“You know, if you just told me what you wanted to wear I could snap my fingers and pull clothes from your closet, right?” I informed him. I suppose he didn’t know. “If you could open your mind to me then I could visualize it and that would be it. You’d be dressed and we could ride to work together. I’ll even let you drive,” I teased.
“You’re sure that’s a good idea? What if it causes problems? Are you ready to handle those kinds of accusations as soon as you take over? What happens when the factory floor falls apart because I’m not there to corral everyone?” His inquisition made me pause. He definitely didn’t want to be by himself with me.
I eased into his personal bubble and wrapped my arms around his neck. “You need to relax,” I murmured with my face inches from his. “There’s no need to be worried about what anyone else says.” I pushed my body against his, and he moved his hands from his sides to my waist. “I’ve handled worse allegations in a workplace, and none of those were true. The floor won’t crumble without you there for an hour or two. Take a deep breath and calm down,” I instructed him.
“That’s really hard to do with you pressed against me like you are.” His whisper soft breath caressed my cheek, making me arch into him more.
“Do you want me to move?” I inquired huskily. My need amped up a notch with every second we touched. My skin felt like molten lava and his an arctic ocean. As I waited for the steam to rise from our joined bodies he mumbled, “We should go.”
Those three words doused my core with icy resolve. “Yeah, we should,” I replied breathlessly. “But we’re gonna finish this when we get to work,” I told him. I gazed at him with half-lidded eyes, hoping the look on my face would make my intentions clear. His eyes rolled back, and he groaned to himself before he dragged me in the general direction of the garage.
Once inside, I strolled to the frame mounted on the wall that held the keys to a few different cars. I had a problem. I was working on it. I selected the set that belonged to my Audi R8 Coupe and tossed them to Vaughn. He’d be the first person to drive this car other than me, but that’s okay. I wasn’t in much of a driving mood. We both slid down in the smooth leather seats and the V10 roared to life.
Vaughn sped the entire way to work, and I couldn’t decide if it was because he was enjoying my car or if he was just really that worried. I tried to send a few emails, but typing correctly spelled words seemed impossible with him swerving between lanes. When we pulled up to the gate, the security guard manning the entrance didn’t even check our IDs. Fucking ridiculous! Security was getting revamped next week, so I’d post some hiring ads today. That was the least that I could do to help Levi with his new position. So much for no firing sprees.
We parted ways at the elevators. Vaughn was going down, and I was going all the way up. This was the first time I’d be seeing my office as mine and not someone else's. I knew I would be spending half the day unpacking things and setting it up. That was the fun part, right? The corridor on the top floor was just as plain as the rest of the structure. This place needed a cosmetic overhaul, but it could wait. Not the top priority, Sloane.
As I strolled leisurely down the hall, I noticed a horrendous smell and an open door. You’ve got to be kidding me! Upon closer inspection, I realized the odor was coming from David Preston’s office. That meant the weekend security never did their rounds on the top floor. Fuck my life. I hated Mondays. Why did I even come in? Knowing I wasn’t being recorded by the shitty, outdated system that was in here last week, I decided to play it up a little bit. The new system that I had installed would catch every movement and breath.
I stopped walking and sniffed at the air, moving from door to door, before I got to the source. Rotting flesh had a way of making your stomach turn, and I found myself thankful that I hadn’t eaten anything. I paused at the door and knocked, making a play of leaning in to look through the crack Vaughn and Novak had left. Raising a shaking hand to the handle, I pushed it open and screamed at the top of my lungs. No one heard me. I was the only one up here. I backed up until my ass hit the wall and fumbled for my cell phone as I slid down to the carpeted floor. I called 911 to report the murder, then called the security desk. I had to call three times before anyone picked up. They were all getting fired. Every last one of them.
The elevators pinged as they opened, and four guards stepped out. I stood and straightened my shirt. My fucking crop top. I should have changed clothes, damn it. “Don’t go in there!” I had to shout at them as they bee-lined for the open office door. “What are you thinking?”
They all stopped as they noticed me. The guy who thought he was in charge stepped up. “We need to check the area out.” I did not like his tone. He clearly didn’t know who I was.
“No, you don’t,” I snapped. “I’ve already called the police. What you need to do is have someone stand guard so no one can enter until they get here. I want one person by the door and one at the elevator. Do not touch that door or anything near it. The rest of you can come downstairs with me and wait for the cops to get here. They’ll want statements from the guards who checked off on the patrol log showing they made their rounds this morning. We’ll need to call in the guys that worked this weekend as well.” The man standing in front of me swallowed hard as his face paled.
“Of course,” he affirmed, sounding both polite and disrespectful in those two words. Or maybe I was just accustomed to being addressed properly. I pointed to the three guys behind him. “You two take up posts. You call the guards in from the weekend shift.” I turned my glare to the main guy. “You're coming with me,” I bit out, clenching my fists at my sides as I sped to the elevator.
The cops showed up in heaps, parking all over the sidewalk in front of the lobby doors and filling the visitor parking spaces. They swarmed the top floor, using the empty offices to interview the guards and myself. I signed my statement and gave them access to the security room so they could review the new camera feeds and old footage from Friday before the upgrades occurred. Then, I told them that I had a meeting with an employee. I excused myself to my office after giving the officers a description of Vaughn, so they wouldn’t stop him.
I spent twenty minutes picking up books off the floor and stacking them neatly on the built-in shelves before there was a knock at the door. Vaughn came in before I could say anything. I set a handful of books down and leaned against my desk as I told him everything that had happened in the last two hours. He sat in the chair across from me, listening intently while pressing the fingers of his right hand to his forehead. “Why did you call me up here?” he inquired, confused. “There’s nothing I can do.”
I smirked at him and crossed the distance in two steps, plopping down sideways in his lap. “I seem to remember telling you this morning that I was going to finish what I started. Have you already forgotten?”
He repositioned me across his lap and tugged at the ends of my loose hair. “Now?” He looked doubtful. “Are you serious?” His voice rose a little when I ran my hand down his chest.
“Shhhh, there are cops crawling all over the place.” I grinned at him and started kissing down his neck.