Page 26 of Of Blood and Smoke

His voice felt like a physical caress, all low and smooth. “Yes, thank you. I’m so sorry about earlier.” Nervously, I massaged my neck while I waited for him to reassure me despite what Christina had said earlier.

Seconds ticked by and I almost looked up. He rasped, “Don’t let it happen again.” He tapped a pointed finger against the hardwood and walked away.

I let out a sigh of relief, relaxed my shoulders, and peered at his retreating back. When his head turned, my gaze darted down to the screen. I’d almost screwed up again. I’d almost lost everything I’d just gained.

FOURTEEN

Della

Finally, I got to spend some time with Ashley at work—it’d only taken a week. She was assigned a spot on the social media team and worked a couple floors below where I did.

“This coffee bar is better than Starbucks—can you believe this is our life?” Ashley grabbed both our cups from the barista, and I trailed after her to a table.

I took a sip of my vanilla latte. “I don’t know where they get their vanilla from but its heavenly, like it's from another planet or something.”

Ashley had ordered an apple flavored coffee. I had no idea such a concoction existed but here we were.

“Still loving it here?” she asked.

“Yes, it's great. Everyone seems pretty nice, even with the intensity.”

My friend nodded. “Yeah, that's true other than the two dragons. I swear they breathe fire when we’re not looking. I told Andy to apply. I bet Brett will as well.”

No, no, no, no. I very much did not want that. As it stood, now, I’d soon have enough money to get Brett off my back. “Ikinda want something all to myself. I don’t want Brett working here.”

Scanning the room, my gaze fell on the one person I couldn’t seem to stop making eye contact with. “Shit,” I muttered. He was less than ten feet away. How did people work under these conditions?

Technically, I hadn’t made eye contact. How could I with the ever-present pair of sunglasses—and what was up with that, anyway?

Ashley leaned forward. “I heard him, and the other guy are twins. What’s up with the shades?” she asked, echoing my thoughts. “Fire breathers.”

I ignored her but she spoke again. “Some of the people downstairs say some crazy shit like you’ll die if you look them in the eyes and that they're cannibals.”

Letting out a short laugh, I retorted, “There’s no way any of that is even remotely true. Did they interview you themselves?”

“No.”

“Well, they interviewed me and I’m fairly confident I’m not dead. Plus, I’m not missing any flesh.” Wrapping my hand around my coffee, I took a deep inhale and sighed before my next sip. “Weird they didn’t personally interview you like they did me.”

My friend shrugged and slid her cup’s sleeve back into place after sliding it up and down. “You could be a zombie and never know,” she grinned and leaned forward. “Some of the girls say they’re both fine as hell, like they have crushes on them. Micha’s pretty hot, if you like blatant assholes. I guess Josiah is secretly dating Christina.”

“No way...”

She grinned. “Yep. Someone saw them both go into one of the apartments and they didn’t come out forhours.”

“Huh.” I swallowed the rest of my coffee while Ashley diverted her attention to her phone. “I’m gonna get going in a sec, I don’t want to be late.”

Shaking my head, I gathered my things and stood up, turning directly into the man himself. Embarrassingly, I squealed and dropped everything as my hands shot out and grabbed the table, my arm brushing his. His suit was just as soft as I’d imagined.

As I thought that inane thought, it dawned on me that I also probably wasn’t supposed to touch him, nevermind the eye contact rule. I was so screwed.

“Della,” Josiah started, gripping my elbow tight. “Upstairs—now.”

Yup.

I swallowed and glanced at Ashley, who sat there with her mouth hanging open. Bending over, I went to collect my things, and Josiah had the same idea. His hair brushed the side of my face when he leaned down to pick up my mess. Why’d he have to smell so amazing?

He snagged my wrist and pushed me away, the heat of his fingers seeming to burn a hole in my skin. I’d never had a job where the boss felt free to physically touch their employees, rather, it’d been the opposite. They did anything they could to stay as far away as possible to avoid a lawsuit.

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