He pushed through the McKnight Agency's double doors and made a beeline for Melissa's cubi cle. She wasn't there. Shit. Jenny ran down the hall toward him.
"Are you looking for Melissa?"
He nodded and her eyes widened.
"Wow, she's really popular all of a sudden."
A surge of possessiveness rose inside him. "How so?"
"Well, first you came and took her to lunch, and then JP came to see her, and now you're back again." JP Jesse.
Dominic was going to kill the little punk. If he so much as laid a hand on Melissa, he wouldn't live to play another game.
"Where are they?"
Jenny looked surprised by his curt question. But visions of Melissa and JP naked together skipped through his head, and his fists clenched.
"JP wanted to watch some film while he waited for her to come back, and she joined him a few minutes ago."
Fuck. Melissa and JP were in a small, dark room together. Lord only knew what tricks that little prick was trying with her. Dominic didn't know him well—they were of different generations—but he'd heard enough stories. JP was the kind of guy who f**ked anything that moved. And Dominic knew firsthand the kind of temptation she presented—even to a guy like him, who usually knew how to keep his dick in his pants.
Tom should never have passed JP off to Melissa. She wasn't savvy enough to defend herself against someone as wily—and charming, not to mention good-looking—as JP. He'd have to do it for her.
Dominic barged into the room without knocking and flicked on the lights.
Both Melissa and JP covered their eyes with their hands.
"What the hell?" JP said as he looked up and saw the large figure in the doorway. "Dominic, dude, turn the lights back off. You're blinding us."
But Dominic was out for blood. Ignoring JP altogether, he faced Melissa. " Do you know what people are going to say when they find out you've been in here alone with JP?"
"I'm his agent, that's what they'll think."
Dominic laughed, a short, angry bark of a sound. "Bullshit. They'll think you're just another one of his floozies, throwing yourself at him."
"Floozies?" JP interjected. "Damn, I haven't heard that word since I was a kid. How old are you, Dom? Fifty? Sixty?"
A low growl emerged from Dominic's throat. "Old enough to know how to conduct my business the right way."
JP shrugged. "I know you think you're her bodyguard, or whatever, but nothing's going on. Yet. So chill out."
Dominic clenched his jaw in an effort to control himself. The "yet" nearly pushed him over the edge. He couldn't be rational right now, couldn't stand the sight of Melissa sitting so close to a good-looking, young playboy.
Being with Melissa had flipped right and wrong around for him, but some things were still clear: He couldn't let her make the mistake of hooking up with a threat like JP.
Instantly slipping into the smooth persona he'd played so well all these years, he said, "I'm afraid I'm going to have to steal your agent away for a while, JP."
For the first time, Melissa looked angry. "I've already helped you enough for one day, Dominic."
His gut twisted. She thought all he wanted from her was a quick f**k. She was wrong—at least he thought she was. Shit, his head was playing games with him. What the hell had he been about to say?
"They're breaking ground on the new ballpark in my name this afternoon."
"So?"
"You're my agent. I need you to be there."
JP looked at her. "You're working with him, too?"