Page 15 of The Devil After Dark

fourteen

LIANA

Roger was pacing the hallway outside our offices.

He often did this before important client meetings when he was nervous.

I was nervous today too. Cassio Padovano wanted a meeting to potentially hire our firm.

Cassio the man I had been fantasizing about.

Cassio the man who continually sent his private car to ferry me to and from work.

He confused the hell out of me. Who just sends their private car for someone who is practically a stranger?

Cassio had also given Thea next to no information on what he specifically might need our firm for.

The last thing I wanted was to look like a complete dumbass in front of the man I was crushing on—who just so happened to be one of, if not the richest men in this entire province.

Gods I was pathetic and now I was going to have to face this crush of mine in a professional capacity.

Was I going to be able to hide the fact that I masturbated to the thought of him each night?

I had exactly zero sexual encounters in the last how many years?

And now I had a masked man in my bedroom and a wealthy magic wielder monopolizing my thoughts.

I had been completely fine without sex and now I could not get it off my mind.

“Roger, you have to stop pacing,” I called out my office door. He stopped and glared at me before an embarrassed smile crossed his lips. “The steps are probably good for your health, but I can see your blood pressure rising from here.”

“Liana, do you realize how big of an account this could be?” Roger asked as he entered my office in an attempt to stop his nervous pacing.

“Huge. You need to calm down. He might also be a huge pain in the ass. Clients that ask for quick meetings with minimal context usually are,” I reminded him.

“Yeah but you are very good with those clients, Liana,” Roger retorted.

“Remind me to start doing a bad job so they fire us and I don’t have to deal with them anymore,” I said as I rolled my eyes. Roger just chuckled. “Okay, deep breath Roger. Let’s go wait at the lift. He will be here any minute.”

Cassio was right on time. The lift door opened to reveal him in another absurdly expensive suit that was custom made to fit his tall and muscular body.

My eyes caught on his tattooed hands then trailed their way up his torso to his tattooed neck.

He had to be roughly six feet five inches tall.

My masked man seemed just as tall and large.

How many six feet five inch men were there in this city?

There was no way Cassio was my masked man, right?

That was just wishful thinking. By the time my eyes reached his, he was looking straight back at me with something of an amused smirk on his face.

I realized Roger was introducing us and Cassio extended his hand. I shook it firmly in mine as I greeted him, “Mr. Padovano, it’s wonderful to see you again. I am excited to hear how we might be able to assist you and your business.” I sounded so confident I wanted to give myself a high-five.

“Oh. Do you two know each other?” Roger asked as he gave me a look that screamed, “ Why didn’t you say something?”

“Our paths have crossed,” Cassio replied smoothly with a teasing smile.

CASSIO

So Liana was willing to admit we had already met and Roger was clearly surprised by this.

Her eyes had also lingered long enough to make me wonder if she was putting the pieces together that it was me in her bedroom at night.

I followed Roger to the conference room at the end of the hall as Liana trailed us.

“After you,” I said as I held the door for her.

She gave me a practiced smile and slipped into the room.

I still had not decided how hard I was going to make this on her.

I wanted to push her and see what she was made of, but also I didn’t want her to look bad in front of her boss.

This meeting was mostly to give me an excuse to be around Liana—and an excuse to see if she had figured out I was the one visiting her at night.

As I began telling them about my new housing development project I watched Liana.

It became very clear that I was not going to be able to read her like I wanted to.

Then came the part where every question or challenge I threw her way she responded to with poised professionalism.

She didn’t have all of the answers, but the way she handled my bullshit made me wildly impressed.

“I will need this analysis by tomorrow evening if I am to move forward with your group. There are a few other firms I’m considering hiring long term, but I don’t have time to wait,” I leveled at Roger.

It was one last attempt to see if they would accommodate me.

My asks were ridiculously needy, but it seemed like they were accustomed to needy clients.

Roger glanced sideways at Liana, then back at me.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Padovano. I do not want to waste your time, but Liana will have to tell us if that is even possible.

She is our busiest associate and I am not one to abuse her time,” Roger said with a bite before turning back to Liana.

Good, Roger respected her and stood up for her.

That was one less man I needed to worry about in her life.

I held back my smirk as I also turned to Liana.

Her face was unbelievably neutral. “I can have a preliminary report for you tomorrow evening. When you decide to work with us in an on-going capacity I am sure I can find the time outside of regular business hours to meet with you as well.” When, not if.

She was confident and calculated with her words.

And my beautiful woman really did not have a life outside of work if she was willing to accommodate meetings for me outside of regular hours.