My cheeks flush as I bend to pick everything up. “I’m staying with my uncle during the internship.”
“Ah, that makes sense. Yes, your uncle and I are fortunate to live in the same building. The same floor, actually. Though I lived here first.”
I immediately understand why it’s important that he include that detail. My uncle is exactly the kind of man that would move close to an enemy to destroy one. And maybe Kris is too—I don’t know him well enough to discount it—but in this instance, he isn’t the aggressor.
Fair enough.
“It’s a very nice building.”
“It is,” he says. “Lovely, especially after a long day of work. Which I’m assuming you had. So why so many supplies?”
My uncle would absolutely kill me if I told his rival that all this stuff was for the proposal that they’re both working on. Literal, instant death. “I didn’t get everything done that I needed to at the office, and I never leave a task undone, so I thought that I would finish up at home.”
“Really?” Kris raises an eyebrow. “Why lug everything home and not just stay late?”
I shrug, blowing it off. “Security. They don’t want to leave interns alone in the building after hours.” No idea how I pulled that out of my ass, but it works.
“Fair enough. But Chianna, just know that you’re worth more than this. Just because you’re an intern doesn’t mean that you should let people take advantage of you.”
I brush past him toward my door, and he follows carrying the other box. “You’re being presumptuous, Mr. Canterbar, assuming that I don’t know my own worth.”
“The alarming amount of office supplies that you’re carrying tells me otherwise.”
Anger spikes through my chest as I unlock the door to the apartment and shove it open. I know that Meynard isn’t home yet, so I don’t have to worry. “Unlike some people, I know what it is to put in hard work. Life is about getting things done. And if that means pushing up your sleeves and getting your hands dirty—even at home—then I’m willing to do it.”
I put the box down inside the door and take the other one from him. He resists only for a second so I have to pull harder. His teasing grin makes me flush and blisters my anger even further.
“Getting your hands dirty?” The smirk deepens. “I like the sound of that.”
Then he disappears down the hallway, and I’m left staring into the empty space that he left.
4
Kris
The invisible miles of the treadmill disappear under my feet. It’s not light out yet, and the view from the windows of my building’s gym is still a dark cityscape speckled with lights like artificial stars.
By all rights, I should still be asleep. But I couldn’t sleep.
Last night, that encounter with Chianna. God, I can’t get her out of my head. I walked away so abruptly because I knew if I’d stood in that doorway a second longer that I would have touched her. Kissed her. And the last thing that she needed was for her uncle to catch her with me.
Don’t get me wrong, I still want her. But I’m smart enough not to play on the devil’s doorstep.
I walked straight into my apartment and stripped on the way to the shower. Didn’t bother with a cold one. Went straight to hot, and my cock was hard and in my hand within seconds. Fantasies that I can never say out loud ran through my head, all featuring the new intern.
After I met her with her uncle, I admit I checked her out. She’s a recent college grad. Core Tech could be an amazing place to start her career if she doesn’t get waylaid by someone like Meynard. No matter that he’s her uncle.
God dammit. Three orgasms last night thinking about her, and now I’m on my way to being hard again. I need to get my body under control, if only because it’s spectacularly uncomfortable to run with a hard cock.
But my mind doesn’t want to let her go. That fiery red hair that I want splashed across my pillow. That pale skin that I want to bite to see how pink I can make it. Those green eyes that were unmistakably filled with lust when we were in that tiny closet yesterday.
I’d gladly take her up against those shelves. Hell, I’d fuck her so hard every last pack of Sharpies would fall off the top shelf so she’d never have to reach up again. No, she’d have to bend over, and that’s how I’d take her from behind so I could see that perfectly delicious ass.
Grabbing my water bottle, I take a drink before splashing a little of it on my face. At this rate, I’ll have to take a cold shower before I go to the office. But first, I’m going to push myself harder. Exhaustion might be the key to getting her out of my head. At least I hope.
She’s an intern. No matter how much I want to take her and make her mine, I shouldn’t be thinking about her at all. It’s not professional. Not that I’ve been the consummate professional when it comes to my dating life, but I shouldn’t do this. At least not until the internship is over and there are fewer eyes watching.
Yeah. That’s what I’ll do.
A small gasp reaches my ears and every bit of resolve that I’ve just built evaporates like mist. Chianna is standing in the doorway to the gym, staring at me in awe like she’s just seen God. She’s so pale that every blush—no matter how small—is visible. This flush is much deeper than the one that I saw yesterday. It covers more of her because I can see more of her. Just a thin camisole and some yoga pants. A gym bag is slung over her shoulder and those pants are riding just a little low on her hips. I can see a glimpse of skin and fuck, all I want to do is lick it.
Animalistic need is the only thing I feel, fed by the way that she’s looking at me. Clear attraction. Her hand tightens and releases on the strap of her bag, and I watch her take in all of me. Slowly.
I’m not stupid. I know that I’m attractive. But up until now it didn’t seem like anything out of the ordinary for me. Now that Chianna is watching? It feels like everything. And I’m glad that I put in the work to keep myself in shape.
Her eyes finally make their way back to mine, and her blush deepens. Chianna’s mouth opens like she’s going to say something, and then she stops. Turning, she quickly disappears into the adjoining yoga studio. She’s hiding, but if that’s really what she wants, then that’s not the place to do it. The walls are made of glass and she can see me just as easily as I can see her.
Only ten more minutes of my run, and then I’ll go talk to her. This opportunity is too good to pass up. We’re here, we’re alone, and there are no prying eyes.
If she doesn’t want anything to do with me—possible, given who her uncle is—then I’ll let her go. But the look that I saw in her eyes isn’t one of someone who hates me. That was a look of want and need. And I can definitely give her what she wants, internship be damned.
There’s every possibility that I’m being an idiot, and that this will end badly. But the ship has sailed. I’m not being ruled right now by anything but my instincts and my cock. And they want her.
For the last ten minutes I push myself to the breaking point. I force speed out of my body like it’s the last thing I’ll ever do, and it’s the only hope I have of burning off any of this lust.