression on Corey's face almost made her burst out laughing. He so badly wanted to roll his eyes, but he was too afraid to, and he was caught somewhere between his fear of her and his total disdain for her purple sharpie. Of course, he had his favorite sharpie too. They all did. Hers just happened to be purple.

“Sorry, Melody,” Katherine said, walking into the room and holding out the marker in front of her like a peace offering. Corey immediately relaxed and went back to his current experiments with the flow cytometer, secure in the knowledge that he wasn’t about to blamed for the missing sharpie. “Just borrowing it, I promise.”

“Mmmm… I’m watching you,” Melody teased, taking her beloved marker back. Well, half-teased. She was mostly joking.

Sharpies were serious business though. Especially in the lab. The good ones had a propensity to go missing. It was better that Katherine had it than someone else though. Her mentor would always return it.

Before she could say anything else, the door opened and McCready popped his head in, his beady gaze sweeping over the room. His eyes lit up when they landed on her and Melody had to suppress a full body shudder.

“Yes, Trevor, did you need something?” Katherine asked politely, hands on her hips. The warm teasing that had just been in her voice was now utterly absent.

“No, no,” McCready said, smiling unctuously as he shifted his gaze to her. “Just seeing who is around.”

Before anyone could respond, he had already beaten a swift retreat.

Melody glanced at her advisor, but Katherine was still staring at the door where McCready had just been, her lips pressed in a thin line. Then she finally turned back to Melody.

“If he bothers you, you make sure you tell me.” She gave Melody a hard look. Melody nodded immediately. Even though McCready had tenure and Katherine didn’t, the man seemed a little afraid of her. Heck, right now, Melody was a little afraid of her. Katherine might make a good Domme.

And now she was picturing her advisor in leather with a crop in hand.

She needed to get her act together.