Free Surrender to Temptation Part V: Tempted to Reveal by Lauren Jameson Page A

Brenton.
    “Morning, Devon.” Tony smiled at me as he placed two Styrofoam cups on his desk, then shrugged out of his jacket. He studied my face intently, and didn’t bother hiding his displeasure at the shadows that he saw beneath my eyes.
    “I got this for you.” He crossed to my desk with one of the disposable cups, setting it down near my elbow.
    I blinked with surprise and not a little pleasure. Sometimes my coworkers would bring coffee or muffins for one another, but no one had yet included me in the tradition. I hadn’t been there long enough to make friends, and I had the additional black mark of extra attention from the CEO, which hadn’t sat well with many of the women.
    A genuine smile crossed my lips as I curled my hands around the cup, savoring its warmth.
    “Thank you, Tony. Can I give you some money for it?” He scowled at the question, making a shooing gesture with his hands.
    “Absolutely not. You can get the next one.” The surge of acceptance, combined with my shaky emotions over Zach, made me suddenly tear up.
    Tony looked alarmed.
    “Hey, what’s wrong?” Sliding behind me, he placed his hands on my shoulders and rubbed gently. “I won’t bring you coffee anymore, I swear.”
    I barked out a laugh through my dry throat. I wasn’t quite sure how I felt about his touch on my shoulders. He had offered it out of comfort, and that was nice, but I had caught his interested stare too many times to think that the caress was strictly platonic.
    “Um.” I was trying to formulate a polite way to extract myself from Tony’s handling when I felt those fingers dig into my muscles.
    “Ow.” I jerked away from the bite of his nails on my skin, distancing myself from his touch at the same time. “What was that for?”
    I shoved an errant lock of hair behind my ear as I looked up, and my own fingers clenched involuntarily. I sucked in my breath, steeling myself.
    Where had he come from? Zach stalked—there was no other word to describe his movements—across the crowded accounting office toward us. His thunderous expression told me that he was not pleased at what he saw, and the manner in which he approached reminded me of a jungle cat—smooth, graceful, and deadly.
    “Mr. Figuero.” Zach fastened that terrifying stare directly onto Tony, not looking at me, not even a glance. “Must I remind you of the policy on dating within one’s own department yet again?”
    “No, sir.” Tony’s words were tense as he stepped farther away from me. As he marched to his own desk, not daring to look back at me, my spine stiffened in outrage.
    I couldn’t believe Zach’s audacity, interfering here like a jealous husband. He could cite interdepartmental dating policies all he wanted, but we all knew that he was marking his territory.
    After his behavior last night, he had no right. We were through.
    Standing, I opened my mouth to tell him just that. I only hoped that I could get it out before the angry tears began to choke my words.
    “Please come with me.” He spoke before I could, persuasively, effectively disabling my anger with that one sentence. I narrowed my eyes at him with suspicion.
    “Go where?” Zach had put me through enough of an emotional typhoon. I needed him to spell out his intentions more clearly.
    He sighed, raking a hand through his hair in the way that I loved. I did my best to squelch the desire that snaked through me at the gesture.
    “Come with me for a second.” Thoroughly irritated, I followed him into an empty office. Shutting the door behind us, he looked me right in the eyes.
    “Let’s go to Cambria, Devon. Now.” My mouth fell open at the words.
    I cocked my head with confusion. “What’s changed?”
    “We can talk about this on the way.” He rocked back on his heels, clearly impatient for us to be on our way.
    I planted my hands on the empty desk. Through the glass of the window I could see that the department outside the private office had all but come to a