Page 47 of Mark my Words

“Did you get a chance to look at the manuscript yet?”

Sam picked up my messenger bag and settled it on the floor as he dropped into the chair next to me at the small table in Isobel’s office. It was oddly reminiscent of one of our first interactions when we started working on Evan’s book together but with much less hostility on my part.

Despite her early morning texts, Isobel had barely greeted me before telling me she’d most likely be out of the office all day. I didn’t need her to hold my hand, but I thought she’d at least debrief me on the document before she dropped it in my files and ran.

“Not yet. I just finished my coffee,” I confessed. Part of me was scared to open the file, knowing it would be another intense edit. Chase’s typical romantic comedies were spicy reads, but when she dove into BDSM, there was another level of intensity to the writing that worked its way under my skin, and I couldn’t hold back my physical reactions.

“Want to camp out in one of the private conference rooms and dive in?”

“Is that wise?”

“Oh, come on, Kris,” he chuckled, his hand closing on my bare knee and squeezing lightly before he trailed it along my thigh. My breath caught in my throat at how it felt for him to touch me casually. My brain took it to a suggestive place, but his smile was easygoing, lacking the intent it usually did when he was trying to get me naked. “I think we can keep our hands off each other long enough to do our job.”

“Shh,” I hissed, glancing toward the open office door. There wasn’t anyone standing in sight in the hallway, but I knew how easy it was to eavesdrop outside offices without anyone suspecting. My own voyeuristic nature regarding office dirt made it easy for me to watch for potential drama undetected. The last thing either of us needed was a comment to be repeated. It’d spread like wildfire. I knew neither of us was far enough up the chain of command for it to be scandalous, but I didn’t want to compromise my professional integrity. At the same time, we were both being considered for a job with much more responsibility.

While we were editing interns, we were often nameless and faceless past our pay grade, but if one of us secured this full-time copy editor position, we’d have a team to manage, and we couldn’t do that if people thought we screwed around in the office. Sloane didn’t have any specific policies prohibiting intra-office dating. Regardless, it was an actual written rule you couldn’t fraternize with other employees considered subordinates. Another reason I felt the expiration date quickly approaching with Sam. If one of us snagged this position, we wouldn’t be equals, which could complicate things.

“Calm down. Carson was at his desk, and Andrea was talking to him about something. He was too busy staring down her blouse to see me sneak in here. That dude isn’t subtle about taking great interest in her chest.”

“Still. Isobel might come back in here and hear...”

“She has no room to talk,” he interrupted. “When Adrian showed me the manuscript, those two were texting some interesting things to each other.”

“What?” I laughed, trying to process how Sam managed to look at Adrian’s text messages undetected. “How do you even know that?”

“He had me read part of a chapter on his phone, and a text scrolled across the top. If they’re trying to be covert, he needs to change her contact in his phone to something besides her first name.” Sam smiled and shook his head, rolling his eyes as he looked at me.

“That’s all you’re going to tell me?”

The teasing smile that stretched across his face was both adorable and obnoxious. “You look nice today.”

“Oh my God, you ding dong,” I laughed. “What did the fricking text message say?”

“Something about going to her place to look over the manuscript and it being his turn to wear the cuffs,” he said with a shrug—like he didn’t just reveal our bosses were handcuffing each other outside the office. At least, I hoped it was outside the office. And not anywhere near where I worked. Maybe using one of the conference rooms wasn’t such a bad idea.

My eyes widened as I tried to stifle a laugh. Maybe Sam was right about it all. Everyone around here was fucking, including us. The thought would have been laughable a few months ago, but now. Now I didn’t know what to think about any of it, my own out-of-character behavior included.

“So...you...me...closed conference room...this manuscript and some more coffee?” Sam smirked as he placed his hand on the back of my chair, leaning in close. “There aren’t any windows in there, and we can wedge a chair under the handle to keep the door closed. You know I love it when you wear a skirt.”

“Sam, what the frick is wrong with you?” I hissed, trying to keep myself from blushing. I couldn’t tell if he was joking or not, but the idea of doing things in the office was getting me a little hot under the collar.

“I was kidding,” he winked, but how his eyes trailed down the length of my bare legs made me question if it was just a joke or him trying to manifest something happening. “I’ll grab some coffee from the break room if you claim a room.”

Pulling my now empty travel mug from my bag on the floor, I handed it to him, hesitating momentarily. “Put this in your bag after you fill it. We don’t need the gossips seeing you bringing me coffee.”

“Fine,” he sighed, only looking a little annoyed. “But I don’t think anyone will think that we have some torrid affair going on because I filled your coffee mug. Now, if they knew what else I filled...”

He was right, I knew he was, but I still felt anxious about people at work potentially finding out we weren’t just two interns working together on a project. “It’s hardly that torrid,” I deflected, but the image of him aggressively pinning my wrists to my mattress after he’d made me see stars with that rabbit flashed through my mind regardless. Okay, maybe it was a bit torrid.

“You go first. I need to pack up the rest of my things and ensure I have the right files.”

He leaned in as he stood, brushed my hair over my shoulder, and lightly kissed beneath my ear. I held my breath as he pulled away, glancing down so he wouldn’t see how much a simple kiss could affect me. Even the tamest of Sam’s touches ignited something primal inside of me that I had difficulty concealing. I was sure he could see their impact if he tried, but it helped me maintain the illusion of having any resistance against him.

“See you in there,” he said with a nod as he tucked my mug into the bottle holder on the side of his bag.

As soon as Sam had stepped through the door and out of sight, I sank back into my chair with my hands over my face. This ‘work friends with benefits’ situation was getting out of hand. I didn’t think about sex all day. I never had, but every time he was in the same room, it was like a fucking pornographic slide show on repeat in my brain. I blamed Evan. It was all that fucker’s fault. If he didn’t need Chase, I never would have been sucked into this whole intra-office literary orgy.

Carson was still trying to use his X-ray vision on Andrea’s blouse to get a glimpse of her generous cleavage as I crossed into the shared office cubicles that filled the central part of our floor. The poor girl didn’t seem to realize how much of a pig he was. He was nice to look at, but I could see him abusing that with her if she got too close.

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