Page 13 of Company Ink

Anotherdoctor's appointment? It's been three years and they keep saying the same thing: the damage is permanent.

"Yeah, 1 pm sounds good. Let's go somewhere close by though, ok? I don't want to get in trouble for being late."Or maybe I do...No. No, I don't.

"Ok, sounds good honey."

"Tell Ness that I love her!"

"Oh, she knows," Lucy says. "We'll see you tomorrow, Cassie."

"Goodnight!" I hang up.

I bite my lip, staring at the black screen on my phone. Flashbacks from three years ago swirl around my mind. Ness in the hospital, the brain scans, the rehabilitation. I close my eyes and shake away the unwanted memories. It is what it is. There's nothing I can do to change the past; all I can do is live in the present. I press play on Netflix, hoping that the badass Olivia Pope will take my mind off of Ness and Adrian.

I'm going to name my work computer Elsa because this bitch is frozen.

My go-to for fixing anything electronic is to turn it on and off repeatedly until the device surrenders to my immaculate tech whiz skills. But it turns out that Elsa is a tad more stubborn than my MacBook. I glower at the error message sprawled across the screen. This better not be some super-virus that erases hard drives; I'd for sure get fired if that's the case.

I peer over the desktop computer and into Adrian's office. He's been on the phone for hours. Today, his panty-dropping body is wrapped in a dark teal suit that gives off a slight glimmer when the May sun shines through his window. I'm sure this is how Edward Cullen would look if he were a corporate lawyer instead of a blood-sucking leech. My gran would've said they're one and the same, she never was a fan of attorneys...or vampires.

Propping my elbow on my desk, I rest my chin on my palm. Adrian's shutters have been drawn all morning, so I haven't been distracted for several hours, but now that he's out in the open and Elsa is being temperamental, I'll allow myself to gawk, but only for a few minutes. Lucy always said moderation is key.

I'm so entranced by the alluring and fluid motion of Adrian's mouth that I don't notice my elbow slipping off the desk, forcing my head to free fall onto my keyboard. My chin collides with the edge of the table resulting in an embarrassingly loudthump. Fuck! I let out a long whimper. A strong metallic flavor fills my mouth. Reluctantly, I swallow back the unpleasant mixture of blood and spit.

Kitty looks over from her desk, concern filling her sparkling green eyes. "Oh my God, Cassie!" She rolls her chair towards me. Apparently, the situation doesn't look dire enough to warrant standing up. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine!" I exclaim with a mild lisp. "I just thlipped." I run my tongue between my teeth. "I wath trying to fix the uh- computer." I point to the screen. "Ith broken."

Kitty narrows her eyes. "Why do you sound like that?"

"I bit ma tongue," I admit, shifting my gaze sheepishly to the floor. "I wath uh- chewing gum." That seems like a believable lie.

"Okay..." Kitty purses her lips, scanning my face then motioning towards Elsa. "Do you want me to call IT for you?"

I begin nodding my head when a warm hand appears on my shoulder. "Why don't I try first?"

I crane my neck, following the heavenly sound of Adrian's voice. When did he get here?

"Ith fine, I can call IT." My cheeks immediately burn up. Okay, no using words that have the letter 'S' in them.

A ghost of a grin tugs the edge of Adrian's mouth. "I've had this error before," he says, then turns to Kitty. "I think we can handle this, Kitty. Why don't you go take a quick break? Manpreet will be on a call for another few minutes; he won't even know that you're gone."

A slight semblance of annoyance flashes across Kitty's features. "Yes, Mr. Cavallero," she says quietly, rolling back to her station.

"Let's see if we can fix this," he whispers once Kitty is gone. Reaching for the mouse, Adrian's body hovers over my chair. The oaky and intoxicating fragrance of his cologne fills my lungs as his chest brushes against my bare shoulder blade, sending a noticeable shiver down my spine. Why must he stand so close to me? I could just slide over a foot and put myself out of this misery.OrI could stay put and just bask in the ambiance of his tantalizing presence.

Decisions, decisions.

Adrian's chest vibrates for a fraction of a second from a low, almost inaudible chuckle. "Are you cold, Cassie?" he asks in a deep hushed tone, his focus remaining on the computer screen as he clicks on various pop-ups.

He's teasing me, this bastard.

Fire meet flame.

"Quite the opposite, Mr. Cavallero," I hum, thanking every God in existence that my 'S's', are mostly back to normal. "I'm actually quitehotright now."

"Is that so?" Adrian tilts his head back towards me, his dark eyes burrowing into mine suggestively for a fraction of a second, but enough for me to squirm in my seat. He blinks once and his features neutralize. He adds casually, "Perhaps I'll reach out to our maintenance staff and ask them to adjust the thermostat."

I bat my eyelashes while my inner professional tries to scream 'stop'! Unfortunately, my inner seductress duct-taped her rational lips shut. "I'm not sure that will help. I think the source of my...discomfortis a bit morecentralized."

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