Free Siren Song by A. C. Warneke Page A

Clutching the bags, she bent down and took off her shoes, knowing she risked grievous injury if she attempted to scale the stairs in the aforementioned weapons. As she started the journey upwards, she realized that she wasn’t going to be able to stop at her office to drop off her stuff.
    “ Hey, Lexi, how many more flights do you have?” Mason’s voice echoed through the hollow stairwell, followed by his maniacal laughter and the sound of the door closing. She was so going to get him for that; just not until after her meeting, which could very well be her last meeting at lavish magazine. That would satisfy Mason, even if he didn’t get her job – ‘cause, honestly, who would want to read about the latest stalker techniques or the best places to masturbate in public?
    A wry smile parted her lips as she mounted the stairs, not caring that the bottoms of her stockings were going to be filthy. Dima and Cole were going to laugh at her; and after she was done pouring over her horrible morning, she would probably be laughing as well. And then they could make arrangements for a trip to the Caribbean, since it wasn’t likely she was going to have a job after, oh, fifteen minutes.
    Finally, she reached the top of the stairs and dropped her shoes to the ground, sliding her feet into the sexy heels. She pushed against the door and nothing happened; it didn’t budge an inch. Slamming her fist against it, she yelled, “You son of a bitch!”
    In frustration, she pulled at it. And felt like a complete idiot when it opened. Rolling her eyes at her stupidity, she couldn’t prevent the smile from forming, or the laughter from bubbling up. Dima and Cole were going to give her such grief for that supreme act of idiocy. A laugh escaped just as she stepped through the door of the board room and died almost as quick. Everyone in there was deathly silent; never a good sign.
    “ Hey, sorry I’m late, but my alarm failed to go off and almost everything else that could go wrong managed to do so,” she called out, stumbling over to her spot, oblivious to the other people in the room. Pulling out her chair, she set her bags on the table, determined to find the necessary folder she had prepared for the new owner. Burying her head in one of the bags, she pulled out the folder with her notes and smiled. Finally, success first time out!
    Someone cleared his throat and she looked up. Thank God the chair was behind her since she was pretty sure her spirit completely left her body for a moment. And a body without a spirit is unable to stand on its two inanimate legs. Her bottom hit the chair with more force than normal and she hoped she wasn’t going to end up bruised.
    “ Duncan. Wow, I am so glad we didn’t have sex the other night,” she said without thinking. “Otherwise this meeting would have been really awkward.”
    Someone snorted and she heard the words she spoke and flushed hotly. “Not that this isn’t already awkward.”
    “ I’m glad you could join us, Miss….” he said, arching that expressive eyebrow, acting as if he had never had his hand on her bare breast or his tongue down her throat. Maybe she was still asleep and this was just an elaborate dream because there was no way in hell that the man standing there acting like the new owner of the magazine was the very same man she almost slept with on Friday and who subsequently disturbed her sleep for the rest of the weekend.
    If it were a dream, wouldn’t he be smiling at her right now instead of glowering? And along those same lines, wouldn’t they be getting naked and horizontal? But then, if that were true, why were all of her co-workers there, acting as if it weren’t a dream? Someone nudged her and she grimaced; not a dream. Okay, she could deal with this. “Um, Miss Darling; Lexi. But you know that.”
    “ Mmm hm,” he murmured in a non-committal manner. His silver eyes looked right through her and she frowned; how could he act as if he had never met her when