I’d passed on approaching her then, but seeing her standing there in the lobby, I’d decided to flirt.
Why not? What would it hurt? It’d been too long since I’d gotten laid, and her smile promised sin wrapped in heaven.
Now, despite my doubts about her, my body remembered how ready it’d been to take, take, take, and I struggled to shut it off. I struggled to focus. She consumed my thoughts. The night after the restaurant, she’d come to me in my dreams, leaving me to wake up with an aching hard-on I’d been forced to relieve.
I’d thought about her more than I wanted to and hadn’t even spoken to her.
And it pissed me off. If her goal was to sway me with her body, it was fucking working, and the more it worked, the more I wanted to break it.
“Mr. Rush?” Dom called like he’d said it more than once.
Her eyes clashed with mine just before I gave my attention to Dom. “Yes?”
“Do you have anything to add?”
All eyes turned to me, and I clenched my jaw, frustration bubbling up. Clearing my throat, I took a second to aimlessly flip through my papers, buying time. “No. I think we covered it all.”
“Great.” Dom smiled but narrowed his eyes. He knew me well enough to notice my distraction. “We’re all up to date and have our assignments. Let’s get to work, people.”
With that, everyone gathered their belongings and piled out. I lingered behind, watching Verana, tensing when Domenic rested his hand on her shoulder, receiving her smile I couldn’t stop thinking about.
I knew it meant nothing. Domenic was happily married. But did she know that? Did she care? Was she hoping to get further with him now that I was off the table?
Irritation bubbled up at their easy laughter until I heard myself call his name before I knew what I was doing. “Domenic,” I barked.
He blinked, turning to me with wide eyes. “Yes?”
“Grab those extra files from your desk before heading to my office.”
“But, they’re on the computer file I sent.”
“A hard copy will be good, too,” I answered lamely.
His head tipped to the side, but after only a moment, he shrugged. “Sure. I’ll meet you there in fifteen. Verana, I’m excited to have you on the team.”
I clenched my fists at her easy smile. “Thank you. And please. Call me Vera.”
“Vera. Will do.”
And then it was only Vera and me in the empty meeting room.
I stood there waiting for her to collect her papers, studying the way her dark hair fell to her shoulders, no matter how many times she tucked it behind her ears.
“Can I help you with something?” she asked, standing upright, shoulders back and chin high. She looked like she should be running her own company.
“You know he’s married.”
“Excuse me?”
“Domenic. Happily so.” Her eyes widened. “Just in case you were hoping to flirt with another man in charge to get ahead.”
“I wasn’t…”
“Maybe don’t flirt with anyone here. We don’t have any particular rules for fraternization, but it’s best to not mix business and pleasure.”
Her nostrils flared over pressed lips. “I wasn’t freaking flirting with anyone.”
“Just like you didn’t run into me.”
“That was an accident, and again, you ran into me. And if you think I’m such a threat to all the men at your company, why did you hire me?”
“Because Ryan was determined to.”
“Did you even look over my resume?” she sneered, looking at me like a bug on the bottom of her shoe.
I didn’t want to admit how impressed I was with her resume, so I directed the subject back to my point.
Stepping into her personal space, I looked down my nose at her. Maybe if I intimidated her enough, she’d give me a wide berth. “Did you stage the lobby because you saw me that night at the restaurant and wanted a second chance?”
“Hardly. You are unbelievably arrogant,” she almost growled.
My muscles tensed, fighting the need to step closer and feel the heat radiating off her directly against me. Maybe if I did, she’d cave and admit what she really wanted.
“Trust me, I have a right to be arrogant,” I taunted.
Instead of continuing our fight, she rolled her eyes and turned, going the long way around the table to avoid me.
“Make sure to grab two black coffees for Dom and me,” I called before she could walk out.
“Yes, sir,” she muttered over her shoulder.
Whatever it was between us—whatever hold she had on me and my attention—I needed to break it.
Nothing made that clearer than how much I loved hearing those words tumble from her supple mouth.
I needed to end it, and I needed to do it soon.SixVeraNova: How’s the boss?Pulling my work shirt off, I rolled my eyes. How was Nicholas Rush? A pain in my ass. A man on a mission to drive me insane. A man making me question how much I wanted to stick it to my father and work on my own.