Twin flags of red stained her cheeks. “You are one snobby little whore.”
“‘Snobby’ is a little harsh.”
“I could ruin you in a hot second and—”
“I don’t know why you’re here,” a voice cut in, calm yet dark with menace. “I also don’t care. Get out of my building, or I’ll have security put you out.”
I briefly glanced over my shoulder at Dane. He was walking toward my desk, his eyes hard and flinty on Candace.
“Dane,” she breathed, losing every ounce of bluster. She forced a smile. “I just came by to say hi—”
“You heard what I said.” His tone was silky smooth but carried a chill.
Candace’s face fell. “Why are you upset with me? I only wanted to see you. She wouldn’t let me! Did you know she stops people from seeing you?”
Unreal. “It’s sort of my job at times.”
Dane took another step forward. “You don’t get to come here and speak to my PA like shit.”
“I didn’t—”
“You called her a whore,” he whispered, but there was enough venom in his tone to make the redhead flinch. “An insult to Vienna is something I won’t tolerate.”
Candace gave him a beseeching look. “Dane.”
“A few calls, Candace. It would take only a few calls from me to have your carefully constructed world fall apart. Your drug habit would be unearthed. The affair you’re having with your father’s business partner would be outed. A very specific kink you like to hide would be made public.”
Her eyes bulged. “No. No, you can’t.”
“I can. I will. Unless you apologize to Vienna and get the fuck out of my building.”
Candace turned to me and swallowed hard. “I’m sorry. I am.”
No, she wasn’t. She was simply sorry that he’d overheard her.
With all the dignity that she could muster, Candace hurried over to the elevator.
Dane glanced down at me and said, “My office.”
I followed him inside the large space and closed the door. “Does she really have a drug habit?”
“Yes.” Dane settled in his leather chair. “She’s been doing cocaine since she was fourteen.”
“How do you know that? How do you know all that stuff about her?”
“We have a few mutual acquaintances who like to talk.”
“She was super confident that you’d want to see her.” Which made me wonder if they’d slept together.
“No, I haven’t had sex with her.”
I almost gaped. “I never said you did.”
“But you were wondering.”
See, he was a goddamn warlock.
“Despite Hope’s strange belief that her friend and I have slept together, we haven’t. Candace has made plenty of offers, but I don’t go for ‘clingy and desperate.’”
“I’m not so sure she’s received that message yet.”
“After what just happened, she won’t be back.” His gaze swept over my face. “Are you all right?”
“Fine. I’ve dealt with worse.”
“Hope’s not going to be happy when she hears the story from Candace. That was a test.”
I blinked. “A test?”
“Hope urged her friend to come here. Her theory was probably that if I turned Candace away, there was a high chance that I was dating you.”
I nodded. “Ah.”
“Not only did I turn her away—something I would have done anyway, because I don’t like her—I threatened to ruin her purely for insulting you. Hope will see that act of protectiveness as a definite sign that you and I are seeing each other.”
I folded my arms and shrugged one shoulder. “You overdid it.”
His brows snapped together. “I, what?”
“You threatened to expose all her dirty laundry to the world.”
“And I wasn’t kidding.”
“She called me an ugly name, that’s all.”
“Doesn’t matter. I’d never tolerate a verbal attack on someone who belonged to me.”
I tilted my head. “You’d truly be prepared to ruin someone’s reputation just for offending your girlfriend?”
He leaned back in his chair. “What do you think?”
I looked at him for a long moment. “I think you’re a ruthless, unforgiving bastard who’d catapult anyone that crossed you into a boundless mountain of shit.”
He nodded. “Then there you go.”
Our second date was much like our first—all subtle touches and quiet conversation. Again, people looked and whispered. Again, I did my best to ignore it. Again, Dane paid me such intense attention that, honestly, it was like his world revolved around me.
One couple actually approached us, said hello to Dane, and asked him to introduce me. When he referred to me as his PA, they smiled … as if it was code for something else.
On the upside, the food was freaking divine.
Either someone from our building had been at the restaurant that night or they knew someone who had, because word quickly got around o-Verve that Dane and I went on a date—something I learned from Hanna, when she came to my desk, asking why I was seen having a meal with Dane.
“Are you guys dating? Please tell me you guys are dating,” she’d said, her hands clasped, looking far too excited.
I’d vaguely replied, “Dane doesn’t date.”
“According to my source, you were not dressed for a meeting. You were wearing a fuck-me dress, you had your hair down, and there was a lot of careful touching going on.”
I’d sighed and said, “It wasn’t a fuck-me dress.”
“Is he a good kisser?”
“How would I know?”
Hanna had pouted. “Fine. Be that way. But I’m watching you two from here on out.”
When I later told Dane about it, he’d seemed pleased that word of our “secret relationship” was beginning to spread around the teams. I wasn’t so pleased, because eventually I’d have to deal with sneers and people accusing me of sleeping with my boss to get a raise or something. But I’d known in advance that it would happen, I’d metaphorically signed up for it, and I’d deal with it when the time came.
As the days went on, though, the workforce seemed mostly excited at the idea that “Dane’s fallen for one of our own” instead of a socialite, heiress, or model. Oh, there was some general pettiness from a few women, but I’d expected that. I’d overlook it so long as they didn’t start mouthing off. Hopefully people’s fear of Dane would keep them on their best behavior.
When Saturday came around, he and I went on a third date. It was basically just a repeat of the previous two—posh restaurant, small but possessive touches, lots of eyes on us.
At work Monday morning, it was business as usual. I’d originally worried that the fake-dating lark would in some way bleed over onto our workplace dynamics, but it seemed that we both managed to compartmentalize everything just fine.
I was halfway through the process of sending some outbound emails when the office phone rang. Honestly, it rang so many times throughout the day, there’d been occasions when I’d woken at night, convinced I could hear it.