Page 34 of My Office Rival (Keep Your Enemy Closer #2)

JASON

C ynthia and I had reached a tentative truce at work.

I hesitated to call it friendship exactly, because being friends with the work version of Cynthia was like befriending a rabid lioness.

But her emails to me now included punctuation, and she had stopped talking to me like I was an eight-year-old who had suddenly been staffed on a merger.

For my part, I was making a concerted effort not to torment her.

In fact, I was having to make an effort not to think about her at all, which wasn’t helped by the fact that she seemed to be everywhere.

In the kitchen when I needed water, smiling at me and looking too gorgeous to handle, walking back from the bathroom when I was headed there, forcing me to sidle by her in the hallway.

I was rapidly coming to realize that having sex with her again had fundamentally broken something in me.

I thought about her constantly. She was a forbidden fruit I couldn’t have, and of course, I wanted her even more because of it.

Had I been unaffected before? It was hard to imagine.

She’d turned the tables on me now. She seemed to revel in innuendo, and her skirts got shorter every day.

Just this morning, she’d asked me to grab some paper towels in the kitchen because she was “all wet. ”

My phone dinged. It was her. My hand hovered over the phone, and I flipped it over.

I was not going to look. I was going to work.

I clicked into my email and started preparing an update for Nisha.

She was the co-head of our group and the senior partner on most of Mitchell’s clients.

I lasted two minutes before I opened my phone to see her message.

Cynthia

It’s freezing in here. Does your client not make enough to keep the heat on?

The side of my mouth kicked up.

Jason

I actually told them to turn it off on your side of the floor.

Cynthia

Careful. I might make you switch offices with me.

Jason

Not a chance. There’s a window in here. I’m living in luxury. You’ll have to kill me first.

Cynthia

I can be very persuasive.

A frisson of excitement went through me. Damn, she was fun. I should not have been texting her right now, and somehow that made it better. That always made it better.

Jason

I’m listening…

Her typing bubble appeared and then disappeared. I waited with bated breath.

Cynthia

Well, if I can’t convince you, I could always tie you to the table .

I was instantly hard. Did she have any idea what she was doing to me?

I dismissed the thought. She didn’t know about my predilections, but I couldn’t help but wonder…

would she ever want to try that? Images of her leaning over me filled my head.

I would ask her to tighten the restraints just to the edge of pain, just to the point where my hips could piston into her, but that was all, just to the point where I could finally lose control.

She might. Arousal sang through my blood.

Of any woman I had met outside the apps, she might be the most suited to playing.

Stop. If two nights meant I couldn’t stop thinking about her, three nights would have me obsessed with her.

For just a second, I let myself fantasize.

Ignore all the reasons we couldn’t be together.

Pretend I wouldn’t get fired for fraternizing with her.

What if I weren’t fundamentally broken? We could be so good.

I gritted my teeth, responded “haha,” and went back to work.

An hour later, I was waiting outside of Gene Delafonte’s office while he chewed someone out on the phone, loudly, and without a care as to who might hear him.

I guess no one was typically in this office to overhear anything.

Just another oddity to add to my list. Gene seemed to be here just a few hours a day, storming around the halls in his oversized suits and gold necklace.

“Then make sure it fucking stays quiet!” His voice rose, and I heard a muffled response from the other person on speaker phone.

“I will make this your problem.” He lowered his voice slightly, and I strained to hear. “This will not be the thing that takes this company down. We’re almost out and this needs to go smoothly. Handle it.”

He slammed the receiver down and I jumped. That sounded bad. That sounded…illegal. Fuck . Maybe I was taking it out of context. I waited a few minutes and then made my steps audible as I approached the door and knocked.

“Yeah, come in. ”

I entered to find Gene finishing a sandwich, mustard on his tie and his feet up on the desk.

“What’s up?” Gene asked. No ‘how are you,’ no attempt to be polite. This man was a slug. I schooled my face and unbuttoned my jacket before I sat. I hated dealing with Gene, but the company didn’t have a lawyer and he was our main point of contact.

“I want to walk through some of the revisions the TJR team requested on the purchase agreement.”

“Those idiots.” He snorted and took a bite of his sandwich.

“Yes.” I gave him a slight, forced smile, so he knew I was on his side, even though I normally didn’t tolerate this type of behavior from clients.

He raised a brow, and I opened my copy of the document Cynthia had sent over this morning.

“So I know we’ve been pretty tight on what we’ve provided during diligence, but it’s leading to some unusually strict representations in the agreement.

” I kept my voice neutral and made sure to use “we” so he knew I wasn’t antagonizing him.

What I really meant was, “you’re being an unreasonable ass, so of course the other side picked up on it. ”

“Such as?” He smirked.

“They’re making an aggressive request on the litigation representations. Is there anything else we can give them in the diligence materials so they have more comfort?”

“Nope. We don’t get sued. We handle shit before it gets to court.” He sounded smug.

Well, that was ominous.

“Okay, what about the environmental hazard reports for the store sites? We didn’t produce anything saying the city had signed off on the environmental analysis for the new stores.

Those are a significant part of the expansion plan.

They’re asking for substantial concessions if we don’t produce them.

