me passionately, the hard planes of his chest flush against my body, and then just as suddenly pulled away. His hot breath washed over my face in panting breaths as he leaned his forehead against mine. “That was the hottest fucking thing I’ve ever seen.”
I chuckled and kissed him again, high on the rush of the negotiation and the feeling of Tyler’s arousal pressing into my belly.
I stepped out of his arms.
“I’m not happy that you kept the Bradford Hills offer from me.” I wagged a finger at him.
“It’s not that I was keeping it from you.” He adjusted his pants, moving his prominent hard-on. “I just knew we wouldn’t be able to take them up on it. I was saving us all some time by cutting the conversation off before it began. And we’ve had quite a bit on our plate. It just never made it to the top of the list of priorities to discuss. I’m sorry.”
“Apology accepted, but please don’t turn things down on my behalf again. I agree with your assessment of the situation, but I need to be included in these conversations. We need to make these decisions together, even if it takes up some of your precious time.”
“OK. I get it.”
“Good. Now take me to lunch so we can discuss this situation I just got us into without speaking to you first.”
He laughed and stuffed some papers into his messenger bag before leading the way out of his office. “Alec is going to be so pissed at you.”
I chewed my lip as we reached the elevators. He was right. Alec didn’t want me anywhere near Melior Group. Now I was about to be there every week, potentially exposing some serious vulnerabilities. “Yeah, he is, but I have boobs to distract him with. And the angry sex is phenomenal.”
Tyler groaned. “Now I’m thinking about how to make you angry.”
Seven
Halfway through my first lecture of the day—Synthetic Organic Chemistry—I had three pages of notes and several new books on my TBR list. My phone vibrating in my backpack was an unwelcome distraction. With a huff, I pulled it out to silence it and saw it was an incoming video call from Harvey. I frowned and waited for it to ring out.
Once it stopped, I tapped out a quick message.
Did you butt dial me? LOL!
I’d kept in contact with him since my impromptu trip down under. We chatted online from time to time, and I’d even reconnected with Mia, Harvey’s sister. It was the first time I’d reconnected with anyone from my past. My mother had always forbidden it. Being able to chat with him was really nice—he was my friend first, and that friendship was still there. But we didn’t do video chats. I’d mentioned I had an early class when I spoke to him the night before, so the call was a little unusual.
Wasn’t a butt dial.
I sat up a little straighter at his reply, confused. The three little dots told me he was typing.
I need to speak with you urgently. Can you call me please?
I chewed on my bottom lip. I didn’t really want to get up in a silent lecture theater. I’d had enough of the Variants of Bradford Hills staring at me to last a lifetime.
My lecture finishes in about half an hour. I’ll give you a call right after.
His reply was instant.
This really can’t wait. Please hurry.
That got my alarm bells ringing. Keeping as quiet as possible, I packed up my books and shuffled to the end of my row. The professor didn’t even miss a beat, continuing to educate everyone else on azobisisobutyronitrile and radical initiator mechanisms. I rushed to the doors, my mind full of questions, my gut telling me I may not like the answers.
Alec stood in the hallway, talking to a Melior Group woman I’d never seen before. The black-clad operatives were all over the place. Most of the ones assigned directly to Vitals were in the lecture theater.
Alec was officially assigned to me for the day but preferred to wait outside during my classes; it was less distracting for me and allowed him to get a little work done, making calls and barking orders at Kyo, Marcus, and Jamie. When he saw me come out, his posture straightened, and he excused himself immediately.
“Evie? What is it?” He loomed over me, but before I could answer, my phone started buzzing again. We shared a look and I rushed outside. Alec stayed glued to my side.