Free Power Play by Tara Lynn Page B

trying to buy me.”
    “Habibi Solar is real. The project is real and so is my acquisition. I came here with real work. I just thought it'd be fun if I could get you out to the Middle East with me.”
    That stopped her sulk, if only by igniting her. Her skin burned like lava against the dark leather seat. She looked like a goddess in her rage.
    “This isn't fun, Deacon. This is my place of work. This is my livelihood.”
    “I understand. Trust me, darlin', I do.”
    “No, you don't.” She spat, edging in closer. “How could you? You were handed the keys to the world the day you were born. I had to fight to even get the freedom to think my own thoughts.”
    “What?” I had no idea what she was on about now. “Listen, it wasn't as easy as you think for me, either. I'm a fighter just like you.”
    “Not a fair fighter.” She sank back in her seat. “It worked so hard to get this job. It took me two years to get choice assignments, but I did it on my own. No family to help me, no money to back me, just pure hard work. And I wouldn't have it any other way. Now you swoop in, and act like you're god’s gift by forcing me to be yours.”
    “I'm not! This is an international assignment. That'd be a boon to your career no matter which way you cut it.” I held a hand to my heart. “Say the word and I'll take you off though. I promise. I overstepped here. I see that.”
    She laughed harsh and high. “It’s too late for that, now. People are already watching the two of us. They’re analysts. If I skip on this 'awesome international assignment,' people will figure out why. Suddenly I'm the office slut.”
    I rubbed my forehead, my world dissolving as she laid bare the truth of what I'd done. Yeah, I had considered her career, but I had put my desires first. It'd be bad enough if that was all there was to it, but by the molten tremble in her brown eyes, I’d clearly hit on something deeper. Something dark and wrong.
    “What should I do?” I asked.
    She rolled back towards me, her flower scent wilted over that of my own dawning sweat. “Don't worry, I'll do your job. I'm damn good at what I do. But that's all I'll be doing for you. The only time you'll be seeing me is when I'm in the office.”
    My heart turned to a prune, but I nodded. “Whatever you say.”
    She clutched her dark binder against her chest, eyes tight in another swell of anger. “You’re going to listen to me from now on? Good. Forget about putting me in your cage. Don’t ever come near me again.”
    She turned and clipped out as professionally as she had entered, shutting me in alone as she left. Only the buzzing lights filled the silence.
    I sat under the glow of the projector, taking it in, basking in the cold echo of what I had wrought.
     

CHAPTER NINE
    Kerry
    I sat alone in a spacious exterior office, willing the financial numbers on my laptop to tell me their story. My nerdy brain usually assembled them all nice and neat for me, but now it looked like just a jumble of digits. This must be what normal people saw.
    I sighed and looked out at the large pond down at ground level. The sun would have made the rippling waters blinding, but the tinted windows kept it cool and calming. This was a nice office. It'd take a while to get it working inside Stone Holdings.
    Lucky me. I'd gotten it for spreading my legs.
    Deacon could spin it any way he wanted. He could even mask it by giving my whole team their own rooms like this. But I saw the snide looks I got at our evening team meetings now. The whispers that disappeared under the a/c’s whir when I entered a room.
    They were the best analysts in the company. And it didn't take a lot of analysis to figure out what had happened.
    My hands were clenched so hard just thinking about it that my nails dug into my palm. Yeah, this wasn't calming me down any.
    Maybe sinking one of these fists into Deacon's smarmy face would. It was almost too bad he hadn't been around the whole week we'd been working here.