Walking into the office with Dimitri by my side on Wednesday morning would’ve been awesome if Jackie, my assistant, hadn’t been hovering around very obviously gawking at the show. Her eyes had gone as wide as saucers when the two of us got off the elevator; obviously, somehow, word that I’d gotten myself mated had gone around, and everyone in the building seemed to be popping out of the woodwork to get a look at him in person. There had been a suspiciously large group of employees milling around the lobby downstairs.
When I introduced them, he shook her hand, said hello in that deep, rasping voice of his, and favored her with a devastating smile I hadn’t known he had in his arsenal.
I’dnever gotten that smile. The hell.
He asked her about her job, smiled some more, and even let a little bit of Russian accent slip through in a way that had her turning all pink and standing way too close to him.
So by the time I managed to chivvy Jackie out and back to her desk, shutting the door firmly behind her, my lingering good mood had faded.
Dimitri strolled around my office, leaning down to peer at a couple of the awards and tchotchkes I had on the shelves next to all the more boring books and files, glancing out the windows, and then turning back to me.
“Nice place,” he said. “And nice view.”
“Are you referring to the mountains or Jackie?” I asked, with probably unnecessary snideness.
Dimitri’s eyebrows went up. “The mountains, but she’s pretty too. Something the matter?”
“You’re here to make me look good. Not flirt with all the women who work here.” I flopped into my chair and opened up my laptop. “Pretending to be into me is kind of part of the job, Dimitri. We’re newly mated. Everyone expects us to be all over each other, not already hitting on secretaries like some kind of pathetic fifties cliché.”
“Okay,” he said slowly, drawing the word out in an incredibly aggravating way. “You want me to come sit on your lap, or something?”
I gaped at him. “No!”
“Okay,” he repeated, this time with a shrug, and turned away again, gesturing at the couch and chairs I had on the other side of the room for more casual meetings. “Mind if I sit here, then? Since I have no idea what I’m supposed to be doing. Or I guess I could go hang out with Jackie. She seemed to like me.”
That faint ripple of laughter in his voice…was hemockingme? Because it sure fucking sounded like it!
“You’re here,” I said again, through gritted teeth, “to make me look good. So sit there. And look good.”
He sat down and shut up, at least. Good? Did he look good? His new black suit definitely did something for him, setting off the way he didn’t seem at all like the kind of man who’d wear one. Putting a wolf in a shiny collar didn’t make it a lapdog. And Dimitri in a suit exuded more danger than ever.
Of course, it flattered his height and his broad shoulders, the way a good suit always did.
No wonder Jackie had been all over him. Dammit, I liked Jackie. We worked well together. I’d never even noticed her sultry red lipstick and nice ass before today. Now they were all I could think about.
I tried to bury myself in reading through a sales report, but I kept glancing up at Dimitri, who’d pulled out his phone and sprawled into the couch completely at his ease.
A knock on the door heralded Jackie, right on cue.
“I brought coffee for both of you, Brook,” she simpered. Well, maybe that was a strong word. But the smile she gave Dimitri as she set his cup down on the table in front of him definitely verged on the unprofessional.
“Thanks,” I said sharply. “That’s all for now.”
With a startled, wounded look in my direction, Jackie hightailed it out of the office and shut the door behind her with force.
Dimitri sighed and shook his head.
“What?” I demanded. “I’m trying to concentrate. She interrupted my train of thought.”
“Come here.”
“What?”
Dimitri put his phone down on the table next to his coffee. “Come. Here.”
I was halfway out of my chair before I could muster an angry refusal. My legs carried me around my desk, across the room, and right in front of him.
His expression remained terrifyingly neutral, a blank mask that didn’t give me anything at all to work with.
