Charity Case - The Complete Series - Piper Rayne Page 0,119

He drops the receiver from his mouth. “She’s checking.”

I roll my eyes and turn my attention to the groups of people returning from lunch.

My fingers tap along the top of the security desk, and I sigh like I have much more important things to do. Well, I kind of do, but it’s not like I’m the mayor or Oprah or anything.

“Yes,” Chucks says.

I perk up and turn to face him.

“Great, I’ll send her up.” He hangs up the phone, looks at me. “Lucky day again.” His fingers type in my name and soon he’s handing me over the badge. “I feel like I should warn Mr. Bennett or something.”

I snatch it from his grasp. “Believe me, he can handle himself.”

Getting on an elevator is much harder this time of day, but I manage to squeeze through since a nice man held the door open for me.

By the time I’m on the thirty-third floor, I’m happy we work in such a small building. The mixture of perfume, cologne, body odor, and takeout food is enough to nauseate a bear that’s just woken up from hibernation.

This time when I push open the frosted glass door, there’s a woman sitting at the reception desk, poised and ready for me. “Ms. Walsh?” she asks.

Of course, she’s young. Blonde and beautiful. Not that Dean had anything to do with hiring her, but she fits his mold to a tee.

“Yes.” I wait at the edge of her desk.

“It will be a moment, he’s in a meeting.” She signals for me to sit and I look back at the chairs.

“Can I wait in his office?”

It’s bold and ballsy seeing she has no idea who I am, but I’d rather get this over with and not have to be polite while he escorts me down the hall.

“I’m sorry, he said he’d be out to get you in a few minutes.”

I grit my teeth then huff, rolling my eyes like a thirteen-year-old girl before plopping myself into one of the uncomfortable seats. Not interested in my phone, I grab a magazine from the side table and nosily flip through the pages.

Minutes later, I hear his voice talking with someone else. The closer it grows, the more it feels like there’s a rocket zooming around in my stomach.

I place the magazine down, wanting to be armed and ready for him.

He walks right into the reception area.

“Good meeting with you, David. We’ll get it all straightened out.”

A male probably in his fifties shakes Dean’s hand, gives me a friendly smile and opens up the glass doors to leave.

“Thank you, Kylie, for being so accommodating to my unplanned visitor,” Dean says to the receptionist.

She smiles up at him like he’s Bradley Cooper. Give me a break. “No problem, Mr. Bennett.”

I stand. “Charming. Can we go to your office now?”

His smile grows and his eyes heat which only pisses me off more. He steps out of the way and holds his arm out for me to go first. “You know the way.”

I narrow my eyes as I walk past him.

“Kylie, hold all calls.”

“Will do, Mr. Bennett.”

I walk fast so he doesn’t have long to stare at my ass. Back in the day, he wouldn’t have been able to stop himself from grabbing it.

Not wanting to stay long, I stay on the visitor side of the desk, assuming he’ll go to his chair. He shuts the door behind him and flicks the lock.

“That’s not necessary, I assure you.” I cross my arms over my chest.

“Oh, no? My bad.” He shrugs, not unlocking the door and sits down on the couch against the back wall.

“You can sit in your desk chair.”

He shakes his head. “Nah.”

Of course, he’ll do anything to infuriate me.

“Are you here for the chocolate milk?” A coy smile appears on his lips.

“No. But feel free to pour it over your head.”

He tsks me. “Now is that any way to thank someone?”

Leaning back, I rest my ass on the edge of his desk.

“Why don’t you come over here?” he asks, that seductive tone of his coming out as though he thinks it’s an on/off switch to turn me on.

“I’m good. Listen, I’m done with this chase of yours. I know you think it’s funny. You’re probably at home thinking of ways to torment me, but I’m done. What we had ended five years ago. It’s over. Now, I’ve told Hannah if you’re willing to work pro bono to keep you on, but you have to deal with Victoria. As far as this,” I