We’re talking several million dollars if it turns out the reports weren’t obtained.

” As well they should, because failing to follow the city rules meant the chain couldn’t expand.

A flash of irritation crossed Gene’s face, but he masked it and smoothly responded, “No one at the city had any issues. I’ll see what I can find.”

“That would be great.” Asshole. I cleared my throat. “Last item is the employment contracts. It says here that no employees are to be retained above the store level. So no one in corporate? Is that right? Argan is going to make us pay if they have to replace everyone.”

“Yes, it’s right.” I could see his irritation growing with me, and I tamped down my response.

“Gene, this is all highly unusual. We have to be more forthcoming, or we won’t be able to push this acquisition through.”

“I thought that’s what we paid you for.” His words were daggers.

“Yes, but I can only work with what I’m provided.” I clenched my jaw. “If there’s anything else you think could help us out, please send it along. We’ll review everything before it goes to the other side.” My patience was admirable.

“Well, golly gee, I’ll just get right on that.” He turned to his computer. “Now, if that’s all, I have some actual work to do.”

Stone-faced, I rose and escorted myself out, icy with rage. This guy was such a fucking prick. If only he weren’t my client. I’d love to get just one good punch in.

I strode through the halls and ended up at Cynthia’s office. Why was I even here? I rapped my knuckles against the door. I couldn’t be alone with my thoughts right now.

“Come in. Oh, it’s you.” Her voice was a little breathless, and a spark of heat went through me.

“It’s me. Can we get lunch? I need a break.”

Her eyes went wide. I guess because I never took breaks. Am I letting on too much? Screw it. I was done with Gene.

“Sure, of course.” Something in my black expression must have spurred her into action, because she scrambled up and we quickly headed outside into the crisp air. I took a shuddering breath when we finally exited the building.

“Are you finally losing it on me? Is it the cows? You can tell me. I promise to only partially use it against you.” Her voice was dry and teasing, and I huffed a laugh .

“No, Gene Delafonte is just a raging dick.” Deep breaths. In and out. Don’t let the anger control you. “Let’s walk for a few minutes. The diner is just ten minutes down the road.”

We headed down the street in silence, my longer strides eating up the pavement.

“Slow down,” she protested. “I wore my flats today, but I’m not a long-distance runner like you.”

I turned to see Cynthia a few steps behind me, giving me a baleful glare, as she did her best to keep up in her navy skirt suit and flats.

Her murderous expression drew a helpless laugh from me, and she glared harder.

“Is something funny, counselor? Perhaps I have something on my face? I’ll have you know, I’m a very fast walker normally. It’s this stupid skirt. I feel like a penguin.” She made an awkward waddling motion.

“Stop, stop.” My stomach hurt from laughing. A welcome change from the murderous rage I felt around my client.

She rolled her eyes, but kept going. “Try to keep up,” she tossed over her shoulder and I followed, entranced by her. I made sure to shorten my strides and not leave her in the dust again.

After a few minutes of walking side-by-side, she glanced over. “So, what’s up?”

I speared a hand through my hair. I couldn’t be as honest with her as I would like. She was opposing counsel, and I had a duty to my client to keep my suspicions to myself.

“I just had a very difficult conversation with Gene. He’s a raging asshole. He makes me want to break something every time I talk to him.”

She made a considering sound. “I think he cultivates that personality.”

“I’m not sure.”

“So you think he’s what…a thug? No way. It’s an act.” She sounded incredulous.

“The possibility had occurred to me,” I said darkly.

In fact, it was exactly what I thought. Everything we had reviewed led me to believe that something was amiss.

The empty office, the bizarre requests from Gene, the threats, the lack of information from his team.

What if they didn’t have the records Cynthia had requested because they didn’t exist?

Because they had paid or threatened people to get sign off for any new construction?

If that were the case, I was well and truly screwed, assuming I reported my clients to the partners, or if Cynthia found out.

She could not find out . Not before I knew how to handle this.

“Come on,” she exclaimed, shaking those fiery curls.

“Gene’s just an asshole. The whole Tony Soprano thing, yeah, it’s ridiculous.

” She shrugged. “But it’s not like he’s running a criminal enterprise out of the world’s shittiest office building in the middle of nowhere.

Wouldn’t someone have caught on to that by now?

I mean, how did they even get past the initial screening the firm sets up for its clients and the source of their funds? ”

“That’s a good point,” I said slowly. We did screen for money laundering before taking on new clients.

“I know,” she said and grinned.

Her utter self-assuredness had my lips curving up despite myself. “Got it all figured out, eh?”

“Of course I do,” she tossed back. Her eyes sparkled and I let myself be distracted by her for just a minute.

Her hair was like living flame and her plush bottom lip begged for me to press my thumb against it.

A flash of heat went through me. Our first night together.

That full lip dragging over the head of my cock.

“You need to stop worrying and live a little more in the moment, Jason. Gene’s just being an asshole. And you aren’t going to punch him in the face, because that would most definitely get you fired. But maybe we can pin his face to a dartboard or something?”

“Great idea. You print the photo. I’ll buy the darts.”

“Deal.”