chapter 19

Hannahsatonthe floor next to my desk with her feet propped up on the side of my chair. “I just don’t understand the point of me answering the phone for him. The only people who call are calling for him. He could just answer and cut out the middleman. It’s all about efficiency now.”

I finished putting in the timesheet information and then turned to her. “You know, if he did decide to start answering his own calls, you’d be out of a job.”

She frowned and sank onto the floor the rest of the way. “Oh.”

I laughed and patted her ankle. “You’ll get used to the phones someday.”

“Nope. People should just text.”

Blake strolled into the office and grinned when he saw me. He glanced around, didn’t see Hannah, and started to come around towards me. “You look like you had—”

Hannah grunted from having Blake half-step on her. He stumbled and caught himself on the edge of my desk, a frown on his face as he looked down at her. I barely stifled a laugh.

“Hannah, what the hell are you doing down there?”

“Resting! What the hell are you doing stomping around here? You never come over here.”

I raised my eyebrows at him. I didn’t know what he’d been about to say, but I had a feeling it wasn’t going to be work appropriate. I was glad he wasn’t acting cold after the night we’d shared, though.

Clearing his throat, Blake backed away. “I was just checking things out. Get off the floor, Hannah. And Mallory, can I see you in my office?”

Hannah mumbled under her breath about not getting up but got up anyway. She sank into the empty chair next to the empty desk she didn’t want and sighed. “You’re my least favorite triplet right now.”

I laughed and stood up. My body ached as I did, muscles I’d never used sore from the new activities. Pushing Blake towards his office so he didn’t argue with Hannah, I gasped when he shut the door just to push me against it and kiss me.

It was inappropriate, and I had no intention of letting it happen, but my hands were in his hair and I was kissing him back with everything I had. His hands were on my ass, pulling my hips into his, and I was rubbing myself against his erection. It happened so fast, but not fast enough. I was tempted to pull my dress up and bend over his desk for him.

When he finally pulled away from me, it was just to run his hand up my thigh and under my dress. “You’re addictive.”

I bit my lip and looked at him through heavy eyes as he slipped his fingers into my panties and found my clit. “We shouldn’t be doing this at work.”

“We could go back to my place.”

I moaned as he worked his fingers expertly over me. “Blake…”

He pressed his mouth into my ear and growled. “I love hearing you cry out my name.”

The phone rang somewhere else in the office and I remembered myself. Pushing his hand away, I straightened my dress. Even as my body craved him, I put some distance between us and held up my hands to stop him from closing the gap again. “Not at work. I’m a professional. At least I was.”

He groaned and nodded. “Fine. But you should get out of here before I do my best to have you professionally bent over my desk.”

I hurried out of his office and into the bathroom to make sure I didn’t look like I’d just been caught hooking up. After seeing that I was okay, I went back to my desk and tried to work when all I wanted to do was chase my orgasm with Blake. Or Isaac. I found myself daydreaming about them instead of doing my work.

I was still ignoring the base conversations I needed to have with myself. I was barking up the wrong tree with the Steele brothers, but there was chemistry with them like I’d never felt. They also tapped into all of my base desires, even ones I hadn’t known about.

“Do you hear that?”

I looked over at Hannah and shook my head. “No. What?”

She stood up and walked over to the window that overlooked the parking lot. “It’s a motorcycle. That means Julian is coming. Man, he’s cool.”

My back about snapped in half, it went so rigid. “What?”

“There he is!”

I stood up and spun in a little circle, wondering how fast I could get out of the office without him seeing me. “I’ve got to go.”

“You can’t leave now. You have to see him. He’s got all these tattoos and he’s just so cool. None of the other cousins are like him.”

I thought about going to the bathroom and hiding, but then I worried about how long he might stay. I could always sneak out the back, but that meant I’d have to sneak past all the windows, including the ones in Blake’s office. Then, I’d also have to explain running away.

Before I could decide what I was doing, the door opened and the sounds of heavy boots coming near rattled through the office. I sank to my knees on the ground behind my desk and bent over, trying to hide. It was a stupid idea, but I was desperate.

“Hey, Julian! How are you?” Hannah sounded even younger than she was in her adoration of him.

Julian was quiet, but I could practically feel him standing on the other side of the desk, just existing. “Hey, Han.”

I cringed and tried to make myself even smaller. I was an idiot. The exact reason I should’ve stayed away from the Steele brothers was just on the other side of my desk. I silently banged my head into the floor and thought about how I was going to get out of there. I had to. I couldn’t run into Julian.

“Finding anything good down there?”

I jerked when Julian’s gruff voice came from over me. Hitting the back of my head on my desk, I winced even as I pretended to find something on the floor under my desk. “Ah, here it is.”

“How long are you in town for, Julian?”

Forced out of my hiding spot, I slowly pulled myself to my feet and turned to face him. I didn’t have a choice. What else could I do? I sucked in a sharp breath as I did, unprepared for the darkness in his eyes. He was so identical to his brothers, but seeing him again really allowed me to see how different he was. There was just a force of danger around him. His entire body radiated a negative energy that probably acted as a forcefield for most people.