my tasks done, and in a timely fashion. I didn’t see an ‘act your age’ clause.”
A rush of heat and anger battle inside me. Why is it that the more we scrap, the harder my dick gets? That line between lust and hate – it’s microscopically thin. It’s a razor’s edge.
I pull out my phone and start typing, my fingers flying. Then I hit send. Winona’s work cellphone bleeps with the message tone I assigned it – the sound of a whistle announcing the start of a work day. She pulls it out and looks.
“Blake!” she hisses. “You son of a bald hamster. You just sent me so much pointless busywork that I won’t be done until midnight.”
“Mess with the bull, get the horns.” Oops. That came out way pervier than I meant it to. There she goes, short-circuiting my synapses again.
As if reading my mind, she casually brushes her knee against mine, sending a rush of heat through my body. “Sorry,” she coos seductively. She deliberately knocks her napkin off the table and bends over to pick it up off the floor. Her head is under the table. And all the blood in my body has rushed south.
She takes her sweet time retrieving the napkin, and brushes up against me again as she resurfaces. “Where were we again? Oh yes, you were being a tantruming, petty son of a bitch because you think you can make me quit. And I was handling it like a champ.” She takes a sip of water.
“Keep it up. I can work you all night long, Winona.”
She chokes and splutters. “You can what?” she wheezes when she gets her breath back. “What did you just say to me?”
“I can keep you at work all night long,” I lie smoothly.
“That is not what you just said!” She coughs into her napkin, her face flushed. The flush travels down her throat, lighting the creamy skin of her bosom with a rosy glow. Yes, she wants me – every bit as much as I want her. I’ve seen the way she looks at me, her gaze lighting on inappropriate body parts, her teeth sinking into her plump lower lip.
“Winona, Winona. Did your dirty little mind misinterpret an innocent observation on my power over your work schedule?”
Alice and Tamara return in time to save me from getting stabbed with a fork, and Tamara plops down in her chair and puts her headphones back in. The waiter glides up to us and sets down our drinks.
“Give us a few more minutes – we haven’t looked over our menus yet,” I say to him. I glance at Alice, who arches an eyebrow at me. Fine. Because I want to set a good example for Tamara, I will try to be a little less imperious. “Please and thank you,” I add.
Winona’s eyes widen in pleased surprise. She smiles hugely at the waiter, who simpers back then stumbles over his own feet as he walks away.
Her smile fades, and she glowers at me. “Lots of things I could be doing right now. Wouldn’t you say that a truly efficient manager is also efficient with his employees’ time?”
Alice smiles. “Oh my, you could cut the tension in here with a knife.”
“I could cut something in here with a knife.” Winona shoots me a dirty look.
“I hope my brother isn’t giving you too much grief.”
“I am giving her the absolutely correct proportion of grief,” I assure her.
“And I am returning it in equal measure, and upping it by ten percent,” Winona is quick to add.
“Guys, guys. Don’t fight. Get a room.”
I flash an alarmed look at Tamara, but she’s still lost in her Audible book.
“Thank you for that HR nightmare.” I glance at Winona. “Did you know that the nanny dropped Alice on her head as a baby? Repeatedly. It made a hollow kind of sound, I’m told. And in other, related news, Alice apparently thinks that you and I are going to be a thing.”
Winona laughs a little too hard, and shakes her head at my sister. “Sorry. Magic Eight Ball says Try Again. I don’t date the Borg. Your brother is physically attractive, of which he is sickeningly aware, but he’s personally repugnant.”
“Oh, he’s not so bad once you get to know him.” Alice smiles and sips her coffee.
I scowl at my sister. “Winona isn’t too painful on the eyes, but she’s painful to work with, talk to, sit next to…” Painful because her knee just brushed me again and the pulsing