Page 29 of Bite Me
“Well, screw ethics. You’re not hurting anyone.” She downed the rest of the bubbly and poured us more. “Fuck, Eddie. I want to be you. Having a hot vampire boss thirst after me at work, the sexual tension in the air, the danger. And I saw him, remember? He is fuckinghot. A bit on the melancholy side, but you like that, don’t you? Damn, boy, this is awesome!” She sang the last word as she shook out the last drops from the empty bottle.
“You’re nuts. This is a disaster.” But as the bubbles from the prosecco tingled in my belly, it suddenly felt exhilarating.
“C’mon, it won’t be so bad.” She clinked my glass with hers. “If you cave and have passionate, bleeding sex on his desk, you just have to keep it quiet.”
On his desk? In his dark office with the blinds down. He would prowl forward like a predator, and I’d back away until my ass would hit the edge of the desk… “I can’t. It’s not so simple.”
Sheri was like a dog with a bone. “It is, Eddie. It’s very simple. People break the rules all the time. Only the ones who get caught face consequences.”
“I can’t risk it.”
“You’re already in too deep.” Was I? My eyes widened with fear, but she just patted my cheek. “I’m not dragging you out today under one condition.”
“What condition?”
“We’ll finish the bottle together while you tell me all about Russel.”
“I shouldn’t have told you anything,” I grumbled.
“But you did, and I’m so happy! And there’s another bottle in the fridge.”
* * *
Damn Sheri for putting a bug into my fragile system of denial. Talking to her had made everything more real somehow.
The days passed in a rush, my life a blur as if I sat on a speeding train, and the only sharp image was Russel’s face.
Every time I saw him, I thought of his lips on my skin.At work. It was a nightmare, so why did my heart flutter excitedly whenever he spoke to me? It would have been best to avoid him, but Anthony involved us in three different projects, and I spent half of each day with Russel in the room.
Then it was finally Friday again. Cat and I usually didn’t have time for more than a quick snack in the breakroom or eating from a lunchbox in the terrarium, but once a week, we allowed ourselves a proper forty-five-minute break at one of the restaurants near the office.
Today, I regretted going with her.
“You don’t like Greenwood, do you?” she asked me point-blank as soon as the food arrived.
I froze with my fork in the air. How transparent had I been? “I do. He’s great.”
“Why are you dodging him whenever you can? You ducked out of the breakroom when he came in this morning. He doesn’t bite, you know.” She laughed at her own joke.
“I’m not dodging Russel. I’m with him all the time.”
“When you must, sure. But you’re acting weird around him. He can tell, you know.”
Of course, Russel could tell. I hoped he appreciated my keeping a distance. It was better for both of us.
“I’m not prejudiced against vampires, I promise.”
“I wondered about that too, but now I have a different theory.” She dipped a piece of bread in olive oil and popped it into her mouth.
“Enlighten me.”
She leaned forward conspiratorially. “You’re into him, aren’t you?”
Fuck.Had I been so transparent? “No,” I squeaked.
“It’s okay, Eddie. I won’t tell anyone. But for the record, he is gay. Frank told me, Viv confirmed it, and Greenwood makes no secret of it.”
My stomach clenched. As I studied my half-full plate of Caesar salad, I didn’t feel all that hungry anymore. “I’m not into him. And even if I were, and I’m not, you know the company’s policy.”
