11. Ember

11

EMBER

" L et me get this straight," Kora said, stabbing her straw into her iced coffee with unnecessary violence as I walked with her toward the Northman Group building for the first time in weeks. "You kissed him. The guy you've been reading hate notes to every day. The guy who makes his employees cry. That guy?"

I winced and glanced around while we waited for the crosswalk signal to change. A few heads turned at her volume, and I gave them my best "nothing to see here" smile before leaning in. "Do you have to say it like that?"

"Am I wrong?" she asked, her eyebrow arching. Her dark curls bounced as she tilted her head, studying me with the kind of intensity that made me wish I'd kept my mouth shut.

"No," I muttered. "But you don't have to say it so... loudly."

Kora smirked and took a leisurely sip of her coffee. "Girl, you've got to explain this to me. What, did the tension just get to you? Did you endure one too many of those smoldering glares and your brain finally short-circuited? Or are you just so horny you've moved past reason and entered the 'fuck around and find out' phase?"

I groaned, shoulders slumping as we joined the crowd crossing the street. "It's not like that. It just happened. One second, we're arguing about his clients, and the next... I don't know. He kissed me. And I kissed him back. He looked at me, and without either of us needing to say a word, it was like we both just knew we wanted it. I've never felt that kind of connection with someone before. It was... intense."

"Oh, it was intense," Kora repeated, her voice dripping with exaggerated drama. "And then what? Did the heavens part? Did the jazz music stop? Did everyone in the room turn to watch you two make out on the balcony?"

I snorted despite myself. "No. It wasn't like that. It was private, just the two of us." I studied my feet, feeling embarrassed but still wanting to voice the truth anyway. "It was kind of magical." I looked at Kora, biting my lip. "I had a really dirty dream about him last night, too."

" Oh ," Kora said, raising both eyebrows now. "So wait... How does this all compute? Cole asked you to infiltrate this guy's company and get dirt on him. Did you misunderstand and think he asked you to infiltrate Orion Foster's pants? Honest mistake. I'm sure Cole will understand."

I laughed. "All we did was kiss. Briefly. And we're good now. He saw how much of a charmer I am and offered me a job at Foster Real Estate. I'm going to be on his 'client relations' team. And I'm going to be heavily involved in some mysterious project that sounded absolutely huge."

Kora squinted. "He offered you a job? Seriously? How good was that kiss?"

"Yep. And he's putting me straight on a project that sounds exactly like the kind of thing Cole wanted dirt on. If I occasionally give Cole a crumb or two, I bet I could drag this out for a long time."

"Okay, wait, wait," Kora said, holding up both hands and making us stop outside a shoe store a block from the office. "Did you start working him before or after the kiss?"

"During?" I said.

Kora blinked.

"He kind of broke the kiss off by offering me a job."

"I can't decide if that means he hated it or loved it."

"He said he couldn't kiss me anymore because he was my boss. I kind of think he was using it as an excuse so things wouldn't... go further."

"If it was up to you, would things have gone further?"

"I don't know," I said, shrugging. "He's easy on the eyes. Interesting. Competent. And?—"

"The devil's spawn," Kora cut in. "Satan in a suit. Puppy kicker. Probably a member of a cult..."

"I don't know," I said again. "I get this feeling there's more to him."

"That's exactly what I'm saying!" Kora said. "His cult. That's the 'more' you're sensing. He's going to sacrifice you on an altar of pure ruby and rub your blood all over his naked body. Actually... that sounds kind of hot. Maybe you should give this a chance and keep me posted. With pictures ."

I laughed. "You know what I mean. I just don't believe anybody can actually be that mean and cold all the time. It makes me want to know what his deal is. Why isn't he happier? Who hurt him? You know?"

"Oh, girl," Kora said sadly. "Why are you always like this? I love you, but you are the queen of lost puppies. You know that, right?"

"I don't even know what that's supposed to mean."

"It means you think every lost puppy deserves a chance. Even the mean ones who bite people and smell bad. You see somebody perfect, and you think there must be some hidden problem that'll surface over time, like my cousin. So, instead, you go for the obviously flawed guys because you think you can fix what you can see. But, girl, if they're walking around with flaws on display, they're already too far gone. When will you learn?"

I sighed.

"See?" she said. "That was a sigh of acceptance because you know I'm right, and you're still going to do it."

"Nope! Wrong. He broke things off before they started. He said the kiss never happened, and I agreed. I'm Ember Hartwell, the newest employee of Foster Real Estate and nothing else."

"And yet you're coming with me toward Northman Group to report to Cole. Weird."

I gave an irritated jerk of my head to get us walking again. "Briefly," I said. "Cole needs to know I'm making progress so he keeps paying my salary. I need the money, and I'm going to do whatever I can to keep both men paying me as long as possible."

"What about your hate notes job? Any chance you can keep collecting that paycheck?"

"No chance. Orion's bribery attempts have any employee serving him on super close watch. The moment I don't show this morning, I’m sure I’ll get a call from Patricia Rosh letting me know I’m fired. But it’s fine. Those pants gave me wedgies."

“What if you convinced Orion to let you keep reading him the notes? Make it part of your sales pitch. You could keep three salaries.”

I grinned. “As tempting as that is, I know he won’t go for it. Imagine the questions it would raise if my co-workers saw me reading hate notes to the boss every morning before I reported to my desk.”

“Yeah,” Kora said. “Good point.”

We walked quietly for a little ways before Kora gave me an odd look. "Okay, so I'm gathering that you're already planning something stupid like falling for this Orion Foster guy. The fact that he tried to break things off with you probably just made it a hundred times more likely, given that you are the way you are."

"Hey!" I said, giving her a whack with my bag.

"And," she continued. "I'm just wondering if you're ready to risk screwing up your new infatuation's project for the sake of your petty revenge."

"Excuse me?" I said, deeply offended. "This is not petty revenge. This is justice. It's divine retribution. It's as far from petty as it can get."

Kora rolled her eyes, eyes twinkling. "I know. I just wanted to watch you get all worked up. Cole deserves to dip his dong in piranha-infested waters. But seriously, what happens if you have to choose between risking a Foster Real Estate project to keep Cole off your case?"

I frowned. "You keep assuming I'm head-over-heels for Orion. I'm not. I'm only curious, and by all accounts, he's a terrible boss. I may decide that sabotaging his project and collecting a paycheck from Cole as long as possible are both noble goals. So... yeah."

Kora didn't look convinced, but she nodded. "Well, I'm going to lurk near Cole's office and eavesdrop when you tell him all of this."

"All of this?" I said, grinning. "He's getting crumbs, and he's going to like it. All Cole needs to know is that I've been hired and will work toward getting into a position of importance. No need to tell him I'm already on the team, right?"

"Ahh," Kora tapped her temple, nodding. "Smart. I like that. It’ll buy you some time while he thinks you’re trying to get promoted or whatever."

Yeah, I thought. Smart. I hoped that word accurately described the mess I was currently wading neck-deep into.

When I got home that night, Catman was waiting for me on my bed, watching as I held up different outfits for my first day at Foster Real Estate.

"Too slutty?" I asked, holding up a pencil skirt.

His one eye seemed to say "you're fooling nobody."

"You're right," I sighed, tossing the skirt aside. "I should probably go with something more professional. Something that says 'I definitely didn't make out with the boss last night.'"

Catman's judgmental stare intensified.

"Don't look at me like that," I told him. "I know what I'm doing."

His expression clearly disagreed, but I ignored him. After all, what did he know? He was just a cat.

A very old, possibly immortal cat who had probably seen countless human mistakes over his centuries of existence... but still just a cat.

I was totally in control of this situation.

Totally.