Free The Dark Side by M. J. Scott Page B

getting stronger. For all I knew he might just be able to pluck the truth out of my mind.
    “I need you to open a new client file,” I said reluctantly. “High level security.”

Chapter Four
    Jase shook his head. “Please tell me it’s not who I think it is?”
    “It’s not who you think it is,” I quipped.
    “You’re lying,” he retorted. “Damn it, Ash. You’re taking Esteban on as a client? I’m beginning to think Dan is right about you.”
    “Right about me?”
    “You have the self-preservation instincts of Bambi.”
    I bristled. “Hey, it’s not like I have a choice here. I owed Marco. I do this and we’re clear.”
    That earned me another eye roll. “Apart from the blood debt.”
    I hunched my shoulders. I didn’t want to think about the blood debt. I had no intention of letting another vampire feed from me. Ever. “Thanks for the reminder.” I gave him my ‘drop-it’ look.
    He gave me his ‘as if’ right back. “What makes you think you’re going to get out of this without more trouble?”
    I clicked the end of my pen in and out. “It’s a job. We go in, I solve the problem, end of story.” More clicks. The rhythm seemed to go with the chant of
fat chance, fat chance, fat chance
in my head. I made myself put the pen down. “Simple,” I added, trying to convince myself.
    “That’s what you said last time.”
    Right. Last time. When I’d agreed to help Dan track Tate’s finances and come out of the job with a brand new ability to change into a wolf and in debt to a vampire. Not to mention in love with a werewolf who didn’t seem so sure anymore that being in love with me was a good idea.
    But this time wasn’t going to be like that. Not if I could possibly help it. “And I’ll tell you what I told Dan. Bambi ended up king of the fucking forest. So let’s get to work.”
    * * *
    After about three hours of stony silences, cool coffee and other behavior aimed at letting me know Jase disapproved of our newest client, the intercom buzzed.
    “There’s someone here to see you,” Jase said. His voice sounded strange...distracted almost.
    “Who is it?”
    “He says his name is Nikolai.”
    This time Jase sounded dreamy rather than distracted. Crap. The last thing I needed was my PA falling for a minion of the dark side. And Niko was very much Jase’s type.
    Hell, he was everybody’s type. Not that I had any idea which team he batted for, but he’d flirted with Dan as well as me, so I figured Jase could be fair game. Particularly if Esteban wanted to gain some sort of advantage by ordering his employee to seduce mine.
    Fuck.
    I practically sprinted into the foyer. Sure enough, Niko was perched on a corner of Jase’s desk, smiling his depraved angel smile. Jase gazed back with an expression that reminded me of a Labrador who’d just seen five pounds of prime rib drop into his food bowl.
    “Nikolai,” I said, trying to figure out how to put myself between him and Jase—impossible unless I climbed onto the desk. I settled for staying on the far side of the desk so Niko would at least have to look at me. “What are you doing here?”
    He turned the smile my way and the female part of me went almost as melty as Jase looked. But the wolf snarled. And when it came to vampires like Niko and Esteban, I’d trust the wolf’s instincts over my hormones any day.
    I folded my arms and waited. You can’t exactly stare down a vampire—not when some of them can thrall you with a look—but I was learning a little about dominance games from my pack so I let the silence stretch between us while I waited.
    Nothing.
    “I asked a question.” I let a little rumble underscore my tone. This was my office and I was the boss here, not Esteban or his errand boy. In fact, Niko didn’t strike me as the type to be the boss anywhere.
    Turns out my impression was right. Niko made an apologetic face, stood and actually performed a small bow in my direction. The action looked so natural for him I had