Page 9 of Ruthless Rebel

The last thing I hear is his soft chuckle as I watch him leave, yet still somehow not escaping his all-consuming presence as my entire body flames in his departure.

4

LINCOLN

My drive to the office is as silent as always and I take solace in the quiet and calmness that surrounds me, especially after spending a weekend with Logan. I like having him around, but I am still getting used to having someone constantly in my space. He isn’t like Marcus and Jace, or even Elle for that matter. Yes they are always around, but we only usually spend mealtimes together, the rest of the time we are doing our own thing. They know me, they know I like to be left to my own devices, yet lately with Logan I find him in my space more often than not. He has even stopped sleeping in his room at the house completely, even though he is now visiting every weekend. I don’t mind, I actually quite enjoy having someone fill the void that I had become accustomed to, but I still also enjoy the serenity of silence sometimes.

Which brings me to the other person that constantly surrounds me, both silent and brooding in everything he does. You would think it would be easy to ignore him, but I don’t think anyone in their right mind could ever ignore someone like Asher Donovan. Whether it be at the house or at the office, despite his best efforts, he can never seem to avoid me, whichagain I quite enjoy. Watching the effect I have on him, whether he wants to admit it or not, gives me a thrill I can’t seem to describe, and knowing Logan feels it too? Well, let’s just say it allows me to fill the silence with some very interesting thoughts.

By the time I pull into the secure garage at the office, my cock is at half-mast, and I have to readjust myself in my pants before stepping from the car. I don’t bother pulling my keys out at the entrance, just my security pass, because it doesn’t matter what time I arrive, Eliza always beats me to it. We hired her six months ago when we realized we needed someone to man the front desk, and after speaking with Pam over at the diner, she recommended her niece. We started her on a trial run and we haven’t looked back since. She has exceeded all of our expectations, and more importantly, we can trust her. She keeps her head down, and her mouth shut, no matter who she sees cross the threshold of the office, and that’s discretion you just can’t buy.

I enter through the main doors as always, and Eliza jumps to her feet instantly, clicking a few buttons on the coffee machine she keeps behind her, and then gathering up some envelopes from her desk. By the time I reach her, she has a drink made for me, just like she does every morning, and all correspondence with my name on it ready to hand to me.

“Good morning, Mr. Blackwell, there are two new clients scheduled for meetings this morning that asked for you specifically. A Mr. Marshall called again, he asked if you could call him back, he said it’s urgent, and Max wants to schedule a meeting with you and Mr. Donovan to discuss the upcoming trip to the Maldives,” she reels off from her list, as she falls in step beside me, following me down the hall to my office.

I nod to the couple of security guys that have already arrived as we pass, and then unlock my office and push inside with Eliza hot on my heels. She knows I like to be efficient in my work, sowe always start our days like this. She gives me a run down of my day and what to expect, and then unless I need her, or something urgent comes up, she doesn’t bother me. That's what I like about her, she’s intuitive. I never ask her to do anything, she just anticipates it, and then does it. She’s the same for Ash, he even gave her a raise after just two months of working for us, which to be fair, if he hadn’t, I would have, she’s just that good.

We spend twenty-minutes running over my schedule for the day, moving meetings around, and setting up calls with clients.

“Okay that all looks good, thanks Eliza,” I tell her as we finish up, clicking out of my calendar to focus on my emails from clients.

“No problem, let me know if there is anything else I can do for you, Mr. Blackwell,” she smiles back, in a way that some might mistake for flirting, but they’d be mistaking her kindness. There is only one person who frequents this office that makes Eliza's eyes light up, and she comes with a royal name and a blade strapped to her thigh.

“How many times do I need to tell you to call me Lincoln,” I toss back, for what must be the hundredth time since she started.

As always she responds, “At least one more time, Mr. Blackwell.” I roll my eyes and she smiles, walking out of my office, and pulling the door closed behind her.

I don’t waste any time jumping into work, dealing with all my outstanding emails first, arranging some client meetings for the rest of the week, and then returning the phone calls I missed. I wanted to try and get through my work quickly, so I can focus on my other work, the one that no one knows about, except Ash. The one that makes a need pulse inside of me to get it done, but my phone call back to Mr. Marshall ended up taking longer than expected, he was a demanding and grumpy fucker, and by the time I’m done, it’s basically lunch.

Leaving my office, I pass everyone busy at work, nodding my head in greeting as I pass them all, and I can’t help but feel weird to know that between Ash and I, we run this entire office. Yeah it’s a Royton Technology office, but when things calmed down and Zack moved back to New York, he entrusted it to us. We have some of Max’s security team based here, and Eliza, so it’s not a huge operation, but we still get quite a lot of foot traffic in terms of clients. We deal with internet security, personal safety, and security for small companies, which means we work on everything from accounts being hacked, to someone being stalked, all of which we take seriously.

From looking at his calendar, I know Asher isn’t in a meeting right now, so when I head to his office, and Eliza calls out to me, I find myself pausing.

“Mr. Donovan is with a client,” she calls out to my back, and I stop and turn towards her.

“I checked his calendar, there’s nothing in there, are you sure?” His office is conveniently on the other side of the building to mine, much to his pleasure, so I didn’t even see him arrive this morning, let alone whether someone went into his office for a meeting.

“Yes, I’m sure, she came in about forty-minutes ago, and they have been in his office ever since,” she replies, innocently, but her words make the hair on the back of my neck stand on end.

A meeting in his office that isn’t on the calendar, with a woman. “She?” I question instantly, and she frowns a little at my tone, but nods slowly.

I don’t need to hear anything else, my feet are already moving before I can stop them. My steps are the opposite of casual as I storm towards his door and burst through it as if the building is on damn fire, cutting him off mid-sentence and making him frown.

“Lincoln?” He questions, looking between me and thewoman, who is sitting perfectly politely in the chair across from his desk, as every other client would. “Everything okay?” he adds, and I see worry stain his brow, and it’s that look that makes me realize how ridiculous I am acting right now.

“Yes, sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt,” I force out, willing for my rapid heart rate to return to normal. “I was just seeing if you wanted to go grab some lunch.” The lamest excuse in the world falls from my tongue because we have worked together for months and not once have I invited him to lunch. Hell, until a few hours ago, I had never even invited him for a ride to work.What the hell is wrong with me?

My request only makes him frown further as he flicks his stare between me and the woman and quite obviously states, “I’m in the middle of a meeting right now.” Which of course he is, just like Eliza told me, and the woman in question turns to smile at me.

“I’m sorry again, I didn’t see anything on your calendar,” I admit aloud, as she lets her gaze trail over me from head to toe, and if I’m not mistaken, I swear I see a flare of interest in her eyes.

She’s beautiful, with fiery red hair, and striking green eyes that have a sort of amused glint to them, as she looks over me in appraisal. She’s older than us, late twenties at least I’d say, and from the way she’s dressed, I would guess she is middle to upper class. She keeps her head held high and holds my stare with purpose, taking in every inch of me with just one look.

“Oh it’s totally okay, we were just finishing up, right?” She coos brightly, turning back to Asher, and before he can respond she stands and moves towards me offering me her hand to shake.

I take it, and she grips it tightly as Asher introduces us. “Lincoln, meet Sierra Banks. Miss Banks, this is my partner Lincoln Blackwell.”

The word partner sparks a fire in me more than I care to admit, despite knowing he means it on strictly business terms. Plus the way he says my name has a level of affection to it that it never used to have, not that I think he notices that, but the client smiles up at me with intrigue anyway.

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